Merchant Archive

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joined42904 wrote:

Sigrun,

I'm for the limits because I don't want to have to spam starports and I want folks to buy from my friends who are also some of the new entrants to the market.

I found this to be the least effective marketing tool a player has at their dispossal

I don't want to have to compete for customer loyalty on the basis of who has the most thousands of suits of armor backlogged on their vendor.

So competition should not be based on selection then? I should be controlled by quotas?

I want customers to use all the smiths.

If "joeblow" smith makes armor no one wants due to resists, HAM or price...should customers be forced then to buy from them because there arnt other options? In my experience, players will always want the best when putting out moneyfor high ticket items... if that means waiting a few days for the a better quality item to be avail, then they will wait.

I want new entrants to have a good chance to compete against me, against the good, nice veteran smiths

The biggest disavantage a new crafter has is in resources and extra exp points...but even those can be overcome with some effort and thought.

And most importantly I want the new smiths to have a chance to compete against the arrogant 12-point crafters who buy up AS experimentation items and bid the price of them up so that the newer folks have a hard time.

Not all 12 point crafters are arrorgent, sure some are, but so are some Uber template stacker...thats the nature of the game, some people are jerks others are not. I could not afford tapes either for the 1st few months, so I instead invested in resources and made armor that didnt require 12 points to still be competitive. (Such as Ubese or higher Base composite).

I also camped the Borgle caves ....trade tapes with other players and had friends help me obtain the tapes I needed... took me about 2 months to get 12 points without buying most of the attachments. But the time spend was well worth it.

I think on our server folks would benefit from their usual suppliers running out because the newer folks are competing primarily on price. But if you always buy your armor from one person you will keep going back to that shop so long as it is stocked. Force of habit. This "nerf" breaks force of habit and lets me and my friends get a decent share of the market.

In some instances yes, but I quit AS months ago and I still have at least 2 or 3 of my old customers email me each day asking where my new armor vendor is... they liked the product, not just the convience.

And once someone has bought from us...hmmm...they usually don't go back to the expensive smiths unless it's for PVP armor and they absolutely have to have the best.

Players will always want the best, its human nature... many players will wait until they can get it, rather then buy something less effective..seeing how most players can in theory print their own money with missions, loot, or harvesting resources.

This so-called nerf will be both good for the newer smiths and good in the long run for customers on my server. The customers just don't know it yet.

I dont think so.

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Message Edited by VarnaxDespin on 08-12-2004 10:20 AM

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joined42904 wrote:

Sigrun,

I have yet to sell out of anything except Ubese (because I started out pricing Ubese at under 60k to get folks to come into my shop). It's now at 75k. And the next run which I'm going to have to use my good wooly rather than crummy wooly my alt gathered is going to be even higher.

I'm for the limits because I don't want to have to spam starports and I want folks to buy from my friends who are also some of the new entrants to the market.

I've never done this, nor will I. If anyone really feels the urge to do this, that is what barker droids are for.

I don't want to have to compete for customer loyalty on the basis of who has the most thousands of suits of armor backlogged on their vendor. I want customers to use all the smiths. I want new entrants to have a good chance to compete against me, against the good, nice veteran smiths (and there are a few like Oman and Chumm on our server but they aren't high volume at present). And most importantly I want the new smiths to have a chance to compete against the arrogant 12-point crafters who buy up AS experimentation items and bid the price of them up so that the newer folks have a hard time.

I have met very few arrogant 12-point smiths. I myself am only a 10 point weaponsmith and can compete with the bigger weaponsmiths in several areas. Having 2 extra points doesn't mean your weapons immediately become *uber* but spending 6+ months watching for spawns and collecting excellent resources does. It makes me feel like I accomplished something after having put so much time into my profession. I have much more pridein what I make because I know how hard I have worked on it. It is a goal and an accomplishment to be able to compete with bigger weaponsmiths on my server. They put in the time and hard work, I did, and so should everyone else.

I think on our server folks would benefit from their usual suppliers running out because the newer folks are competing primarily on price. But if you always buy your armor from one person you will keep going back to that shop so long as it is stocked. Force of habit. This "nerf" breaks force of habit and lets me and my friends get a decent share of the market. And once someone has bought from us...hmmm...they usually don't go back to the expensive smiths unless it's for PVP armor and they absolutely have to have the best.

I shop where prices are good for the products. I have no problem shelling out 350K for something I deem worthy of it. I normally prefer to shop at one place. Primarily because of the quality and customer server. There is a specific Architect that I will always shop at because he is respectul and has good quality products at a good price. I will wait as long as it takes for him to fill an order for me, if he shut his shop down to go on strike, I would wait for him to open it back up. I refuse to shop elsewhere.

This so-called nerf will be both good for the newer smiths and good in the long run for customers on my server. The customers just don't know it yet.

I think you are failing to see the bigger picture here and how bad this is for the economy. Unfortunately, I don't think any amount of rational arguement is going to make you change your mind.

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joined42904 wrote:

Halaster,

The people with large market shares who already have their 12 points are buying them.

LOL! Then outbid them. Or go hunt your own. Or find friends to hunt for them. Commission someone to hunt for them. There is more than one way to skin that mynock.

Sound like good community-spirited behavior to you? Sounds like a true oligopoly using its market power as a barrier to entry. They have more money because they sell more product (no vendor caps). They use the money to buy the tapes. This keeps their goods better than the competition. Which in turn allows them to continue selling more goods.

Bad news: they're gonna sell more than the weak crafters even after this cap goes into effect. Because they're smarter than the weak crafters. Because they work harder than weak crafters. Because they will find alternative distribution channels. If you want to compete with that, you need to get as smart as them, work as hard as them, or both.

See the cycle?

I'd be very happy to bid against other folks who aren't yet 12-point smiths and wouldn't complain one bit if I lost. But to bid against the portion of the 12-point smiths who are the uber high quality oligopolists in this fasion? Maybe it seems fair to you.

Sure. Whomever can afford it in an auction gets it. I've lost against 12-point smiths too (friends of mine actually). When I confronted them about it, they said they were buying for other friends.

But even if they were buying to keep them off the market, who cares? That's their prerogative to waste their millions that way.

As I mentioned above, there are other ways of obtaining tapes. You even said you had an adventuring alt. Go get some.

And again, they aren't oligopolists. They can't force your prices down. They cannot control the supply of goods that you have access to. A new skill tape could be created every time you kill a Nightsister. How exactly will a 12-point smith prevent you from killing a Nightsister?

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CalmDown wrote:
Wow this is another great idea!

You guys go on strike, cancel, do whatever you gotta do and leave the other 95% of us to ENJOY the GAME without your whining.

That sounds like hella fun. Don't let my foot hit ya on the way out .. btw, can i have yer stufz?

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1.2 on the troll-o-meter. I might've scored you lower, but I see you made up a new account just for this, so you get extra points for effort.

Keep it up and I promise I'll report you. Keep it constructive and you're welcome to play with the rest of us "grown ups".

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joined42904 wrote:

Halaster,

The people with large market shares who already have their 12 points are buying them.

Sound like good community-spirited behavior to you? Sounds like a true oligopoly using its market power as a barrier to entry. They have more money because they sell more product (no vendor caps). They use the money to buy the tapes. This keeps their goods better than the competition. Which in turn allows them to continue selling more goods.

See the cycle?

I'd be very happy to bid against other folks who aren't yet 12-point smiths and wouldn't complain one bit if I lost. But to bid against the portion of the 12-point smiths who are the uber high quality oligopolists in this fasion? Maybe it seems fair to you.

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