New time stamps for the AH

37 replies [Last post]
Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl

Ok so the way it is now

48 hours- very long
24 hours- long
4 hours- medium
1 hour- short
5min- very short

It's not bad except that there are pretty big gaps. I'm thinking something more like
48 hours- Come back tomorrow
24 hours-extra long
12 hours- very long
6 hours- long
3 hours- medium
1 hour- short
5min- very short

this changes the ratio from:
--- 1/2:1/6:1/4:1/10

---1/2:1/2:1/2:1/2:1/3:1/10

I feel that this evens out the time frames

Edit: Please all if you can think of better names for the 24&48 hour timeslots!!! And also would a 30min slot be necessary? All responses are greatly appreciated!

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
sooooooo any feedback? any

sooooooo any feedback? any whatsoever

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
Yes? no? does anyone have any

Yes? no? does anyone have any opinion whatsoever on this topic?

Sacrontine's picture
Sacrontine
-

How about we skip the whole "stamp" thing altogether and just show the actual time left?

Psychodestroyer's picture
Psychodestroyer
^

Auction sniping. That's why.

Someone could just wait until it's in the last few seconds, then bid.

After everyone catches on, it'll be a bidfest in the last few minutes.

At the moment, ignorance is letting someone else have the chance at a cheaper buy.

@OP, Sound better, but 'eventually' sounds a bit funny to me...

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
-

because of the amount of stuff shown on the AH. if all of them had constant timers it would lag alot

EDIT: and psycho I put that because it feels like forever when you're waiting for one of those

Psychodestroyer's picture
Psychodestroyer
^

I know, I just think it doesn't quite fit somehow...Sorry I don't have anything better to suggest.

Asukalan's picture
Asukalan
Auction sniping is not really

Auction sniping is not really possible, since those who are interested usually wait till auction ends ( if they are online) because with every new bid placed time is extended for next 5 minutes.

Ignorance factor is strong indees, not everyone know what does short or very short mean so other more 'educated' people have chance to get those items.

But giving exact times when auction ends will lead to some minor rants on forum how some of people are disadvantaged by a fact that due to timezones they sleep when auctions ends. This is mainly related to featured auctions.

Derpules's picture
Derpules
@Asukalan

"But giving exact times when auction ends will lead to some minor rants on forum how some of people are disadvantaged by a fact that due to timezones they sleep when auctions ends."

Really? Quite the opposite, I think. With exact timers, people can either plan to be awake then (when they usually wouldn't be), as a friend/guildie to bid on their behalf, or simply write it off as an item they're not going to be able to get.

@Mk-VI: "because of the amount of stuff shown on the AH. if all of them had constant timers it would lag alot"

Not if it only updated every hour, right?

@Psychodestroyer: People already snipe. This (i.e. either a number timer or the OP's suggestion) would just let more people get in on the action via easier planning. Would that be such a bad thing?

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
Thanks

for all the feedback guys. And this was something i thought up of just because of the disparity between one day and four hours. Some of my classes are 3-4 hours long so with what it is now I can theoretically check right before class and it says long and be finished by the time I get out. I feel that the extra two hours of breathing room will just be more helpful to everyone (especially the ones selling where more people might bid :P)

Psychodestroyer's picture
Psychodestroyer
Oh god

You got me there, clever clever.

No seriously, I nearly had a heart attack, and I'm not even that old.

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/8/17/7e2a3999-7a1e-4985...

Luguiru's picture
Luguiru
Stop doing this

There have been old threads for this exact purpose in the past, stop making new threads for old topics.

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
Lol I got the idea when I saw

Lol I got the idea when I saw how tight the kerning was on the name font. It's really only a pixel wide difference

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
@Luguiru

If you would like to post the links I will add them to the OP as well as assign credit to the posters.
Also I'm not sure if this makes a difference but I am not asking for exact times just for two slots to be added and one updated.

Yet again thanks for the feedback

Bluebrawler's picture
Bluebrawler
@BLUE BRAWLER

GET OFF MY ACCOUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

whoever you are!!!!!!!!!!!

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
Stop talking to yourself

Stop talking to yourself

Imperialstriker's picture
Imperialstriker
~

I... forsee... A future cataclysm...

Bluebrawler's picture
Bluebrawler
and i was going to make peace with you guys

i guess you can kiss that peace treaty goodbye

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
Shameless bump

also slightly edited the OP

Xylka-Mkii's picture
Xylka-Mkii
Sounds like a good idea,

Sounds like a good idea, though im not too sure what the best way to implaement this is.

I mean you got actual time, or phrases that are very vague.

