Merchant Archive
Thread: Focus Thread: Galaxy-Wide Vendor Search
Elyssa
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:24 pm
#14
Exactly.
DocSavag wrote:
Why not just give us unlimited access to the bazaar with no price ceiling?
That's essentially what this change will do.
Cafa
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:27 pm
#15
This essentially removes marketing from the game. There is no difference I can see between novice and Master Merchant now.
Fivo Asia
NJ62
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:28 pm
#16
I couldn't agree more.
It devalues merchant skills, such as hiring and advertising.
It devalues a merchant who strives to have a large selection, because people can now "mix and match" so a large selection is no longer a selling point.
It creates unnecessary competition, and players have to price lower because they cannot distinguish themselves with their stocking habits or large selection.
It devalues the player city environment, because players will not be attracted to cities.
It makes unnecessary player business partnerships such as malls
Location of vendors no longer matters
Shop decor no longer matters
Sales tax revenue: there will be no point in putting vendors in cities anymore (since nobody will go to the shop) so vendors will move out of the cities and deprive cities of sales tax.
The search feature is GOOD - but the customer must be required to go to the vendor itself. I get as frustrated as the next person when I'm looking for a medium tat house and all I can find are medium naboo. Indeed, the search feature would bring people to your shop, and increase business - but the ability to purchase remotely is extremely problematic.
The search feature is GOOD - but the customer must be required to go to the vendor itself. I get as frustrated as the next person when I'm looking for a medium tat house and all I can find are medium naboo. Indeed, the search feature would bring people to your shop, and increase business - but the ability to purchase remotely is extremely problematic.
DocSavag
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:28 pm
#17
Cafa wrote:This essentially removes marketing from the game. There is no difference I can see between novice and Master Merchant now.Fivo Asia
The only difference will be the number of items you can list on the bazaar at one time.
Mystyrys
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:32 pm
#18
This doesn't look good at all.I agree with what was posted previously. Why bother having more than one vendor? Why bother having a shop? Why bother having a mall?
Remote purchasing and deliveryrips the heart out of even being a merchant. Traffic to and from cities will trickle down to wandering hunting groups just passing through.
There will be very little reason to be a master merchant other than you can list 4000 items on your single robo-bartender vendor, stashed in your basement, because no one will ever need to come to your shopor your city to buy anything ever again. The rest ofthe skills just got devalued, nullified and totally worthless.
Galaxy wide search was what we asked for. Not galaxy wide instant delivery. Even on the NPC city bazaars if you bought something in one city that was posted in another city, you had to go there to pick it up.
Nope. I don't like this. Not at all. 
Happymob
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:33 pm
#19
Bad change. The mega crafters will ultimately control pricing. They will price low enough to capture the vast majority of market share. Ultimately, profit margins will be squeezed enough, that there will be little reason for smaller crafters to even bother.
On top of the fact that many of my merchant skills are now useless (the entire advertising and hiring trees), I have also lost any advantage I might have had based on location or selection. Chefs and doctors come to me because when they run out of a type of resource, they know I will have some, and it will be fairly priced. But now selection matters nothing. If another vendor has the item, even if it's the only item on their vendor, I have to either match their price or buy them out (a losing proposition long-term). Existing business relations will matter little.
The only people that might be spared from this are the custom crafters. For them, hard work and customer relations may be enough to overcome price. But I feel for every seller of commodity-type products. In particular, chef, doctors, powerup producers, and resource dealers are going to see their prices get hammered as undercutters take over market share with very little work.
Ultimately, the buyer gets there product easier (and cheaper). Ultimately, the game is more fun for the buyers. But we will have far fewer actual people crafting. And Star Wars Galaxies will take a step closer to every other online game that caters to combat playstyles over everything else.
If this goes live, I'll give continuing my business a shot for a few months. But if the price of a quality resource goes from 8 cpu to 4 cpu and the price of stimpacks goes from 2000 a pack to 1000 a pack, I'll be finished with crafting and I'll be finished with merchant. It won't be worth my time.
