Architect Archive
Thread: cost of a house vs the cost of a crate of brandy for example
If we could experiment on houses. Make them cheaper to maintain.
Increase storage capacity ect.. Makingquality on the houses an imporant factor.
Same as letting us make better factories. This will press up demand for quality structures, which again will let us charge more.
This and decaying harvesters, is the only way to give architects a better Income.
I'm not gonna waste factory time on candles...and who in the Galaxy decided that STRUCTURE factories should be used to make candles..
Heh, I have another well-known architect on Kettemoor mad at me because I thought his/her pricing was too low. Mad at me for like a month now.
I'm sure lots of people have gotten sob stories before. I remember this one "newbie" who wanted to trade all his credits <10k, his landspeeder and a republican blaster for a large house. "Please help me and friends, we're newbies." I questioned how they'd support the house and he oh, it would be easy to maintain it.
I heard this one recently. Someone wanted to 100k for their medium house because of the 100k in maintenance they accidently dumped in it. Seems like a bargain in a sense, but charging 100k+ for a medium house even if it's 100k in maintenance is probably not going to net you a sale very quickly.
I agree that being able to experiment on the houses to lower maintenance rates, etc., would be very good for the profession. I wouldn't mind seeing the ability to lower power consumption on the harvesters either. That would be good for driving the prices of factories/harvesters back up.
I sympathize with all of you, but don't necessarily agree with all of you. I charge comparable rates on my server, but I constantly see houses on vendors that are double or triple the going rate, and those houses never sell. Me personally, I earn enough credits to be able to purchase everything I want in this game, donate hundreds of thousands to my pa city, and give 50k plus at a time to acquaintances/friends of mine whenever they need it. Not one of them have paid me back, and I don't expect it back. That's just my take on the game. It's about fun, and I like helping others have fun while they're here.
I do give discounts for repeat customers and guild members. Hell, I even send a 20% kickback to anyone that refers more business to me. My prices have little to do with my income. It's the volume of business being sent my way that keeps me in business. I've been contracted by one guild to build their entire city, and another person just bought 4 large houses, 4 medium houses, 20 small houses, and a hospital from me. Not bragging about anything, but just pointing out how advertising is the key to making real money in any business. Being able to back it up with quality goods helpsa bit too. 
If he doesnt want to pay 45 for a factory, tell him to bite your bag.
45k isaround3cpu on those things.
Houses NEVER decay unless you default on your maintenance (mortgage payment ) Esentially you're asking for a 1-time price of 45k for something he will NEVER need to buy again.
Same with harvesters. They never wear out, so a stock of heavies will last a player FOREVER. How many resources can you mine in FOREVER? How many credits can you earn off that?
People need to quit freaking out when, heaven forbid, we want to charge3 or 4 cpu on things. Weaponsmiths can easily charge 50-100cpu, and in the case of some weapons, ten times that. true they need many named resources, but the sheer QUANTITY we need is staggering. A WS can run for months on a 100k stack of copper. An Archie can burn throughthat in an hour.
Message Edited by d0qtrX on 04-21-2004 08:29 AM
Bandola wrote:
i see no reason why a small house only costs on some servers 5k!!!! thats under 2 cpu, thats simply rediculous and not justifiable by any argument. that is a giveaway in other words. since pure resources sell even higher lol
Yes that is crazy, but it could be noob architects harvesting there own resources at under 1cpu and this is the only thing they have that they can compete with the 'big boys'
bluejanus wrote:
Heh, I have another well-known architect on Kettemoor mad at me because I thought his/her pricing was too low. Mad at me for like a month now.
Were they literally mad? See I don't know why people get mad about this stuff. It is just a game after all. Why would someone care if you thought that his prices were too low?
Well maybe they've been criticized more than once about it and just got frustrated.
Some people are also cheap out of principle because they think that everyone else is a gouger. So if you think they are too cheap then they put you in the evil gouger category? Yet again though I don't really understand why people get mad about pricing high or low.
