Development Cycle Archive
Thread: ID#2: Two Changes to Bazaars and Vendors
I also think that capping the vendors is a bad idea.
I sell a ton of different items and they are all on different vendors. Some have 80 items some have over 500. Makes it easier on the customer to find what they are looking for...150 cap jsut means I can't offer as many items and I lose business and run out of stuff faster creating more work for me in the game instead of more fun.
Stupid forums - how can pressing the home key make me post and don even get me started on an edit button!
As an Artisan and a merchant I vote NO to both these proposals. They can only hurt everyone. The cap raisewill drive up cost per unit of everything and I think you'll see the same amount of junk on the bazaar ( the REAL reason for the change being to lower the count by not requiring folks to split resources etc because of the cap) - but it will just cost more.
The limit problem is just plain stupid. Saying that idiots are too dumb to know how to press the next button speaks more to SOE's poor enconomic interface and the 'bolt on' approach rather than an integrated approach they take to the game. Give us a freaking search button. Highlight the NEXT PREVIOUS buttons. Here's a thought - take away the **edit** "all" category and the top level sub-categories displaying all items with in itand FORCEa user to select a category Fix your sorting code that sifts these objects into these categories.
The real issue here is technical. I can live with a short term pain while you fix the database or do whatever you need to do but once it's in, I'm sure we'll never go back. Deal with the database problem and leave the current system as it is. If you want to do something with merchant - write code that checks for empty vendors over a week old and delete those.
Bazaar limit is a good thing.
vendor cap is another question. I'm a architect and i keep the stock I have in my vendor. I use a small house and 150 items isn't just enough for my needs. i could drop down another house but that makes my minig business impossible. How can i find loads of ore with 4 lots? other lots are taken by houses for storage + factory. Let alone stand that my second prof chef will get any resources?
The vendor cap is a good change but you should see the consequences. More lots/item room is necesarry.
Also making the bank system reliable for good quality stuff is a solution. I don't use the item deposit system anymore cuase i already lost 6 BE 13 miners. and for some of us that ain't easy to overcome.
Definitely increase the bazaar price limit, 10k or even 50k would be better still. It would be nice to be able to sell unused weapons when we change profession without needing to spam the spaceports. Crates of spice etc would become available too, and if it's ever fixed, I would love to see pets being traded via the bazaar also.
The vendor item limit I can see only as a short term solution to the problems with the merchant class (who is going to search out a merchant and pay them a cut to use their classy vendors when you can have an ugly box vendor with unlimited item space for so few skill points?). I'm against this change because it will damage the economy in the short-term and create even more problems with empty vendors everywhere (which really should be addressed separately, eg. put a * next to the name of empty vendors so you don't go hiking out to them).
There is no problem with monopolies in this game, the person(s) who got the best resources generally makes the best gear and charges accordingly. There are always dozens of other manufacturers who make slightly inferior goods and sell them substantially cheaper... so where's the monopoly?
Chrowl, Bria
Well, feel free to kill any hope for any crafter out there. The cap on vendors will make it impossible to have well stocked vendors, which is the only thing that keeps shops in the outer regions alive! If I didn't have a lot of things on my vendors, I would not attract one single customer.
Then I would either be forced to master merchant also and die of boredom because I couldn't enjoy a good hunt then (I would be too lousy and useless), or I would have to move to a more populated region, which is out of the question! I live in a city where there are good RP'ers, and I have a lot of friends there both IC and OOC, so I'm not moving anywhere.
But if the devs want to feel free to kill my business and surrender this game completely tothe l33t dewds then fine. Thunderheart, I hope you understand how much havoc you'll be causing before you implement this in the game.
If you want to fix database problems, start by clearing the bazaar of cdefs and half of the generic items out there. They are completely useless anyway.
On Bria (at least), finding well stocked vendors is a nightmare. Well unless you looking for overpriced items, which you can get off the bazaar (anyway).
