Gripe and Bemoan the Horrors of (BAD) Cross-tier (ALWAYS)

[DeletedUser20951]

Just opened up my Trader a moment ago to this lovely sight, followed by about twenty-three out of twenty-eight pages of much the same, only smaller. I was going to place some trades, but I was too disgusted and simply wandered off, instead. XD

As the amounts get larger, it becomes even more obvious that anybody accepting these would be basically giving goods away, and I am still completely puzzled over how the mind of someone who posts them works. Do they genuinely not recognize how unfair the exchange is? Do they feel the world owes them virtual handouts? Not sure I want to know, really, but I can't stop wondering, especially now that how many are posted in both of my neighborhoods is rapidly expanding.

 

[Ashrem]

A lot don't know better. A lot more don't care.

 

[DeletedUser20951]

A lot don't know better. A lot more don't care.

...I was more hard-pressed than I'd like to admit at resisting the urge to include their player name in the screenshot, because I want to shame them, but that'd be mean. It's someone that's been playing longer than I have, though, and an Archmage. Whee!

 

[SoggyShorts]

I am still completely puzzled over how the mind of someone who posts them works

It's this bizarre yet all too common thing where people can only see one side.
They get as far as
"Oh man, it would be totally amazing if I could get 160,000 planks for a pathetic 10k gems!"
but they can't/won't make the mental leap and realize that if one person is getting an awesome deal, then the other probably isn't

 

[DeletedUser20951]

It's this bizarre yet all too common thing where people can only see one side.

Oh okay, yes, this explains it perfectly and I shouldn't be surprised by the behavior anymore, but I still, stupidly and naively, hope for better from people. WHY DO I DO THIS? WHY?!

 

[Risen Malchiah]

Yeah, sometimes I do have an over abundance of T2 or T3 and need T1 but I'll post trades more like this:

5000 dust for 8000 scrolls
5000 scrolls for 8000 planks

This way there's only a 1-step cross tier and the exchange is much fairer for the person accepting the trade (and these usually get taken very quickly).

 

[DeletedUser20951]

5000 dust for 8000 scrolls
5000 scrolls for 8000 planks

Now that's not bad at all, but I've never seen such a trade before.

 

[DeletedUser20951]

I would like to state that I am aware that this subject has been complained about extensively since the creation of the game, and that Inno is unlikely to change anything, even something as simple as adding a better filter to the Trader, but if merely a single player is educated and modifies their trading ways, I consider it whining well-done... Muahahahahaha! Nah, I just wanted to complain about it again.

 

[DeletedUser]

Yeah, sometimes I do have an over abundance of T2 or T3 and need T1 but I'll post trades more like this:

5000 dust for 8000 scrolls
5000 scrolls for 8000 planks

This way there's only a 1-step cross tier and the exchange is much fairer for the person accepting the trade (and these usually get taken very quickly).

I would take those trades so fast, it'd be like Thanos snapped.

 

[Deborah M]

I don't do anything in the trader without filtering. Every time I go into it to check whether FS members or neighbors need anything I filter on demand my boosted goods and offer the others of that same tier. I don't even want to get annoyed by the cross tier trades and I sure don't want the hassle of checking that they are even close to fair. I think any long-term players know that the stars are not a good indicator for these.

 

[samidodamage]

I do that now, too @Deborah M , but I just started once I got to Elementals and the Sentient Goods. Before reaching this point, I would skim all pages in the trader, taking any trades newer/smaller cities had up regardless of boost to try to help with retaining neighbors. Adding Sentient Goods exploded my trader to 45-60 pages of mostly Sentient goods after I clear my trader of all FS goods. The lower tier goods are sprinkled in around and amongst all of those. Sad that I used to be a good neighbor...I know there's a suggestion somewhere to filter between Regular Goods and Sentient Goods...
Edit to add: looking through the Sentients AND the cross tiers trying to find someone that needs reasonable help is insane!

 

[StarLoad]

Nonchalant Antipathy, which is your complaint, that the trade is cross-tier or that the ratio of good is only slightly in favor of the one taking the trade?

I truly am interested as I don't see either as egregious since the party placing the trade is losing out to a small extent.

