Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: AFK Macro Shouting vs Merchant Barker Droid
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ArdenStarmariner
Fri May 07, 2004 6:11 am
#1
This is repeating what I've stated in another thread as a reply, but I feel its a subject by itself. There's a problem with the way Merchant Barker Droids work that make them impractical. And what I'm seeing in cities like Theed and Coronet on Eclipse is 100% Macro AFK shouters and 0% Merchant Barker Droids. Let's cover some points on each:
Macro AFK Shouters
1. Can be heard throughout the entire area.
2. Requires no skill points to do.
3. Can be done indefinitely, in most cases all nigth while the player is sleeping.
4. Can give out waypoints by just listing "/waypoing x y" in the shout.
Merchant Barker Droids
1. Require battery power to operate which last about an hour before having to be recharged. Recharging requires the owner to be at the keyboard to do it.
2. Requires Merchant Advertising 4. A skill that most combat oriented players are absolutely unwilling to invest skill points in.
3. Requires the owner to be online and on the same cluster machine.
4. Can only be heard in its immediate area.
5. Requires you to buy a droid.
6. Takes up a spot in your datapad.
Conclusion: Macro AFK Shouting >> Merchant Barker Droids
The way things stand, hardly anyone will use them. I'm not arguing the merits or reasons, I'm simply pointing out why nearly 100% of the player population is still resorting to Macro AFK Shouting and will continue to do so. This simple fact, renders the merchart barker module a failure.
Macro AFK Shouters
1. Can be heard throughout the entire area.
2. Requires no skill points to do.
3. Can be done indefinitely, in most cases all nigth while the player is sleeping.
4. Can give out waypoints by just listing "/waypoing x y" in the shout.
Merchant Barker Droids
1. Require battery power to operate which last about an hour before having to be recharged. Recharging requires the owner to be at the keyboard to do it.
2. Requires Merchant Advertising 4. A skill that most combat oriented players are absolutely unwilling to invest skill points in.
3. Requires the owner to be online and on the same cluster machine.
4. Can only be heard in its immediate area.
5. Requires you to buy a droid.
6. Takes up a spot in your datapad.
Conclusion: Macro AFK Shouting >> Merchant Barker Droids
The way things stand, hardly anyone will use them. I'm not arguing the merits or reasons, I'm simply pointing out why nearly 100% of the player population is still resorting to Macro AFK Shouting and will continue to do so. This simple fact, renders the merchart barker module a failure.
Bajonett
Fri May 07, 2004 6:41 am
#2
Dont forget: Afk´s CAN be Ignored.. even after they stop shouting....
ArdenStarmariner
Fri May 07, 2004 7:03 am
#3
Bajonett wrote:
Dont forget: Afk´s CAN be Ignored.. even after they stop shouting....
True, but the sheer volume of them will overflow your ignore list. Fact, my spatial tab spins so fast, I can't even read the names much less what they are shouting. I find I have to switch off of my spatial tab to my group or guild tab. Might set up a special communication tab just to pass through these areas that has everything on it except spatial.
ArdenStarmariner
Fri May 07, 2004 7:06 am
#4
Something has to be done to make Merchant Barker Droids more attractive than Macro AFK Shouting. What? I don't know. And besides, I'm tired of proposing/debating idea here that only get shot down as "can't be balanced". Well, in this case what they introduced is perfectly balanced. It's also worthless because nobody is using it...
Message Edited by ArdenStarmariner on 05-07-2004 10:07 AM
Javac
Fri May 07, 2004 7:35 am
#5
Being able to browse the vendor at the listed waypoint through the droid.
TheRealTK421
Fri May 07, 2004 8:19 am
#6
Arden,
Please repost this to the Merchant module focus thread.
I think you make excellent points and these are concerns that need to be addressed (somehow, some way) for this to ever be a successful module.
/bow
Respectfully,
Please repost this to the Merchant module focus thread.
I think you make excellent points and these are concerns that need to be addressed (somehow, some way) for this to ever be a successful module.
/bow
Respectfully,
Mightion
Fri May 07, 2004 8:29 am
#7
What I've seen people doing is setting the droid to patrol. The droid then gives its message whenever it passes by someone.
