Business And Economy Archive
Thread: New vendor changes coming.
DrClawX
Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:40 pm
#27
O ya not to mention price usally determines how fast or slow you want your stock and items. U can bump up prices a bit to slow sales if overwhelmed. So if the crafters cant keep upthe prices will raise.
Though we may see a factory "fix" in the future where running 100 composite chests is notpossable or even nessasary. There is a crafting change comming so it might fit the new sytems but currently I think they are underestimating of exatly how much crap is gonna be.
I still say raise the cap on the bazzar to a higher lvl like 300-500k and let auctions go to 999999999, this gives everyone a fair chance to sell something. (miners, crafters, looters, etc.) you cant sell anything for 6k on the bazzar. Well anything good. Seems kinda pointless when they can just do this.
25 item cap X 100 people is a potential of 2500 items. Beats 100000 max potential if vendors were included.
As an established armor smith i can basically sell ubese shirts and Auk's on the bazzar.
I could sell mabari and chittin but thats pratically pointless. not to mention i suit is like 7-9 items. If i could put suits of my best armor on the bazzar i would. Id go throw 20 suits up of my best stuff at a compeditive price lvl. every few days. Mabye aution a couple with an ad on it or someting.
Mosdl
Fri Feb 11, 2005 10:54 pm
#28
They just noted on the thread that items won't be fedexed anymore, you have to go pick them up yourself.
Won't this in theory reduce prices?
Won't this in theory reduce prices?
SKLOKAZOID
Sat Feb 12, 2005 9:36 am
#29
I don't like the idea of the item being DIRECTLY sent to the player, because then that takes away the use of visiting stores in cities and the design and craftsmanship a lot of people put into designing their vendors. Now, people won't put as much thought into it because there will be less traffic in player cities/vendor areas. It should have been like the Bazaar system where you buy an item, and it becomes an "Available Item" at that vendor.
However, I am in favor of this mechanism because it was incredibly frustrating as a consumer to drive from place to place to place and find empty vendors. That was time-killing and unecessary. We should know who has what and where. Personally, I feel for the merchants because this could have been implemented better. They could have made it a simple Inventory Search so you knew where to go to find the item you were looking for.
Rurry
Sat Feb 12, 2005 9:43 am
#30
Looking at this initially I am cringing. A long time architect, we historically have undercut ourselves and have one of the slimest marksups in the game (in my experience). With the scale of competition that can come from this, I imagine that that markup will all but dissappear.
To date, a good part of being a successful merchant was location and stock levels. I think what could happen following changes like this is that price becomes the driver. If I run out of stock on something, is anyone but me even going to know? Presently, running out of stock can lose customers as they might not come back. With this it might not matter. Are they even going to look at who made the items, or just look at cost?
For instance, if I was looking for resources I couldn't care less who was selling them - just give me a price. Same with housing etc.
It would seem that merchant "partnerships" where 2+ crafters are working together may be able to control a very large part of a market. If a large crafter is willing to acceppt 2cpu for finished goods, would there really be any draw for new people to enter that market? Kinda how Walmart and Best Buy have come to dominate retail markets and push little guys under.
Windsbreath
Sat Feb 12, 2005 10:33 am
#31
It's been said before, but to add to the letters of dissappointment, here's what I have to say.
About 2 and months ago I mastered Armorsmith. Having had my account since only three or so months after the game went live, it's the first time I've ever held a Master rank in an Artisan profession. Up until now I've done mostly Combat-related stuff, although I spent some time a long time ago as a Ranger (back before there werevehicles...anyone else remember 30 minute runsfrom Mos Espa to the Tusken Fort?), I've been a Master Musician (long time ago too, but also quite recently before AS), and a not-quite-Master Combat Medic.
A few days ago I hit rank IV in all the med exp branches of Doctor (only got 2 boxes of crafting left), figuring that a Master Armorsmith/Doctor template would be of great use to my guild, since I'm a fairly casual player and have lost interest in SWG's method of combat. Being a total newb in the whole elite crafting scheme of things, I've beenenjoying reading the vast quantity of tips and hints out there for young artisans and although my sales are basically zilch, I do have a lot of fun crafting. The satisfaction of finding that mytwo little factories have finally finished a batch of 50 adv. composite segments (after the batch of kinetic and energy layers, of course) and I can finally spend an hour putting together two suits of my not-so-Uber 72% Kin/Bla/Ene/Elec Composite with the aid of my trusty crafting droid Bob, far surpasses the satisfaction of blowing up yet another lair.
