Merchant Archive
Thread: I feel dirty. or: 24 hours after the placement of my first vendor
Haruspex77 wrote:
Xieflow wrote:
(snip quote of my description of getting rich as a newb by harvesting)
If you didn't notice, my main character is a Master Weaponsmith. I know all about the "harvesting" game. And frankly, I don't like it. Don't like keeping track of harvesters and resource shifts. I tried doing it while I was still Novice Weaponsmith, it's *not* fun. And yes, I've got all the resources I need (except what's needed for advanced vibro motors, and crism siliclast ore...), and have *no* problem obtaining new resources off the bazaar, and resource vendors. (I only say this because 90% of players seem to think you *need* to harvest your own resources to succeed in a crafting profession)
So no, I am *not* going to pick up artisan on my Bria character. And running missions is not *that* difficult of money, it's just it is too repetitive for me.
In an earlier post reacting to a misguided solution to inflation you had written:
"Anyways, I went searching for a laser rifle (I was 3-0-0-0 Brawler, 1-0-1-0 Scout, and 2-0-0-0 Marksman). 15,000 credits for one. At 600 - 700 credits a mission, this took a *long* time to save up for."
And I was just reminding other readers here on the Merchant boardthat this is far from the only way to get some cash as a newbie. Somebody else had posted a rather intimidating description of harvesting, but it really is quick and easy if you know how. Thanks to your weaponsmith and other crafters with similar taste for making it possible!
Mining for credits isn't a lot of fun for everybody, and Yom has laid off on the activity now that he has plenty of money to do what he wants. What horrifies me though is that it is possible to have that kind of success for a mere 15 skillpoints.
Merchants should have skills to create an efficient market that would bring resource prices much closer to cost. When I started my main, I expected to be a resource broker who bought from miners wholesale and sold to crafters. That died fairly quickly, as the miners had little incentive to sell to me at a price I could mark up, and crafters didn't want to pay a premium over bazaar price for availability. A newbie miner can sell with most of the efficiency of a Master Merchant, the few credits discount on the bazaar and the ability to run vendors just don't give a significant advantage.
The Merchantneeds a way to let everyone in the galaxyknow he has 500k of 900+ statPlumbum Iron available for a particular price. Thenhe wouldn't see newbies dripping it out on the bazaar at the same price and availability he can manage there, while the bulk on his vendor gets ignored. But the poor Master Merchant gets nothing for his 63 elite skill points that gives him any competitive advantage, just a silent pink protocol droid.
As a weaponsmith, are you happy paying 6000cr for 1k of a common copper to some new characterthat invested 2000cr and will keep the harvesters for another batch? Or would you rather spend 2cpu for as much as you wanted from a Merchant who was selling the product of efficent harvesters with fusion power and made good money at that price.
This thread started with a concern about prices, and the reason for them is the weak skills the devs gave to the core profession of a player based economy.
Actually, resources and the like should have *nothing* to do with merchant. There really should be a "miner" class (I hear they had it in beta, and it got pulled really fast). And nothing to do with "more lots" but certifications (like the merchant tent for merchants) to place higher efficiency harvesters (better than heavies). This would solve two problems: rising resource prices, and "lot trading".
Also, a lot of resource sellers "advertise" on the bazaar. They put a few thousand units up, and e-mail everyone who bought some that they have more in stock on their vendor.
And, also, resources are actually *cheaper* on the bazaar on my server. I pay between 2 and 5 CPU on the bazaar, while I've seen resource vendors (or players advertising on the trade board) selling the *same* resources for 5 - 20 CPU (even current resources were going forthat much!)
The *only* resource I go out of my way to get is Reactive Gas. 'Cause it is never on the bazaar, and it is a **edit** to find someone who stocks it regularly and doesn't sell out.
I really think Merchant needs a revamp, like the rest of you. However, IMO, it should rely on bonuses for Merchants, instead of nerfs for everyone else.
I would *really* like to see some sorta merchant skills that tie in with other trees. IE a Merchant Weaponsmith would get certain bonuses, while a Merchant Bio Engineer would get completely different bonuses.
Actually, that would be a *really* kick-ass skill, and would be a great money-sink. BILLBOARDS in-game. Like in Coronet, along the walls of the shuttleport, or right outside where everyone stands around, there could be buildboards that only Advertising IV players could advertise upon.
