Architect Archive
Thread: My take on Architect
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Elyssa
Tue Aug 03, 2004 1:17 pm
#14
TH made an announcement yesterday.
I forget the timeframe he gave but he did give one. October possibly.
They will be wiping all accounts that have been cancelled for 6 months.
They only guarantee your character will be kept for 3 months.
Once the inidial purge is made, they will be doing it monthly, each time purging the 6 month expired accounts.
If you cancel your account, you can't honestly expect to keep it beyond the 3 month guarantee.
If you've never done it, you can see the Cancellation Confirmation Screen by clicking here.
(Support the protest while you're there.)
Bandola
Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:25 am
#15
Buddhistic wrote:
this may be a "dead-end" prof, but consider other professions:
- Guy buys a suit of armor, uses it for a month (i'm a pikeman and my armor goes for longer too). So, that guy is spending 200k on a suit of compo from you, which will last more than a month, and when he buys armor in the future he may never buy from you again because there are many armorsmiths. So at the most, you'll be getting 200k from some guy maybe once every couple months - all the while competing with other Armorsmiths.
- Guy buys a weapon. Uses the same weapon fora few months. That weapon was, at the most, 30k (unless it was a krayt weapon). Same as Armorsmith, there are so many Weaponsmiths that who's to say a guy will buy from you again. So, at the most, you make 30k on some guy every month.
- Guy buysa crate of Vasarian Brandy from you, and it lasts him 1-2 months. That crate of brandy was 200k. Just like AS and WS, there are so many other Chefs nowadays this guy may not buy from you again.
- Tailor and DE, i'm not going to bother adding in this mix.
A guy may be inspried to buy a few Gas Processors because of a new spawn (sold 15 gas processors today for this reason) and because you had it conveniently stocked on your vendor. Things like this happen all the time. So yeah, consumables are a great idea, but i wouldn't say that Arch is dead-end.
What you have 'overlooked' in all this is the key point about architect wares, let me try to illustrate, using your 'template':
Sorry, but that is the way of the architect 
schnarskiboo
Wed Aug 04, 2004 4:57 am
#16
I am an architect on Ahazi, and just thought i'd put in about the structure decay idea. Good idea, but it looks like that would give us a virtual monopoly on resource control! Mwahahahaha! Here, check it out: Harvestors are made by architects and maintained by architects. the cost of a harvestor (throughout its life) increases if there is actual decay on the harv. so people are putting more money into their harv's the price of resources goes up. And if its like anythng else, the price goes up A LOT. That means thatany noob that comes in is going to get hit with a very high resource cost. I just think that it'll be seen as too much of a disruption/imbalancing to the economy. We control the creation of the harv, the storage/eff. of the harv, and the maint. of the harv. then we'd pseudo-effectively control resource extraction. In a way, maybe i'm stretching.
Buddhistic
Wed Aug 04, 2004 9:34 am
#17
But a guy isn't buying just a house, or just a harv. How many people who seriously need to mine only buy one harvestor? Alot of people buy 4-5 harvestors at least, or a house and furniture, or a couple factories and crafting stations. Since a Harvestor that's BER 13 is 150k, then you are dealing with a much larger amount of cash, even if its maybe only once. But, as I said, many crafters, like a weaponsmith, will carry many types of harvestors for different types of resources(wood, chemicals, gasses, minerals). In order to take advantage of a spawn, they need more harvestors. The same goes for many professions out there. The thing about Architect is that we are the backbone the economy, people need our stuff to make whatever they need. That's power. And frankly, I think decay would be a pain in the ass for many miners out there.
Crimsonsplat
Wed Aug 04, 2004 11:03 am
#18
It's been my experience that people buy in spurts. They've decided to master Doctor, so they drop by and want a factory and 2-4 harvesters. Their city needs some additions, and their guild architect isnt playing much, so they hit me up for several new houses.
Having a *fully* stocked vendor is important.
EnFERn0
Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:57 am
#20
No renewable income of importance. Who cares about lamps anyway?
What's needed is Harvester Decay!
Bandola
Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:28 pm
#21
MY point is simply that we are a one sale only profession. If Guy #1 wants to go combat then he buys armor, weapons, whatever, he doesn't buy 1 piece, he buys a suit, or a variety of weapons. After a while these need replacing, or upgrading, so he goes and buys again, not necessarily from YOU, but then again you can benefit equally from this effect. So, let's imagine we have a reasonably stable player base, as WS or AS you can expect to sell every month or 2 to Guy #1, or an alternative who needs replacement equipment. Stretch this into the future and you have a constant customer base of returning players, all needing during any given cycle to replace their equipment.
Now let's look at Guy #2, be he WS, AS, miner, or whatever. He wants harvesters to mine resources. So he buys 10 mins, 10 gas, 10 chems etc, over a period of time he has his full stock of these, plus his house, his factories, his crafting stations. Now, tell me when he is EVER going to come back to you after that? Oh yeah, we got candles....
WS, AS etc are even getting new crafting opportunities from loot/quests. Oh yeah, we got paintings...
The game is gradually drifting more and more to combat, players are quitting crafting professions to take up combat roles and not many are coming back or moving the opposite way, these same players are selling on their harvesters and structures cheap, this further undermines the Architects economy.
It is a sad fact that Architects have a finite market, once near saturation is reached there will be no market at all for Architect goods.
You can play ostrich and bury your head in the sand to avoid seeing it coming, but it is coming, and once it hits, whether that is in 1 month or 1 year then it is going to be devastating for us.
Salokin
Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:42 am
#22
....anyone think about the vehicles and their constant upkeep...maybe being an master archie for a certain length of time qualifies you to have a structure that repairs all architecture items...same way as vehicles...using the same formula for slow total degradation as in weapons and such...drive in repair...and getting paid for your skill qualifications...that should pay some rent...Salokin
Iannyen
Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:18 am
#23
I think we need aHarvester Efficency decay. Say it decays by 1% efficency per day. Like weapons and armor, we could make maintenance kits, with uses, and sell them for people to use, but the harv can never be repaired to 100% again. Eventually, a BER13 Heavy will be an expensive BER10. Et cetera. It would also help even out the cross server trading, if the harvesters decayed in efficency, eventually, the owners would have to come online to repair them.
Lordartex
Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:44 am
#24
Now see, I disagree with a number of things. I started in SWG last August, and have been an architect for almost the entire time. In that time as an architect, I've made money, found customers who have become friends, and trained countless aspiring architects. It's all of what you make of it.
I have a wonderful repeat business. Some of them for almost a year. People lose harvesters. They go away for a while and didn't maintain them or their houses. They buy houses, harvesters and furniture for guilds, cities, or just as gifts to others. I have vendors on 3 planets on Shadowfire, and offers from Mayors to place vendors in their cities.
I think variety is the key to the future, not decay. That would just make people far more frustrated and not want to craft or mine at all. It would make the game even more combat oriented. Make new structures and furniture and people will gobble them up.
Good customer service will help pick up repeat customers. So will well-stocked vendors and staying in one location for a length of time so people can find you. Giving away something for free every once in a while is a good marketing tool as well. Just a few personal experiences of mine that I hope can help some fellow architects keep their businesses strong.
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