TruthScape.com  9  TruthScape Sneak Previews - Analysis of Upcoming RuneScape Features and Updates       9  TruthScape Sneak Previews - Why the Grand Exchange Could be RuneScape’s Most Important Update in Years

Preview of The Grand Exchange - The Relative Impact on Various Items and Markets Preview of The Grand Exchange - The Will Haves and the Will Have Nots

The exact way in which other marketplaces and means of trading are changed by the Grand Exchange will depend very much on how Jagex implements it. If the GE is very attractive in terms of having a low cost of use, good user interface and reasonable rules and restrictions, it could take a huge chunk of “business” away from current methods of trade. If it’s overpriced, clunky to use or annoying, we will instead likely see the GE just become another option coexisting alongside the current ones, used by those who don’t like the present methods.

I believe the RuneScape marketplace forums are going to take the biggest hit from the GE. The reason is simple: if Jagex implements it intelligently, the GE will end up being similar to the forums in terms of showing items for sale and wanted to buy, but with the major added convenience of being able to actually do the trade. If it works well, there will be no need for many people to use the forums at all, and they will go down in volume by a great deal.

I don’t believe the marketplace forums will die off completely, though, for several reasons. First, there are going to be types of sales that the GE likely won’t support, such as bank sales, special types of auctions, and other transactions that a human can deal with but a computer cannot. Second, there will be people who want to trade without paying whatever fees are likely to be imposed at the GE, especially for big ticket items. And finally, it sounds like the GE will only be usable if you are right in Varrock, which will make it unsuitable for those who are busy doing other things.

These are already little used compared to the RuneScape forums, and I think the GE is going to reduce their relevance even more. Some of the market forums on fan sites will probably be killed off completely by the new exchange. Others will probably remain in place mostly to allow more “comfortable” trades among smaller groups of people who know each other well.

The impact of the Grand Exchange on the in-game marketplaces is one area that I am still rather unsure of, because the trading mechanisms are just so different. As with the forums, I think that these places will become much less popular if the GE is well-implemented, and otherwise they will remain as busy as they are now.

I certainly do not see places like World 2 Falador, World 18 Edgeville or World 1 Varrock dying off completely. Remember that there are already far more people who want to be in World 2 Fally than can get into it; even if 75% of those people now use the GE, that still leaves a lot of folks in that marketplace. And again, if you have to be in Varrock to use the GE, that’s not the same as being a PKer in Edgeville who just wants a quick potion or bunch of sharks.

Preview of The Grand Exchange - The Relative Impact on Various Items and Markets Preview of The Grand Exchange - The Will Haves and the Will Have Nots