CUEmu - Thread Posts

DocSavag

Mon Jun 14, 2004 7:39 am

Well ok..you saying doing that is fun. Is the method you have to use fun? Would you rather have options? Would you rather have the ability to get an ID to come in and do a makeover?

I agree there is a certain sense of satisfaction with getting your vendor to look the way you invision it. Having them wear something that seems to promote the prodcut they are selling etc. I 'm just not overly fond of the tools we have. But maybe for some the challenge is the randomness of the vendor spawn .

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Chataka Windae
Rifleman/Combat Medic
CEO, Windae Enterprises
Mesric Sanctuary Founder

Redguard

Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:51 am

#28

sparkz1111 posted

most fun thing about merchant is getting all the hate mails or tells saying your items are to much or your vendor is emtpy lol... ( i was been sarcastic) merchant is truely the worst prof in game there is nothing fun about it

No one said you had to play a merchant and if you dont like it by all means stop

Given the choice between style over substance. I'll take a sandwich.

DocSavag

Mon Jun 14, 2004 11:45 am

#29

Songe wrote:

Ewach wrote:

DocSavag wrote:

The most fun thing about merchant for me has always been that stuff happens when I am way from the game. I get up every day and the first time I log on I eagerly scan my email to see what sales I had over night. Sometimes I get nice a nice surprise and an item that never sells has moved (and a big ticket one at that..woo hoo daddy can buy new armor!)

Doc - So, the "most fun thing" about Merchant for you is the the same email that an Artisan with Business 3 can receive when they sell something?

That, to me, is a BIG indicator that this profession needs some serious love!

I think we all agree there. I really hope we get much more tools and options than artisans get.

We all know there is no functional difference between Ole Bulky and any vendor you get after Novice Merchant. The fun things about being a merchant all come from the dynamic of running a store and none of that is really dependant on the tools we have. The tools should be better and the costs for non merchants (IE artisans) should be more. There should be a clear choice to make between selling yourself with an Artisan vendor or getting merchant skills or hiring a merchant to sell for you. Right now there isn't enough of a difference between them.

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Chataka Windae
Rifleman/Combat Medic
CEO, Windae Enterprises
Mesric Sanctuary Founder

Cendatinea

Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:41 am

#30

DocSavag wrote:

Well ok..you saying doing that is fun. Is the method you have to use fun? Would you rather have options? Would you rather have the ability to get an ID to come in and do a makeover?

I agree there is a certain sense of satisfaction with getting your vendor to look the way you invision it. Having them wear something that seems to promote the prodcut they are selling etc. I 'm just not overly fond of the tools we have. But maybe for some the challenge is the randomness of the vendor spawn .

I like the challenge of not knowing what my vendor will look like and trying to find that "perfect" vendor.

As far as chaning the appearance of my employees though, I'd rather not have to have an ID come in to do it. I'd rather do it myself because I know what I want but its very hard to explain to an ID exactly what I want.

When I created my character, I knew how I wanted her to look. I did end up visiting an ID, but he was a good friend of mine and in tune with how I think. It still took over an hour to get my character EXACTLY how I wanted her. That friend is no longer playing and now with changes in the ID profession, no ID will be tolerant of standing in my shop for hours on end fixing each of my vendors. The timers on their changes will be hassle enough, but then me being picky would be too. More than that is the lack of IDs on my server. Granted, I know there are some there, but they are practically tethered to the ID tent when and if they are even online.

At least with a tailor, I can say "I want __clothing schematic name__ in __desired color__ or color matched to go with this item I have here." and get a close if not perfectly in tune with my desired item. I can't exactly tell an ID "I want her hair to be a __specific color__" and be able to guarantee the outcome because, for example, my definition of chocolate brown and someone else's are going to be different.

I guess, if SOE actually numbered (I know they're numbered, but the number doesn't show on the palette) or named their colors, even if that meant stealing names from the Crayola company, then things would be easier, but as they are now, its a lot of guess work to have to do and then have a 5 minute timer on top of it. That poor ID would be there all day.

