Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Market Saturation Point Reached Sales back down to Attrition Rates
Malitevv
Tue May 11, 2004 9:07 am
#14
I agree that it'd be nice if we had some decay on our products. But I disagree that utility was a waste of time. There is no connection whatsoever to whether or not we have decay and whether or not the new droids are combat focused or utility focused. Either type of droid can theoretically be made to decay.
But as for saturation: it won't quite saturate the way it did before. Now, at least, we have enough droid modules to offer that it is no longer possible for one player to have 5 droids that collectively do everything that droids can do. That'sa small benefit, I admit, but at least it means that players will be returning occassoinally to swap the droid they no longer use for something they might be able to use.
One of these new droids does decay, and very rapidly 
: the bomb droids. These have been my primary seller since a few days after the patch went live, and they still are my primary seller. At this rate, I am going to be able to make a steady business off those alone if I wanted. The BH's love these things.
: the bomb droids. These have been my primary seller since a few days after the patch went live, and they still are my primary seller. At this rate, I am going to be able to make a steady business off those alone if I wanted. The BH's love these things.
Sunfire1
Tue May 11, 2004 10:49 am
#15
Wish I could say my sales have slowed down, I barely get a chance to play my hologrinding 2nd account anymore. I keep an average of 40 droids on my vendor. Everynight before I log I make sure I have at least 2 of each model I sell. Everyday when I log on, at least 8 and usually 10 are gone. Pre-publish I sold maybe 1 or 2 a night. I have gone though 400 Adv Brains since publish 8, and just had to run off another 100.
On the down side I have only sold 1!!!!!!! survey droid crate at 500 a charge. I cant figure out why people are not buying them. Twice a week I send out 8 survey droids (I live on Talus and vendor is on Corellia so I already know these 2). They are so convenient. Yet theyjust sit on my vendor. I even sell crates of all survey tools at 50 a pop!!! Soeach droid only has a cost of 550 a charge, and still they dont move.
TheRealTK421
Tue May 11, 2004 10:59 am
#16
I too have seen the slowdown in sales. I tend to bet that this is partly due to the fact that there are simply more DEs on all the servers, so the sales are being spread out more.
As for repeat business, I see that coming from the MSE bombs, survey droids and other stuff. In the meantime, I still get 'utility' sales...but they are less.
The thing that I see that's good is that a lot of players are more educated about droids and their usefulness. This more educated userbase means that I usually get orders that are pretty exact and don't require much change.
Over the long haul, I see our sales as being quite 'situational'. The players that make a template of some kind will buy the one droid that fits that template and move on. Others will get more than one droid depending on how they are changing around their toon.
I think one of the next overall hurdles we need to face is a more balanced decay system. Right now, droids are basically good forever. That will really need to change so that they do need to be replaced in time. I'll start a focus thread on this soon (after I rework/revise the Top 5 / Top 20)...
/bow
Respectfully,
As for repeat business, I see that coming from the MSE bombs, survey droids and other stuff. In the meantime, I still get 'utility' sales...but they are less.
The thing that I see that's good is that a lot of players are more educated about droids and their usefulness. This more educated userbase means that I usually get orders that are pretty exact and don't require much change.
Over the long haul, I see our sales as being quite 'situational'. The players that make a template of some kind will buy the one droid that fits that template and move on. Others will get more than one droid depending on how they are changing around their toon.
I think one of the next overall hurdles we need to face is a more balanced decay system. Right now, droids are basically good forever. That will really need to change so that they do need to be replaced in time. I'll start a focus thread on this soon (after I rework/revise the Top 5 / Top 20)...
/bow
Respectfully,
ChewGoBack
Tue May 11, 2004 2:00 pm
#17
It is odd that I can pay more for a T21 or a composite chest, and they're practically unusable in a couple of weeks. But yet droids last for ever, I'm still using the medic droidI bought whenstarted on farstar.
It is a shame, I enjoyed making droids, planning factory runs, that kind of thing, but you have to be selling stuff 
.
.
RasalTheWise
Tue May 11, 2004 2:50 pm
#18
I can't complain. My sales have been great, and I haven't had to alter my prices (I don't believe they were outrageous in the first place).
But then again, my store has high visibility, being that it's first shop you hit due south of the Coronet starport.
But then again, my store has high visibility, being that it's first shop you hit due south of the Coronet starport.
