Merchant Archive

I feel metropolis Cities , should get Launch pads.

As there is only one metropolis per planet it will nto flood the econormy.

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Fluke_SillyWalker wrote:
I feel metropolis Cities , should get Launch pads.

As there is only one metropolis per planet it will nto flood the econormy.

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DocSavag wrote:
With 5 min max wait times I don't worry abut that any more. Most of the time the shuttle is waiting for me. Most other times is a couple of minutes.

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I feel the same way, Doc. However, what the original poster said is true - it's amazing to see, but Coronet has just gotten BUSIER since JTL. The one draw of Theed was the fact that it had the insta-starport, and now with JTL it's not nearly as necessary. Theed had been dying a slow death, but these days I never see it much more active than cities like Eisley has become since JTL hit.

Player cities also became slightly less popular because of the revitalization of some of the secondary cities due to space trainers, etc. That's hard to see as a bad thing, however, because those NPC cities and outposts had been dead since...well, always. It's nice to fly into just about any Starport in the game and at least see one other "real" person.

I think the soloution is pretty simple, and I think the Devs may already have it on their plate. I'm sure someone else can say exactly where, but I know in one of the pre-JTL dev chats (or interviews??) where they said that player cities werre a possibility, as well as PA halls. My guess is once everything settles down with the combat revamp (or even sooner), we'll see the very largest player cities getting Starports (perhaps the top five population centers on the planet?). The PA hall idea is nice too - but not sure how practical it would be under the current system.

AO

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JeCy wrote:

Mind you, if people couldn't stand the thought of flying direct to Dearic, and then spending a minute or 2 waiting for a shuttle to bring them to Draicco, and then a lag free 20meter run into my shop.....but would rather hop to Coro or Theed, battle the lag for a couple of minutes and then spend 10 minutes riding there and back (dodging houses, PA Halls, factories and mining installations), then good on them for making a "ahem" rational and easy choice.

Hehe,, you hit the Chuba on the head.. let um go where they think the good shops are.. they will never find those great deals like,. ohh how about this, shops i have found NOT in corenet

1.6 speed vibro knuckler 5k credits

suit of ubese 65% 6.5k

crate of cirtus snow, snyth steak ,veggie hash, canape 83k Thats total

Not having to deal with spam, lagg and beggers, and seeign a beutiful new city.. Priceless

Ill give you one hint.. they where not near, theed, corenet, dantooine mining, or mos esiely. see it pays to shop around

Je'Cy

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The problem isn't that they can't stand the thought...it's that the thought doesn't enter their mind.

You see, how are they to know that you are there? You can't even check our rudimentary vendor listings from another planet, let alone know what exactly is on your vendors.

The reason people go to the population centers is because they know they can check a dozen vendors that are within 1k meters of each other in a few minutes and will likely find some variant of what they are looking for. Veteran players have enough money that they really don't care if they buy a gun for 10K or 50K - as long as they get what they want as quickly as possible. Newbie players don't know any better, so they run the missions and pay the inflated prices.

That's why we need some form of galaxy-wide advertising. Occasionally I go to planets like Talus or Rori that I have little reason to visit otherwise (once you hit master of any combat profession you sort of outgrow hunting there, so the last few times it's just been to place harvesters) and just spend an hour or two checking out what vendors I can find. Sometimes I'll find what I'm looking for, or some gem (like a loot piece that sells for much more in other markets), but a lot of the time I find relatively empty vendors.

We need a new form of advertising all the way around. Some people bemoan Starport advertising ("Spam"), but other players find it the only way to find out if a vendor will really have what you want. I'm not talking about the people selling random loot in the trade window, I'm refering to merchants like me who use it occasionally to get out the word about new products. I tell you - as a DE I'm sure I've been put on iggy lists of many people when I have advertised at a Starport, but on the other hand I cannot tell you how many e-mails I've gotten telling me, "Wow, thanks - I would have never known that even existed if I hadn't seen you advertising." That's partially a droid thing (the awareness just isn't that high), but it applies universally to crafting professions and much of their wares.

In the age of JTL, you'd be shocked how many people WILL come to your shop, if only you advertise. If you don't want to hit a Starport (go to a big one - like Cnet - and say it's "only one quick Starship trip away!"), then advertise in your trade forum here on the boards. Mine your customer lists and send out a one-time email letting them know you appriciate them, and would be very pleased if they'd share the waypoint with their friends.

People DO want to come visit you. It's just that most people have limited play time, and instead of taking the chance of spending an hour or more looking at player city vendors on remote planets they'd just rather blow the credits and get what they want so they can get back to playing whatever profession they are. Shopping is fun when you have the time - but when you are trying to finish a quest and your armor goes out, or you realize you have totally the wrong weapon, you want to finish as quickly as possible and aren't in the mood for casual browsing.

I have two vendors - one in a Metropolis and one just outside of a major NPC city. I actually did the math, and 97% of my business comes from the non-player city vendor. Both are registered on the maps either at the top or very near the top - the one in the player city is actually the first tent most people see when they load in at the Shuttleport. It's actually gotten worse since JTL hit, as the original poster said - player cities are getting much less action.

Now is the time for talking about advertising enhancements. While the original design of having vendors listed on the bazaar would have never worked - it would have been TOO global - we really need to start talking about what would work. I'd be very pleased to not have to sell at a major city - but right now if you want the business you really have little choice.

AO

Message Edited by AudioOrgana on 12-04-2004 06:28 PM

(Nevermind)

Message Edited by Vastar on 12-11-2004 02:41 PM

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DocSavag wrote:
With 5 min max wait times I don't worry abut that any more. Most of the time the shuttle is waiting for me. Most other times is a couple of minutes.

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Doc - this isn't about what "you" worry about. From what was posted here - and from what people have observed - there are many others that will NOT choose the 5 min, 3 min or even 1 min wait.

We can't just dismiss such impatience if it is truly having some adverse secondary effects on player generated content (i.e. our cities)

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Nema0879 wrote:

Get a reputation, build a big name business as someone who is never out of stock in whatever it is you sell ... make sure there is a market for what you're selling, ie the market isn't flooded to death with whatever yr selling already and they will come ... no matter what ... quality is important as well, but that will come with time ...

I live / work in a player city on naboo, now maybe it't because of what I listed above, or maybe its because of the Naboo no wait time thing, but I've never had problems selling stuff, even since JTL

Only time my sales drop is when I've run out of stock -- which i try not to do because when I do, I've found I tend to lose customers ...

But then ... that's just my $.02

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Message Edited by Balkstar on 12-21-2004 05:12 PM