Architect Archive

Ithought as time went on and more and more architects joined the ranks, prices would go down. So far I have found the opposite to be true.

In the first couple of weeks it was hard to get 3 per resource. Our server had 2 Master Architects in the first week that were power leveled by their guilds and had lots of walls in stock to get rid of. Soon after harvesters started needing maintenance and power I was able to up my prices to 4 per without any trouble.

I am now a Master Architect and am starting to raise my prices a little at a time. I have plenty of customers, but am short resources. Right now I am waiting on harvesters to build guildhalls at far more than 4 per. Why should I let medium and large houses eat up my resources at 4 per? I don't want to stop making them and alienate a loyal customer base and their friends, but at the same time turning away new customers who want guildhalls because of a lack of resources is even worse.

My goal is to have crates of Walls, Generators, Modules, etc in stock so when someone asks for something I can build it on the spot and not stick them in a queue for days or even weeks. I have gained a great reputation as an Architect not because I am the cheapest, but because I can fill the orders quickly. I want to improve on that and eliminate the wait making large structures on the spot. I will continue to raise my price until I reach that equilibrium where my supply and demand matches.

Back to my main point on why prices are increasing:

1. Harvesters need Maintenance and Power now.

2. As Architects become Masters there in no longer an incentive to sell cheap and level fast.

3. When people figure out how much work and game time harvesters take up, they start increasing their prices.

4. The cheapest architect will always be out of resources, with too long a queue and is no longer a factor.

5. Most important of all, people have much more money as time goes on and can afford it.

Those last 2 points far outweigh the other points. There are lots of players with over a million credits in the bank. Are they going to buy a large house from someone else because they are 50k cheaper and wait 2 weeks when I can make it on the spot? If they are making more than that in a day, why wait?

Wilx Of Soulfire

heh, I have been trying to do the same thing, stock pile some components for use when the orders come in. Problem is everytime I feel good cause I have a couple crates of walls, or generators, they get eaten by a flood of orders and leaves my stores empty again. It has almost become common practice for me to set my factory up to crank out 200 structure modules before logging for the night.My time, resources, failures and availability have always been considered in my pricing. If I cant get what I feel is fair for all my hard work then it can collect dust on my vendor for awhile. I decided to stick to my guns early on in my career, and as I look back now, I havent had a problem either. In fact I can think of a few instances where I threw ahigh price at someone just because I really didnt have time and wanted to go to bed, figuring there is no way they will pay that, and then end up with the order anyways. Don't get me wrong, I value my customers greatly and work very hard to see that they are pleased with their product and overall happy with their purchase. In one instance, My wife and I planned to go hunting on Corellia together with our kids, (4 accounts, jeez what a sucker I must be to SOE) I decided to stop by Tat and buy everyone new weapons, in the process of our purchases,I was spotted, asked what my price would for 50 crated items. Well I pounded on the calculator for a minute or two and figured it out, then added a nice bonus into it thinking I was just being led on. The response was "when can I have them?". To make a long story short, my wife (a Master Tailor herself) said I couldnt refuse to take such an order and sent me back to Naboo. My point is, time is a very valuable commodity that many dont consider when determining a price, although, many of us here are adults, many of us business professionals ourselves, and should understand that. If you give it away, or you give it away to cheap, will go out of business. I dont care if your solo, or backed by the biggest PA around. Even the big PA's wont finance a crafter forever. Believe it or not, regardless of what everyone may think or what you have been told, deep down that PA is making an investment in you, and will be looking in your direction someday for some backing itself. Think about it, as you combat types gain their own levels and reach their master's, how much desire will they have to keep running destroy missions to keep their architect, or any other crafter for that matter, afloat? Sorry got off subject, but anyways, it is my impression that we are feeling the economy beginning to stabalize. It will be interesting to see if it holds stong in the months to come.

You're right. People grind out stuff to level and they sell it (other professions destroy stuff, how many muzzles did you destroy? or survey tools?).

While they're doing that they need some cash, any cash, for what they crank out. Later it's worn out and you get sensible prices.