The Elder Scrolls Online Xbox Live Gold Requirement

In-game auction houses may be taken for granted by World of Warcraft or Star Wars: The Old Republic players, but not every gaming economy is blessed with such intuitive in-game commerce systems that manage to successfully avoid disrupting the fun of the loot-upgrading experience. We all saw how disastrous the Diablo 3 auction house experiment was, and that had been produced by a company with close to a decade of experience running gaming auction houses. To help avoid some of the problems that come along with being able to trade for or buy all the best gear in the game, the developers of The Elder Scrolls Online opted to omit an auction system from the game. But that doesn't mean players haven't found a way around that hurdle...

The community at TESO Elite have put together a fully-functioning marketplace forum to make up for the game's lack of options when it comes to global commerce. The forum offers TESO players an organized venue to buy, sell, and trade in-game items. Not only have the fans of TESO embraced the grassroots auction forum, but the game's creators are also giving the forum the thumbs up.

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If there were any TESO players out there who hadn't checked out the auction forum yet, the ZeniMax endorsement should help catch their attention. With the MMO's first substantial content addition Craglorn just around the corner, now is the perfect time to pick up the right gear in preparation for the end-game content. Currently, the only in-game accessible means of buying and selling with other players is through guild stores. For the many casual players who are solo'ing the game (which is actually a pretty fun experience), guild stores likely won't offer much of a selection.

Before the game's release, designer Nick Konkle spoke about the decision to leave out an official auction house...

“You don’t necessarily want to do a global auction house for a game with one giant server because that generally leads to all the best gear being available at very, very cheap prices. A lot of times that can trivialize the game... You cannot have a healthy economy when there are no restrictions on getting the best stuff in the game.”

The logic behind the omission is definitely understandable and we would certainly prefer the absence of an auction house over a system that detracts from the fun of the game. That said, it's hard to ignore the fact that the AH works incredibly well in similar games like World of Warcraft. The opportunity to purchase goods and gear, especially on alts after you've attained some wealth on your main character, offers a lot more motivation to replay the game by removing some of the initial grind. For now, the TESO Elite forum will just have to do the trick.

Do you feel inconvenienced by having to go outside of TESO to have an auction house experience or are you happy with the alternative to the traditional auction house? Sound off in the comments.

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The Elder Scrolls Online is currently available for PC and Mac, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 ports set to debut in June. Craglorn will be available to subscribers later this month.

Follow Denny on Twitter @The_DFC.

Source: TESO Elite