Business And Economy Archive
Thread: DEV thinking equates LOOT to MERCHANTS and High Prices.
Lord_Pall: I love price elasticity.
Lord_Pall: Prices dropping are the bane of a lot of merchants, but for average players it's a great thing.
Lord_Pall: Having items be more affordable across the board is not a negative in my view
Phaelyn wrote:
From the Stratics HoC Chat:
Brannoc: *[WH]-Banana-SillyWalker* What is the opinion of the Development Team on reducing the Demand for Jedi Power Crystals and Pearls, by making them easy to collect this will therefore make the markets elasticity to change and therefore bring down prices for low level Jedi ?
Lord_Pall: I love price elasticity.
Lord_Pall: Prices dropping are the bane of a lot of merchants, but for average players it's a great thing.
Lord_Pall: Having items be more affordable across the board is not a negative in my view
This seems to be the crux of our Dev team's vision for the economy of SWG - Make it great for the "average" player. And as we see from all of our discussions on the Forum, we all tend to agree - Prices SHOULD reflect our customer's ability to afford the EVERYDAY items they need - But look at the question above.. REALLY look at it, and there is something VERY wrong with what at least Lord_Pall as a developer assumes to be a problem.
He blames MERCHANTS for LOOT costs. And that's why we have mechanics going in game now to minimize the Merchant class. NOT because Chef foods or Armors are too high - Look again at the question and answer. Player asks about high LOOT item prices, and then a Dev says prices dropping are the bane of OUR existence.
The completely UN funny thing about it is that MERCHANTS aren't the ones out looting, and selling high end Loots via the Trade Forums.
Proving my point. They established the supply and demand for these loots and seemingly have not a clue that they did it. They have no fundamental understanding of how the professions flesh out, based upon statements of this ilk.
Fivo Asia
Scudder wrote:
As someone pointed out to me in your earlier thread... a merchant is anyone who sells anything... it's not JUST a profession in this game. So yes, merchants ARE out looting and prices of loot DOES affect merchants.
a game full of crafters/merchants doesn't make for a really fun game, and I would make a very generalized bet that the number of people who only want to play the game for the crafting/merchant mechanics is a very small number. Two things drive people to craft, money or equip for an alt box/profession, and name exposure. I can't imagine that there are a ton of people out there that actually love the process of crafting.
My point is this. The game can't be viable and survive on crafting alone, and people who adventure really don't like the when they have to watch their coin/credit count go down, so my basic premise is this. People who adventure would just as soon not have to deal with buying things. They want their armor/weapons/equipment to get better and at the same time, they want their coun count to always go up.
As much as merchants/crafters don't like it cheap prices are good for a long term viable game environment, which is in everyone's interest.
Flame on.
Elurin wrote:
I don't want to minimize merchants and crafters, and I do know that I will get a lot of flames for this. so I've put on my special fire resistant pantaloons.
a game full of crafters/merchants doesn't make for a really fun game, and I would make a very generalized bet that the number of people who only want to play the game for the crafting/merchant mechanics is a very small number. Two things drive people to craft, money or equip for an alt box/profession, and name exposure. I can't imagine that there are a ton of people out there that actually love the process of crafting.
My point is this. The game can't be viable and survive on crafting alone, and people who adventure really don't like the when they have to watch their coin/credit count go down, so my basic premise is this. People who adventure would just as soon not have to deal with buying things. They want their armor/weapons/equipment to get better and at the same time, they want their coun count to always go up.
As much as merchants/crafters don't like it cheap prices are good for a long term viable game environment, which is in everyone's interest.
Flame on.
Elurin wrote:
I don't want to minimize merchants and crafters, and I do know that I will get a lot of flames for this. so I've put on my special fire resistant pantaloons.
a game full of crafters/merchants doesn't make for a really fun game, and I would make a very generalized bet that the number of people who only want to play the game for the crafting/merchant mechanics is a very small number. Two things drive people to craft, money or equip for an alt box/profession, and name exposure. I can't imagine that there are a ton of people out there that actually love the process of crafting.
I'm willing to bet that you are wrong. Wait till it's on Live. Go to a Bazaar terminal, and select the Miscellaneous under Galaxy Vendor. Then come back here and tell us how many pages there are. If it's less than 50, I'll be utterly amazed.
My point is this. The game can't be viable and survive on crafting alone, and people who adventure really don't like the when they have to watch their coin/credit count go down, so my basic premise is this. People who adventure would just as soon not have to deal with buying things. They want their armor/weapons/equipment to get better and at the same time, they want their coun count to always go up.
They will still be watching their coins getting lower and not higher. Purchasing causes their account to go down, no matter if a VK costs 6k or 600k. Unless they eliminate crafting entirely, people will still have to be buying things.
As much as merchants/crafters don't like it cheap prices are good for a long term viable game environment, which is in everyone's interest.
Flame on.
EdOWar wrote:
Elurin wrote:
I don't want to minimize merchants and crafters, and I do know that I will get a lot of flames for this. so I've put on my special fire resistant pantaloons.
a game full of crafters/merchants doesn't make for a really fun game, and I would make a very generalized bet that the number of people who only want to play the game for the crafting/merchant mechanics is a very small number. Two things drive people to craft, money or equip for an alt box/profession, and name exposure. I can't imagine that there are a ton of people out there that actually love the process of crafting.
My point is this. The game can't be viable and survive on crafting alone, and people who adventure really don't like the when they have to watch their coin/credit count go down, so my basic premise is this. People who adventure would just as soon not have to deal with buying things. They want their armor/weapons/equipment to get better and at the same time, they want their coun count to always go up.
