Architect Archive
Thread: It just cracks me up...
Nobody will pay that much for a house when people are selling them that low. That is what we are trying to stop. It is ridiculous that armor can sell for so much more than a house. There are those out there that are undercutting the guys who are trying to sell their houses cheaper.
Yes,structures take many more resources than armor and weapons. But there are other factors that make houses cheaper than other crafted items.
1. Structures are all the same. A few disagree, but a house is a house is a house. Same with factories and harvesters. Doesn't matter who made it or what materials they used. The only way Architects can compete against each other is price, which results in lower prices.
2. Resources. With a few exceptions, Architects can use just about any Ore and Metals to make structures. Weaponsmiths and Armorsmiths need specific resources, which raises the cost of their resources (whether they buy it from other players or travel to other planets to collect it).
3. Usefulness. Houses simply aren't that useful to most players, the majority of whom are blaster-monkeys. Other than a drop-off point for items, most players don't NEED a house to master their combat professions. But they certainly NEED armor and weapons.
It's all about supply and demand. Weapons, armor and other combat related equipment (like pets, droids, meds, skill enhancements, etc.) will be in a big demand relative to houses. You don't need a house to operate in this game, unless you are a vendor. But if you want to do good in PvP, you do need the best weapons and armor you can find.
I've read a lot of people saying they need to form some kind of cartel to control housing prices, but artificially inflating house prices isn't going to work as long as there is: 1) Low demand for houses and 2) So many architects in the game. Some other architect will always try to low bidyou if you try to form a cartel. It happens in OPEC all the time. 
As for house/structure decay, that is what maintenance costs are for, to prevent decay and upkeep the structures. Forcing some kind of irreversible decay on people may be good business for architects, but it would suck for everyone else. Imagine spending 100K on a Fusion Generator, then watch it slowly decay and not be able to stop it, knowing you would have to spend another 100K eventually. That would really suck. Most people wouldn't even bother to buy houses then because they know it would just disappear in a while, no matter what they did.
The best thing for the architecture profession is probably for there to be fewer architects. This will probably happen eventually anyways, as players get fed up with the hassles of being an architect and either switch professions or quit the game.
Well, another 2-creds worth from me.
Slim Vargo, Corbantis, Mos Eisley