Merchant Archive

I usually don’t have time to post to these forums due to the fact that most of my play time is taken up with crafting and being a merchant but when I read how you are about to severely reduce the amount of items that a vendor can hold, I nearly sprayed out my drink ofPepsi. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

Now, I have always wondered WHY the vendors did not have a limited amount that they could hold. Although, unlimited has been very nice to this point, I always felt it a rather dumb idea (no actually a stupid idea) that the vendor was unlimited and that the maintenance of the vendors was so lax. But to nerf them down to 60 – 110 items respectfully... Well, that is totally unacceptable and completely ludicrous.

I am a tailor and an architect.I have Master Merchant on one account that supports both professions. All 6 vendors hold 700+ items. My tailor has 3 vendors of those 6 and each holds over 1000 items with a large variety of color and style. I have repeat customers who know they will find, in what I can make, exactly what they are looking for.My architect has 2 vendors that hold houses, city structures, harvesters, and furniture. I have nearly 10 or more of each item on those vendors and the last vendor is used for artisan goods and lootables. My business would totally fall apart if you imply that 60/110 vendor item reduction. Not to even mention the tell hell I would then be put into for special orders which is something now I don’t even deal in… why? Because I don’t have to, everything I can make is on my vendors. If I am forced to reduce my tailor vendors down to only 110 items per vendor, all I can display and offer for sale is about 2 items of each piece in colors of black and white. We don’t live in a black and white world… well not since ping pong by Atari.

I know without a doubt that eventually this drastic change will force me to throw in the towel and quit crafting altogether and since I don’t care for being a warrior (which will be hard to do since there won’t be many crafters left and finding weapons and armor will be worse than it is now) I will eventually just end up quitting the game and that’s not one account but 5 accounts that I pay a monthly fee to play. This is a game. I want to play it. I don’t want to work it. I come here to relax and enjoy the people. I don’t come here to grind. I do that in real life.

Here is what I would like to see happen in vendor owning, maintenance and item reduction:

Allow all characters, no matter their chosen profession, to have one bulky vendor with an item count of 100. This will allow doctors, musicians, scouts and other chars that can craft a certain item to have a vendor without having to use up points in the artisan skill since they don’t actually have to have the artisan skill to craft their profession craftables. It’s not really fair that they can craft something but do not have the option of selling it on their own vendor. The game gives each character 10 lots for houses, factories, harvesters, etc. I think the game should give each character one starting vendor. The likelihood that this vendor will do well with sales is very low unless it is placed in a player town within a shopping district but it allows the player the option of trying a vendor.

Artisan Skill Business III – Base vendor item count increases to 500 item total. If doctors/scouts/musicians and other professions that have a profession craft see that they enjoy making and selling their crafts, 23 points in skill experience to have Business III is not that much of a stretch and their vendor has now grown to a nice item count that will support and display a nice selection of what they make.

Master Artisan – One additional vendor = two vendors = 1000 item total.Master Artisans are given a large variety of things to make. They need this amount in order to display their large selection of wares. Anything short of 1000 is just not acceptable.

Novice Merchant – One additional vendor = 650 item count growth = 3 vendors = 1950 item total.

Management I – One additional vendor = 750 item count growth = 4 vendors = 3000 item total.

Management II – One additional vendor = 850 item count growth = 5 vendors = 4250 item total.

Management III – One additional vendor = 950 item count growth = 6 vendors = 5700 item total.

Management IV – No additional vendor (no one needs more than 6 vendors no matter what they say) = 1000 item count growth = 6 vendors = 6000 item count.

Master Merchant – No additional vendor = 1200 item count growth = 6 vendors = 7200 item count.

This is all a great reduction in vendor totals. It seems a lot but is it really? I mean it finally has a limit on it which now has no limit. Most crafters will not even use this much but it is there now if they need it.

Regarding vendor maintenance and control:

Nothing frustrates me more than spending all day seeking out vendors that are suppose to have what I’m looking for only to find them empty or only holding 10 or 20 items. I have wasted my time and most of the time never found the item I was in search of. This is what I propose:

Maintenance fees remain the same but in addition this will apply.

All vendors must be kept stocked with half of their allotted item count.

Example: If a Master Merchant has a 1200 count vendor then that vendor must hold no less than 600 items at any given time.

Should the vendor drop below 600 items a countdown clock starts ticking in a 48 hour run. An email is sent to the owner of the vendor letting him know his inventory is not sufficient and that he has 48 hours to remedy the problem. Should he not get his vendor back to the proper status, the vendor will delete and so will all the items he still holds. This would work the same way as a harvester works when maintenance is not kept updated.

Should a vendor fall during this time and the merchant wants to replace him, he will have a 7to 10 day waiting period before he can replace the vendor … Penalty for being a lazy merchant.

I know some of you are thinking that's nuts but come on... if you are not gonna keep a nicely stocked vendor then why in the heck do you even have one. To own a vendor I think you should be dedicated in keeping it stocked.. if not, you lose it. Its that simple.

I would also like to see an additional perk for taking merchant to Master. It would be great if a Master Merchant could control his vendor item count. He could set his vendor to hold 500 to 1200 items. This way he could control the minimum or the maximum of what a vendor could hold to lower or raise his rate for vendor deletion. This option would only be available to Master Merchants.It would be another great reason to take merchant all the way to Master. I can almost guarantee that a lot of Master Merchants would set their vendors between 500 and 750 to lower their deletion base but it would allow those super Merchants the option of a 1200 item count.

Another great reduction for mass production is a menu for buying items from a crate without having to buy the whole crate.

Example: I have offered for sale a crate of fiberplast panels.A crate holds 50 but you only want 25.You get a little menu something like your bank credit menu and tell the vendor you only want 25 out of that 50 crate. You then get a crate of 25.NOW THAT would be a great vendor option!

I know to some this may seem like a large item count but come on… the count was limitless until now. You really can’t go from unlimited to nearly cutting us off completely. Your set vendor change is drastic and a lot of merchants will find it hard to adjust and will just quit the merchant trade. I know without a doubt I would be one of them.

I know that there are a great number of items that the database has to account for but this is not the way to reduce it… at least not so drastically.Ever consider getting rid of those harvesters that just sit there who belong to accounts that are now inactive? Or getting rid of those worthless NPC you have scattered throughout all the cities on all the planets? We don’t need that eye candy… all it causes for anyone is lag. You might even consider taking down the house and harvesters that people pay maintenance on but belong to accounts that are inactive. I know Ill get beat up over that one but the fact is those people are gone and we merchants are still here.

PLEASE, I ask you to reconsider. DON’T make us merchants pay so drastically for a mistake you created by not thoroughly considering vendor count and options.

Thank you for listening,

Diva