As much as merchants/crafters don't like it cheap prices are good for a long term viable game environment, which is in everyone's interest.
Flame on.So, combat characters get to be rich, but crafters don't? Crafters have subsidize everyone else's fun in the game? Fuk that. Combat characters have plenty of ways to make good coin. It's not my problem if they are too dumb or lazy to figure it out.If I work my ass off to make a high quality item that people want, you can bet I'm going to try to get as much as I can for it. I'm not anyone else's crafting slave.Crafting is what keeps me in SWG...not combat. If combat is all I cared about, I'd be playing WoW (oh god, what a crappy game that is for crafters) or team-based shooters. I put more effort into what I do than any combat character puts into what they do, so I think I deserve a decent reward for my efforts.Slim Vargo, Corbantis
Yes, that was what I said. Fully knowing that merchants/crafters wouldn't like it. Do you remember the merchant/crafter focus of the movies? I missed that part. Star Wars is about war and power and adventure..
Like I said.. combat classes would just as soon not have to buy anything... ask anyone.. ask yourself.. if it is a good value you don't mind too much, if it is free it is wonderful (as a combat class) if you could loot the best weapon in the game.. as a combat class, you're perfectly ok with it.
Elurin wrote: I don't want to minimize merchants and crafters, and I do know that I will get a lot of flames for this. so I've put on my special fire resistant pantaloons. a game full of crafters/merchants doesn't make for a really fun game, and I would make a very generalized bet that the number of people who only want to play the game for the crafting/merchant mechanics is a very small number. Two things drive people to craft, money or equip for an alt box/profession, and name exposure. I can't imagine that there are a ton of people out there that actually love the process of crafting.
One-third of my toons are crafters, mate. The rest are very young padawans or combat templates designed for specific activities in-game, the least of which is PVP. The THIRD thing that drives people to crafting is the lack of goods available. When hologrinding hit Tempest hard we lost at least half of the active crafters on the server, and a much higher percentage of the outstanding crafters. Finding a buff, at one point, was almost impossible and locating an armorsmith or tailor just wasn't happening. I can easily name 50 players on Tempest, today, that like/love crafting because of the challenge involved in making the best goods in their fields. I appreciate your perspective, above, but disagree that the crafter/merchant community isn't having fun.
My point is this. The game can't be viable and survive on crafting alone, and people who adventure really don't like the when they have to watch their coin/credit count go down, so my basic premise is this. People who adventure would just as soon not have to deal with buying things. They want their armor/weapons/equipment to get better and at the same time, they want their coun count to always go up. As much as merchants/crafters don't like it cheap prices are good for a long term viable game environment, which is in everyone's interest. Flame on.
Are you advocating deletion of crafters from the game? I'm really not sure from you comments.
But, if you think that some dev's AI NPC vendor is going to give a crap about fulfilling your needs,whatever they might be, it's not going to happen even if all crafting disappears.
How many pistol specials are still broke?
Fivo Asia
EdOWar wrote:
I'm not anyone else's crafting slave.
EdOWar wrote:
Crafting is what keeps me in SWG...
So wait, you charge because you don't like having to craft for other people, but crafting for other people is what keeps you in SWG?
How many pistol specials are still broke?
Pistol Melee Defense 2
Message Edited by Cutedge on 03-17-2005 12:09 PM
Elurin wrote:
EdOWar wrote:
Elurin wrote:
I don't want to minimize merchants and crafters, and I do know that I will get a lot of flames for this. so I've put on my special fire resistant pantaloons.
a game full of crafters/merchants doesn't make for a really fun game, and I would make a very generalized bet that the number of people who only want to play the game for the crafting/merchant mechanics is a very small number. Two things drive people to craft, money or equip for an alt box/profession, and name exposure. I can't imagine that there are a ton of people out there that actually love the process of crafting.
My point is this. The game can't be viable and survive on crafting alone, and people who adventure really don't like the when they have to watch their coin/credit count go down, so my basic premise is this. People who adventure would just as soon not have to deal with buying things. They want their armor/weapons/equipment to get better and at the same time, they want their coun count to always go up.
As much as merchants/crafters don't like it cheap prices are good for a long term viable game environment, which is in everyone's interest.
Flame on.
So, combat characters get to be rich, but crafters don't? Crafters have subsidize everyone else's fun in the game? Fuk that. Combat characters have plenty of ways to make good coin. It's not my problem if they are too dumb or lazy to figure it out.
If I work my ass off to make a high quality item that people want, you can bet I'm going to try to get as much as I can for it. I'm not anyone else's crafting slave.
Crafting is what keeps me in SWG...not combat. If combat is all I cared about, I'd be playing WoW (oh god, what a crappy game that is for crafters) or team-based shooters. I put more effort into what I do than any combat character puts into what they do, so I think I deserve a decent reward for my efforts.
Slim Vargo, Corbantis
Yes, that was what I said. Fully knowing that merchants/crafters wouldn't like it. Do you remember the merchant/crafter focus of the movies? I missed that part. Star Wars is about war and power and adventure..
OK - Let's use your reasoning. What we DID see in Star Wars was a Rebellion that was actively POOR and UNDER FUNDED using makeshift items. So, does this mean since we are using Star Wars as your argument, we can make it so Imperials ONLY can be rich and well equipped for FREE as individuals, because the Empire supplied them, and that Rebels MUST be poor, and are limited to very low level weapons and armor because the Rebellion didn't have the credits??
Like I said.. combat classes would just as soon not have to buy anything... ask anyone.. ask yourself.. if it is a good value you don't mind too much, if it is free it is wonderful (as a combat class) if you could loot the best weapon in the game.. as a combat class, you're perfectly ok with it.