Merchant Archive
Thread: Merchants, Why do you stand for this outrage?
DocSavag wrote:
Part of the problem is that the props we need are not as good as they could be but I think that is getting better. I hope we start to see more and more player generated content. That would be nice. You will always have people though that don't care about that kind of stuff and don't understand those of us who enjoy it.
well ... by allowing people to have nice looking vendors and dress them appropriatly you give them the tools to craete this content...
by gating merchant too much you rae just going to end up with empty generics with the cluncky level 3 terminals...
most of the people who have cool vendors have tried to create something a little artful... that improve sthe experience of all players...
but you want to destroy all that...
as many of us are saying, there is to omuch focus on taking things away and not enough on adding things...
i say we should MOVE FORWARD...focus on NEW skills....
guess what...those people who dropped all the skills will have nothing but vendors....you will have all the new treats....
No one's asking to Gate merchant. We're asking to gate people who AREN'T merchants any longer. And like I said, Doc has been asking for new merchant tools for sales tracking, organization, and all other manner of things since he's been correspondent, just like Marqui did before him. The only reason we're talking about THIS instead of THAT is:
People won't let this die.
and
You can only ask the devs for the same thing so many times.
We've been discussing those EXACT things you're saying we need to focus on since the game launched.
You are free to argue that the devs should give people the ability to create NPC's that aren't vendors for various purposes. In fact I support that and have said so to the devs on more than one occasion.
Vendors have a specific purpose though and I don't support the continuation of the practice of getting them and dropping merchant skills while you continue to be a merchant in practice but not in profession.
Haruspex77 wrote:
DocSavag wrote:
Haruspex77 wrote:
BTW, if the vendor item count can go up as you master, why can't it go down to zero as you drop Bus 3? That would at least stop the most offensive cases, where the character has no Merchant or even Artisan skills, but still runs a large shopping mall.
It already does this your "manage vendor" skill goes down as you give up "Management" and then Novice Merchant and Business III. The problem is they only check it when you go to put down a new vendor.
Doc, are you saying that you have some Dev commitment that a character below Bus 3 will be unable to sell any new item on a vendor? If so, that would be a major win in my book, but I haven't heard that yet.
IIRC, they talked about a limit of about 150 items, and then agreed in rather general terms that it would increase up through Master Merchant. I never heard specific numbers, and certainly not the zero I suggested.
I also never heard about the implementation, but the obvious thing would be that your count would be checked when you tried to sell (just like the bazaar). With the right limits, it would largely solve the problem.
- W/O Bus 3 - none, existing sales last until they expire.
- Bus 3 - 25 items per vendor
- Bus 4 - 50 items
- Novice Merch -100 per vendor
- And another 100 for each box after that for a total of 1700 per vendor, or maybe Master should give 400 for a total of 2000.
It would also be nice if any vendor that stayed empty for a week or so automatically was deleted. Hey, I would like that anyway!
Naufragus wrote:
Hey doc ---
when will merchant get NO CAP auctions on the bazaar...
now that is something useful and easy for the devs to program since its already in the game....that would be a decent merchant skill...lets get that in on publish 8
That is an idea. If the majority of merchants on the forum would like to try to get that I'm all for it. I think many merchants don't really use the bazaar much but lets start a thread about this idea and get feedback on it. Pros and Cons of the concept.
I wrote up a brief proposal/idea for consignment vendors or emporiums. Both items run by Merchants, but which certainly allow for a) more interesting and secure Merchant play, b) more vendor support for people who aren't Merchants, and c) more of an opportunity for crafters who don't want to be Merchants to spend their points elsewhere.
The basic ideas are a Consignment menu which allows the Merchant and the crafter to enter into a contract, renewable at a specified number of weeks, and in which the Merchant takes a percentage of the crafter's sales, while the crafter has control over the vendor (subject to the Merchant's skill set). Alternatively, the Merchant can create an Emporium, in which a number of pads, stalls or stations can be rented to crafters, and in which each crafter has a vendor control panel they can use to create and run their own vendors, again subject to the Merchant skill of the Emporium's owner.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=merchant&message.id=24425
Please comment on the proposal/idea in the linked thread.
Raawwr wrote:
I kinda have to disagree with this. Simply because of all the skill point usage. I mean if you kept master merchant, that would allow you to do artisan things really well, but would seriously prevent your abillities to do a combat role ( not in all cases, but you get my point) If you do the work to get the abillity to place a vendor, why should your vendor disappear just because you drop the skill... i mean you still did the work, put in the time, and bought the materials. Just my opinion though
This is a very combat centric view though. If I was a Master Commando and decided I wanted to be a merchant too should I be able to give up commando and still use a flame thrower with all the specials? That wouldn't be fair to everyone who was keeping their commando skills.
To practice a profession in this game you have to maintain skill points. That is no less true in Merchant than it is in Rifleman.
Raawwr-in other ways, ya got to pay if ya want to play and I don't just mean the subscription fee. 
Seriously, why should you be GREAT at commerce and combat? By your plan you could master artisan, smuggler, pistoleer, and STILL have all the benefits of Merchant. ORR, Master smuggler, part of pistoleer, part of DE/WS/or AS AND still have all your merchant vendors. How's that balanced?
yeah but when you give up commando you dont still pay a FEE everyday...
you give up merchant and you still have to pay the maintence.
why if people are paying the maintence should they lose vendor
EVE did one thing right...they totally eliminated the skill system
I would much rather see this game go A la Carte...ie you can pick and choose what it is you want..each skill has a point value rather than everything lumped into a single box or level...
now that would add some real fun and allow for more diverse personal templates
DocSavag wrote:
That is an idea. If the majority of merchants on the forum would like to try to get that I'm all for it. I think many merchants don't really use the bazaar much but lets start a thread about this idea and get feedback on it. Pros and Cons of the concept.
yeah they are all to focused on their vendors....
maybe they dont use it because of all the caps...
The "merchants" may not use it but everyone else in the game does...i buy tons of stuff off the bazaar everyday...and i always have 25 items listed as well.
The point of merchant is to SELL SELL SELL...it doesnt matter where or how you do it...the point is to move goods