Merchant Archive
Thread: To be a Merchant you must have obsessive-compulsive disorder
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Amphiaraus
Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:23 am
#1
To be a Merchant you must have obsessive-compulsive disorder -- it takes incredible amounts of time to load vendors, reload vendors whose sale items have fallen into the storage area, and reload vendors after one of the SWG Dev's frequent foulups has wiped out the statistical data for all items unless you pull the item into your char's inventory and resell it.
Unless you are utterly obsessed with keeping all your vendors full, this is an incredibly slow, painful, and tedious task. It takesup all my playing time, I can't do Kashyyyk or JTL, and have very little time left over for hunts and missions even.
Can anyone think of ways tostreamlinemerchant operations? I have a few suggestions;
a) When doing the "split" command the split value should stay unchanged unless you manually enter a new value, you should not have to manually reenter thevalue every time you split. When I split I am normally doing things like breaking up a 100K stack into ten 10K stacks.
b) It shouldbe possible to click your datapad to see how much maintis left for a vendor, and seehow many items are in the "for sale", "offers", and "storeroom" zones. It should be possible to remotely add maint to a vendor, and remotely sell unsold items that have fallen into the storeroom. (When I try to do the latter, no stats are visible on the sold item. I must have my char standing next to the vendor to sellproperly and keep stats).
c) I have several times gone through the maddening experience of having vendors with millions of creds worth of items poof because thay had gone empty for too long -- i.e. had no items in their sales area. I think this is too severe a penalty.
Can anyone think of ways tostreamlinemerchant operations? I have a few suggestions;
a) When doing the "split" command the split value should stay unchanged unless you manually enter a new value, you should not have to manually reenter thevalue every time you split. When I split I am normally doing things like breaking up a 100K stack into ten 10K stacks.
b) It shouldbe possible to click your datapad to see how much maintis left for a vendor, and seehow many items are in the "for sale", "offers", and "storeroom" zones. It should be possible to remotely add maint to a vendor, and remotely sell unsold items that have fallen into the storeroom. (When I try to do the latter, no stats are visible on the sold item. I must have my char standing next to the vendor to sellproperly and keep stats).
c) I have several times gone through the maddening experience of having vendors with millions of creds worth of items poof because thay had gone empty for too long -- i.e. had no items in their sales area. I think this is too severe a penalty.
d) Merchants should not be plagued with having to split up 100K stacks or extract items fromcrates. IMHP you shouldbe able to load a 100K stack of some resource, specify some cpu price, and then the customer should be able to split the stack himself, taking 5,555 units if thats what he wanted,paying the indicated price. Also customers should be allowed to extract+buy(and examine)items that are in crates, rather than having to buy the full crate (Merchant could click some box specifying buy-by-the-crate if he wished).
e) Alllow barker droids to hold 25 items (this would not count vs 25 item bazaar terminal limit).
f) Allow something similar to a macro so you could define some set of comments and then add the indicated comment to several vendor items of the same type-- this would be good for crafters, they should not have to write a mini-essay describing each item.
g) Allow vendors in non player cities if you are a Master Merchant.
I am sure others could come up with suggestions. As it is merchant profession is a monumentalpain in the neck, its operations must be streamlined and sped up so merchant players can do other SWG activiities.
Thanks,
Amphiaraus
e) Alllow barker droids to hold 25 items (this would not count vs 25 item bazaar terminal limit).
f) Allow something similar to a macro so you could define some set of comments and then add the indicated comment to several vendor items of the same type-- this would be good for crafters, they should not have to write a mini-essay describing each item.
g) Allow vendors in non player cities if you are a Master Merchant.
I am sure others could come up with suggestions. As it is merchant profession is a monumentalpain in the neck, its operations must be streamlined and sped up so merchant players can do other SWG activiities.
Thanks,
Amphiaraus
Message Edited by Amphiaraus on 09-12-2005 10:25 AM
Message Edited by Amphiaraus on 09-12-2005 10:34 AM
Pappi
Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:33 am
#2
hey! watch who you're calling obsessive-compulsive! *twitch*
I read all the suggestions, and I think some of these are personal preferences (some folks might like the idea, some might not.) I'm kinda confused with g) though. vendors and player cities are separate things... so I'm not sure what you mean.
I read all the suggestions, and I think some of these are personal preferences (some folks might like the idea, some might not.) I'm kinda confused with g) though. vendors and player cities are separate things... so I'm not sure what you mean.
mindspat
Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:36 am
#3
Pappi wrote:
hey! watch who you're calling obsessive-compulsive! *twitch*
I read all the suggestions, and I think some of these are personal preferences (some folks might like the idea, some might not.) I'm kinda confused with g) though. vendors and player cities are separate things... so I'm not sure what you mean.
I'm thinking he's refering to allowing for a public vendor which would essentially be a Bazaar in a player city.
