Development Cycle Archive
Thread: Vendor and Stockroom Issues Pt 2
Thunderheart,
I'm going to set aside the issue of compensation for lost materials etc atm, because for the most part I dodged this bullet though lots of people haven't. I want you to consider something:
With the vendor initialization bug, many of the new merchants simply can't run their vendors. So most of the vendors out their now belong to older merchants, who have been crafting longer. With the Holocron Hunt, many former merchants have stopped crafting, and their vendors are currently empty, so those merchants who are being hurt by this generally represent the spirited few that have dedicated themselves to crafting.
They are what drives the in-game economy.
But only a small number of them read the forums.
It isthese players that informed you of this problem, these players that corrected you when you got it wrong. But again, these players on the forums are a MINORITY of those merchants. We have many brothers who have no idea of what is going on, and will be completely WIPED OUT by this bug.
I started spreading the word last night on Ahazi.... 4 or 5 merchant friends that hadn't heard about it. Word of Mouth can only reach so for. You *NEED* to put a warning on the entrance screen where every merchant that logs in can see it... there is no reason not to do so.
Not checking vendor code, and letting a HORRIFIC bug like this go live... was a mistake, and was grossly negligent.
Not warning people about a bug that's been reported and confirmed and could wipe out a merchant before they realize the cause, elevates it from regrettable negligence, to complicity
When you are pulling your items from your vendors DO NOT USE the feature to collect mutliple items at once without carefully checking your inv count first. If you do that the game will delete the items that do not fit in your inventory.
Talk about a one-two punch.
SueDenim wrote:
What Eola said. The thing that surprises me is that the devs don't appear to be treating this as an *emergency* situation, which it clearly is. The existence of the bug itself - well, it's a really bad one, but bugs happen. It's the lack of urgency in the response which confuses and worries me.
Well I've had long time to think over and I realize that this is not a bad thing for SWG from Dev point of view.
For longest time they been looking for way to reduce a database. Right now with this little jewel of bug literally thousands of items are getting deleted every second. Thousands of items that are not likely get replaced by CR nor by dis-heartened player.
Thats a HUGE advantage for Dev to ignore this as long as they can get away with it.
Oh sure if things get out of control and they really start to look bad some one will pop in and say they are really looking into it and this is their #1 issue like Droids are their #1 issue.
Then they will go on and on about just how huge of undertaking this game is and how hard is to track down problem like that but no worries they are on top of it
Then they will say this will really be in next big patch and in fact fix is in test server why don't we go there and test it out.
Then like day before the big patch they will say they understand how important this issue is so they will hot fix it just because they care.
Angry? me?
Noooooo.....!!!!!!!!
IlyaMasool wrote:
SueDenim wrote:
What Eola said. The thing that surprises me is that the devs don't appear to be treating this as an *emergency* situation, which it clearly is. The existence of the bug itself - well, it's a really bad one, but bugs happen. It's the lack of urgency in the response which confuses and worries me.
Well I've had long time to think over and I realize that this is not a bad thing for SWG from Dev point of view.
For longest time they been looking for way to reduce a database. Right now with this little jewel of bug literally thousands of items are getting deleted every second. Thousands of items that are not likely get replaced by CR nor by dis-heartened player.
Thats a HUGE advantage for Dev to ignore this as long as they can get away with it.
Oh sure if things get out of control and they really start to look bad some one will pop in and say they are really looking into it and this is their #1 issue like Droids are their #1 issue.
Then they will go on and on about just how huge of undertaking this game is and how hard is to track down problem like that but no worries they are on top of it
Then they will say this will really be in next big patch and in fact fix is in test server why don't we go there and test it out.
Then like day before the big patch they will say they understand how important this issue is so they will hot fix it just because they care.
Angry? me?
Noooooo.....!!!!!!!!
Not only does it lighten the database, but think of the money sink this is. Literally billions of credits of materials and products are just being deleted across all venders on all systems an all severs! The devs have said time and again they need more money sinks, well this surly fits the bill. As usual, it the merchants and crafters that pay for it.
If I ever restock my venders in the future, I am going to double my prices and cut my inventories. People want to buy from me - fine, if not then I don't give a crap. I am tired of working for weeks collecting rare and HQ resources and spending weeks more mass producing quality products just so a SOE bug can come along and screw me.
What about compensation for lost items?
You guys have been far too slow to respond to this, and still far too quiet about the gravity of the situation and plan to placate those of us who have lost all our hard work and credits.
This is poor communication at best.
First off I'm not a crafter. I dont generate the type of income some of you may get. This issue goes beyond just crafters though.
I have ZERO Vendors in my house. I have the house almost completly full of items. ALL THE ITEMS GONE. Sent in a response and got that only deeds and resources can be replaced. **edit** is that. I am now scared to **edit** to store anything in my house which means i have to be real selective on what i want to keep. This sucks. I have a few rare items that if they dissappeared i would be extremely p'd off. Ohh and best part is there is decay even with insurance so I cant use my character's storage for valuable armor and weapons that im not using. GRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
DON'T GET UPSET - This happens to merchants for real!
Guys, this is like running a shop in real-life, trust me!
Losing stock is part of any normal merchants life - even the big boys like Wallmart lose at least 5% of their stock each year through theft - mainly from staff.
Just imagine that your vendors sold it to their mates on the cheap and pocketed the proceeds! 
Do what they do - just bump the prices up a litte 
Havoclord wrote:DON'T GET UPSET - This happens to merchants for real!
Guys, this is like running a shop in real-life, trust me!
Losing stock is part of any normal merchants life - even the big boys like Wallmart lose at least 5% of their stock each year through theft - mainly from staff.
Just imagine that your vendors sold it to their mates on the cheap and pocketed the proceeds!
Do what they do - just bump the prices up a litte
If it really was only 5% of my stock, I could handle that and do as you said - bump up the prices. But 85 items out of a total of 197 (43%) is a tad bit more than 5%! All stores would go out of business if that happened to them and virtual SWG venders are no different.