Development Cycle Archive
Thread: In-Test: Merchant Vendor Changes Part 2
ThalDev
Tue Aug 17, 2004 5:52 pm
#92
TH & SOE: Congratulations on turning one of the most despised nerfs into something a great many of us will instead consider an upgrade.
Mike: Well, you've earned yourself nothing less than a small cult following, particularly among the merchants. The aggregate limits were the masterstroke that many of us will remember you for.
Merchants: Congratulations my brethren, we survived the disaster.
Exploiters:
If I hear -one- more person complain about not being able to do everything at once I just might go into a frenzy. NO ONE besides your fellow exploiters feels sorry for you. No seriously, no one does. Why? Because we accepted the way the game was intended to be played early on, while you decided to cheat. So keep your petty, arrogant, selfish and greedy whining to yourselves. No one besides you ever expected by be every template at once.
You've all exploited the intended way of using the Merchant class, effectively gaining an edge over those of us who choose not to exploit. Each and every one of you knew deep down that this wasn't the intended plan, but you still went on doing it. Unfortunately it lasted long enough to have some of you surprised that it's being fixed. Get over it, seriously. Ether pickup the skills you so easily dismissed back when, or seek out someone who actually -cares- about being a Merchant and work with them.
There's a lot of merchants out there who are eager to cut into your profits.. er.. I mean, -assist- you in distributing your products. Locate them and let them use you.. Err, use them. This is how the market was -meant- to function.
And lastly... Welcome to the new economy. It's a strange new world for many, but I think you'll find your place in it sooner than later.
Yours truly,
V'Tal Fion.
Master Tailor & Merchant
Minister of Cultural Affairs
Da'Vinci City, Tatooine
Mike: Well, you've earned yourself nothing less than a small cult following, particularly among the merchants. The aggregate limits were the masterstroke that many of us will remember you for.
Merchants: Congratulations my brethren, we survived the disaster.
Exploiters:
If I hear -one- more person complain about not being able to do everything at once I just might go into a frenzy. NO ONE besides your fellow exploiters feels sorry for you. No seriously, no one does. Why? Because we accepted the way the game was intended to be played early on, while you decided to cheat. So keep your petty, arrogant, selfish and greedy whining to yourselves. No one besides you ever expected by be every template at once.
You've all exploited the intended way of using the Merchant class, effectively gaining an edge over those of us who choose not to exploit. Each and every one of you knew deep down that this wasn't the intended plan, but you still went on doing it. Unfortunately it lasted long enough to have some of you surprised that it's being fixed. Get over it, seriously. Ether pickup the skills you so easily dismissed back when, or seek out someone who actually -cares- about being a Merchant and work with them.
There's a lot of merchants out there who are eager to cut into your profits.. er.. I mean, -assist- you in distributing your products. Locate them and let them use you.. Err, use them. This is how the market was -meant- to function.
And lastly... Welcome to the new economy. It's a strange new world for many, but I think you'll find your place in it sooner than later.
Yours truly,
V'Tal Fion.
Master Tailor & Merchant
Minister of Cultural Affairs
Da'Vinci City, Tatooine
Houdani
Tue Aug 17, 2004 5:54 pm
#93
Question: Do you actually have to place additional vendors to get the extra space, or will the capacity of any particular vendor only go up when additional vendors are placed?
I.E. Will a Master Merchant who only has one vendor get the full 4,000 spots?
H.
Moepple
Tue Aug 17, 2004 5:55 pm
#94
Houdani wrote:
Question: Do you actually have to place additional vendors to get the extra space, or will the capacity of any particular vendor only go up when additional vendors are placed?
I.E. Will a Master Merchant who only has one vendor get the full 4,000 spots?
H.
Yes.
Wolfbane9999
Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:02 pm
#95
Still,this isvery unfair to merchants selling low price high volume.It would helpto list all items of the same type on one line with a quantity field, and introduce a price/quantity ratio that will limit the number of total items. The single lineper item type makes everything much easier for buyers and sellers and saves space in the database. The ratio is much fairer yet provides good protection from abusers.