Oh and its a slow day on the forums too so that might be part of it too, that has hastened my query?

 

[DeletedUser9601]

Nonchalant Antipathy, which is your complaint, that the trade is cross-tier or that the ratio of good is only slightly in favor of the one taking the trade?

I truly am interested as I don't see either as egregious since the party placing the trade is losing out to a small extent.

Oh and its a slow day on the forums too so that might be part of it too, that has hastened my query?

The problem is that those "3 star" trades are terrible for whoever accepts them. The game's ratios of "proper" cross-tier trades are completely out of wack. You should never trade 400 marble for 100 silk, for instance.

If you accept that the trades are terrible, then having to wade through 23 pages of it is @Nonchalant Antipathy's complaint, and I think most posters agree with him. I have been very rarely looking at trades, especially on mobile where I can't sort by FS.

 

[StarLoad]

Tedious, I get that the trades as posted are terrible, but his title is
"Gripe and Bemoan the Horrors of Cross-tier (ALWAYS)"
and that to me was a complaint about "ANY" cross-tier trade, however he later stated

Now that's not bad at all, but I've never seen such a trade before.

in response to

Yeah, sometimes I do have an over abundance of T2 or T3 and need T1 but I'll post trades more like this:

5000 dust for 8000 scrolls
5000 scrolls for 8000 planks

This way there's only a 1-step cross tier and the exchange is much fairer for the person accepting the trade (and these usually get taken very quickly).

This disparity in his replies and the slowness of the forums prompted my post.

 

[SoggyShorts]

@Ed1960
Cross-tier trading at 16:1 is absolutely terrible, but at 1:16 is amazing. 2 sides of the same coin, so when someone says that cross-tier is bad they mean "downstream"
The closer hat the ratio gets to 2:1 the fairer it becomes.

 

[StarLoad]

Soggy, I completely agree, and I do cross-tier trades to help new members all the time. I know that when I trade 10,000 planks for 500 gems, I am losing in the trade but that is my choice. I was questioning the complaint about "any" cross-tier trades.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Soggy, I completely agree, and I do cross-tier trades to help new members all the time. I know that when I trade 10,000 planks for 500 gems, I am losing in the trade but that is my choice. I was questioning the complaint about "any" cross-tier trades.

I'm sure he meant bad ones. No one minds if players help FS members, and really we never see those trades because they are only up for a few minutes, not all 7 days until they expire.
I don't think the game would suffer at all if they were removed though. Since you can help players with 4:1 trades anyways.
The games certainly wouldn't suffer if we had a simple filter like the FS only one. Tick a box and you can see cross tier leave it unticked and they disappear.

 

[DeletedUser]

Tick a box and you can see cross tier leave it unticked and they disappear.

This. +1

 

[Risen Malchiah]

Adding Sentient Goods exploded my trader to 45-60 pages of mostly Sentient goods after I clear my trader of all FS goods. The lower tier goods are sprinkled in around and amongst all of those. Sad that I used to be a good neighbor...I know there's a suggestion somewhere to filter between Regular Goods and Sentient Goods...
Edit to add: looking through the Sentients AND the cross tiers trying to find someone that needs reasonable help is insane!

YES! I absolutely need this. I thought it was bad when I got to Elementals but now that I'm in Constructs it is even worse.

Especially hard is checking trades to help my fellowship occasionally while on mobile. There's no FS-only filter on the app so you just have to keep scrolling through all the trades. And since they're not grouped by goods anymore, multiple times now I have accepted trades I didn't want to take. It's also really irritating when the goods reshuffle themselves. Take 1 extremely large trade by accident or take the wrong sentients by mistake, it could really set you back a day.

 

[DeletedUser20951]

I'm sure he meant bad ones.

Aye, I did. Reference to this type of trade (higher tier asking for lower tier at the default, or close to it, rate) has long been shorthanded to simply "cross-tier". Haven't found a way to be utterly specific without a convoluted explanation that is, for most, unnecessary. I'd also think it would go without saying that anybody offering seventeen thousand first tier for a puny thousand third tier would be an awesome cross-tier trade for whoever accepts it, but I could be wrong. *squints*