Merchant Archive
Thread: New Merchant Ability/Skill Suggestion
Eola wrote:
I think the only problem with the ability to transfer structures (and for that matter vendors) is that it's giving away the store in the hopes that we get more content later. My primary issues with it are two-fold, one if from the level of our own abilities, and one is vaguely associated with class segregation (and I'll try to make that point a little clearer in a second).
Point the first: I'm halfway between Doc and Alpha on the issue of Vendors and Tents. They are, in essence both the tools of our trade and the 'product' of our skills. When I say product in this case though, I mean they are the tangible output of what our skills allow us to do, and right now they're the only tangible output. Doc is correct, vendors are our tools and Jimmerlins is also correct we should be about more than vendors. If we got some new supplemental skills and abilities, then I think the transferal ability good be decent particularly with some feature for 'Vendor Lots' that would allow non-merchant players to take ownership of the vendor and not have it count against our vendor count.
I don't know that it should be considered something that must go hand-in-hand. One good change (in my opinion, and whether it's good or not is still up for debate) shouldn't be predicated on another.
The idea of Vendor Lots (vendors that can be transferred to other players) is a good one, as it would expand the Merchant's abilities without removing any (ie, reducing the number of vendors a Merchant can have). As a feature, something like this would have to both add to the Merchant class and give something to the other classes in order to be a valuable addition to the game. I think it does both, by giving us the ability to do something we currently cannot, and to give some other classes a service they cannot perform for themselves.
Essentially, the goal is to make the Merchant more valuable, not less. Being able to "proxy-place" vendors that other characters can then manage opens up a whole world of possibilities (franchises, anyone?), but doesn't dilute the profession, at least in my estimation.Point the second: There's a danger in dilution. Unless something is added to the Merchant profession to truly make it distinctive (as opposed to making us the equivalent of Vendor Handlers) than it's incredibly risky, and incredibly weakening to the profession to open the doors too wide to sharing our abilities with others. Additionally, it risks doing a lot of damage to non-crafter merchants who may find that suppliers instead of selling resources to them will rent vendors/tents from other merchants and sell their product themselves, keeping more of the profits.
Point the Third: I think it warrants discussion as a concept, but we couldn't really say if this was something we want or not until we see what supplemental abilities are given to the merchant prof. If we stay as we are, then the ability to trasnfer merchants and tents would further marginalize a marginalized class.
As I said above, I don't think that this amounts to dilution, because the Merchant in this scenario becomes more useful (and desired) by other classes, not less. It also would have the secondary effect of reducing dabblers who just take merchant to get more vendors, and give Merchants the ability to do more than just run a shop. It doesn't reduce our ability to manage our own shops, if that's what we want to do.
I think it would be a requirement of something like this that a single player could only receive one "proxy" vendor, and that maybe there should be limitations on their ability to use it (item caps, maybe, or increased maintenance fees). After all, in RP terms, the Merchant hires some dude and says "Here's your new manager, do what he says" means that he still "works" for the Merchant.
In a sense, this allows the merchant to sell their services directly, instead of being limited to only selling items or services from other players.