BidBlast - Feedback Thread :3

[ZaiaFantasy]

Bid Blast sucks but that's because people are stupid.

But if you're going to advertise it as a way to get rare items cheaply you should make sure it sticks to your claim.

I could buy that jacket straight up right now for 45k...not the 450k it's up to on the bidding. Obviously you guys need a better system for ending auctions and bids. the 30 second thing isn't working and your first auction that should have ended 3 days ago is still going...

[Mistril]

I really like the whole idea of Bidblast, but it lasts entirely too long. I really don't think it's necessary to have the 30 second rule thing because it basically makes the end time useless; people are going to keep adding time until it reaches the end date (seriously, I've been eyeing the mini wings and it stayed at 29 seconds for a solid 5 seconds before going down to 28 and back up to 30). Also, I don't think anyone realizes that they still have to pay for the item if they win the auction. You know, like at a real auction. I'm well aware that I would have to pay for the item, and could if I won the auction, but these people just won't stop bidding until the end date. When they'll probably go "Oh wait, I have to pay for it too? Are you sure? Because I totally thought I was winning it, not winning the opportunity to buy it."

Someone else said that you shouldn't be able to bid unless you can afford the bid price, and I really like that idea. It would certainly help people realize that there is indeed a bid price that they will have to pay if they win, and it would keep people who can't afford it from driving up the price.

Obviously I'll just be waiting until Saturday evening to check back on the Minis to see if I can still afford them and then assist in the driving up of the price. But that 30 second thing is such a pain.

[icefire26]

ZaiaFantasy

Bid Blast sucks but that's because people are stupid.

But if you're going to advertise it as a way to get rare items cheaply you should make sure it sticks to your claim.

I could buy that jacket straight up right now for 45k...not the 450k it's up to on the bidding. Obviously you guys need a better system for ending auctions and bids. the 30 second thing isn't working and your first auction that should have ended 3 days ago is still going...

^^ This
Its now just a Gold Sink

[Kid Of The Revolution]

It excited me to think I could win mini wings if I just waited a certain amount of time... then I reread the rules before being so hasty as to bid like crazy. I don't think it's a feature that many people will use- right now it's just the ignorant people who haven't read the rules, blindly bidding and raising the clock, or at least on items like the coat.
Did Gaia not realize this would happen? They must have known putting a basic, cheap store item up for bid would go far beyond it's true gold value.
Will admin be bidding once BidBlast loses it's crowd? I mean, she gives me crumpled papers and the like in Dumpster Dive, what's to stop her from raising the clock? ._.

[asedc]

I think there are alot of bugs needign to be worked out.

there should be a limit if you can not afford the item you should not be able to bid on it

[Cimmamims]

Oh, gosh... MAN is this flawed. First off, it is a great idea, but it'll need a lot more planning and effort for it to work. Now for the problems:

1) The thirty second rule. My GOODNESS! The four auctions that are going on have been stuck at 30 seconds for ever since the BidBlast thing started. It would be great if there were some way to prevent people from bidding for 5 second intervals. There also needs to be less of a time setback for each bid.

2) Only four items to bid on? That's not enough. I was expecting at least 10 or 20 to bid on at a time. That would help make it less of a 'I just want the gold' thing and more of a 'I can finally get my dream item' thing. This would also help to resolve the first problem, since there would be less people bidding on an item at once.

Otherwise, I think it's a great system and I can't wait to see it updated. Thanks!

[kremzeek]

I don't know if someone has pointed this out, but BidBlast is based on Swoopo, which is just about pure evil:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/12/profitable-until-deemed-illegal.html

This is all play money, so maybe it's okay here. I'm still not sure if BidBlast is also evil, or harnessing evil for good by letting Gaia live.

[Dullahans_ Scythe]

so you know what time the auction ends on sunday?

[14G]

What I think should happen.

This should hold a lot of items.
There shouldn't be just 4 items being watching by millions of people, because it's just a waste of time. You should add at least 10+ items? Maybe 20-30. (Just spit ballin' here).

The time.
As like the regular bidding process in the MP, it should count down until the end date. Like the A. Mini's should go out at 12: ??. I think that should be possibly be the best way to end it.

