FFXI Mercing

[Medalink]

If your interested in helping with any aspect of the site you can PM me here.

I really dont need anymore PHP/MySQL Coders but anyone with CSS, Graphics, or C++ knowledge may be able to help. So let me know.

Ideas:

I think a nice feature would be an easy to copy down event number where you could toss a shout in Jeuno as you pass through and include a referral number where players could check up and sign up, and where you could more easily plan. Something similar to /event.php?=0000000 or some such. It might be easier for people to discuss it for a week before deciding on anything. On the fly missions with pick up parties usually flounder.

Maybe have a linkshell to go throughout servers? It would help get the information out, as people could use the Linkshell Beta on POL to search up someone, and it would make for fast contact between mercs on the same server.

Origonal Post:

First off I would like to state I have played Summoner for over a year now and have been Mercing well over 6 months of my time. I find its a very nice way to make some gil while also helping out others. Some do not like the fact that people Merc but I however do and support it.

I have been thinking the only problem with mercing is getting "clients", and a big problem for people needing help is they must shout for hours on end waiting for someone to see there shout. So I came up with an idea to bring both Mercinarys and people willing to pay a bit to someone for help, together.

Not only for Mercing but for Crafters to buy/sell/trade with each other and for Teler's to post giveing them more exsposure and what times to work around. Dynamis Currency section where you can find others who want to buy/sell/trade with Linkshells for currency. And many many more features.

I present to you: Final Fantasy Mercenarys

A website where you can register, post for help, or offer your services.

Features:
Detail Listings (Somewhat like an AH website) of what you offer and prices.

In-depth Search, allowing both sides to easiley track and find what either need.

Promotions for Tele'ing Services to get your name out and times/areas you can tele from.

A ranking system allowing the client to leave good or bad rateings depending on the service given.

A Help Wanted Setcion, you can post what you need help with, and others can view and contact you with the matter.

A full system to allow Crafters to find clients to synth for and or trade with.

A tracking system, Basicly to allow you and your client to track NM pop times, cost of items (Crafting), hours avalible, etc.

Fully independant to each server, aka not all on one listing, but if your from another server you can still view other help/servies on all servers.

More features aswell to be implemented but as for now I would like to cover just the basics. I have began work on this allready and would like your opinion on the matter.

The following questions I would like to ask of you all:

Do you think this will be a good or bad idea to fully go through with?
Would you use it?
Any features you would like implemented or removed?
Do you think alot of people would use this?

And heres an idea of what a Badge for a Top-Ranking Merc would look like:



This is located under there profile after a large ammount of positive feedback. There's also badges for Crafter's, Tele'ers, etc all who display important detail about the user.


Thanks in advanced for the reponses, I cant wait to see what you guys think

EDIT: To make a few things more clearly, Not all quests or help needs a reward, some are just to simple to pay for. This site will cover both not just gil wise. Also this is in no way like RMT, all transactions are done in-game with in-game gil with no real money ever in play. You dont even pay to use the website.

EDIT #2: Ok so far out of everyone who I have asked here are the results:

Keep working on this: 141
Stop Working on this: 3
People will use this: 61
People will not use this: 29
Total: 234

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[Kadenmire]

Re: FFXI Mercing

I'd use it both for my crafting taking orders and for Mercing.

Edit My search comit says Malee Mage for Hire.

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: FFXI Mercing

I for one like the idea. If there would have been something like this around I would have gotten my carlage citadel key months ago.

Granted, I can't see myself charging to help people, but on the other hand the people I help are usually personal friends. You could argue that telewhoring in Jeuno for gil is charging to help people and I quit that becuause I wasn't getting paid enough for the bullshit I had to deal with.

[Medalink]

Re: FFXI Mercing

Yeah I agree not all jobs need to be payed for, but some do. And friends helping friends useally do it for fun. But this would bring both together.

Thanks fo the input thus far.

Medalink

[GangsterMan]

Re: FFXI Mercing

id use it, i have been stuck on mission 2-3 dragon slaying for 3 months now. A few gil to get that uch closer to an airship pass would be great.

[Balfree]

Re: FFXI Mercing

God. I want a place where i can go and search something like this:



Yea.

I want to join a set party for..

• Experience points:
  
  Finds people that have applied for this option.
  
  By clicking you are redirected to a page with more queries to filter your choices, or you can simply search for all users that applied for this option.
• Missions:
  
  Pretty much the same thing as the above, there would be a page where you define what missions you want to get done, a list displays all the other people that want the same as you, and how long ago they posted their request.
• BCNM/KS/Assault:
  
  Same as above, only for BCNM/KS/Assault.
• Other:
  
  Specify something else you want a Set Party for, skillups? farm sessions? mining? finding items... etc, the less common things.

I want an EXP party...

• This one is pretty straight forward.
  
  You choose the job you want to level, what lv it is at, your preferred camp, might also be wise to add a field for TNL. You confirm your choice when you press "Anytime" or "Define a time", if you "Define a time", you will be shown a calendary you can choose the day from.

I want to...

These are all pretty straight forward.