ASHRID
Fri May 07, 2004 8:40 am
#8
Do these droid give out the shop waypoint or is/was that bugged/scrapped
neinnunb
Fri May 07, 2004 8:41 am
#9
Maybethe devs can nurf the ability to /say or /shout from a macro?
I have not sold one merchant barker yet. This is the way it goes:
someone tells you: "Hi, can I buy a merchant barker droid from you?"
you tell someone: "Sure, but did you know you need Advertising IV to be able to use it"?
someone tells you: "You do!? nevermind"
Message Edited by neinnunb on 05-07-2004 11:45 AM
DaunteDelfuego
Fri May 07, 2004 8:45 am
#10
just an idea...maybe the droid can send an automatic email with waypoint and selling pitch vs spatial spam..?
TheRealTK421
Fri May 07, 2004 8:58 am
#11
neinnunb wrote:
Maybethe devs can nurf the ability to /say or /shout from a macro?
Not a good idea. That would mess with pet macros too much. I don't see that being the answer.
The issue here is making the Merchant droid attractive enough that it ends the macro spamming, since the droid is seen as more attractive. Those folks will only stop doing this if droids are seen as a better solution.
I'm not sure what that solution is yet...but we don't seem to be quite there.
I consider this module a starting point, not a ending one. It may well be possible to monkey with the implementation until they ARE attractive enough to end macro Starport spamming.
I like the idea of them displaying a vendor listing for the owner or even being a 'mini-vendor'. I guess we need to consider how these can be altered to both:
- Be attractive enough to endor massively reduce macro spamming.
- Be attractive enough to make people go to Merchant Ad 4.
One of the solutions I'd considered was having these be like billboard space that a hybrid/dabbler could "purchase" from the Merchant.
Multiple messages / waypoints could be set by the Merchant and the client could pick their message and/or the waypoint to get.
Maybe thinking of them as a 'catalog' droid (or a 'Yellow Pages' droid) is a good way to think about how I see these in the long run.
Anyway...it's clear that we need to consider carefully how to make these better.
/bow
Respectfully,
Daker-Naritus
Fri May 07, 2004 9:39 am
#12
I think barking is a ridiculous function that will never work, and that devs should have known wouldn't work from the start (especially considering that the DE community told them so).
Personally, I think the best solution is to scrap the barker droid and turn it into a "merchant droid."
Here is my underlying rationale.... 99.999% of people spamming are trying to get people to go visit their vendors or shops in one way or another.
Additionally, I find that I spend a huge amount of time going from shop to shop of empty vendors when I am looking forthings (ex: I spent 3 hours visiting 11 shops on 3 planets looking for a 70+% Ubese Shirt last week...6 of the 11"armor" vendors listed on the planetary maps were empty).
So we have people that can't find goods when they need them, and people who have goods and annoy everyone by spamming.
So.... What if the devs implemented "Merchant Droids" that are linked to one or all of a person's vendors. The droid would work exactly like the current vendors and bazaar work...with some modifications...
(1) The droid would bark advertisements(ex: " Ubese Armor for sale")
(2)Buyers interacting with the droid (clicking on a radial option) would bring up the EXACT SAME menu that vendors have, MINUS the "retrieve" and "offer" options
(3) The person could use the vendor menu to look through all the seller/droid owner's wares and purchase items (BUT there are no items stored on the droid itself)
(4) Exactly like current vendors, the buyer would get an email confirming the purchase and giving a waypoint where the item can be retrieved
(5) The buyer would then visit the sellers vendor/shop to retrieve the item
I think this would be something EXTREMELY useful, as it allow the spammers to get people to visit their shops and vendors in a constructive way (aside from simply spamming), and it makes goods easily findable by people looking for them (in essence giving an advanced look at the vendors they are about to hike out to).
What do you think?
ArdenStarmariner
Fri May 07, 2004 9:49 am
#13
TheRealTK421 wrote:Arden,
Please repost this to the Merchant module focus thread.
I think you make excellent points and these are concerns that need to be addressed (somehow, some way) for this to ever be a successful module.
/bow
Respectfully,
Will do, TK.
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