Business And Economy Archive

Message Edited by AschMhaRhee on 08-24-2005 04:00 PM

Message Edited by CorenLanra on 08-24-2005 04:51 PM

unfortunately, not doing the math on the long term effects on the economy has been a hallmark of many changes we have seen. but this is going to be devastating long term

i'm guessing the idea is to give newer crafters a fair shake but what it really means is that all that matters to a crafter in terms of competition is name only. and the way you gain a name for yourself nowis, in large part, time and customers knowing that that means you have the resources to give better products

it actually makes the entry for newer crafters harder...people will still go to the older crafters out of habit...there is simply no reason to go anywhere else as long as vendors are stocked if its all the same.

the only way newer crafters will make it in is by advertising (aka spamming...fabulous) or by having many veterans quit all at once. which might happen since there isn't much incentive to craft if you can't excel at it. there's more money in looting.

the only possible way to excel now is ... hmm. customer service on made to order stuff. thats it. and most people don't bother with that unless they have loot drops. that covers what...weapons, slicing, RIS armor...can't think of anything else.

prices will go down, as in my opinion is a good thing.

You guys say we go after the quality crafters, but we really go to the crafter that has quality to a affordable price. Well, most normal players that is, jedi and the rich, can pretty much afford to fork over a few mills in armor every week, or the same for a weapon...

This will increase the availability of quality goods, that will force prices down among those that are overpriced now, wich is quite a few crafters out there

Today, I see many of the "well known respected crafters" on the servers I play, sell armors for a mill, or a FWG5 for 300k, because they made it rather dang good, but a quick check, and I find a suit of comparable but perhaps a few points lessarmor for 500k and a FWG5 with close to same stats with perhaps 0.2 more speed, for 30k, at some crafters who never got a name for themselves.

Who do I go to? Who would people go to? habit says go to the guy you know, but I go with my wallet.

A good change if you ask me, more quality goods, is good. And if you fear for loosing your clientelle, perhaps you should consider your prices and the services you offer, as it's clearly only your resource quality your customers liked...

And thus, we go to the ones offering the best services?

Most armorsmiths today, don't take orders, or so I've experienced(tale further down). they churn out set after set like they feel they are good, in colors they like, or colors that are their kinda "trademark", and puts a pricetag on it. the only service they offer, is that you are allowed to shop at their vendors.

Thats bad, when most of those, are the ones with the quality goods and pricey goods.

So as I said, more access to quality goods, will improve the services offered. Your name will be known because of your services. And I know by experience, from the first months of this game, where resources were lacking, and almost all sets of armors had close to the same stats, that it was the ones offering good service, that got a gathering of customers.

Read the tales below, and know, that there are alot of weapoinsmiths and armorsmiths like that. Ones with great resources, but zip service. There is barely no competition among the "best", as they have all the resources they need, and can afford to pretty much hoard the good resources, not letting less fortunate crafters get much of it.

This change, will allow more to reach good qualities, thus increase the competition, lower the prices and increase the services offered.

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Giamai wrote:

unfortunately, not doing the math on the long term effects on the economy has been a hallmark of many changes we have seen. but this is going to be devastating long term

i'm guessing the idea is to give newer crafters a fair shake but what it really means is that all that matters to a crafter in terms of competition is name only. and the way you gain a name for yourself nowis, in large part, time and customers knowing that that means you have the resources to give better products

it actually makes the entry for newer crafters harder...people will still go to the older crafters out of habit...there is simply no reason to go anywhere else as long as vendors are stocked if its all the same.

the only way newer crafters will make it in is by advertising (aka spamming...fabulous) or by having many veterans quit all at once. which might happen since there isn't much incentive to craft if you can't excel at it. there's more money in looting.

the only possible way to excel now is ... hmm. customer service on made to order stuff. thats it. and most people don't bother with that unless they have loot drops. that covers what...weapons, slicing, RIS armor...can't think of anything else.

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You hit the nail on the head, my friend.

This is yet another chicken little thread about the impending destruction of the SWG economy. Everytime something changes, the system is supposed to come crashing down. Yet somehow, (virtual) life seems to go on. Armorsmiths are still making armor, WS are still making weapons, and SW are still building ships; maybe not as many crafters as before, but certainly enough to fill the void. This in spite of all of the predictions of dire consequences from the CU and the changes to the various crafting profs. Too bad the no longer seem to teach basic econonmics in high school anymore. Business in RL and in this game has always been about more than who has the best resources. It's a combination of things and so far at least there have been no changes that couln't be compensated for by the crafter/merchant simply shifting their emphasis. All products are the same; well do something that make YOUR business stand out. It works; I've done it myself. Personalized service is one thing. Taking every custom job no matter from who and no matter how small is another. Helping peeps and giving out free stuff is another. Keeping a well stocked vendor is HUGE. I've only been in game for about 6 months but my SW business successfully competes with the best on the server. This includes quality. I just had to put in the extra effort to gain a comparable level of quality and stand out by being known as the go to toon for anything youi could need. I advertise, but mostly my customers spread the word for me. So far, I've made millions. I'm not the cheapest, but my prices are fair and I'm always willing to make a deal. If you've got something to trade, or are will to do something for me that I can't do, then we can do business even if you don't have the credits for the things you want. So far, this has worked well.

Personally, I'm glad ents finally have something of value they can make money from. It's not quite the way I would have done it, but at least the dev team threw them a bone after hosing them for so long.

So bottom line, there will be no negative impact on the economy from this change.

If crafting isnt fun or challenging, the number of crafters is going to start to dwindle again. Our galaxy lost over half of its crafters after the CU. The productive crafters on our server are wanting to craft less and less and prices are climbing as a result. The 10% makes more and more of those few crafters that we have left less interested in spending the many many hours to craft items that will be the same old stuff people can get anywhere else. If you take the fun out of it, people won't want to do it and thus quality and availablilty will drop and prices will go up.

In our galaxy, the people who are screaming the most are the dedicated crafters who really take pride in thier craft. The one whois cheering for it the most is the guy with 17+ chars that all have bank accounts at tilt that churns out everything in mass and rakes in all the credits in the galaxy. The fact that this guy is cheering for it, tells me that it is a very very bad idea to institute the full 10%. It tells me that the monopoly will get richer and the people will lose the variety that they have come to enjoy in the galaxy. Having a bonus isnt a bad thing.. having it as high as 10% is. 1-3% is plenty to help people but the 10% is destructive in its nature.