I can't even imagine what it's like for those of you who are established Artisans and are about to have to drop your prices through the floor, foundation, water table and bedrock. On the surface, this change would seem like a good one because of how open it makes the economy, but when I understand what it will mean (that I will never be able to sell a suit of my Armor outside of a group of very close friends who will buy mine out of pity - I can't afford to sell my armor cheaply because I just don't have any credits these days with the cost of resources) I'm saddened and dissappointed. SWG has in my opinion the best crafting system of all the MMORPG's I've played, simply because of it's complexity, and Artisans were already shoved aside with the Jedi change (who in their right mind would grind that much crafting exp? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?), so why make it even harder on them? Frankly, the change should be this:
A blanket increase on the quality of all resources; lower maintenance rates on vendors, merchant huts, harvesters and factories; a reduction in the uniqueness of 'enhancement' items (in my mind that means things like Nightsister Segments, but I know that the other professions have their serialized thingies too) so that building a collection of something that is enhanced isn't quite so annoying; and serial numbers displayed on the item like stats are now would be helpful too.
For crying out loud just make it easier on Artisans, PLEASE!! The surveying while mounted thing is unbelievably cool, but understand that my use of such an adjective is relative. It's a tiny little thing but it's super duper because it's the first improvement I've seen in a long time for Artisans.
In short, despite being a new Armorsmith who honestly, truly enjoys the trade, this change has made up my mind and I'm going to replace Master Armorsmith with Master Combat Medic. Doc/CM will be useful to my guild, and I won't have to craft because I am, and will remain (provided they don't go out of business because of this change) doggedly loyal to a small group of vendors I've uncovered who sell quality product at fair prices.
This change only serves combat classes, and it really annoys me that I have to drop Armorsmith. I'm doing it this week so that I will have some credits to hold on to and use for tipping med-center tumblers. Hopefully I will enjoy CM as much as I enjoy Armorsmith and am enjoying Doctor. Medic and Entertainer seems to be the only neutral ground left, which is also sad.
That is, unless you're a Doc or CM who crafts med supplies for a living...
Atirpi Trido,
Master Armorsmith, Doctor, Artisan
Future Master Doctor, Master Combat Medic
About 2 and months ago I mastered Armorsmith. Having had my account since only three or so months after the game went live, it's the first time I've ever held a Master rank in an Artisan profession. Up until now I've done mostly Combat-related stuff, although I spent some time a long time ago as a Ranger (back before there werevehicles...anyone else remember 30 minute runsfrom Mos Espa to the Tusken Fort?), I've been a Master Musician (long time ago too, but also quite recently before AS), and a not-quite-Master Combat Medic.
A few days ago I hit rank IV in all the med exp branches of Doctor (only got 2 boxes of crafting left), figuring that a Master Armorsmith/Doctor template would be of great use to my guild, since I'm a fairly casual player and have lost interest in SWG's method of combat. Being a total newb in the whole elite crafting scheme of things, I've beenenjoying reading the vast quantity of tips and hints out there for young artisans and although my sales are basically zilch, I do have a lot of fun crafting. The satisfaction of finding that mytwo little factories have finally finished a batch of 50 adv. composite segments (after the batch of kinetic and energy layers, of course) and I can finally spend an hour putting together two suits of my not-so-Uber 72% Kin/Bla/Ene/Elec Composite with the aid of my trusty crafting droid Bob, far surpasses the satisfaction of blowing up yet another lair.
I can't even imagine what it's like for those of you who are established Artisans and are about to have to drop your prices through the floor, foundation, water table and bedrock. On the surface, this change would seem like a good one because of how open it makes the economy, but when I understand what it will mean (that I will never be able to sell a suit of my Armor outside of a group of very close friends who will buy mine out of pity - I can't afford to sell my armor cheaply because I just don't have any credits these days with the cost of resources) I'm saddened and dissappointed. SWG has in my opinion the best crafting system of all the MMORPG's I've played, simply because of it's complexity, and Artisans were already shoved aside with the Jedi change (who in their right mind would grind that much crafting exp? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?), so why make it even harder on them? Frankly, the change should be this:
A blanket increase on the quality of all resources; lower maintenance rates on vendors, merchant huts, harvesters and factories; a reduction in the uniqueness of 'enhancement' items (in my mind that means things like Nightsister Segments, but I know that the other professions have their serialized thingies too) so that building a collection of something that is enhanced isn't quite so annoying; and serial numbers displayed on the item like stats are now would be helpful too.
For crying out loud just make it easier on Artisans, PLEASE!! The surveying while mounted thing is unbelievably cool, but understand that my use of such an adjective is relative. It's a tiny little thing but it's super duper because it's the first improvement I've seen in a long time for Artisans.
In short, despite being a new Armorsmith who honestly, truly enjoys the trade, this change has made up my mind and I'm going to replace Master Armorsmith with Master Combat Medic. Doc/CM will be useful to my guild, and I won't have to craft because I am, and will remain (provided they don't go out of business because of this change) doggedly loyal to a small group of vendors I've uncovered who sell quality product at fair prices.