I say the phases Mk-VI put sounded alright, but whatever, lets see where this goes.

Offtopic: There is some relation with Blueflood and Mk-Vi. This study is proving quite informative...

Schattentag's picture
Schattentag
Hrm...

I guess I support the idea of more specific time stamps, since they wouldn't really do any harm. By that I mean auction sniping would still be impossible, so there's no problem. I do disagree with one point made here, though.

"if all of them had constant timers it would lag alot

This is probably not the case. I assume that the current model for Auction House timers is as follows:
- The Spiral Knights servers have constant timers for all of the auctions. This part should make enough sense, as each auction has its own ending time.
- Spiral Knights players' computers only contact the Spiral Knights servers for auction times when players change their position within the Auction House interface (i.e. changing pages, trying to place a bid). In other words, data for auction times and auction prices is not constantly up-to-date on players' computers.

As such, giving each auction item a constant timer would not necessarily increase the amount of lag in the Auction House. The set of timers that players would see on any given page in the Auction House could count down based on the auction time data that was last retrieved by players. In other words, the timers displayed in the Auction House would not constantly request data from the servers, yet they would still provide a fairly accurate representation of the amount of time remaining for each item. Sure, the visible timers would not be synced perfectly with the server timers 100% of the time, but they would give a close enough estimate and they would sync whenever the player does retrieve auction time data from the servers.

Of course, there's no reason to have actual timers in the Auction House, but I felt the need to point that out. >_>

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
@Schattentag

Thanks for your post! I completely forgot that they only change when they switch pages. And since they do if we had timers people would complain when they're not 100% accurate.

As always thanks for the feedback everyone! It really helps when you post replies whether you like the idea or not as long as what you have is constructive.

One more thing! Did another edit of the OP

Bluebrawler's picture
Bluebrawler
...

should i say something?

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
bumpsicles are fun to eat!

bumpsicles are fun to eat!

Goofio's picture
Goofio
I agree with Derpules. I

I agree with Derpules. I think a timer that only tells you the number of hours left (until 5 minutes remain) would be better.

A lot of new players don't even understand what 'long', 'medium', or 'short' means, and adding more of these cryptic intervals would cause more confusion. Why not just give people the number of hours remaining?

Also, to those that complain about sniping: people can already sort auctions by end time and snipe anything with five minutes left anyway.

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
You do make sense but I

You do make sense but I thought they explain it in one of the lvl 1,2 or 3 missions what each means? I know I sorta skimmed through those because I had already looked at the wiki by that time.

And I think timers would give the game a sort of seriousness it is trying to avoid. They have cake hats for crying out loud

Goofio's picture
Goofio
To me, the amount of time

To me, the amount of time left in an auction is the type of thing that shouldn't even need explaining. Stuff like that just steepens the learning curve.

If an hourly timer is too much, use the intervals you've specified, but display the number of hours or minutes instead of a cryptic interval like 'long', 'medium', or 'short'.

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
So

Are you recommend something more along the lines of
Time left of auction
<48hours
<24Hours
etc etc?

Because that can work too I guess. Idk I like it but I'm leery about that kind of change. I feel the more minimalistic the difference is to the game now the more feasible it is to be 1) put in and 2) liked by the majority of long standing players

Goofio's picture
Goofio
Yes, that is what I mean. If

Yes, that is what I mean. If you updated the time every hour you wouldn't even need the less-than symbol (which some players may not understand).

With the modifications described in the original post, you would be changing the meaning of 'very long', 'long', and 'medium' anyway, so this would be the perfect time to discard those names.

EDIT: The time remaining could also be displayed with a graphical bar that shortens in length as time passes. When the auction is almost over, it could display '5 minutes' instead of the graphic.

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
Hmmm....

Just saying the problem with the bar is that half of it would be 12 hours, so then when it is <1-3 hours the bar size will be hard to distinguish

Still considering the rest of your post but just wanted to take a second to address your other idea

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
There's a new dance that's

There's a new dance that's been getting pretty popular. It's called the bump.

Dukeplatypus's picture
Dukeplatypus
Dawn of the First Auction: 48

Dawn of the First Auction: 48 Hours Remain.

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
But

that's a little long you think?

Schattentag's picture
Schattentag
@Duke

Dude, I loved that game. Getting all the masks was so worth it. >_>

/offtopic

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
And I'm on my knees,

Looking for the answer.

Are we humans,

Or are we bumpers?

Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
~
Mk-Vl's picture
Mk-Vl
live?

moo

Lunaice's picture
Lunaice
+1

*snarl*
I really don't do bidding
Since I just use "buy now" hehehe...