Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

[Omniblast]

Would SE consider creating a system to support renting i.e. loaning. Equipment to players who cannot necessarily afford said piece of equipment?

For example, I have 2 astral rings that I'm not using at the moment. I wouldn't mind lending those out to people to use, but how can I trust people?
How can I trust complete strangers with my equipment?
What are my incentives to loaning out my equipment?
What if they don't return it?
How can I get it back? What is my resolution?
How many endless nights of bad dreams would I have losing my favorite <insert equipment here>?

Thus a Rental system created by SE "could" solve that problem.
I could set up my Astral rings to lend out to people for 1k per Vana'diel day, at a maximum of 24 Vana'diel days or 1 whole Earth week, whatever the case may be.
Maybe you could only have 1 item rented at a time? Maybe a whole set at a time?

original post i.e. The Advertisement.

Did you ever browse through the AH and thought, "Man if only I could borrow that Kraken club for a few hours to mess around with." What about a shiny new Genie Weskit on a loan?
Do you have some equipment lying around that you have no use for at the moment, but can't seem to part from it?
Rent it out!
Rent equipment pieces for several gil a day! Get better deals by renting as opposed to buying! Afraid of Equipment dropping several million gil after purchasing it? Just rent it instead!
To SE: This is to allow for players to experience items that they cannot normally obtain under normal circumstances. The items are set temporarily and are returned to their owners after the allotted time. Time allotted can range from 1 Vana'diel day to 24 Vana'diel days. Rental Equipment can be set back to the Rental Warehouse or returned to Owner after the rental is completed. Rates are set per 1 Vana'diel day, any increase use is multiplied by the daily rate. All items will have their Owners names displayed on them.
Note1: Have not decided whether or not to include Rare/EX items in rental.
Note2: Have not decided whether or not to include items with Enchantments on them. i.e. Warp Cludgel. maybe Unlimited use, and all reset back for the owner?
Note3: Have not decided whether or not Rental Equipment can be used in BCNM's KSNM's Dynamis Limbus and other associated events.

[Lunaryn]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

I'm pretty sure this doesn't meet the criteria for a "question" to SE. You're attempting to pitch a fully-formed idea, pushing a particular implementation. You spend more of your post asserting how it should be done than contemplating why it might be done. I do admit that the value of such a prospect as is proposed may be self-evident and not require much if any effort to justify as such, but don't you think the question we could reasonably ask SE is would they consider a notion of system-enforced equipment rental, rather than whether they like a particular notion we are supplying of how it's to be implemented?

The current system is arguably not conducive to this kind of a practice at all, so much so that SE will in fact explicitly discourage lending out items at all. Equipment rental, or loans secured by any conditions, is something that would absolutely require some kind of system implemented to facilitate it. I think your title captures the essential question to be asked; your post does not support asking that question, it attempts to answer it. SE has developers who can address the matter of implementation. I would encourage you to edit your post to focus on the perceived need/value to the community and leave it to SE to answer the question posed.

[Omniblast]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

I'm not sure how to change my post for that. Any suggestions? Thank you for taking your time to write such a informative response.

I think the "need/value" to the community is that, everyone is dirt poor right now, and it would benefit people to borrow equipment from others using a system designed by SE as to inforce lending and not on a "honor" system. Let's face it, people are dishonest if they can get away with it.

I'll try to modify my post further. Thanks Lunaryn.

[Ziero]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

I think the "need/value" to the community is that, everyone is dirt poor right now

Tell that to the guy in my LS who lvled Alchemy and can make 2-300k in 10 minutes with minimal effort

The problem with making money in this game is that it takes an initial investment to get gains. Whether it be money spent lvling a craft or time spent camping NMs, doing BC runs or just plain farming. So the only people who are 'dirt poor' are the ones who don't try hard enough to change it.

As far as the rest of the 'question' is concerned, most stuff *can* be 'rented' from the AH. Most people do this with low lvl gear. You find what you need, buy it, use it, then sell it back. No one will ever 'need' a K/Club and being able to 'rent' R/E gear would defeat the purpose of it being R/E.

[Necropolis]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

I don't know if a rental system is really what we need, or what all it would entail.

I'm am, however, for a more secure way of lending equipment with the peace of mind knowing that I'll get it back. I'd like a way to lock an item to an LS. Too many LS Nobles, Krakens, Juggernauts, Manteels and such get stolen from an LS when a member leaves. And with server transfers available now, it's easier than ever to run off with it and never get caught.

I'd like a way to kind of sign a piece of equipment with an LS signature, and at anytime a Leader or Sackholder could retrieve that item. Perhaps not instantanously, but within a 24 hour period it would be delivered via Dbox.

Similar to your rental plan in general, but different I suppose. Rare/ex items though I don't think should be transferable in anyway. Rare/ex means you went there and got it, no leeching (in general).

[Omniblast]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

I don't know if a rental system is really what we need, or what all it would entail.

I'm am, however, for a more secure way of lending equipment with the peace of mind knowing that I'll get it back. I'd like a way to lock an item to an LS. Too many LS Nobles, Krakens, Juggernauts, Manteels and such get stolen from an LS when a member leaves. And with server transfers available now, it's easier than ever to run off with it and never get caught.

I'd like a way to kind of sign a piece of equipment with an LS signature, and at anytime a Leader or Sackholder could retrieve that item. Perhaps not instantanously, but within a 24 hour period it would be delivered via Dbox.