I do think that the "next items" tab does need addressing, as the resulting content isn't always clear. Is it the same page (item) or a new one, sometimes its hard to tell. Instead of identifying it as Item x of x, can the tab not be simply changed to next page and display page x of x. Also place a (bonded) item number before the description, which can be used for refence (for ease of re-finding an item once you have finished browsing).
Also remove the ALL tab from private vendors, people who go to vendors generally know what they are looking for. In its place simply add a contents summary (e.g. displaying *category*= x items) Capping at 150 is way too low, considering the diversity of some of the trade professions.
Personally I also think that raising the cap on the Bazaar is a bad idea. Greed will set in and everything will simply go up in price. Auction wise, simply remove the cap. Its pointless otherwise and is currtly a joke. I've hardly ever seen an item that has not been at 3k.
I need sleep, so here's my last post:
Hopefully, they'll come up with a better way of doing this. Maybe, as your merchant skill increases, so does your vendors' capacity. Someone else mentioned this, and I think its an awesome idea. Efficiency, right? As your efficiency skill increases, so does your vendors' item capacities. Maybe in 50-item incriments, or something. Eff 1: +50 (200 item cap), Eff 2: +50 (250 item cap) Eff 3: +50 (300 item cap) Eff 4: +50 (350 item cap) Master Merchant: +100 (450 item cap).
Eh? Meh.. I'm just tired lol seems cool enough right now, in my mindstate....
This thread is over 10 pages now..so I dont know if this comment has been or not already.
The cap needs to me much much much higher...if not removed all together. As one poster said, 6k isnt much of a difference. Alot of stuff is not making it to the Bazaar due to cap being so low.
Raise to 10k or higher...or better yet, remove the cap all together.
ShufIrathe wrote:
I would not expect to see large monopolies in the game because there are no barriers to entry for any crafter. The only thing I would expect to see is a large PA or city undercutting a small time crafters prices because they have the man power to harvest vast quantities of resources and thus sell at a loss until the little guy goes out. There are no suppliers that can be bargained with for lower prices ala Wallmart.
I don't think an item cap on a Vendor is going to do much against the large PA types that are probably the ones with the monopolies now. I would think that there are some things that can be done to limit monopolies.
A good point.
A vendor item cap will not affect the larger organizations - they have PLENTY of people to place vendors.
A vendor cap will affect the little guy who can only place a few vendors.
Item cap = advantage for the big guy
Item cap = disadvantage for the little guy
Talk about monopoly!!!
Sl1cerOne wrote:
The cap needs to me much much much higher...if not removed all together. As one poster said, 6k isnt much of a difference. Alot of stuff is not making it to the Bazaar due to cap being so low.
Raise to 10k or higher...or better yet, remove the cap all together.
I suggest allowing player's vendors' inventory to be visible from the global bazaar. (as they were in beta.)
raising the bazaar cap
ehhh don't really matter 6k or 3k.. i'm not gonna stock much there the 20 item limit means i'm refilling it constantly no thanks
150 item limit on a vendor?
do that and I quit. plain and simple..
btw the combat bugs
the BS jedi system
the way jedi's are just straw tigers
and all the other BS things I have to put up with as a master crafter
forget it
i'm out.
Okay - I have to admit, I didn't read the whole thing - 40 Pages are a lot 
, but if you want the database to get smaller why not first go and remove the vendors one shouldn't have. It's still possible to get management IV, place all possible vendors and the lower the skill and keep the vendors. There's still not much useful on the merchant skill, please don't take all meaning away from it...
Imperial_Destroyer wrote:
raising the bazaar cap
ehhh don't really matter 6k or 3k.. i'm not gonna stock much there the 20 item limit means i'm refilling it constantly no thanks
150 item limit on a vendor?
do that and I quit. plain and simple..
btw the combat bugs
the BS jedi system
the way jedi's are just straw tigers
and all the other BS things I have to put up with as a master crafter
forget it
i'm out.
Boo-bye!
/ovation
If you are discontent you shouldn't stick around.