For example 4000 itemsfor themax isgiven. Say the price of vendor items in the game for 2 standard deviations from the mean falls within 50k. The total value of items a merchant canhave might be50k x 4000 or 200M.The number of listings would be derived from the total value of a vendor's items. It's more realistic to balance on value of items rather than number of items.
For the non statistics lovers 2 standard deviations from the mean means more than 97% of player fall within the break. This scheme attacks the top 3 or so percent of vendor users and does not penalize those who do a volume and low price business. It's easily adjustable too.
Message Edited by Wolfbane9999 on 08-17-2004 06:06 PM
Message Edited by Wolfbane9999 on 08-17-2004 07:21 PM
Khristen
Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:02 pm
#96
DustusNavar wrote:
Great news, TH. Give our thanks to Mike.
Now, if you want to really hit a home run, add the equivalent of Business III or Business IV to Master Doctor and Master Combat Medic and you'll hear no end to our praises.
Ummmmm why? I'm not real sure I understand this one. Doctors and Medics work in hospitals. Why do they need to be merchants and have vendors? Vendors are for selling things, not for storage.
Edit: Yea!! I got a visit from the one-star bandit for asking a legitimate question!! I feel so special now. 
Message Edited by Khristen on 08-17-2004 06:18 PM
SeaRaptor
Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:09 pm
#97
BEST THREAD EVER.
Thanks TH, and thanks Mike. Yousa guys are da bombad! 
Kijyata
Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:16 pm
#98
Ok, a few things. Those of you worried that you're going to lose items when your vendors poof after this goes live, try getting rid of your vendors now so you don't have to worry about it.
Those complaining other classes should get vendors, suck it up. It might be nice, but if you want that option, then take some artisan to get it. Seems like a simple enough solution to me. That, or sell to a merchant for reselling.
Those complaining other classes should get vendors, suck it up. It might be nice, but if you want that option, then take some artisan to get it. Seems like a simple enough solution to me. That, or sell to a merchant for reselling.
Drummerboychris
Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:30 pm
#100
NiBorg wrote:
THANK YOU for resolving that! Now I can live with the nerf much better.
1 question still remains in my mind, how are "back packed" items looked at? IE: 9 piece suit of composite in a pack on the vendor? Is it seen as 1 item or 10?
Either way, much happier with the newer information.
ditto.. backpacks 10 or 1?
tremorlaine
Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:32 pm
#101
Word from test center is that a backpack of50 items still counts as 1 item.
Iannyen
Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:39 pm
#103
Hats off to you all. I'm pleased to see that the response was forthright, and its obvious that the community was listened to as a whole.
I couldn't ask for more.
Nouveau
Tue Aug 17, 2004 6:41 pm
#104
I still don't see what everyone is /cheering and /applauding TH and "Mike" for in this thread. This is still too low for most merchants who run a thriving business and "throwing us bones" like 300 items per vendor yesterday, and now "aggregate" limits that only amount to another 1000 items is preposterous.
People, that stillbreaks down to 333 items if you have all 12 vendors up!
And let's not get onto the number if all 6 are fully stocked... (or wait, coincidence? )
)This is not the kind of limit I should have imposed on being MASTER Merchant. If we're using those 63 sp's for this profession we should be MASTERS of Merchant skills and be able to have MUCH larger 'shelves' and 'stockrooms'. Real world example? Walmart (ok poor example, but stick with me on this) isperhapsarguably MASTER at Merchant, they don't really MAKE anything, yet they are a multi-billion dollar company with lots of shelves and stockrooms. How big could Walmart be if they were limited to only stocking 4000 separate items at 12 locations? 333 item per location would fill what DEPARTMENT? More than likely, MAYBE only seasonal and that's assuming they have 333 separate items for sale which isn't alot when that season is Christmas.
I still firmly believe that for our investment in the profession (especially at Master) we need to have something on the magnitude of 1000s of items PER vendor with an aggregate somewhere above 12000 total.
More than my 2cr, but someone needed to be the voice of reason.
Thanks for your time.