Ani_cul
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:34 pm
#20
The following is my "as a player" opinion:
I disagree with any system that allows a player to see my prices or retrieve their items without visiting my vendor in person.
Being able to comparison shop from a central location will only favor those players who for one reason or another can afford to undercut everyone else.
Secondly, a significant portion of my business comes from people who look around while they're in my store and see other things they may not have been specifically looking for.
This "impulse buying" is extremely valuable to me as a merchant.
However, the ability to see *IF* something you are looking for is on a specific vendor and get a waypoint to go shop there is a very good idea.
I couldn't agree more.
The search feature is GOOD - but the customer must be required to go to the vendor itself. I get as frustrated as the next person when I'm looking for a medium tat house and all I can find are medium naboo. Indeed, the search feature would bring people to your shop, and increase business - but the ability to purchase remotely is extremely problematic.
Couldnt agree more with both of you, really this is a What The Fluckin my book.
This is such a wrong step to me that I am really reeling,
the fact that merchants will no longer be a shop but a line on the bazaar
the fact that thousands of sells will be lost from impulse buying
the fact the hundreds of players spent so much time creating a store and dressing vendors (how many hours we spent creating those vendors) that wont be seen
I would honestly and truely perfer a syatem that allows searching of an item's location...not instant buying and retrieval from anywhere...
This is making me cringe horribly, after all the great ideas that have been forth coming and planned...
Message Edited by Ani_cul on 02-11-2005 04:37 PM
Message Edited by Ani_cul on 02-11-2005 04:38 PM
EnigmaBSc
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:35 pm
#21
Sorry, meant to ask this in my original post but forgot. I'm not looking to Dev-bash (they have added a lot of good changes recently) or place blame anywhere, but I would like to know if either Elyssa or Doc knew that anything like this was in the works before Tiggs' post?
EnigmaBSc
EnigmaBSc
AlaManQ5
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:37 pm
#22
ahem...
It is Optional!!!!
Each vendor owner can decide whether to allow his or her vendors to be searchable in the market. There is an option for vendor owners to turn on/off the search option on his or her vendor. The vendor owner will be able to find current search option settings for each of his or her vendor(s).
My point was made...
/largefont off
Message Edited by AlaManQ5 on 02-11-2005 05:46 PM
DocSavag
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:39 pm
#23
EnigmaBSc wrote:
Sorry, meant to ask this in my original post but forgot. I'm not looking to Dev-bash (they have added a lot of good changes recently) or place blame anywhere, but I would like to know if either Elyssa or Doc knew that anything like this was in the works before Tiggs' post?
EnigmaBSc
I can't speak for Elyssa. I heard about it from NJ (former Tailor correspondant) via MSN when she read it In Development. Prior to that..nothing.
Marjaliisa
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:40 pm
#24
Yes, and if you turn it off, you won't have any sales at all......
IllandroKIlek
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:40 pm
#25
EnigmaBSc wrote:
Sorry, meant to ask this in my original post but forgot. I'm not looking to Dev-bash (they have added a lot of good changes recently) or place blame anywhere, but I would like to know if either Elyssa or Doc knew that anything like this was in the works before Tiggs' post?
EnigmaBSc
But the devs really deserve bashing for this one. It is an Idiotic move for a free-market economy.
Has this change already been implemented? If not when is it supposed to happen?
Ani_cul
Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:40 pm
#26
AlaManQ5 wrote:
ahem...
It is Optional!!!!
Each vendor owner can decide whether to allow his or her vendors to be searchable in the market. There is an option for vendor owners to turn on/off the search option on his or her vendor. The vendor owner will be able to find current search option settings for each of his or her vendor(s).
When a vendor owner turns off the search option, the vendor is no longer listed in the galaxy-wide network search. With this search option turned off, vendor owners have the ability to conduct private auctions. Players will need to physically go to the vendor and click "Use Vendor" to list items from this vendor.
right an option, shush with your spam and understand what the real impact this will have on merchants,
all who can undercut will take the option all who dont take the option get overlooked because eveyone uses the new bazaar feature...stp just qouting what devs said and starting reading what the professions are protesting.