Tickets.
WE DON'T NEED TO BUY TICKETS. WE HAVE MONEY, WE SHOULD JUST USE THAT. Okay, I'll leave it at that.

[Cryostix]

I like the recent changes. Another important note: don't let people be able to outbid themselves, that way they might raise the price so others won't have the gold, and they can just take it off the market.

[Tricksy Boo]

The 30 second reset will not end because that is part of the strength of this gold sink. They knew very well that this was going to be the result of it. It was undoubtedly their plan. No matter how stupid you think it is, it will work.

This 30 second reset results in a bid war which will eat up tickets, force people to keep buying them, and thus spending large quantities of gold in their desperation to win. This gold will be removed from the economy, thus deflate prices.

They made the auctions last so long, because the longer it lasts the more effective the gold sink is. If it lasts 4 days, during those 4 days it will soak up gold from people bidding. That is their goal.


The smart thing to do would be to simply wait till the last 1 second and try to bid then, but trolls and ignorant users will never allow this.

[CreamfilledCavities]

not sure if anyone here saw the dev alert so I'm going to quote it here...

Panagrammic

Bidblast Will Be Changing
We're going to let the current auctions play out, but we'll be making some changes to Bidblast. For purposes of discussion, we're thinking of the following changes:

• raising the ticket price
  
• requiring the user to have the gold when they bid
  
• if you win, you automatically win -- that is, you don't have the option of refusing the auction

This will hopefully make the auctions resolve more quickly.

From this it would appear to be 'fair' they aren't going to interrupt the current auctions so they will likely run ntil their deadlines. The 2nd point is what a lot of people in this and other threads were complaining from the start so at least that will get fixed. And point 3 is that the user must buy the item (not sure how they plan to guarantee that a user has enough gold when the auction ends). The 1st point though just seems to be a scheme to increase the gold sink.

No mention on the 30s counter, but I think I understand what they intended to do with it. It was probably an idea to simulate how a live auction is performed where after the furious opening bidding finishes the auctioneer would start saying the phrase 'going once ... going twice .... sold' during which if a bid was made to interrupt him he would accept the bid then start the phrase over.

[Shaco Rearranged]

I admit their changes do fix some issues.

main issue at hand, gaia was to never re release donation items.

[Momo_Kitten]

Just saw the dev announcement for this and I only have 3 words to sum it all up, horrible f***ing idea.

These are the changes that need to happen;

1. Have more than 4 items up for auction

2. Remove the tickets completely, we have gold for that, and if you think the users are dumb enough, add Gaia Cash to the mix while you're at it (crap now that I've said it, it'll probably happen)

3. Make it a true auction setting, in real life it's not a game, translating auctions to an online format only complicates matters, users should have the ability to bid X amount of gold rather than using the "penny auction" style, in the end it makes the end item cost twice as much as it would than if I just bought it from the Marketplace or Exchange Forum.

4. Give us the ability to set up our own mini auctions, by letting us put up our own items and starting bid price.

Now I understand we have the option to bid in the first place and it's totally up to us whether or not to continue and it only costs 1 ticket per bid, but at the price the tickets are now at 10g each, it adds up over time, below is an example of this;

Keep in mind that the below was yesterday during the current auction, this is just for example purposes only.

Elegant White Satin Coat, right now in auction costs an estimated 369869 GGold, if each ticket costs 10g each then the amount of Gaia Gold comes out to 36,986 gold.

Adding the two prices together if you already won the action at the price the item is being auctioned for now that means this item now costs 406,855 gold total.

What's funny and an example of how Gaia mocks you, is that there is a Want it Now? window at the bottom right and tells you how much it goes for in the Marketplace, which is now 53,500g.

That means this is a 760.4766% increase in price!

[Tricksy Boo]

Panagrammic

Bidblast Will Be Changing
We're going to let the current auctions play out, but we'll be making some changes to Bidblast. For purposes of discussion, we're thinking of the following changes:

• raising the ticket price
  
• requiring the user to have the gold when they bid
  
• if you win, you automatically win -- that is, you don't have the option of refusing the auction

This will hopefully make the auctions resolve more quickly.

This should help prevent some of the trolling. Glad to hear they're implementing these features.