Merchant Archive

Message Edited by Yogol on 08-18-2004 08:52 AM

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Yogol wrote:

In a skill-based game, you depend on skills to do stuff. Enough said.

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Then introduce a "looter" profession.Enoughsaid

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Yogol wrote:

In a skill-based game, you depend on skills to do stuff. Enough said.

But to spell it out : none-CH have low level pets. Non-medics have low level stims. Non-fighters have low level fighting.

Non merchants have... the bazaar.

You want to have better pets then level 10 ? Spend skill points inCH.

You want to heal better then stim A's ? Spend skill points inMedic.

You want to fight better then CDEF ? Spend skill points in a fighter.

You want to sell better then the bazaar ? spend skill points in Artisan.

IT's a skill based game : to do stuff you need skills. Skills . S-K-I-L-L-S. Skills.

Message Edited by Yogol on 08-18-2004 08:52 AM

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No it's more like if i wanted registration, ability to give uniforms, place a tent. those are the Merchant specials not the vendor it self.

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ofim wrote:

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Yogol wrote:

In a skill-based game, you depend on skills to do stuff. Enough said.

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Then introduce a "looter" profession.Enoughsaid

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Vendor is not the only way to sell stuff for a reason.

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ofim wrote:

No it's more like if i wanted registration, ability to give uniforms, place a tent. those are the Merchant specials not the vendor it self.

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Barris wrote:

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Iago_C wrote:

Single good reason...

1) You don't have the skills for it.

Skills placing, not using, thx

Do you honestly think that an entire profession was made based only on *placing* vendors? You can't throw out common sense just because some little piece of text in the game says something. I seem to remember that the box for tailoring IV used to say something about it allowing you to make better combat medicines (I wonder if that was fixed).

2) You don't want to invest the time nor skill points to become a merchant.

Umm, this post retains to those who did invest the time and surrendered.

So? You surrendered it and in this game you lose your skills when you surrender them. I gave up combat to have merchant skills. I sure wish that I could use my sword when I go to visit my harvesters and they are surrounded by thugs or angry monsters. The fact is that I can't and sometimes I have to hire someone to go and clear out the area for me. Its a pain, but this game was not designed to be as convenient as possible for me at all times.

3) You have the Bizaar that you can use for smaller items.

What things are you going to sell for 6k?

There is a lot you can sell for 6K! If you need to sell for more, there are other ways of doing it. There is an entire chat channel devoted to buying and selling things now, for example. There are also forum auctions if you want to sell that million credit item.

4) You can sell bigger items to merchants (WHO INVESTED THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY AND TIME TO BECOME SUCH)

And risk being ripped off.

I have to admit that there needs to be consignment sales. Maybe someday.

5) You have the Planetary Auction Channel to try to sell an item.

Yes, but much more of a pain if you have to go to each person who may want it, then say never mind, I changed my mind.

Then become a merchant. The purpose of the merchant profession is that you can sell things conveniently. If you are not a merchant and you want to sell things, it takes more work. It is that simple.

6) You can sell it Person to Person.

Once again, a pain in the ass

See above.

7) You have the Trade Boards on this forum (And many others like it).

Agreed on this

Nope, Couldn't think of a single good reason for you not to have merchant skills without investing skill points.

The fact that it is a waste of skill points for a PvE, PvP, or crafter + smuggler combo?

It is not a waste, it is a choice. If you choose to have one of these templates then you give up the convenience of selling by vendors and have to to a lot of legwork to sell things. I am a master artisan/tailor/weaponsmith with a little merchant. Because I chose that template I have to hire someone to slice the weapons I make for me and I can not do any combat (so I often have to hire people to kill things). The whole point of a skillpoint system is that you have to make choices and you can't do everything.

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The whole point of a skillpoint system is that you have to make choices and you can't do everything.

qfe

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Javac wrote:
Of course, there' not much "choice" in whather a crafter has to take up merchant or not right now. More like "required". Very few folks want to become merchants, but feel that they have to.

Message Edited by Javac on 08-18-2004 11:04 AM

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Actually, I think that's what is very wrong, and it has nothing to do with the way the game is designed.

If crafter were focused on crafting and merchant buying from crafter and selling to public, the whole economy would be much better, and everyone would have what they want.

Merchant is not required at all for crafter, it is just a way of making business.

There are many other ways.

Actually, I think that's what is very wrong, and it has nothing to do with the way the game is designed.

If crafter were focused on crafting and merchant buying from crafter and selling to public, the whole economy would be much better, and everyone would have what they want.

Merchant is not required at all for crafter, it is just a way of making business.

There are many other ways.

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This is something that is not going to happen for tailors with vendor limits. I know that if I were a pure merchant that I would much rather use my vendor slots to sell things like armor, weapons and SEAs and get a percentage off of these popular and high ticket items than fill my vendor with things like fashionably pleated skirts and hope for 20% off of an 800 credit item. Its a simple matter of economics, so us tailors are almost forced to take merchant. What I would love to see is no item limits and consignment sales for master merchants. That would make all crafts a viable option for a pure merchant to carry their items.

Well, IRL there is a clear separation between crafter and merchant, and it does work pretty well that way.
Even for tailor, IRL you have 2 way to make business :
-Limited number of different items, mass produced and available everywhere.
-Custom made/limited stock of items much more expensive.

What's missing in SWG is supermarket, and it's not because of game design but because of the way people use the tools they have.

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Gavvot wrote:
Well, IRL there is a clear separation between crafter and merchant, and it does work pretty well that way.
Even for tailor, IRL you have 2 way to make business :
-Limited number of different items, mass produced and available everywhere.
-Custom made/limited stock of items much more expensive.

What's missing in SWG is supermarket, and it's not because of game design but because of the way people use the tools they have.

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The problem is that every tailor is able to make exactly the same thing as every other tailor in SWG. We have no experimentation, so the only things that distinguish us is our taste in choosing colors, our service (which basically amounts to how fast we can get an order finished) and our price. If I am a fashion designer in real life I can create small quantities of something unique that people can wear. Furthermore, almost everyone in real life wears clothes most of the time, and people use those clothes to distinguish themselves and also to show their status (if they are into status). In SWG, on the other hand, most people do *not* wear clothes. Because fighting is such a huge part of the game most people spend all of their time in armor. The game has given absolutely no advantage of clothing over armor, so clothing is basically limited to undershirts to put under armor, clothes for people who just happen to like clothes for some reason, and entertainers. Entertainers are often our biggest customers, but they are also usually very poor because services are extremely undervalued in the game (there is this mindset that if it doesn't "cost" anything to do that you should not have to pay for it). Anyway, as a result clothing is the only thing in the game that I can think of that has constantly gone *down* in price while everything else is caught up in an inflating economy. This leaves tailors with only one choice: to sell large volumes of clothes at fairly cheap prices. It also means that if we want to distinguish ourselves from one another that we have a wide variety, especially for someone like me who lives on Talus. Because of the high volumes, low prices and low profit margins on clothing, they are not something that the average "pure merchant" would want to touch. Therefore, most of us tailors are forced to be merchants also if we want our businesses to go beyond making special orders in the starports.

Message Edited by Gyopi on 08-18-2004 02:30 PM