Now, I don't mean this as a rant, I am trying to constructively answer your question. I like making my own vendors because it means I can control how they look, to a certain degree and measure of my patience. I also do enjoy the randomness of them.

For example, I manage the bartender in our town's cantina. He's a charming little Mon Cal I named Salmon Malone. He is blueish colored with dark spots but was born with the most gaudy orange shirt on. I could do 2 things. I could have asked a tailor to give me a shirt that was less violent on the eyes, but I didn't. I have a friend who is a Mon Cal who plays his character (I live in a roleplay town) and insists that Mon Cal's have outlandish and often gaudy fashion sense. So my friend the tailor made Sal a pair of bright orange pants to match his lovely shirt.

I, personally, would not have put an orange shirt on the guy, but when he was born with it, it got me thinking and has been a lot of fun. That's what I mean about the randomness. Sometimes it doesn't come out how I envisioned. Sometimes it comes out better!

Lady Derianadai Hirunmil
"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."
Passing out tackle hugs to the whole galaxy!

Songe

Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:00 pm

#31

Ooooo forgot something.

Definitely very unfun : trying 10000000000 different names before finding one accepted by the filter. Fix the stupid filter already!

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Novice Lekku Stomper

p4Samwise

Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:20 pm

#32

DocSavag wrote:

We all know there is no functional difference between Ole Bulky and any vendor you get after Novice Merchant. The fun things about being a merchant all come from the dynamic of running a store and none of that is really dependant on the tools we have.

HUZZAH!

"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria
Blue glowie.

Dustin_Asche

Wed Jun 16, 2004 10:31 pm

#33

There is a functional difference, actually. Terminal vendors can't bark adds.

The only real advantage to being a merchant is being able to own more vendors, possibly in different locations, and thus reach a wider market. There are small functional advantages in other aspects of the merchant, such as the maintenace cost reduction on buildings (very useful on harvesters in particular) and some advertising ability. What this profession really needs is some ability to actually advertise. Barker droids don't work very well. The ability to set them up to bark adds outside in multiple locations for a predetermined amount of time (say, 24 hours) reguardless of my own online status would be great, also the ability to "hire" NPCs to walk around cities barking ads for us like we were supposed to get back in Beta would be cool. Basically anything that would give an experienced merchanta realadvantage over the novice merchant/artisan in terms of advertising.

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"Man, if I had I lightsabre, I'd go voom, voom, snick, snick, snick, waaah, Jedi! slice up tubby here, and we could crawl inside him and stay warm for the night." Jay - Clerks, the Animated Series.

p4Samwise

Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:23 am

#34

Dustin_Asche wrote:

There is a functional difference, actually. Terminal vendors can't bark adds.

True 'nuff, though at the Business III level of skill, that difference is moot since you can't do ad barking at that level.

I think what Doc was driving at (and what I was enthusiastically cheering) was the notion that there's no real reason to make the "look and feel" of a vendor be so heavily dependent on elite-level skill boxes. For example, it doesn't make sense for a DE wanting to have a single protocol droid style vendor with the samefunctionality of a bulky vendor to need Master Merchant to accomplish that, since there's no "game mechanic benefit" to having the protocol droid instead of the bulky vendor - it's purely a matter of decorative flair.

I'd be a big fan of getting rid of the "Hiring" skill mod and making all vendor styles (and the ability to dress NPC vendors) available right at Business 3. It has the potential to make the game feel a lot more "Star-Warsy", since diverse species and droids and whatnot is a big part of the setting, and it'd free up that Hiring branch of the tree for functionality that more directly relates to the business of being a "merchant".

"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria
Blue glowie.

Songe

Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:46 am

#35

I really couldn't care less about that line either... I don't care about how my vendors look one bit.

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Novice Lekku Stomper

DocSavag

Thu Jun 17, 2004 11:02 am

#36

p4Samwise wrote:

Dustin_Asche wrote:

There is a functional difference, actually. Terminal vendors can't bark adds.