Pappi
Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:40 am
#4
but he just said non-player city 
I know I haven't slept, but I'm not making things up yet am I? O.o
as for bazaars in player cities, I've asked. they (the devs) didn't like it then, I'm not sure if they'll like it now.
edit: ok, I'm not making things up, but I *am* getting typos O.o
I know I haven't slept, but I'm not making things up yet am I? O.oas for bazaars in player cities, I've asked. they (the devs) didn't like it then, I'm not sure if they'll like it now.
edit: ok, I'm not making things up, but I *am* getting typos O.o
Message Edited by Pappi on 09-12-2005 08:40 AM
Amphiaraus
Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:45 am
#5
I would love to be able to place a vendor (and even create a mall)in a place like Mos Eisley or Anchorhead, it would be easier to get at and would make the city more lively and more realistic. Placing of houses and declaring residency in such cities would also be neat.
As it is, vendors in Dev-created cities like Mos Eisley or Anchorhead can only be NPC loot vendors.
Thanks,
Amphiaraus
As it is, vendors in Dev-created cities like Mos Eisley or Anchorhead can only be NPC loot vendors.
Thanks,
Amphiaraus
Pappi
Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:49 am
#6
Amphiaraus wrote:
I would love to be able to place a vendor (and even create a mall) in a place like Mos Eisley or Anchorhead, it would be easier to get at and would make the city more lively and more realistic. Placing of houses and declaring residency in such cities would also be neat.
As it is, vendors in Dev-created cities like Mos Eisley or Anchorhead can only be NPC loot vendors.
Thanks,
Amphiaraus
aha... you meant inside an NPC city, not simply "not in a player city".
I know a lot of people want that, but do they really want to live with the lag? just imagine theed or coronet on a busier server, then imagine everyone in that server and their vendors suddenly decides to live in that city... *shudder*
Amphiaraus
Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:53 am
#7
Actually putting vendors in places like Theed is a separate issue, what is really needed is streamling of vendor commands.
Pappi
Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:09 am
#8
I'm one of those "things should expire but restocking should be easier" kinda gal and I'm very hands on with my shop, but new and improved vendor abilities would be nice.
GoesToShow
Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:09 pm
#9
Well, I agree. My time in game is spent doing repetetive merchant tasks. I understand current rigamorole was devised to combat the storage vendors that ppl created during the hologrind days, which are long-past.
Merchants with active sales on record should not be penalized like people who use vendor space for storage.
I love to keep a diverse stock, but can only have so many items that I feel are certain will expire because carrying these items (ie, fishing poles, musical instruments, unusual clothing items, etc) is such a giant time-sink.
I find that being over-tasked as a merchant makes it hard for me to take a moment and role-play with the people who come by my shop, which really hurts the tapestry of the game as the merchan/artisan crowd are a cool bunch of peeps, in general. I hate being a grouch because I have been inside my vendor stock/stockroom lists and isolated from the game for hours and hours on end every week.
Snuggly-Bear
Amphiaraus
Mon Sep 12, 2005 1:16 pm
#10
The more a change is needed and asked for by SWG players, the less the chance SWG Devs will make the change.
On the other hand if there is a change that NO ONE has asked for in the player community, and if that change dumbs down SWG and makes it less enjoyable, you can bet the dimbulb Devs will make that change.
Examples:
Smugglers STILL can't smuggle anything, after nearly 3 years of complaints from the poor souls who are in that profession.
Meanwhile the SWG Devs have dropped a napalm bomb on the Entertainer profession, ruining it with unasked for changes.
Amphiaraus
PS:
How I wish some SWG Managers and Devs would get jobs at the Motorola software center where I work! What a joy it would be to watch them getfired for incompetence and lack of concern for customers' wishes!!!!
PS:
How I wish some SWG Managers and Devs would get jobs at the Motorola software center where I work! What a joy it would be to watch them getfired for incompetence and lack of concern for customers' wishes!!!!
Message Edited by Amphiaraus on 09-12-2005 03:17 PM
Message Edited by Amphiaraus on 09-12-2005 03:20 PM
DocSavag
Tue Sep 13, 2005 1:18 pm
#11
Amphiaraus wrote:
The more a change is needed and asked for by SWG players, the less the chance SWG Devs will make the change.
On the other hand if there is a change that NO ONE has asked for in the player community, and if that change dumbs down SWG and makes it less enjoyable, you can bet the dimbulb Devs will make that change.
Examples:
Smugglers STILL can't smuggle anything, after nearly 3 years of complaints from the poor souls who are in that profession.
Meanwhile the SWG Devs have dropped a napalm bomb on the Entertainer profession, ruining it with unasked for changes.Amphiaraus
PS:
How I wish some SWG Managers and Devs would get jobs at the Motorola software center where I work! What a joy it would be to watch them getfired for incompetence and lack of concern for customers' wishes!!!!Message Edited by Amphiaraus on 09-12-2005 03:17 PM
Message Edited by Amphiaraus on 09-12-2005 03:20 PM
Considering some of the motorola software I've used over the years perhaps you shouldn't be so judgemental.
Paladon
Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:55 pm
#12
Amphiaraus wrote:
Unless you are utterly obsessed with keeping all your vendors full, this is an incredibly slow, painful, and tedious task.
Can't the obsessed be bored, too?
I'm definately both.
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