Merchant Archive
Thread: Time for customers to post, not the merchants!
Zanholo
Wed Aug 11, 2004 10:52 am
#14
As a pure consumer on two server, I applaud this thread and encourage more people to reply.
This nerf will see a LOT of merchants quit and that's the last thing I want as a customer. I love the vendors I frequent. I frequent them because they have what I need, when I need it.
Take that away and I might as well go play another game.
Ryche_Mykola
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:29 am
#15
Cidem_Relaeh wrote:
*dons asbestos suit*
I don't think this nerf is as big of a deal as some people are making out. With master merchant you can still have 660 items "in stock", and that's a fair number. I think what this nerf really does is force more inter-dependance upon players and encourage more social interaction. It also pushes you to make the hard choice of just what market you're selling to. Being in a guild, I plan on donating as much storage space and vendor space as I'm able to our crafters and I would expect other guilds will do similar.
Now, with that said I think there is an easy way to mitigate the impact of this change. Vendors should be crate-fed. I have already sent feedback about this and mentioned it on another forum, maybe it'll get picked up. Basically what you do is slot in a crate of any given item and the vendor interface will be smart enough to extract one when someone makes a purchase. You could go further and allow an option for players to buy multiple "copies" of the item and keep them in the crate. This would be useful for things like PSGs and especially for weapons and armor when people want several pieces in order to get them sliced.
This system would not only benefit the buyers but it would also make re-stocking of the vendors a lot easier. I imagine some sort of setup where you could have 2 or 3 crates of any given item on the vendor at a time, that way if you keep it up you should always have at least one full crate worth on hand. Also, as far as I understand it, this would help lighten the database load as well (half the point of crates, right?).
There is also one more thing to adjust in the upcoming change to make it more reasonable and palatable to the player base, and this goes for merchants and buyers alike. Don't limit the vendors to 110 each (except at the base level of course). The vendor limit should match the total item limit. That is, the master merchant should be able to put all 660 items on ONE vendor. Furthermore, with the crates counting as just 1 "item", 660 would be more than enough room for any crafter I would expect.
Anyway, those are my opinions and ideas. Good luck to the merchant and crafting classes on this one. I've heard a lot of people say they'll quit if it goes live as-is and that just plain sucks because a lot of those people are my friends, guildmates, etc. Here's to hoping a developer reads this post.
Customer Ineraction Example:
Cidem: "Hi, your vendor is out of composite. Just would like to know if you could sell me a suit of 80%kinetic layered?"
AS: "Sure no problem, I just got done with a big run last night"
Cidem: "Cool, you want me to meet ya in your shop?"
AS: "Sorry, don't have time right now. Doing a PA hunt right now with guildies."
Cidem: "Cool, whenever ya get a chance. I appreciate it."
AS: "OK, ya gonna be on in 3 hours"
Cidem: "We'll, I kinda wanted to hunt tonight."
AS: "Sorry. Try my buddy XXXXXXX he might have a suit. I'll send a WP"
AS: "Sure no problem, I just got done with a big run last night"
Cidem: "Cool, you want me to meet ya in your shop?"
AS: "Sorry, don't have time right now. Doing a PA hunt right now with guildies."
Cidem: "Cool, whenever ya get a chance. I appreciate it."
AS: "OK, ya gonna be on in 3 hours"
Cidem: "We'll, I kinda wanted to hunt tonight."
AS: "Sorry. Try my buddy XXXXXXX he might have a suit. I'll send a WP"
Cidem then goes and travels to said vendor, spends 20 minutes travelling. Vendor is empty.
joined42904
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:31 am
#16
KingDread,
What specifically do you fear will be out of stock?
Folks will have more vendors in use now (well some use all 6 already but not very many folks do). They will be able to name a vendor "T-21s" or "Krayt Firearms." Not bad. Plus you can check all the registered vendors in your category and look at their names. IF they are on the map, then THEY HAVE STOCK.
No need to wander aimlessly. 
joined42904
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:35 am
#17
Ryche,
That's a bad example.
Starport wait is now only 5 minutes.
He can tell if the vendor is empty or not when he lands on the planet. He doesn't have to travel there.
The only way he arrives to find the vendor empty is if it just got bought while he was on the way.
What's he to do then? Search the map. I'd be surprised if folks don't have a vendor called 80% kinetic composite within walking distance of both coronet and theed. And if it's on the map, it's stocked.
joined42904
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:38 am
#18
Phoenix,
Armorsmiths will adapt. I don't think we will sell as much by the piece anymore.
Ryche_Mykola
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:39 am
#19
joined42904 wrote:
Ryche,
That's a bad example.
Starport wait is now only 5 minutes.