True 'nuff, though at the Business III level of skill, that difference is moot since you can't do ad barking at that level.

I think what Doc was driving at (and what I was enthusiastically cheering) was the notion that there's no real reason to make the "look and feel" of a vendor be so heavily dependent on elite-level skill boxes. For example, it doesn't make sense for a DE wanting to have a single protocol droid style vendor with the samefunctionality of a bulky vendor to need Master Merchant to accomplish that, since there's no "game mechanic benefit" to having the protocol droid instead of the bulky vendor - it's purely a matter of decorative flair.

I'd be a big fan of getting rid of the "Hiring" skill mod and making all vendor styles (and the ability to dress NPC vendors) available right at Business 3. It has the potential to make the game feel a lot more "Star-Warsy", since diverse species and droids and whatnot is a big part of the setting, and it'd free up that Hiring branch of the tree for functionality that more directly relates to the business of being a "merchant".

*Sigh* No that wasn't my point at all. My point is that there isn't enough difference in the vendors. Not that I want to give away the hiring line. I don't. Again I detest the argument that something is useless..but everyone wants it. Well if they want it it isn't useless. I would be all for combining the Management and Hiring Lines into one line and giving us a brand new tree if I knew of any real benefit to put there that would fill out the profession.

I do NOT support giving non merchant vendors MORE features. I actually favor making them cost more and do less. They are lessor vendors they should act like them.

----------------------------------
Chataka Windae
Rifleman/Combat Medic
CEO, Windae Enterprises
Mesric Sanctuary Founder

Haruspex77

Thu Jun 17, 2004 11:45 am

#37

DocSavag wrote:

[snip]Again I detest the argument that something is useless..but everyone wants it. Well if they want it it isn't useless. [snip]

Merchant has a lot of skills that are useless, but fun to many people. Dressing vendors, choosing their race, and teaching them to say interesting things is as valuable for role playing as nice clothes and furniture. It also seems to have little or no impact on sales, tho some opinionsmay differ.

Other classes have asked for cosmetic skills, pistoleers wanted holsters and a twirl move, but they rarely make it very high on the want list. Unfortunately, Merchant's get little else now.

If Pistoleers had no defenses or specialsso thatcombat with a Marksman with Pistols 3 was a tossup based only on player skill, would they still be interested in holsters? Probably even more, because then the only people who identified with the class would be ones who spent most of their time roleplaying.

I would prefer that our correspondent's objective was to make Merchant a functional class with skillpoints that gave full value for their use. That means focusing on skills that have utility value, not on fun cosmetics.

How about a skill tree that topped out at Master by giving a merchant full access to every vendor in the galaxy while sitting at home. A nice interface that allowed you to see everything for sale, where, and at what price, with the ability to buy it and send a droid off to fetch it within an hour or so at a cost the same or less than personal travel. The full skill set could be delivered in pieces in the tree, planet visibility, remote purchase, delivery droid, galactic visibility. No non-master could take a customer away from you by offering a lower price if you were in game and willing to play. About the same results as the competition between a Master Pistoleer and Marksman.

A Master Merchant should have awesome powers to apply to his business, not a pink protocol droid with no more functionality than a Bulky Terminal. That vendor may be fun to some people, and serves as a badge to identify your store as being owned by a (possibly former) Master Merchant but it gives no more power than a holster would to a pistoleer.

Message Edited by Haruspex77 on 06-17-2004 12:10 PM

Message Edited by Haruspex77 on 06-17-2004 12:17 PM

p4Samwise

Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:27 pm

#38

Songe wrote:

But I don't think anyone is arguing that merchant needs more benefits.

You mean "fluff"?

"Prettiest shim on Bria!" - Sev
Certified "cool" by the Darth Vader of Bria
Blue glowie.

Songe

Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:32 pm

#39

I don't even know what fluff means lol

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Novice Lekku Stomper

Merchant Archive

Thread: The Merchant Profession: What works and what doesn't?