Merchant Archive

The proposed limitations to vendor item quantities is unreasonable.

I am a master chef and master merchant. I am a popular and successful chef because rather than just carrying Canape and Brandy, I pride myself on carrying an large selection of all the different foods and drinks available. In general, I carry two stacks and two crates of EVERY food and drink. This means that those customers who really need Crispics, Dweezels, or Ithorian Mists know that they can always find them on my vendor, and this keeps them coming back. Obviously, keeping this kind of stock would go well over the proposed 110 item limit.

Under the proposed limitations, I would have torestrict myself to a fraction of my current selection. I could continue to set myself apart by stocking only the most obscure items, and move very little inventory (and thus make very little money), or only carry the most popular items, and sinceI assume most other chef/merchants will do the same, the availability of less popular foods and drinks will evaporate from vendors and only be available by special order.

With several hundred items on each of 6 vendors, I am already restocking constantly. Thankfully, since I can currently keep a good inventory on my far-flung vendors, I can get away with travelling from my home on Tatooine to my vendor, say, on Rori, once a week. With the number of items I sell on my vendor on Rori, my stock would be depleted by 10-25% DAILY if my item limit was 110. Since much of those sales are low-cost items such as Air Cakes, all of my profits would be eaten up by my required more-frequent trips to Rori just to keep the vendors stocked. I suppose I could only keep the high-priced and popular items such as Canape and Brandy on that vendor and ensure a profit margin high enough to afford frequent restocking trips but a) do I really want to spend all of my online time travelling back and forth to vendors, and b) won't it degrade the game for shoppers if merchants are forced into only carrying only the most expensive and popular items to maintain their profitability?

I fully support having empty vendors not showing up on the map, and empty vendors going poof after a reasonable amount of time, and I suspect that all merchants, and in fact all players, would feel similarly. However, the proposed item limitations will seriously injure the diversity of the player economy and chain merchants toa constant mode of keep-up-or-get-left-behind that few will find enjoyable.

I play Star Wars Galaxies as a way to get away from the constant hack and slash of EverQuest. I love havinga place where I can play a total non-combantant (my only combat skill is Pistols II, and I can't remember the last time I killed anything), and I have enjoyed being exclusively a crafter and a merchant. My enjoyment comes from filling that niche of being "the place you can get all those obscure foods" and the gratification of getting emails that say things like, "Oh my god! I can't believe you carry crates of Felbar and Kenali Wafers! Thank you so much and keep up the good work!" I have no interest in being yet another chef pumping out nothing but Canape and Brandy or having to restock every vendor every day. I would no longer have time to enjoy my other SWG activities, such as milking mammals, dabbling in tailoring, collecting resources for myself and my fellow townies, and my lastest hobby of redecorating homes.

I ask SOE to remember that the merchant tree isn'tonlya side-activity for combatants who are either grinding the profession for Jedi advancement or to unload loot they accumulate on the way. For some of us, it is our full-time occupation from which we derive all or most of our ingame enjoyment. Many people may be cited as examples (including me), but one that springs to mind off the top of my head is a master architect named Fabrice on Kauri, who has created a fabulous mall outside of Anchorhead. She has all of her vendors in a large house, which she has meticulously decorated. Each vendor sells a subset of her offerings, such as "Lamps and Plants" or "Sofas and Loveseats". She carries single items, crates of 5, crates of 10, crates of 25 -- she puts a lot of effort into making sure that no matter what items or in what quantities her customers are in need of, they can find them in her mall. She is even usually there personally to greet her customers (bilingually)and ask if there is anything she can help them with. Fabrice's mall is truly a one-stop shop for architectural items, but the proposed changes would negate her efforts and accomplishments.

Please reconsider.

Master Chef Zadhi

Kauri

Zadhiperpetual.kitchen.fire
| suburban fry cook forever | lonely

---

Ingame Names: Sif @ Bria, Chilastra, Flurry, Naritus, Starsider | Hiordis @ Kettemoor | Freya @ Tempest
Quotable: It's pretty freaking underwhelming when the story turns out to be you, alone, in a field, for two weeks, punching toads. | At least SOE lasted a year before they went Turbine on us.

Sigrun, I agree and gave you 5 stars on that request.

Issadra 12-pt Master Armorsmith, Master Merchant
NERF Armory 5103, 2008 Lost Sanctum Dantooine
Specialty Shop and Outlet in Andromeda Corellia

Empty vendors will go 'poof' AWESOME!

The planetary map will be cleaned up and actually updated! AWESOME!

Inactive characters and all of their belongings will go 'poof' AWESOME!

Ok so vendor limits are coming.. and I'm fine with that. BUT PLEASE SONY.. do not come out and low-ball us with ridiculous numbers like 110 at master! what a joke. 900 Item limit at master merchantis much more realistic. We realize, as the O' Mighty Creators of the Star Wars Galaxies, will compromise with the unwilling masses and offer up somewhat higher numbers. Low balling numbers like that are a pure insult to the collective (think SUBSCRIBERS) intelligence, pissing off a large chunk of your remaining player base.