In general I think pricing debates are mostly pointless. I'll jump in on occasion to play devils advocate or whatever, but the typical "you're too high" versus "you're too low" argument is pretty useless. But even so, I can't see getting literally mad about the issue.
/shrug
Pawlin wrote:
[snip]
In general I think pricing debates are mostly pointless. I'll jump in on occasion to play devils advocate or whatever, but the typical "you're too high" versus "you're too low" argument is pretty useless. But even so, I can't see getting literally mad about the issue.
/shrug
Don't get mad, get even! The aftermath is more satisfying! hehe
Fivo Asia
Having made both houses and brandy I can tell you making brandy is by far harder to do. Also there is more demand for brandy and brandy is very useful for making money. So yeah, prices on houses or factories suck. Why I make brandy and not houses. If you don't like the market, get out. Soon enough there will be so few architects that finding a house will be hard enough that the price will go up. Just the way a free market works.
Just to make one point clear, I have made far more money from being an architect than being a chef. Houses and factories are not the gravy for architecture.
who's mad ?
I think all you guys have the right idea about your prices, mine are pretty much the same...
I am however disgusted that someone wants something that's gonna last forever like a house, or something that's gonna make it's money back in a day or less like a harvestor for cheaper than we say. Your all right to mention the amount of resource we use per item, but what about the return factor for the recipient. People become millionaires faster in selling resource than any other proff, they shouldn't be fussed about what they have to pay to get started.
Some people are just soooo greedy...
Jackson' Nights... Mos Espa, Tatooine, Radiant
I make houses, harvesters, factories & such.
I also make guns, brandy, armor ( not any good at it atm, resources still to poor of a quality) vehicles, equipment BE clothes, Tailor supplies....everything but drugs & meds
Simply put, there is no wear & tear on Architect items, except through user error. The only other profession that I am aware of that has this issue is Tailors, and even then folks chage professions & change looks, resulting in new duds (for look or new pockets or what not).
With all the hologrinding, folks flooding an unchanging ( or reducing by attrition) market, regular sales, saturation is a mathematical certainty. I am hoping, from our esteemed corespondents posts, that this is at least on the radar of the developement team. This profession is fun. But so was buffalo hunting, 50 years ago.
This is a great discussion - I love it. I'm an Architect as well and pricing/bartering bothers me too as I know the amount of work Architects do: mining, running around placing/maintaining harvesters, searchingfor resources (especially ore which seldom comes much higher than 62%), crafting, filling vendors, trying to establish a customer base and trying to sell to make a reasonable profit. We have one Architect selling a heavy for 100k or less and another selling itfor 200k. Wealso have some PA's giving them and other items away for free.
There'salsothe recent questmaking overnight millionairs becauseplayers are selling either the schematic, the power plant forthe complete vehicle for 2-3 million for EACH! Wow, and Architects are working their butts off to make a buck.
I think something needs to help us and I've also thought about the structure/item decaybut Ithink if that was in effect,people would just stop buying many things althogether because many items are not mandatory for the average game play. You may have a greater need for a house, speeder, factory orharvester than mostfurniture, candels and artwork but they really are 'one-of's' and once you have them, you probably wouldn't get many more. I don't think the intro ofcandles really did much for us. Same thing goes for most furniture - once you have a few items in your house - you say - that looks kewl - and off to war you go. Seems Architects are filling the new player marketmost of all, and waiting on players with more money to buy either the more costly items or city structures. How many shuttleports, Guild Halls or vehicle repairs have you sold ?
Anyway, I think the only thing that will make or break this profession is:
1. to always add new schematics thus giving us a greater number of things thatwe all can make.
2. having some schematics default to a specific price (when you buy milk or other things for example at the store - it's normally the same price at every store).
After I've saved some money - I'll gladlydrop crafting and do adifferent profession if it doesn't improve.
That's my 2 cents.