This change only serves combat classes, and it really annoys me that I have to drop Armorsmith. I'm doing it this week so that I will have some credits to hold on to and use for tipping med-center tumblers. Hopefully I will enjoy CM as much as I enjoy Armorsmith and am enjoying Doctor. Medic and Entertainer seems to be the only neutral ground left, which is also sad.
That is, unless you're a Doc or CM who crafts med supplies for a living...
Atirpi Trido,
Master Armorsmith, Doctor, Artisan
Future Master Doctor, Master Combat Medic
Message Edited by Windsbreath on 02-12-2005 12:36 PM
bell1202
Sat Feb 12, 2005 10:35 am
#32
I am stuck in the middle with this. If the Fed-Ex delivery is removed great. The searching of vendors from one terminal should be limited to the planet you are on or at least to the immediate area (say about 1000 to 2000meters radius). Having a galaxy wide search would have the buyer going through too many items on one shot.
I changed km to meters, realized my mistake after the fact.
Message Edited by bell1202 on 02-13-2005 02:15 AM
Jagged-F3l
Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:31 pm
#33
Straker_Atrella wrote:
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/content.jsp?page=Galaxy-wide%20Vendor%20Search
Not sure how I feel about this honestly.
A good location wont matter anymore, and I think it will start some serious price wars. This will be rough on the professions that quality doesn't matter, there will be a lot of undercutting.
A good location? In times of hyperspace travel, landspeeders, and the holonet? I don't think so.
Personally, I think that merchants that want to advertise on a galactic scale should have to pay for it. The EU makes it very clear that holonet costs are quite high. I think this is a great idea that is way overdue, but I think it needs to be balanced by qualifying its use through cost.
Jagged-F3l
Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:34 pm
#34
Kinshi wrote:
Ok please correct me if I read this wrong
items purchased will go directly to the buyers inventory, making it unecessary to travel to the city where the vendor resides?
Im not sure how to interpret this, if it means that if the vendor isnt on my planet do I still have to travel, or what..or do I get the item 'Fed-Ex'ed' to me in all cases?
I certainly hope this is not true because if players no longer have to go to player cities to shop, its going to ruin towns financially by loss of shuttleport fees, and especially with the sales tax still bugged. What so this means that the only people who actually see your shop will be the folks who live in your town?
All that vendor barking will be useless as there will be no one to see them
If this winds up working like the Bazaar terms do now, in terms of the region you are in, then that wont be so bad as some travel will still be required, and you will have extra chances for a visitor to see the other shops in town.
I just hope im wrong about being able to have items insta-delivered anywhere.
No, it will work like public bazaar does. You can go to a public bazaar terminal, click on "Entire Galaxy", find what you're looking for, and purchase it. However, it will only be transferred directly to your inventory if the item was submitted for sale in that city. Likewise, you'll be able to search for items on merchant's private vendors on a galactic scale, but you will still have to go to that vendor to pick it up.
GrupertRHD
Sat Feb 12, 2005 5:41 pm
#35
It will be a good thing, it will reduce wasted time going to places where are empty, or near empty vendors/shops. And it will bring prices down, and frankly, I, and most people could care less about the cry babies that don't want this.
And most people are TIRED of wasting time running around to find just one item. Don't don't like this idea? Tough, live with it and shut up, or move on somewhere else.
And most people are TIRED of wasting time running around to find just one item. Don't don't like this idea? Tough, live with it and shut up, or move on somewhere else.
Windsbreath
Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:07 pm
#36
GrupertRHD wrote:
And it will bring prices down, and frankly, I, and most people could care less about the cry babies that don't want this.
Clearly you're not an Artisan.
This is great for consumers, because it means less credits for you to spend, and that makes things a lot easier on you ; it's bad for Artisans, because if making and selling things is how they gain credits to buy betterresourcesand 'advance' in game, the game just became a lot harder for them.
I agree that with the instant-FedEx gone, this change has gone from insane to simply dangerous. My comments above were a little harsh and I spoke way too soon, but my opinion of this change has not altered much. The comments made by someone (forgive me for not remembering the name) about how it may raise the prices through what to my mind sounds like price fixing is an interesting one with much merit, and still terribly dangerous (although it would be bad for consumers too). I suspect that the change will either have that effect, or the opposite that most people expect where prices plummet, thus shoving smaller, more localizedArtisans out of their professions (which would have a continued, spiraling effect of sending more players into the Combat arena where they'd buyeven more stuff from the established Artisans who can stock hundreds of items and fix prices).
A galaxy-wide bazaar that browses player-shops and lets people buy from any place where there's a terminal is not necessary.
