Merchant Archive

I would like this thread to be a listing of motivations for players to be a merchant. This might help SOE develop the profession better, based on consumers expectations.

Personally i find crafting repetitive and most of the crafters i know are stuck in their home, knowing few about the universe. So the my main reasons for being a merchant are :

Avoiding repetitiveness : when you are away, your vendors xp for you. You dont have to be crafting the same things all the time or killing the same mobs all the time. You are given freedom of move and schedule than other professions.

Meeting people : while trying to find providers for your business and buyers for your wares, you tend to socialise much more than other professions, as the more people you meet the better oportunities you get. This is also a door to role playing.

Travelling : the need to find better providers, to advertise your business and to find new selling places gives you oportujnities to travel all over the galaxy and feel different atmospheres

Sense of strategy ; finding the best selling place is a challenge. Making your shops most visible, finding the merchandise that will sell best at a special place, all this requieres afterthought and strategy, which is not always the case in all professions.

Unfortunalty today the options offered for merchants are too poor to really enjoy the profession. The skill tree doesnt offer real advantages. Saving 10cr on a bazaar transaction when your turnover exceeds millions a day is not really motivation to become a master. Advertising is only offered in your own shop, not outside, so this doesnt really bring more customers. You can not stock wares in the shop as it adds to your house items count. Crafters can sell directly to customers so what is the need of merchants? Bazaar

I cant find the edit option on this message board..so i continue my post.

...Bazaar doesnt give any advantage for merchants (no better price limet, no better visibility)...

So go aheard guys, and tell us what attacted you in this profession, knowing that you would go "the hard way" as it has been underdevelopped over beta phase...

I chose Merchant because I'm a tailor, and being a Tailor/Merchant seems to be the only way to really succeed at my primary trade. My range of stock is far too large, and the 25 item limit far too small, to exclusively rely on the Bazaar, and in-person selling has a lot of the same flaws, and is often hit-or-miss.

But a vendor lets me stock hundreds of items, in a wide variety of colors, so a visitor should usually be able to find what she wants, or at least get on the right track and contact me for follow-up business.

It may not be absolutely necessary for Tailors to be Merchants too, but it sure makes it a lot easier....

I wanted to open my own shop!

I've never played a MMORPG where you can open your own shop. Just the thought of opening my own shop just sounds fun, heh. I have a feeling the novelty of it will wear off as no one buys from my shop, heh. But, maybe as time passes they will do more with the merchant class and we'll have more to show for being one. But, if not, then I can just drop the skill (which is a big plus in this game).

What I discovered on my way through master artisan is that I enjoy the "buy/sell" minigame, but am not a very motivated crafter. As a result, I think emphasizing the mercantile aspect rather then the "10 billion clicks" aspect of crafting will suit me.

I have also found that I REALLY enjoy maintaining harvesters (and disposing of any varmints I may find around them). Merchant is the perfect companion skill for resource collection. I also hope to get a few levels if the architect factory discipline to support this, and a store can be used to sell the deeds.

The most important reason, though, is that come the space expansion I want to run a merchanter vessel, and this will be a good skill to evolve into that later.

Regards,

Artuk

Future Captain of Artuk's Pride.

Well, I wanted vendors anyway, but with master merchant, I also get the bonuses of (whenever merchant is finally fixed ) getting my vendor on the planetary map, reduced maintenance fees, and putting my merchant's wares on the global bazaar.

My reasons are exactly the same is Sue's. Merchant is very nice for being a tailor.

I've wanted to run my own bar.

Now i get my chance as the Bantha Bar opens up on Corellia on starsider next week. Heavy on RP and dedicated to fun, i plan on lots of player driven events inside.

The entertainment value alone is endless

So all you guys just dont know why they chose to be merchants?

the reduced fee for houses is nice. and i'm getting merchant XP midas well work on the profession some. and yes it is fun. I love the NPC vendor as well. but I dont see much use in buying extra vendors at this time.. If I could place a vendor in a buddies shop it would be great.

Mabey decreased travel costs at effeicny 3 rather then decreased bazaar would be good.

Hi Vortexs,

There just aren't that many merchants, my friend. lol.

I chose to be merchant for pretty much the same reasons as you. I want to be able to travel the galaxy, make contacts with all kinds of different people, and not have to be glued to the "kill stuff" orientation of most games. I like to craft things, but I would rather support crafters of higher-end items that they can specialize in. Instead of them having to worry about selling their stuff along with making it, they can focus totally on making the best weapons, armour, furniture, or whatever. This also gives them more time to RP or socialize as well. I would rather specialize in one thing (sell items) than try and do 5 different professions at once trying to be 'self-sufficient'.

I picked Merchant to run a server-wide chain of malls on every planet. Place you can get everything you ever wanted in 1 spot.

I thought merchants would be rare and challenging to play, not too mention the idea of buying low and selling high in a player run economy sounded like fun. Now every crafter and their mother has merchant skills and doesn't need a pure merchant to sell for them.What fun...