Merchant Archive
Thread: The Merchant Profession: What works and what doesn't?
Doc,
The whole Vendor Set up sucks, I can't move stock from one Vender to another via the Stockroom. I have to Remove it, Run to my new Vender in the Guild Hall, and place it for Sell there. You should have the ability to place the item from the stockroom to the Vendor you are looking at.
I would also like this to apply to: offers to Vender.
Why can't I pick up my items from one of my Venders instead of having to figure out wich Vender the item was offered to after I buy it? Same Situation Vender in Guild Hall, Vender in Merchant Tent, if the offer was place in the Merchant Tent, I can not retrieve it from the Guilf hall Vender.
If something is in Stockroom that has come from my Vender, and I want to re-sell it, the Price should automatically be placed as what I had it before.
Ok, so you want something FUN?
Well I got nothing.... Merchant is an absolute necassary Pain. with out the requirement of haveing Merchant skills to have a Vendor, a Merchant has to have crafting skills if he want to sell anything. (besides selling loot)
And Even if you have a Guild and you are the merchant, it is a nightmare dealing w/ the Venders if buying your Guildmates items, and reselling them, specifically if you have a good guild of Armorsmith, Weaponsmith, Tailor, Chef, DR, and a BE.
While most of them probaly have their own Vender from the Artisan tree. (oh, here is a thought, no Venders unless your actually a merchant, Kinda like the whole ID dependability now for Stats, Damn bastards charging 100K becuase I 'interupted' them talking to their friends)
Doc, I apologize for the negativity, but Merchant needs help, the removal of Venders from non merchant will help, but to Make it better a revamp of the Vendor system needs attention.
PS. I officially gave up my Merchant Skills, as I saw no point in utilizing them now, and yes I kept all my Venders.
If they ever fix this Profession I might come back, but their has to be an incentive.
I still like the idea of no one having Vendors unless you have the Merchant Skill, remove the 1 Vendoer from the Artisan line.
Happymob wrote:
Of course none of these is truly mechant skill related.
I had a lot of fun early on selling stuff I bought or built. The interaction with customers, other merchantsand suppliers is amusing and sometimes educational. There was real satisfaction in becoming a millionaire.
I survived the frustrations of vendors eating resources (now fixed), 7 dayvendor drops(now 30)and other headaches, but nothing among the skills the profession gives seems worth didly squat.
Ad 3 was nice when I first got it and really spurred my business, but now it is useless because it mostly points to dead vendors. I would almost rather we went back to having to refresh it daily.
The barking droid proved a complete disappointment.
I finally turned off barking on all the vendors so they wouldn't face the wall. It irritated me that the default bark could access the player name etc. but the custom bark didn't. The merchant signs were worthless, you couldn't even choose a graphic that indicated the kind of merchandise, and they replace, but are harder to see than, the flag everybody gets.
The tent is the best thing a merchant gets now, but it is still defective because it requires as big a footprint as a small house because of the required open space around it. The discounts are a joke if you are activly playing, maybe 2% of your total cost.
I don't play barbie dolls with my vendors because I can't get my stuff back if I do. The only reason I ever replace a vendor is to change its name and don't care much what it looks like.
What is fun :
- getting emails of things getting sold and seeing mybank accountincrease
- the pleasure of having a well stocked vendor and offer a service to people
- having customers come to you and say you are doing a great job
What is unfun :
- not being able to sell several items at the same time for the same price
- not being able to relist instantly the whole stockroom at the price the items were at
- having to split crates/stacks all the time to put them on saleinstead of having the customers just buy whatever amount they want from the total
Damng SOnge, thats scary, its about the same as me!
Fun - Knowing I have a stocked vendor, and getting compiments on it. Setting up an interesting shop.
Unfun - Having to split stuff up to list (resources/crates), getting hundreds of emails when stuff un-lists, getting emails when *I* take something off the vendor ( I know I took it off, why email me!?), Having to monotonously re-sell stuff out of the stockroom (please chnage that name, its not reallya stock room), Vendor interface is lacking (no search, not sorted for the whole vendor, but only a page at a time), unable to rename items, time limit on sales, no commission abilities..
Eeh, that should do it.
In any case, The merchant class is not very well designed, only a few blocks have anything useful, and it all just functions like an enormous skill point sink. I think the whole system should be replaced with something that everyone has access to. That's one of the things that is good about UO, no matter what you produce or how, you can sell it easily on your vendor. A merchant class can't create more fun because of the skill points spent on it, it can only take away fun. If the merchant class was taken away, existing merchants could do everything they do now, but suddenly with more skill points to spend on other things. Being a merchant in this game is like being able to breath and walk, you can try to avoid it, but there come a time when you must give in or else quit the game.
It may be possible to streamline the flow of goods from suppliers to merchants, but the developement hours necessary to head off all the innumerable security issues and other complexities would be enormous. I think it would be simpler and better for the game to just have everyone do their own selling.
I think that in a game like this, where the economic aspect of it is fundamental, it is a huge mistake to create a 'merchant' profession. Buying and selling is primarily what we do in this game. I think it would be analogous to creating a 'health nut' profession and only allowing people with this school to have more than 10% of their HAM points, with only a 'master health nut' having his full potential. There shouldn't be any single skill that you HAVE to spend points on to have a useful character.
In any case, The merchant class is not very well designed, only a few blocks have anything useful, and it all just functions like an enormous skill point sink. I think the whole system should be replaced with something that everyone has access to. That's one of the things that is good about UO, no matter what you produce or how, you can sell it easily on your vendor. A merchant class can't create more fun because of the skill points spent on it, it can only take away fun. If the merchant class was taken away, existing merchants could do everything they do now, but suddenly with more skill points to spend on other things. Being a merchant in this game is like being able to breath and walk, you can try to avoid it, but there come a time when you must give in or else quit the game.
It may be possible to streamline the flow of goods from suppliers to merchants, but the developement hours necessary to head off all the innumerable security issues and other complexities would be enormous. I think it would be simpler and better for the game to just have everyone do their own selling.
/sarcasm on
And everyone should be able to use all the guns and melee weapons. People shouldn't have to invest skill points to become crafters or healers. We all should have access to every pet in the game.
/sarcasm off
The game presents player with the opportunity to have a defined role. You do have the option of selling things by yourself but it will take work. You can also use the bazaar if you find that more convenient. Merchant is by far one of the best uses of development resources in SWG. Does it need some tweaking, absolutely but it's functionality is unrivaled. Merchants are the essence of the economy so before you go taking a big dump on the profession ask yourself what defined you in your other games. I imagine being the swordswinging,platemail wearing, spellcasting jack of all trades is fun in UO but for the rest of us who have gotten past this have left such games for a platform where I can define my characters role within the game and be successful at it.
Access to the economy is a fundamental part of every characters function within the big picture. By introducing a separate merchant skill, without which access to the economy is very limited, simply makes that skill mandatory. It does almost nothing to diversify the player base. All it does is create a short-lived illusion that you can enjoy the game without it. Selling goods to merchants is just not a sustainable practice. People quit the game and take monthlong breaks with your money in their banks. The bazaar is no place to sell crates of BE additives. Naturally, as a BE I see this from a harsh perspective, as I need to spend 24 skill points that I wouldn't otherwise need to spend, just to have a basic vendor.
I just don't see how an existing merchants gameplay would change if these abilities were given to anyone who want's to run a shop. It still would require a lot of creativity, work and dedication. Isn't that the important ingredient to running a shop? Why must you spend skill points too? How does that make your shop better or more satisfying? That shouldn't depend on a skill, it's the main reason to play this game!