Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Droid Engineering Economics
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Talmor1
Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:33 am
#1
I have been involved in several threads on the Buisness and Economics Forums these last few weeks and I wanted to post a thread that has been going around that deeply concerns me. Especially for us Droid Engineers.
In the thread, people have been petitioning to:
1) Remove the maximum items you can sell on the Bazaar or Increase the max it to insane amounts, especially for Master Merchants;
2) Remove the maximum costs that you can sell items on the Bazar;
While this may seem like a very good idea for Customers, it could mean the death for the Droid Engineering Profession. The increased competition would drive our prices to like 3cpu or so because of competition. Right now, our pricing is well above this value and it allows us to have a good profit return like other professions. This because having a well-stocked vendor means nothing any more and you could not use this as a selling point. All it will boil down to is price and quality. It would have a multitude of effects on the droid market.
However, my real point comes from an additional insight.
There is a strong number of supporters for Droid Modularity. In particular, allowing a customer to choose a chassis and be able to mix and match their modules like a JTL ship. If this is combined with the ability to market all your items on JTL, our sales will become stagnant. Yes, we would get a lot more sales from modules. However, we would be bulk sellers that has nothing special. A strong reason to be a DE is the ability to converse with customers 1-on-1 and find their niche and give them what they really need. Most do not know. There are a number of implications for this and for those of you that do not fully understand the implications, do the math on your droids and figure out what it would cost to make them if modules were independent and the such. It is really scary how low our prices would be. Especially since it appears we have a lot of players that like to price their droids for around 2-3 cpu and are content with the meager profits. What is your guys thoughts on this subject.
RasalTheWise
Mon Feb 07, 2005 11:15 am
#2
Well, here's the thing:
1) Petitions on the boards go largely unnoticed by development. I wouldn't worry about them. With regards to the forums, developers get customer feedback from the cumulation of the respective correspondents.
2) The developers are well aware of the fallout of removing the bazaar price limit. The whole reason they put it in there in the first place was to encourage people to interact with player vendors. Again, I am not owrried about it.
3) The modular idea for droids has been discussed since JTL first came out. It is a good idea and it would give much more flexibility for the customer and the droid engineer. However, I don't see it happening anytime soon for two reasons: First, droid engineers have already had two dedicated publishes, so I think we're kind of far down on the list of professions that need a revamp. Second, I think the droid community is primarily pushing for a decay system.
1) Petitions on the boards go largely unnoticed by development. I wouldn't worry about them. With regards to the forums, developers get customer feedback from the cumulation of the respective correspondents.
2) The developers are well aware of the fallout of removing the bazaar price limit. The whole reason they put it in there in the first place was to encourage people to interact with player vendors. Again, I am not owrried about it.
3) The modular idea for droids has been discussed since JTL first came out. It is a good idea and it would give much more flexibility for the customer and the droid engineer. However, I don't see it happening anytime soon for two reasons: First, droid engineers have already had two dedicated publishes, so I think we're kind of far down on the list of professions that need a revamp. Second, I think the droid community is primarily pushing for a decay system.
HRRNighthawk
Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:19 pm
#3
the bazaar limits being removed/changed to what the folks are request wouldn't just kill DEs...it'd kill alot of the high-dollar professions that depend on a reputation and constant return sales. Hell think about the nose dive that the resource market would take if folks could put up 100k stacks of materials instead of us hunting for days for Tolium gas we would just go there and get it cheap. Now...we find it and we're lucky just to find it and we'll pay whatever they're asking. That's just an example as there's resources for every class that would nosedive. Costs for swoops would plummet as if yours is almost gone you just drop by the bazaar to pick up a crate. Composite armor almost gone? Just browse the hundreds of pieces on the bazaar instead of driving to every shop looking for the best deal.
Not only would it ruin the market...it'd just make it too bloody easy for folks to get things...and the entire reason for getting skills in the merchant profession to put things up on the planetary map would be gone. No, limits won't change.
Modular abilities...well...i can kinda see it with one big restriction: The modular ability is also some kind of module built into the unit when we make it...it takes up spaces on the droid that can't be filled with an actual module. So that R3 that could normally have 6 modules from 2 combat sockets becomes 1 module taken up by the 'modular ability module' and the other one can be filled with a combat socket for 3 actual modules that could be mixed and matched. Even then...it'd be abused heavily...so i doubt it'd happen.
Straker_Atrella
Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:46 pm
#4
Yea I'm posting on that board as well. I think some of the ummm "better" posters may want to swing on by and look as well. Some of the people posting there really arn't thinking of the overall game. Then others are agreeing heh.
Rihtan
Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:03 am
#5
1) I thought the levels were already fairly high for Master Merchants. But sounds ok to me if they can talk the devs into bumping them up again.
2) Yea Right! That one is never gonna fly. It would disrupt the basic game economy and selling patterns to a unbelievable degree. I can see and approve of raising the cap to 10,000 cr.
3) Yes and No.
Yes to Droid modularity. I love the basic idea if it comes with a module decay system.
No to anyone hot-swapping modules. A DE should be required to alter a droid. Like a Image Designer is required to alter your hair. Even in the starport your just telling some yard monkeys to do the starship mods while you fiddle on the starship terminal.
My current vision of a game with Modularity has the DE profession split into two "games" and requires a ton of changes to make viable.
Young DEs get the Droid Mechanic jobs - module swapping
Mid range DEs get to rebuild droids and do droid repair.
Older DEs get to build all the Chassis and build finished droids.
This lets dabblers get in and do all the cool module swapping while the professionals make all the finished droids.
2) Yea Right! That one is never gonna fly. It would disrupt the basic game economy and selling patterns to a unbelievable degree. I can see and approve of raising the cap to 10,000 cr.
3) Yes and No.
Yes to Droid modularity. I love the basic idea if it comes with a module decay system.
No to anyone hot-swapping modules. A DE should be required to alter a droid. Like a Image Designer is required to alter your hair. Even in the starport your just telling some yard monkeys to do the starship mods while you fiddle on the starship terminal.
My current vision of a game with Modularity has the DE profession split into two "games" and requires a ton of changes to make viable.
Young DEs get the Droid Mechanic jobs - module swapping
Mid range DEs get to rebuild droids and do droid repair.
Older DEs get to build all the Chassis and build finished droids.
This lets dabblers get in and do all the cool module swapping while the professionals make all the finished droids.
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