Too make things worse, you delete a 1200+ post thread because the player base has shown 99.9% disagreement with these proposed changes. deleted, gone, poof.. Fahrenheit 'delete keyed'

I must say, pretty gutsy move there guys. Bet that drew a large amount of applause at your last top-secret developers meeting!

PLEASE, O' Mighty Creators of the Star Wars Galaxies, be up-front and HONEST with your intentions here. PLEASE let us know WHY you are proposing and implementing these changes. Please let us know how these changes will make the game better for us, your meager subscribers, your unwashed masses.

Come out from behind your curtain andlevel with us..

_____________________________________________________

Gunga Din ~ Master Weaponsmith ~ Master Smuggler
"Gunga's Weapon Shop" & "Always Stocked Resources"
Less than 800m south of Theed Starport -5131, 3390
Newest Vendor on Lok in Fanoveti next to shuttleport
______________________________________________________

Even though you don't deserve it here's a constructive idea.

Just remove the limits on the size of crates and resource stacks and allow vendors to sell any quantity from a stack. This will satisfy both players and "devs". It will reduce the size of the database dramatically . Obvious but I will explain it just in case. Instead of having 20 database items from a factory run of crates there will be 1 database item. Same for different sizes of resource stacks or copies of items made in a factory.On the vendors there will be for example, 45 Jawa Ion Rifles listed, or 345k of Steel. One unique listing instead of many copies of the same thing. Just list one item typein the database with an added field "item count".

Valcyn.Nidia

Resource vendors on the map near Coronet in Prosperity Mall (old Bartertown)

Prosperity Minerals
Prosperity Iron Steel and Ore
Prosperity Chemical Water and Gas
Prosperity Flora
Prosperity Gems
Prosperity JTL Resources

/waypoint -123 -5825

wel.. i think i can quit architect then.

cause well i have5 vendors with decoration. ( i dont make structures)

1 for paintings and city stuff.

1 for plants and lights

1 for miscelaneous

1 for decorating loot

1 for seats and tables

and each of those have 4 items or more (depends on product) of each furniture product. i get up to 300 on the miscelaneous. lights and plants have nearly 400 at times. seats and tables areound the 160 opaintings and city stuff also around the 160. decorating loot is the only one that is under the 100.... but with this i cannot keep it up.... i wiull have to do tons of custom orders but i have 2 characters and i dont play with my crafter all the time... thats why i have vendors..... if this id going to be like this im not gonna be a c rafter anymore.. i dont wanna be a 24/7 crafter.

Corzip Dinn & Atex Dinn

Corzip: Master medic / Master Doc / Master Pistoleer

Atex: Master Artisan / Master merchant / Master Architect

Cori Celesti Corellia Starsider Server

Affiliates - Semper Paratus

Peace is a lie. there is only Passion

hello all,

I don't usually post but this proposal really scares me.

I understand there is always constant change and usually I flow with it.

I really hope the devs are taking a very close look at this and not just doing this to save space on just database. If its only database this also concerns me if SOE can not upgrade there systems as the game and there clients grow now what makes me think they will upgrade there system when the expansion comes out. Also, why am i paying 15$ a month for a change that should be on corporate side. ok enough on that subject.

This proposal to me will change the economy as we know it in game and not only that but omg what you will be doing to the chars who chose there professions.

I was sitting here thinking about it and i have 4 accts... I love to craft so i just about have every craft you can imagine.. only one i dont have is weapons and armor...but i also have a char that is master merchant so on one hand im like phew.. least i have that maybe just maybe they change the limits and i will be ok.. then i sat and thought more and went OMG...those poor people that only have 1 acct.. lets look at this shall we.

1 acct.. can have a char right now with a master crafting prof and a master fighting prof i believe thats correct...and at the same time are able to have enough pts to get 1 vendor .. just 1 vendor to be able to enjoy there crafting profession when they wish....i would like to know.. maybe i dont see it.. what master crafting profession only wants to put 50 items on1 vendor with this proposal.

Some of the changes are good and i think needed.. like having the vendors with nothing on them go bye bye.

This proposal really saddens me when a game says from the start you can be so much then a yr later says you can be so little *sigh*.

I just had to voice this in hopes that some DEV GOD will see this and all the posts i have read and realize what a devastating change this will make..

so.. here I sit.. waiting to see the effects of this change.. and as to what limit it will be since i do know this change is inevitable!

Your Precious

11 more pages of the same stuff over and over again with lil alterations here and there. While NO DEV has even felt like coming to discuss our concerns and express theirs 64 pages on the orginal thread, and 11 pages here.

I'm tired of complaining to what I feel are deaf ears. I've played other online games where the DEV team is just as much a 'troll' on the boards as the player base. I think they enjoy their community and the game they've made.

