Merchant Archive
Thread: Mailbox
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Vrond
Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:54 am
#1
I have heard about this mailbox idea and its interesting to me.
It works as I understand it like this in your declaredhome you get the option to set up a terminal.
- On this terminal people can offer you items.
- You can't sell anything from it
- Offers to this mailbox count against your non merchant auction limit.
- Nothing can be stored on the mailbox if you dont have room in your inventory you can't pick up offers.
I think this idea has some merits even as a merchant I some times want to be able to deliver items. Any ideas on it? The one thing I can think of is you dont charge on the placement basically you place an item in a mailbox and cant get paided through the mailbox that makes it a vendor.But bank tips would work and then you could drop the item in the mailbox.
BoberFett
Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:42 am
#2
Works for me. It would allow private transactions between two players who play at different times without requiri ng one of them to be a merchant.
Cafa
Wed Aug 18, 2004 11:14 am
#3
Now if we can only get Access and Ban lists somehow.
Is it so hard to think that guilds want to sell exclusively to its members!?!
Fivo Asia
BoberFett
Wed Aug 18, 2004 11:44 am
#4
There's no need for access lists. This idea is just for a drop off, correct? If somebody wants to drop items off at your house for you, you can always reject them. No need for an access list.
Fred75
Wed Aug 18, 2004 11:49 am
#5
Yep, it's kinda like offers to vendors ATM, but you dont need a vendor. You'll need a mailbox/lockbox/dropoff box what ever they call it. If you're a scout that sells to one person pretty much all the time, you goto their lock box, offer the 5000 hides for 50000 or whatever, and leave, when the person logs on, they accept (or decline of course) your offer.
speardancer
Wed Aug 18, 2004 2:27 pm
#6
It should be made as an item to go inside the house, that way the house access rules apply.
It should have a 5-10 item limit, and items should go against the bazar limit of the person offering (to prevent greifing by box-stuffing)
Delivery droids are a nice idea, but they should certainly be limited to some skill level in the merchant tree (efficency?) or else, as the previous poster suggested, alot of people would use them instead of vendors. And probably a single-use droid too, since it will be getting 'sent out' to do the delivery.
Can even tie in the 2 ideas... give the mailboxes an 'address' of sorts, and only allow the droids to deliver to the mailboxes. After all, how is a droid supposed to deliver something to an unknown location?
It should have a 5-10 item limit, and items should go against the bazar limit of the person offering (to prevent greifing by box-stuffing)
Delivery droids are a nice idea, but they should certainly be limited to some skill level in the merchant tree (efficency?) or else, as the previous poster suggested, alot of people would use them instead of vendors. And probably a single-use droid too, since it will be getting 'sent out' to do the delivery.
Can even tie in the 2 ideas... give the mailboxes an 'address' of sorts, and only allow the droids to deliver to the mailboxes. After all, how is a droid supposed to deliver something to an unknown location?
Fred75
Wed Aug 18, 2004 2:33 pm
#7
speardancer wrote:
Can even tie in the 2 ideas... give the mailboxes an 'address' of sorts, and only allow the droids to deliver to the mailboxes. After all, how is a droid supposed to deliver something to an unknown location?
LOL PRICELESS.. I can see the dev's now. OMG how the hell would we do that 
I like this idea also, along with a 'non artisan / merchant' vendor that's being talked about in the other thread. Of course only one of them not both.
I have no problem with like a 25 item vendor that works just like a vendor but costs more. The 25 items do NOT count stuffed bags, ONLY empty bags can go on them (so you can still sell bags)
Wouldnt require a whole other system, and the vendors are already in the game.
Could be evil though, and say they can only be placed in a merchant xxxx house though lol.. Nah, that's too evil 
Vrond
Wed Aug 18, 2004 2:35 pm
#8
joined42904 wrote:
I really don't want a delivery droid unless it's certified in the merchant tree. It's too easy a way around the use of vendors. If no one has to travel whatsoever when this droid is used, I can see how some people would prefer to use droid deliver to vendors.
Hmm...maybe it would be ok if there were a very low limit on the number of unaccepted deliveries you could have at a single time. I can't see how 2 or 3 would interfere too much with merchant control of commerce. If it were unlimited though and folks had COD mailboxes...non-merchants could run a mail order business without using vendors that would actually be MORE CONVENIENT for customers than going into the shops folks paid so many skill points to have.
Yeah they cant get paided throught the box what ever its called that makes it a vendor.
Javac
Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:29 pm
#9
Well, a merchant could just use more droids but the average player should be able to have a couple deliveries out. They'd probably only deliver to your place of residence, or to your bank.
LonelyGhost
Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:25 pm
#11
You know, wouldnt it be interesting to see a mini-game for Merchants where a group of them set up a FedEx of sorts? If the Delivery Droid is certed in the Merchant profession, the its conceivanle that you could set up a business just delivering stuff to people. Charge a flat fee no matter what the item is, or maybe more if it takes up multiple inv spots. Hmmm...brainstorm....
I, as a Merchant of mid to low level, log in. I travel to a Dev city, where I find a Delivery Terminal. As a Merchant, I have access to "missions" equal to my level in Merchant (and mayeb based on "distance" to the intended target). I see there are 12 "missions" (called deliveries henceforth) I can access. I open my inventory, and pull out my crate of FedEx droids. The payout on the deliveries is based on the purchase price, plus any fee's for speedy delivery, so at my level in Merchant, I can make 8% of the cost the item sold for. I see someone bought a Pa Hall and wants it delivered, so my payout is about 28k creds (of 350k). Very well worth it, and.../gasp!...there is a bonus payout if it is delivered before(insert time/date)of 5%! 13%, very nice! Since the droid cant hold anymore, I link the Hall and one of the droids, and send it on its way to deliver to the pickup point (a Merchant vendor or structure mailbox). Now, there are several smaller deliveries for guns and clothes I can group together into a single droid, and I can make another 16k delivering them. Good days work. I can go back and check my vendor stock levels, and hopefully in the next day or two I will get the payout for the items.
Yes, there are lots of qustions raised, and potential problems (delivery point gets destroyed, items never get picked up, etc), but the idea is interesting, and it would bring some new gameplay to a few different professions. And maybe we can make use of the Hiring tree (more Hiring = more active delivery droids).
SakeO
Wed Aug 18, 2004 9:58 pm
#12
I think the simplest and most universally acceptable method for a mailbox that did not require some skill to use would to be for to have a terminal on every house which could recieve packages that would take up space in the house. You ould lock it or maybe allow individual access to it and it should notify the owner when an Item is placed in it with a description of the item. This would probably take minimal coding and could probably use a houses door as the acess panel art. The more functions you add to such a device the more it would infringe upon themerchant profession.
SakeO
BoberFett
Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:22 pm
#13
That's why the only thing that should be available is an offer. There should be no selling at this terminal by the home owner, that's what vendors are. But it's a way for somebody to deliver items in small quantity. Maybe a max of 5 items at a time.
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