A galaxy-wide listing of vendors, with item counts by category per vendor and waypoints to them, plus a rating system for the owners, would be a much better improvement. A way for consumers to locate vendors that are trulystocked, not just advertised on the map as so, would still have the downside of sending more business to the well-established Artisans and less to the newer or smaller Artisans, but I think it's more sensible.
This is great for consumers, because it means less credits for you to spend, and that makes things a lot easier on you ; it's bad for Artisans, because if making and selling things is how they gain credits to buy betterresourcesand 'advance' in game, the game just became a lot harder for them.
I agree that with the instant-FedEx gone, this change has gone from insane to simply dangerous. My comments above were a little harsh and I spoke way too soon, but my opinion of this change has not altered much. The comments made by someone (forgive me for not remembering the name) about how it may raise the prices through what to my mind sounds like price fixing is an interesting one with much merit, and still terribly dangerous (although it would be bad for consumers too). I suspect that the change will either have that effect, or the opposite that most people expect where prices plummet, thus shoving smaller, more localizedArtisans out of their professions (which would have a continued, spiraling effect of sending more players into the Combat arena where they'd buyeven more stuff from the established Artisans who can stock hundreds of items and fix prices).
A galaxy-wide bazaar that browses player-shops and lets people buy from any place where there's a terminal is not necessary.
A galaxy-wide listing of vendors, with item counts by category per vendor and waypoints to them, plus a rating system for the owners, would be a much better improvement. A way for consumers to locate vendors that are trulystocked, not just advertised on the map as so, would still have the downside of sending more business to the well-established Artisans and less to the newer or smaller Artisans, but I think it's more sensible.
Message Edited by Windsbreath on 02-12-2005 08:14 PM
Bhasayate
Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:18 pm
#37
Windsbreath wrote:
GrupertRHD wrote:
And it will bring prices down, and frankly, I, and most people could care less about the cry babies that don't want this.Clearly you're not an Artisan.
This is great for consumers, because it means less credits for you to spend, and that makes things a lot easier on you ; it's bad for Artisans, because if making and selling things is how they gain credits to buy better resources and 'advance' in game, the game just became a lot harder for them.
I agree that with the instant-FedEx gone, this change has gone from insane to simply dangerous. My comments above were a little harsh and I spoke way too soon, but my opinion of this change has not altered much. The comments made by someone (forgive me for not remembering the name) about how it may raise the prices through what to my mind sounds like price fixing is an interesting one with much merit, and still terribly dangerous (although it would be bad for consumers too). I suspect that the change will either have that effect, or the opposite that most people expect where prices plummet, thus shoving smaller, more localized Artisans out of their professions (which would have a continued, spiraling effect of sending more players into the Combat arena where they'd buy even more stuff from the established Artisans who can stock hundreds of items and fix prices).
A galaxy-wide bazaar that browses player-shops and lets people buy from any place where there's a terminal is not necessary.
A galaxy-wide listing of vendors, with item counts by category per vendor and waypoints to them, plus a rating system for the owners, would be a much better improvement. A way for consumers to locate vendors that are truly stocked, not just advertised on the map as so, would still have the downside of sending more business to the well-established Artisans and less to the newer or smaller Artisans, but I think it's more sensible.Message Edited by Windsbreath on 02-12-2005 08:14 PM
But this idea makes sense. That's why the monkeys didnt think of it.
Phaelyn
Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:54 pm
#38
GrupertRHD wrote:
It will be a good thing, it will reduce wasted time going to places where are empty, or near empty vendors/shops. And it will bring prices down, and frankly, I, and most people could care less about the cry babies that don't want this.
And most people are TIRED of wasting time running around to find just one item. Don't don't like this idea? Tough, live with it and shut up, or move on somewhere else.
Maybe we are all crying. But, hey - Let me offer you a counter proposal.
Let me move to Ahazi. I'll buy the cheapest good weapon I can find, and group up with you. OK, now that we are grouped, i will let you do all the fighting, all the killing, and take all the risks. All *I* will do is have a weapon, since it's required in combat, and just make money & XPfrom the missions you run.
Sound fair? That's the Combat version of what this change will do. If they announce tomorrow that YOU *must* do this, will you accept it? Or will you do as we are now, and cry foul?
You'd be yelling even louder than we are. You'd probably say "Why can Phaelyn get rewards for MY effort, MY kills? This isn't fair, only *I* should get credit for my kills!".. And you'd be right. Just as all of the Crafting community is right in hating THIS idea we have had given to us.
Windsbreath
Sat Feb 12, 2005 7:03 pm
#39
Phaelyn wrote:
I'll buy the cheapest good weapon I can find, and group up with you.
And you'd buy that weapon on the galactic bazaar, right? 
Message Edited by Windsbreath on 02-12-2005 09:03 PM