DigitalOne
Tue May 11, 2004 4:42 pm
#19
Dispite haveing 3 shops on all major planets, Tatooine, Naboo & Corellia and selling custom bots on top. My sales have bottomed out aswell. For the first week i was making about a million credits a day, now im at around 50k or less, this is about the same rate as pre patch. No ones touching the utility, survey, and especialy not the entertainer droids, ive sold 2 of them since patch 8. Theres a ton of new DEs out there that are making the situation tough, ive kept warning of this, now here we go. Combat Droid sales are steady .
Im slowly loosing passion for the whole sport. Somewhere around the 2000th R3 it looses all its thrill.
darklightr1
Tue May 11, 2004 5:30 pm
#20
Hey fellow Eclipsians, i have to say my sales still are increasing day after day. I run venders on naboo, tat and correlia as well as home town on lok, and Naboo kicks all 4 of my other ones. Survey droids i cant keep in stock. maybe you are selling to high? I am selling 8k for 13 use survey and they are sellin.
I do agree that bomb droids have died, was a nice rushin the begging but gone now.
My best sellers though are my Candy striper, R2 with LVL 6 MEd, Storage, Crafting and Stim pack dispenser. and my Super Scout R3 with 6 creature harvest mods.
Probots suprissingly have stopped selling almost all the way to nothing, andthey were selling before the patch. Also guys Droid Stims are starting to sell, moving a few each day off each vender so thats a start, just takes time for people to figure out that with stims and a good droid they can do a lot.
Faymar
Tue May 11, 2004 6:10 pm
#21
I'm on Eclipse and I'm still selling droids.
The best seller, rather depressingly, is still the R2 medical 110/station/storage droid. However, without question, my best sales are repeat customers who are saying "hmmm, but what about X" and that trust me to advise them how to achieve what they want to achieve.
The initial rush was just that, a rush. It happens in every revamp. Heard about the chefs making 3 million in Vasarian Brandy in a week? Yep. Hear about that happening now? It doesn't. The excitement has abated. The chef forum, likewise, is filled with "it's all over" posts.
Having said that, yes ... the person who bought a combat droid is unlikely to buy another. He's got one, it works, it lasts forever, why would he look to purchase a further one? I can see the argument that chefs have it easier. That crate of Brandy that sold for 500k may not fetch that price anymore, but it does fetch 200k once a month from the same guy.
On the other hand, there's an argument for different types of products. People who sell houses don't feel frustrated at the fact that houses don't fall over, instead they look at options for upgrading and try to make buyers interested in moving up a step. Every player has room for five droids with different functionality: do most people (not DE's!) have five droids? No. Convince them, based on situational circumstance, that they should.
Between that and new players, there is categorically a market. How else can you explain that I'm >still< selling medical droids? 
DarthBukai
Tue May 11, 2004 6:54 pm
#22
The Master Merchants don't seem to be feeling a drop in sales....
ArdenStarmariner
Wed May 12, 2004 4:05 am
#23
DarthBukai wrote:
The Master Merchants don't seem to be feeling a drop in sales....
I partner with a merchant who sells on commission. That isn't the trick to getting sales going. Like TK said, we need a balanced decay system for droids. And one that's indepedent of the Creature Handler Pets code. I look forward to his coming focus thread on the subject.
LonelyGhost
Thu May 13, 2004 1:53 pm
#24
I agree Arden. I didn't even bother making any of the new droids for public consumption. I made some for friends and for me to play with, and thats it. One of DE in my city has been selling, and doing okay I suppose. I will continue to make creds selling resources. DE just isn't profitable enough for the time spent making them. I also sell powerups, and make a tidy sum every day at 40-60cpu. Yes, thats up to 60cpu for powerups. COmbat types gladly pay that ultra-premium price for powerups. Guess why? It has *value*. People WANT powerups because they are viewed as useful. The new modules we have do have some use, but its minimal. Even more so if its true that Maint modules are now capped at 9-13 structures.
Droids are still something miscellaneous that people get for the heck of it, not because they WANT them. The only people who really NEED droids are Docs and now, maybe, Entertainers. But even then, as others in this thread have said, once you buy that needed droid, you are done. Never again will you *have* to buy another droid.
Maybe one day droids will fill their role as usefule companions. Maybe one day people will seek out droids like they do weapons. When and if that ever happens, maybe I'll start to sell to the public again.
AudioOrgana
Thu May 13, 2004 2:43 pm
#25
ArdenStarmariner wrote:
It's corney to say "I told you so" but I'm doing it. Everyone has their everlasting droids and the market on Eclipse appears saturated.