Similar to your rental plan in general, but different I suppose. Rare/ex items though I don't think should be transferable in anyway. Rare/ex means you went there and got it, no leeching (in general).

I like your idea as well. Thank you for your feedback. This is a beginning of the idea, where it goes, who knows? It could just spin around and end up not getting anywhere. The reason why I would state a incentitive to rent out items is due to people not knowing other people, and would like to borrow a piece of equipment from them. I admit there are inherant flaws with this idea, but I would like to iron them out some how.
------------------------------------------

Tell that to the guy in my LS who lvled Alchemy and can make 2-300k in 10 minutes with minimal effort

The problem with making money in this game is that it takes an initial investment to get gains. Whether it be money spent lvling a craft or time spent camping NMs, doing BC runs or just plain farming. So the only people who are 'dirt poor' are the ones who don't try hard enough to change it.

As far as the rest of the 'question' is concerned, most stuff *can* be 'rented' from the AH. Most people do this with low lvl gear. You find what you need, buy it, use it, then sell it back. No one will ever 'need' a K/Club and being able to 'rent' R/E gear would defeat the purpose of it being R/E.

While that is true for some players, others don't have such luck with their abilities to make gil that quickly. Some players choose another path to crafting and in their craft, they can't make 300k in 10 minutes. Sometimes I luck out and make 30k in 1 minute, but that's only on HQ Federation Knives. I guess I chose the wrong profession.

While it is true that some items can be 'rented" off the AH and resold, I have a hard time affording a Martial Staff just so I can test it and re-sell it. I wouldn't mind testing it, and then deciding I want it, and then go buy it off the AH afterwards. (after a long and hard farming session) it could go the other way around, where after testing it, I decide it's not what I wanted, and decide not to buy it, then it "could" drive down the price on the AH. Thank you for your feedback as well Ziero

[Ellipses]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

"Renting" from the AH isn't quite the same. Your initial investment gets tied up waiting for the stuff to sell again, and there is plenty of gear that people just aren't going to put on the AH or in a bazaar. At least not often enough to be reliable.

If I buy an Awesome Sword +1 for 50k, use it for a week, and sell it for 50k, my overall cost is only the AH fee to sell it. But that's a week that I don't have that 50k. If I could just spend 1k to have an Awesome Sword +1 for a week, I'd be all over that. And if someone knew they were guaranteed to get their Awesome Sword +1 back, they'd have a lot more incentive to put it out there.

I think the bigger issue is what this does to the availability of goods to buy, especially gear that's only good for a few levels, but expected for those few levels. I imagine the rental price vs. purchase price would eventually even out for most things, but it's going to be a nightmare for everyone for a while. Crafters freaking out because no one buys HQ anymore, prices falling with oversupply, then spiking with undersupply, etc. Not that shake-ups like this are rare, but this one would be fundamental and across-the-board compared to some of the others.

[Ziero]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

While that is true for some players, others don't have such luck with their abilities to make gil that quickly. Some players choose another path to crafting and in their craft, they can't make 300k in 10 minutes. Sometimes I luck out and make 30k in 1 minute, but that's only on HQ Federation Knives. I guess I chose the wrong profession.

There was no luck involved in his ability to make money, he worked it to 100 over a long period of time slowly and smartly by knowing what to make and what would give the best returns. Even at mid-50 Bonecraft I could make some decent cash if I put the effort into gathering the materials, and I could make a lot more if I lvled it higher. That is the whole point of lvling crafts, it lessens luck's factor on your finacial abilities.

I don't know if a rental system is really what we need, or what all it would entail.
I'm am, however, for a more secure way of lending equipment with the peace of mind knowing that I'll get it back. I'd like a way to lock an item to an LS. Too many LS Nobles, Krakens, Juggernauts, Manteels and such get stolen from an LS when a member leaves. And with server transfers available now, it's easier than ever to run off with it and never get caught.
I'd like a way to kind of sign a piece of equipment with an LS signature, and at anytime a Leader or Sackholder could retrieve that item. Perhaps not instantanously, but within a 24 hour period it would be delivered via Dbox.
Similar to your rental plan in general, but different I suppose. Rare/ex items though I don't think should be transferable in anyway. Rare/ex means you went there and got it, no leeching (in general).

'Locking' items into a LS would be a nicer idea imo, but it would require an entire reworking of the LS system. SE stated Linkshells were intended to be more of a 'social network' then a Guild System, which is why it was so open ended. But I do agree that this idea would be more useful then 'Item Rentals'.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

Making items LS property means only the LS owners (and maybe pearlsack holders) can steal them. It's a good thing endgame Linkshells do not breakup and leaders would never take items and run off, then...

[Necropolis]

Re: Will SE ever consider a Equipment Rental System?

Making items LS property means only the LS owners (and maybe pearlsack holders) can steal them. It's a good thing endgame Linkshells do not breakup and leaders would never take items and run off, then...

While that can happen, I would say the times that happens is far far less than the opposite happening. Most shells I've seen break will distribute the LS property items to the members that would use it (or sell them all and spit the proceeds).

While a leader running off with LS items is fairly rare, though I've seen considerable a number members run off with 8 million manteels, 20+mil kraken clubs, Novio earrings of unknown value and such.

Personally I think if you have a leader or sack that could possible run off with LS items then you saw signs of that before it happened. It would be your own fault for staying within the shell if that was the case. Though I think under what I listed the only person possible running off with the items would be the leader (since his 'recall' of an item would outweigh a sack's).