And, players with Master Merchant could advertise on the ... loading screen for shuttle rides and the like
Let the player pick from a pool of images, and then type a short message, along with the coordinates of the shop, and blam. Money sink + a larger point to merchant (Allow players to create a waypoint by double clicking the billboard or something)
And, on the "nerf" subject. The big problem I see is capping the number of items a vendor can sell, and, the fact that vendors will not be "grandfathered", but will instead be "disabled". This second part I wouldn't have a problem with, however many players have more items on their vendor than they can hold in their inventory, their houses, the bank, etc. What should be done is players are given a week or two-long "grace period" where they can place up to six vendors regardless of skills, and transfer items from their older vendor to a new one that they can place (aka, someone might still have Business III, but nothing else. Take all their items off their Twi-Lek vendor wearing a custom suit of clothing, and put it on a "Bulk Vendor" thing)
And a vendor item-cap will *really* hurt certain professions more than others. Weaponsmith won't be hurt as hard, many weaponsmiths don't have over five hundred items or whatever on one vendor. Tailors will be hit *very* hard, players in SWG are into "instant gratification" and would rather buy from a well-stocked vendor with something *kind of* like what they want, instead of getting an exact order from a Tailor that could take a few days. Architects who specialize only in deeds probably won't notice a difference. Architects who sell furniture (with or without deeds) will be severely hurt by the change.
Xieflow wrote:
(snip quote of my description of getting rich as a newb by harvesting)
If you didn't notice, my main character is a Master Weaponsmith. I know all about the "harvesting" game. And frankly, I don't like it. Don't like keeping track of harvesters and resource shifts. I tried doing it while I was still Novice Weaponsmith, it's *not* fun. And yes, I've got all the resources I need (except what's needed for advanced vibro motors, and crism siliclast ore...), and have *no* problem obtaining new resources off the bazaar, and resource vendors. (I only say this because 90% of players seem to think you *need* to harvest your own resources to succeed in a crafting profession)
So no, I am *not* going to pick up artisan on my Bria character. And running missions is not *that* difficult of money, it's just it is too repetitive for me.
In an earlier post reacting to a misguided solution to inflation you had written:
"Anyways, I went searching for a laser rifle (I was 3-0-0-0 Brawler, 1-0-1-0 Scout, and 2-0-0-0 Marksman). 15,000 credits for one. At 600 - 700 credits a mission, this took a *long* time to save up for."
And I was just reminding other readers here on the Merchant boardthat this is far from the only way to get some cash as a newbie. Somebody else had posted a rather intimidating description of harvesting, but it really is quick and easy if you know how. Thanks to your weaponsmith and other crafters with similar taste for making it possible!
Mining for credits isn't a lot of fun for everybody, and Yom has laid off on the activity now that he has plenty of money to do what he wants. What horrifies me though is that it is possible to have that kind of success for a mere 15 skillpoints.
Merchants should have skills to create an efficient market that would bring resource prices much closer to cost. When I started my main, I expected to be a resource broker who bought from miners wholesale and sold to crafters. That died fairly quickly, as the miners had little incentive to sell to me at a price I could mark up, and crafters didn't want to pay a premium over bazaar price for availability. A newbie miner can sell with most of the efficiency of a Master Merchant, the few credits discount on the bazaar and the ability to run vendors just don't give a significant advantage.
The Merchantneeds a way to let everyone in the galaxyknow he has 500k of 900+ statPlumbum Iron available for a particular price. Thenhe wouldn't see newbies dripping it out on the bazaar at the same price and availability he can manage there, while the bulk on his vendor gets ignored. But the poor Master Merchant gets nothing for his 63 elite skill points that gives him any competitive advantage, just a silent pink protocol droid.
As a weaponsmith, are you happy paying 6000cr for 1k of a common copper to some new characterthat invested 2000cr and will keep the harvesters for another batch? Or would you rather spend 2cpu for as much as you wanted from a Merchant who was selling the product of efficent harvesters with fusion power and made good money at that price.
This thread started with a concern about prices, and the reason for them is the weak skills the devs gave to the core profession of a player based economy.