Merchant Archive
Thread: Has the elimination of 'poaching' improved your business? Mine sure has!
edit: I may lose power at any point now due to Hurricane Jeanne and may be offline some time till it's restored... Charley, the most similar storm, knocked me offline from the game for 11 days... but don't worry... I have internet at work, so I'll still be able to post and throw eggs
Wire3k wrote:
DingoBoi wrote:
My tagline in the trade forums is "Corporate Warfare is PVP in it's own regard". And it is. I don't make it a habit though, but the recent hurricanes have severly hampered my ability to get product due to power outages.. and now Hurricane Jeanne is on a direct course to pass over orlando tomorrow.
And that sir, is exactly why I told you you reminded me of a PK and exactly why you did not understand the statement. You are out to 'win'.I'm out to be the best I can be. Circumstances beyond my control have prevented me from harvesting what I normally do. I recovered from that by buying out othervendors for stock paying their full retail price. If they are selling at a price and I pay it, i'm just another customer... nothing truly malicious was intended to 'drive' them out of business... though I probably could ifI wanted to. You cannot WIN a MMO, you can certainly drive all your competition out of business (now) and you probably think that qualifies as the 'win' - but it's no more a win than a griefer that drives other people out of the game. My aim was always to be the biggest and best at what I do.. I am. I've already succeeded and 'won'. The personality of my in-game character and her behavior are often diametrically opposed to the views and behaviors I may exhibit here on this forum. Anyone who actually knows Large Marge, knows she is a kind and generous person. That is my character. I have no such need to be as nice as she here.
The competitive aspect of being a shopkeep only applies if you actually have competition. You desire to take your bat and your ball and go play with yourself. Again, you foolishly presume too much. I ammore of the theory that there is enough business to go around... at least for legit merchants. As an excercise, I could certainly attempt to form a mega-corp by subcontracting all other vendors.. and decimating the ones who 'won't play nice'. I just might but that really isn't my style. I prefer to let them decimate themselves through poorly stocked vendors. I'm the oldest in my galaxy and have been around since the first month.. possibly the oldest in all the galaxies.
Monopolies were one reason cited for this change being needed. We didn't have them before - but you seem hellbent on proving they can exist now. I wish you all the sucess in the world - you'll make a fine example of why this system does NOT work well. Monopolies, or oligopolies, can and do exist. I had an oligopoly and we doubled the price of power overnight on our server.. with virtually every single other broker falling in line. Anyone can run a virtual monopoly.. it's easy to go around and buy-out everyone else.. all you need are credits and I have those in abundance. In any event.. monopolies were not affected in ANY manner by these changes. Yes, it was a cited reason but there was no backup reasonsnor implementation to effect any change.
The system works perfectly... even on the micro level of hiring people to go buy product.. even at retail. And that's how it should be.
But if you really want me to prove it, I can....is that a challenge I hear? Haven't had one of those in a while.
Message Edited by DingoBoi on 09-25-2004 07:04 PM
I agree. As much as I think he's a total dickmitten on the forums, he does have the merchant part down pat. I think he just fails to realize that the vast majority of the people that play merchant do it because it's a necessary evil of being a successful crafter.
DocSavag wrote:
Say way you will about Dingo's posting style, his tendency to flame, even his over all attitude but don't try to attack the way he plays merchant because he plays it pretty good for a MMORPG..
DirthNader wrote:
I agree. As much as I think he's a total dickmitten on the forums, he does have the merchant part down pat. I think he just fails to realize that the vast majority of the people that play merchant do it because it's a necessary evil of being a successful crafter.
DocSavag wrote:
Say way you will about Dingo's posting style, his tendency to flame, even his over all attitude but don't try to attack the way he plays merchant because he plays it pretty good for a MMORPG..
Thank you both for the compliment on my in-game merchant style. I do try very hard to do it well and employ many other real players providing them a much needed salary.
I'll take dickmitten as a compliment here on the forums though 
Here we discuss game mechanics and rules. My attitude here is much more contrite and abrasive than my in-game personality. As i've said before.. My character is nice and proper and polite... here on the forums discussing mechanics, I have no need to do so.... I'm not roleplaying here. Some of you dislike me for that which is okay. I don't mind that you are of the wrong opinions and actually, I find the forums sometimes more interesting than the game.
I too have been feeling a bit burned out. I work just as hard as any master level crafter, the only difference is, i'm managing employees versus producing my own stock. Believe me, it takes quite a large amount of time. I do feel the crafters pain. I'm going shipwright myself for JtL, so I will feel it much more acutely then, but trust that I do not discount your issues now.
edit: ok.. it's really starting to get nasty here with wind picking up... i'm out for now but I will be back to berate the ignorant you know who you are
Anyways, safe journeys to all my fellow floridians as we face Hurricane Jeanne. And no comments from the peanut gallery about how you will enjoy my 'enforced' vacation 
Message Edited by DingoBoi on 09-26-2004 01:24 AM
LadyGrey wrote:Hey Dingo, stay safe down there. I have a daughter at DisneyWorld in Orlando, and she called me yesterday saying that this was going to be a bad one. Keep your head down, and your powder dry.
I live in North Florida and typically we fare much better during the season than our friends to the south. This year even we aren't immune as we've already had a weekend of Frances and now we are watching as Jeanne moves closer and closer wth the track taking it right past us this weekend.
Message Edited by DirthNader on 09-25-2004 08:57 PM
Message Edited by ofim on 09-27-2004 09:31 AM
ofim wrote:
Well if you run things they way you say Dingothen I'm personaly taken aback, a true honest (non exploiting)business man /salutethank you.
However i still fail to see how poaching hurt your business sense power is one of the things that can be easily sold on the bazaar unlike weapons and alot of elite crafted items.power is indeed sold on the bazaar and trade forums... but rarely in quantity. Most customers are high volume ones and not the small quantity... typically price is not a large factor. Many of my customers are looking for bulk.. and are willing to pay more for the convenience, so for most of them, the bazaar and trade forums are not an option to procure goods. So they turn to vendors, both legit and 'poached'... they really just care about finding stock and not wasting time. So, the conclusion is that these customers only buy from vendors (again, these are just my observations and experience). So the sales that would have gone to real merchants are being stolen by the poachers.
My opinion on open market is that it drives prices lower while drive quality higher, agree and anyone afraid of competition must have something wrong with thier product or thier pricing. not afraid of competition with legit merchants, but think it's unfair that some were able to compete with me who did not possess the skills and should not have been competition to begin with. As a master Weaponsmith I invite competition, if not for competition you would see low quality weapon at overly high prices, and thats why "open market" works.
I'm going to ask you this one thing.....instead of asking what merchant does for you, ask instead what merchant does for the game, and in my honest opinion, it hurts the game. It provides a valued profession that many people enjoy playing. You may not think so, but others do. That logic could be applied to any profession. It all depends on your point of view.
Message Edited by ofim on 09-27-2004 09:31 AM