Merchant Archive

I have no idea if the merchant devs reads these boards or how so often he/she responds. But I will make my effort to list a few things in merchant that need to be addressed and features that would make life all the more simpler.

Changes For Merchant:

1) Private Sales:

90% of all merchants are as well in another crafting profession. A merchants are sometimes also a armor smith, architect, weapon smith, etc... Merchants cant make anything at all but drop vendors, so it is logical to assume that 90% and above of those who have merchant skills are also in one of these crafting professions. At times, we crafters are met by orders from customers who are in need of products. Now, if you get an order for a customer and you craft it and place it on the vendor, that product is up for grabs by anyone who views the vendor. I am an architect myself. I have had orders for harvesters, houses, etc… that when I place the item on my vendor, it is sometime bought by another player. This is an innocent thing since a player has no way of telling if an item on a vendor is placed there for pick up for another player. This is why we must have the ability to classify a item placed on a vendor as private. All it takes is a simple option that may say “Make Private”. The option will then bring up a small screen where the name of the customer is typed in. When other players view the vendor they will not see private items but those players who are placed on the list (for a particulare item). That way the player who the merchant leaves the item for will ALWAYS get his product instead of having to rush to a vendor before it is purchased by someone else. This will help tremendously. Merchants would then feel free to offer custom prices to products. For instance, if a weapon smith wants to sell a gun that’s he normally charges $15K for but is offering it for $10K to one particular player, he may not want to place it on his vendor because it will be bought by other players in no time. With a “Make Private” option, a merchant can list the product at whatever price he wants and it will be bought by the intending player at that cost. Devs, this small option is not asking much, even you can see this makes sense.

2) Select All and Retrieve All Option:

When an item is placed on a vendor, it has a sales life if 7 days. I have seen merchants with over 100 items on their vendors (300 one time) from peeking at some throughout the galaxy. When one wants to destroy a vendor, that is one hell of a headache. We are stuck with the burden of the two step withdraw process: select Withdraw Sale, hit ok, they go to Stockroom and hit Retrieve Item option. Now, imagine the Merchant who wants to delete a vendor that has 50 to 100 items. He/she has to MANUALLY go through the process for all items. This is where the Select All Option comes in. A merchant should have the ability to hit a button that will select ALL items for sale. This way, when he/she select Withdraw Sale, ALL items are taken out at once and kicked into the Stockroom. Then in the stockroom, the merchant can select Retrieve All option and every item is placed into his/her inventory. Now, some of you make be thinking “Wait? If you have 100 item, you can only hold 60” (max of inventory one can carry). Well the Retrieve all should retrieve the first 60 items or however much space the player has in his/her’s inventory and place items in it and generate an error message that says for example “20 Items Retrieved 10 Items left on Vendor Due to Inventory Full” or something along those lines. This will help Merchant clear vendors EXTREMELY faster. I have seen players stop placing items on vendors due to this headache process. Which is why I stopped making furniture.

3) Vendor Rename:

As for why we don’t have this option, I have no idea. If a Merchant has a vendor that lets say was used to hold harvesters and he wants to now place houses or factories on that vendor. The merchant should have the ability to alter a vendor’s name to lets say “Harvesters” to “Harvesters and Factories”. You don’t give us an option to move a vendor. You don’t give us an option to pick up a vendor once dropped. Why not throw us a simple bone by allowing us to re-name a dropped vendor? I really don’t think that’s too much to ask. If someone want to switch a vendor that was used to let’s say hold medical supplies to now Bio-Engineer’s pets, why not give a person a skill like “Vendor Rename”. This can go easily into the Management Tree. Maybe at Level I or II.

4) Register Vendor:

Having to register a vendor on the planetary map daily is a pain at times. Now, I am not asking you to make things easy on us (oh, what a dream). Maybe allow Planetary Registration to have a lifespan like sales. A Registered vendor on the map can last 2 to 3 days instead of just 24hrs. Sometimes Merchants don’t go to their shops for a few days. If a merchant has the ability to have his vendor registered on the map for 2 to 3 days (even charge us for this service like we pay maintenance) then that would help tremendously. If a person goes on vacation, he can pay the Planetary Registration Fee up to 7 days on each vendor and simply walk away and don’t have to worry about having to visit his/her shop just to registar a vendor on the map.

5) Product Grouping:

This can help Merchants group different items on in different classes. For instance, a merchant who has one vendor to his name can have a “Create Group” option. This option allows a Merchant to make a name for a group which acts like a folder. Items can be placed in the group according to their type. When players access vendors they will see different items grouped in different tabs. For instance, a merchant may went to sell armor and guns on one vendor. When a player access the vendor they will see a Armor tab or armor and Weapons tab for weapons. In the Merchant’s perspective, he/she can drop items in these groups, allowing a vendor variety, efficiency and a more neater way of organizing items for sale.

6) Full Vendor Customization:

At least give us this at master. A Master Merchant should be able to pick his/her’s vendor’s type (we have that now) race (this too), sex (which we also can), and now Vendor Customization. This screen lets the Master Merchant pick the vendor’s body type, size, and other features like skin color and hieght. This would be the ULTIMATE compliment to Master Merchant instead of getting a few more hireing points. This stops Merchants from having to create, delete, then recreate over and over again just to get the right vendor he/she likes. Sometimes I want a slim looking Twi’lek vendor. Why should we have to go through the process of create/delete/recreate a vendor over and over just to get the type one wants. If you think this skill is too good to give someone who has a few skills in merchant learned, then have this given to masters.

These are my suggestions. Merchants is pass due for a face lift. It would be good to actually get excited about merchant than have it be a passive profession. Hope these suggestions are well received and at least get a small consideration in the Idea Pool.

Dronayus

Master Architect, Master Aristan, Master Merchant

Kettemoor Server