• Do a mission
  
  Find people that want the same mission as you.
• Do a quest
  
  Find people that want the same quest as you
• Find a crafter
  
  List of crafters, shows a page with more filters: min Lv. desired support jobs, what item/s you want...
• Trade/Buy/Sell
  
  Creates a post where you apply for a trade, more filters on a second page.
• Find a Linkshell
  
  You can see a list of linkshells, these linkshells would have various icons: "Open for recruitment", "HNMLS", "Social", "Dynamis", "Sky", "General Events", etc...
• Find Someone
  
  Give us a name, job, a race, or a gender.. and we will find someone for you, provided they registered on the site, usefull if you simply want to find people for any reason, you can send an email or a PM to this person through their PP (personal page), as long as they allow for incoming messages, blablabla.. you get it.
• Offer Services
  
  You are hereby offering your services, be it for free, for gil, to meet people, for any other reason you desire.
• Custom
  
  Makes a post on a special area for any custom requests... so you need someone to rub your toes... go ahead and post your request here .

An anbitionate project... one that ive allways wanted to see done, i have some PHP knowledge, and im willing to do this, provided someone wants to lend a hand, im afraid alone i wont go far, there are many things i wouldnt even know how to do, but together with other people im sure it could be done.

[Awilo]

Re: FFXI Mercing

That would be a great idea the only problem I can see in it, it's to have all the servers equally represented.

[Kadenmire]

Re: FFXI Mercing

Hey Balfree thats a nice layout. Did you copy it from somewhere or did you make it yourself?

[Balfree]

Re: FFXI Mercing

Awilo:

you would choose your server, and the database would show you data from that server only

the biggest problem would be server strain, if this would ever get any sort of recognition and use, it would probably need a really powerful server

Kadenmire:

i just made it, i had a much larger one you could view a huge schema of the full project but its either at home or i eventually lost it, after i got a job i found myself with very little time and eventually i gave the whole thing a halt, and never really got back to it

Not wanting to take over your idea or anything medalink, if anything, i wish to provide you with my knowledge and help if you want to pursue the project and are in need of a helping hand

[Davitron3000]

Re: FFXI Mercing

What ever happened to helping people out because one time when you needed
help someone helped you out?
What happened to the game's 'community'?
What ever happened to 'random acts of kindness'?

Just sayin'

Not saying that being a Mercenary is wrong, I use a band of merry Blackmages to
help me 'burn' my Kindred Seals. (I suppose I see this differently from paying
to get your Limit Breaks done, because both the Blackmages and I have the same
goal of making money and we are kind of helping each other do that. Probably it
is the same thing though, haha)

It just seems like a Merc website kinda promotes the 'whats in it for me' attitude. This
is the kind of attitude that can kill Linkshells IMO.

[Matera]

Re: FFXI Mercing

I don't think it'd pan out.

Not enough people would use the system.

[Balfree]

Re: FFXI Mercing

yep thats the biggest problem of all

[Yuanlung]

Re: FFXI Mercing

Yeah, I wish I could just have some where I could search for crafters offering their services, or companions to do a mission/quest with... or buy/sell items.

Sound familiar? That's because it's already implemented in FFXI as the search>comment function. It's doesn't really work though, because not enough people actually make use of it.


People still shout for missions/quest/KSNM help without putting on an approperiate flag. Very few crafters actually bother to offer service in this fashion. And the green ball comment still seems to be a mystery to the majority of people with their flag up.

[Ceolwulf]

Re: FFXI Mercing

And the green ball comment still seems to be a mystery to the majority of people with their flag up.

I hate that >< I mean, there's a few pieces of information that a party would need to know, including...

• What areas you have access to
• Your TNL
• Your available subjobs
• Do you have a warp (if you're not in an area like Jeuno or Al Zahbi)

This saves a lot of hassle when a leader has to ask you "do you have ToAU?" or "do you have sky?" and it makes you look more professional.

On topic: The merc site looks like a great idea... the only problem would be like Matera said, the amount of people helping. Maybe have a linkshell to go throughout servers? It would help get the information out, as people could use the Linkshell Beta on POL to search up someone, and it would make for fast contact between mercs on the same server.

[Medalink]

Re: FFXI Mercing

Thanks for all the comments guys, I will respond to a few:

What ever happened to helping people out because one time when you needed
help someone helped you out?
What happened to the game's 'community'?
What ever happened to 'random acts of kindness'?

That is still a part of this site, you can offer what you want for help, wether it be alot or none, thats up to you. Its not required to put a price on helping, alltho I think some things require one. All up to the end-user.

Sound familiar? That's because it's already implemented in FFXI as the search>comment function. It's doesn't really work though, because not enough people actually make use of it.

Thats no where near what I am aiming to do. I think the single biggest problem with the comments are if you d/c you lose it, Why waste time makeing a comment when you can only make 1, and will lose it if d/c? Since d/cing happens so much.

The merc site looks like a great idea... the only problem would be like Matera said, the amount of people helping. Maybe have a linkshell to go throughout servers? It would help get the information out, as people could use the Linkshell Beta on POL to search up someone, and it would make for fast contact between mercs on the same server.

I do like this idea, I will think into this.

I don't think it'd pan out.

Not enough people would use the system.

Thats my single biggest concern, thats why I am asking here before I make this fully. But we will see how it goes from responses.

the biggest problem would be server strain, if this would ever get any sort of recognition and use, it would probably need a really powerful server

I run my own dedicated server hosting, So I definitly can run whatever this may need.

Balfree:
Thats what I more or less have in mind, where you would have a central database to gather everyone wanting the same things you do. To meet these people and to work for or together to achive goals.

Keep the comments coming.

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