Anyways. Read these ideas people have put up. I think they show promise.

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=merchant&message.id=42773

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=merchant&message.id=40842

there are some great ideas in here.....more lively and intriguing than ANY of your STALE UPDATES YOU'VE GIVEN US.

______________________________
Helina ErdayR
Resident of Corrbian Bay, Corellia
"She's one of the hot AND nice girls."

Rimtuuk
Master Artisan/Master Architect/Master Droid Engineer
BBR Inc Located in the Avalon Mall
Avalon, Rori -3309 -2024 2k from Narmlee

I have just one qustion. What ever happened to the principle "the customer is always right?" As a "soon to be" college graduate (December) with a minor in business, the one constant idea in every class and everything I have heard from my business school is, that a busines should be focused on to things:

#1- Make a profit, (cash inflow higher than outflow)

#2- KEEP YOUR CUSTOMER BASE HAPPY!!!

Without a happy customer base a company loses those customers, in this case SOE would lose customers, who to this point have been very loyal, to other MMORPG's. Personally if SOE goes through with these limits I am seriously going to consider cancelling my subscription as well. If for no other reason I will be convinced that SOE refuses to listen to the people that keep them in business. I have heard of many threads on the forums that since they were not liked by SOE execs were just deleted and never acknowledged. This would be the straw that breaks the camels back.

Just as an aside, one more argument that i haven't heard yet is that if these limits go through the amount of items that a person could have period would drop to the point that everytime an item was looted it would have to be deleted. If someone got a few things that they would actually want to keep there would be no reason for them to continue to fight things to try and get other loots.

Also if they are looking to increase server stability by these proposed changes, then they will succeed. With the number of accounts that will be closed as a result of this there will be a substantial decrease in the number of people in each galaxy which will acheive there goal.

To end, I just hope that SOE comes to their senses and realizes that regardless of the SWG implications, this is a very bad business decision if they follow through with these merchant changes.

Bullettooth Ony
Master Weaponsmith

Check out Vendors
Desert Eagle Weapons (-4708, -1468) in SiN City on Dantooine
Bullettooth's Resource (-4699, -1412) in SiN City on Dantooine

I'm working on Master BE, and might be able to manage with a 50 item limit ... until the first time I do a factory run of additives. I have enough resources to make 1000 as-is, I think ... but how would I sell them and something else?

...has mastered the Pilot profession

Kryxal Lightsky - Radiant - Cancelled Dec. 7
Kagami Lightingdark - Radiant - Cancelled Dec. 7
Kikuko Inoue - Starsider - Cancelled Dec. 7
Momoko - Radiant - Cancelled Aug. 22

My Idea for Merchant is This:

Replace Hiring 1 - 4 With the Ability to CRAFT Vendors!

And Make it Possible to Experiment on Durablity, Efficiency and Storage Capacity

For Droid Vendors, get a Chasis from a Droid Eng.

For Terminals, get a Terminal From an Architect.

Most of all Give all Vendors LIFESPANS, like Lights have (upto say 40 days at 99% Durability)

Too Many Ppl Take up Merchant, juts to get a Vednor to sell their loot, and the drop Merchant.

So why not ADD a Device to the Datapad, for a Merchant Vendor , in a similar way to Droids or Creature Handlers.

Make a Basic Vendor a 'CL10' Item - with it possible to experiment on efficency to make a more advanced Vendor (a NPC) a lower 'CL' For ppl.

This Addresses Several Issues:

First : Merchant Actually get to DO Something, in Game (Craft)

Second : The Item Limit (150) can be Experimented up the ways,

Third : All Ppl Get to Have A Vendor ( Maybe Only 1, but Still...) This Would Stop ppl Taking Merchant to get a Vendor and Dropping the skills

Fourth: How Long Now have Merchants Been asking for the Ability to Imange Design thier Vendors? - If a Merchant Can Craft a Vendor, You may as Well add that to the Build Options.

We All Have the ability to Own a Droid, or a Pet (Mount) or 3 Vehicles.

So Why not a Vendor too?

If you Do add the ability to increase Vendor Space, it will be at the cost of Durability (Lifespan) and Efficency '$'

Taking a base ammount, such as 150 items and Allowing that to be increased actually makes for some good sense.

What else do Merchant do anyway? May as well make a Craft Option to make Vendors Accessible to all.

Any Ol' Joe Player could have a basic Vendor, with Artisans Being able to make Personal use Vendors Only.

And For those with Higher Merchant Skills, and Thus More Experiment Points, adding double or more the Item Storage Capacity to

a Crafted Vendor Solves, to Some Extent, the Item Limit The develpoers want to Impose.

Crazy-Ideas-Are-Us

Europe-Chimaera

IGN Coldare

Pls No Tells or Mails as to how Crazy this is!

Ooops!

This is what i get for not skipping to the End Page!

So Much for Originality!

Still - Great Minds Think Alike?.....

-Coldare