You told us so about what?
That sales would drop after a few weeks of a new product being out after the initial craze dies down?
Wow, did you need an MBA to figure that out? LOL.
Anyone that expected the party to continue the way it was simply was not very informed.
Yes, there are decay issues with utility droids, but I am finding that combat droids naturally decay quite nicely.
Am I still selling 5+ million a day in droids? No, but I have yet to have a day since the patch that I didn't make at least one million in sales (aprox. 10-12 droids) - and that includes this week.
Because we cannot innovate beyond certain constraints, this is always going to happen with an MMO economy. We sell what we are given - at least DE gets to customize our products with various configurations (chefs can't mix the benefits of Brandy and another product, for instance).
Smart DE's made bank over this last patch - but then again, those of us who were smart made a lot on the last patch as well.
It's too bad we didn't have inter-server trading, I'd gladly take those exploding droids off you - people can't get enough of them on my vendors. I don't particularly like carrying them but as soon as I put them up they sell out.
Entertainer droids are still selling ok (enough for me to stock them), and harvesting droids are still selling very well for me. Even merchant droids are still selling.
Yes, some of the other modules were bunk - i.e. the stimpack dispensor, or the trapping module. It is because of these modules that I wish the Dev team had been upfront with us about their plans, instead of revealing them via test patch notes - we could have saved them the development time on them - but afew of them have become part of some people's everyday play. People that have gotten their hands on working structure droids love them too - for people that maintain that many buildings it's a blessing (especially merchants who rent/sell lots).
Oh yeah, AND THE FRICKIN' COMBAT DROIDS. They are excellent. If you don't think so, you have unrealistic expectations.People LOVE THEM.
As to the survey droid, as people have explained so many times it makes me wanna vomit, yet for some reason I will do it again - the survey droid has two main uses : 1) to find out if a specific named resource is somewhere, and 2) to see if a shift has occoured on a far-off planet. If you are looking for it to do more than that, you have unrealistic expectations. THIS MAY NOT BE USEFUL TO YOU, but it is to many. Some people are looking for the survey-mini-game to be played for them - this droid is not for them.
You say "same old crap", but the thing is, many of us DE's always had profitable businesses - heck I was a profit-making DE before item and data storage even worked back when we had nothing but crafting stations and medical modules. You just have to be creative and most importantly, trusted, in your profession.
My advice to all DE's who have posted is to step up awareness beyond the "early adopters" - there are many, many players that never read patch notes, that aren't even registered at the boards (and if they are the time between visits is weeks/months), that just were not aware of our droids. I see and talk to them every day. To declare market saturation at this point (on any server) is naive - perhaps your vendor/advertising has reached as many people as it's going to reach, but with the very few REAL DE's on servers (and not those dolts who stand in front of me with a MDE tag and ask me why they can't make combat modules who quickly quit because they don't have the named resources/quality materials to compete) there are huge, untapped markets out there.
This is why I maintain vendors on several planets, because there are just too few DE's out there raising awareness of our profession and our products. I even took my hand at spamming at starports once in awhile to get the name of my shops out, and instead of people flipping me off and yelling at me (as they do with most spammers), I got emails and tells of "THANK YOU! I didn't know combat droids were this good! Why is no one else selling them?"
DE simply requires a level of commitment that it didn't before - we were the "easiest" crafting profession when it came to resources, and quality is just starting to matter on some of our stuff. It seems there are very few DE's out there who have the materials, knowledge, and business sense to make all of DE that is possible now. I've never been in a guild, don't live in a player city - yet I still find people out there that would love to buy droids - if they just know where to find them.
Arden, not sure what the point of your posting was - "I told you so" in this case is like predicting that the sun will set tonight and tomorrow morning it will again rise. So what? Those who took advantage of what we had made enough money to last them the rest of their virtual lives - and those of us who have good business sense (and can sniff out markets) and are creative will continue to see sales, just as we did before Publish 7, and before Publish 8. The one thing that has never been broken with DE is our ability to make money, and while the mad rush is over we still are better off than we were before - even if it's just because of Combat Droids.
Oh, and not sure if you missed it, but Droids are so important to Space that the UI has a tab for them - they are how we interact with our ship systems and will be able through datadiscs to give our ships stat bonuses.
This is just the beginning.
You can either make the best of it, or you can do...whatever it is you are doing.
AO
Message Edited by AudioOrgana on 05-13-2004 05:45 PM