He can tell if the vendor is empty or not when he lands on the planet. He doesn't have to travel there.
The only way he arrives to find the vendor empty is if it just got bought while he was on the way.
What's he to do then? Search the map. I'd be surprised if folks don't have a vendor called 80% kinetic composite within walking distance of both coronet and theed. And if it's on the map, it's stocked.
Oh my bad. I was looking last night for Vehicles. Every single vendor I went to that was on the Planetary Map ----- Empty. How could you tell if the vendor is emty when you land on the planet? Please, share that expoit, er.........hint with us all.
Your posts are so stupid and so out of touch with reality I am beginning to think you areindeed an idiot or anemployee from Blizzard.
Cidem_Relaeh
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:43 am
#20
As for the question of WHY they're doing this change, honestly it has more to do with the overhead (read: $$$$) of the database. The fewer items in the database and the less it's being hit, the easier and cheaper it is to maintain. They don't want to spend the money on new hardware to support a larger database nor do they seem interested in improving their current database structure. Instead they're basically culling the herd. I expect it's some CEO in a shirt and tie who is now making our major gameplay design decisions. If that trend continues, the game will fail. Period.
joined42904
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:44 am
#21
Ryche,
The same patch that does this will take empty vendors off the planetary map. It isn't implemented yet.
It isn't implemented yet.
Ryche_Mykola
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:46 am
#22
joined42904 wrote:
Ryche,
The same patch that does this will take empty vendors off the planetary map.
My vendor isn't empty though with 1 item on it for 9,999,999 credits now is it?
MilannaSati
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:53 am
#23
I have two accounts on Gorath-I have already posted a few times protesting the change as an Artisan. One account is aMaster Artisan currently training in Architect. My other account isaTeras Kasi novice, working up to Master, with very few artisan skills at all and I will probably dump those as I need to free up sp for TKM. My TK character wears composite armor, and I was given my first set by some friends who introduced me to the game. It worked very well, and I finally foundthe creator, Hyksos' vendorand have since bought more. If this change goes through, I am afraid I will no longer be able to find armor by Hyksos, at least not at a price I can afford.
In short, this one customer will be hurt twofold by this change, as my Artisan will not be able to place very many items on the one vendor I am currently allowed, and my TK character will not be able to find armor at reasonable prices.
If the DEVS would address our concerns and let us know why they want to do this, maybe we can offer constructive ideas. Until then, basically all we can do is complain as loudly as possible and threaten to cancel.
joined42904
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:53 am
#24
No. But the first time your customers see that they will know that the system doesn't work for searching your vendors. They may ask you to take that item down. Or they may just give their business to your competitors.
I use the one item for 99,999,999 on one single vendor. My vendor called NERF Buyer of Armorsmith Resources. Its purpose is to buy, not to sell. And it needs to stay on the map. Nothing anti-customer about that vendor. And if someone does a search and sees it on the map...well...the vendor name does not imply that it ever sells anything. So if you waste your time going to the vendor, well...that's kinda your fault.
I won't put up 99,999,999 items on my for sale vendors because it will harm my customers' ability to determine whether I'm stocked. And as a merchant who cares about my customers, I would rather they didn't have to make a trip if I'm unstocked.
Each merchant is entitled to determine the regard in which he holds his customers. Right?
ResourceMonkey
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:55 am
#25
As a customer, I believe that coding needs to be implemented to enforce the ideas behind the Merchant Class instead of just 'capping' the items inside.
First and foremost, and the answer to all the issues, is the removal of the ability to keep Merchant abilities after surrendering the skills.
Empty Vendors on Planetary Map - let them remove an empty vendor from the map - the Merchant with Advert III can put it right back. You gonna dropAdvert III? Then you need to remove all vendors from the planetary map before the system lets you forget that skill.
Vendor mass would drop by about 80% if people had only the number of vendors their current level in Merchant could support. Imagine that impact in the game and on the database.
I do not like the idea that as a Pistols II person, I won't find the pistol I just got my cert for because it isn't worth much to sell and the Weaponsmiths have used their lowly 50 spaces to put up the high selling and high priced weapons.
ResourceMonkey
Wed Aug 11, 2004 11:56 am
#26
Ryche_Mykola wrote:
joined42904 wrote:
Ryche,
The same patch that does this will take empty vendors off the planetary map.
My vendor isn't empty though with 1 item on it for 9,999,999 credits now is it?
A planetary vendor ranking system would work. Some form of tell if a vendor has 1 item, 2-5 items or more than 5 items should be able to be implemented without much hassle. But with my above suggestion, this will become a moot point as the only ones who could do planetary advertising are those who could just as easily put their vendor back on the map.