Merchant Archive
Thread: So, what's up Doc?
So,
Have you heard back yet on the proposed changes?
Do the devs have a proposal that will see the light of day to the merchants or players in generalbefore it is implemented?
Why are are the correspondents who are supposed to be liasions between players and TH prohibitied from passing on information?!!?
Why is there so much secrecy in this game when there should be OPEN communication about the issues and solutions to problems?!
It's like work where you have petty little information hoarders who won't tell you about project details because they feel they won't get the kudos if they share. (Not you Doc, TH and SOE in general)
Are the databases really the cause?
Has TH shared the infamous "monopoly complaints" with you yet, shown empirical evidence that players are incapable of purchasing what they need from multiple sources, or finding the "Next Page" button?
Or is this is a hardware/software technical problem that they want to punish players for since they won't fess up and get the database tweaked. (Have they brought in Oracle experts? If so, which company? )
Sorry that's I'm not a fluffy durni of joy here, but as a Master Merchant, Artisan and DE, I'm not feeling anything close respect or thoughtfulness from the development and forums crew of SOE here....
D'Ruk of iD Co., Corbantis.
Doc is probably as stunned as the rest of us at the level of disrespect shown to him, us, and the rest of the Merchant community.
Eventually you get sick of shouting into a well, you get tired of hearing nothing but your own echos. The fact that a bomb was dropped a week ago, and no other mention has been made of it pretty much indicates that the decisions have already been made.
As far as 'monopolies' are concerned: If providing a unified, dependable place to buy resources is so damaging to the player economy and the database, I will gladly close my doors forever and go play a bounty hunter..or solitare..
I know that, I just want to know what is being proposed behind closed doors, since Doc has mentioned that he has conferred with TH regarding these issues.
I would like to know if the proposals for increased stacking, re-stacking, merchant skill tiein for item limits, etc are being looked at. You know, which of the good ideas presented by various people in the forums that provide solutions are being looked at?
Or have the devs decided on a route and are just working on that?
It matters to me, because combat interests me not at all, so if being an artisan/merchant/DE is seriously gimped it affects my interest level in providing a roleplay stop for people needing diverse inventories of items.
/sigh.
There is so much potential in the ideas presented in the ID#2 thread, yet I fear that the devs will just ignore those and focus on the solutions they had in mind before the players were bomb-dropped.
Anyone else hear anything/have any insight?
Thanks.
They haven't come up with anything yet that they have decided to share with me. There was a lot of discussion about it between me and TH and I definitely used the ideas and ammunition you have all given me.
From reading the Development forum it looks like they are going to scale the limit to the merchatn profession as we have suggested. That is more information than I have gotten directly about it.
The bazaar cap raise is likely to go ahead as planned. I have voiced my opinion that the poll they put is skewed away from the merchant profession but I doubt I made any headway there.
The bottom line is that I haven't been told anything that you don't arleady know.
Ok, thanks for the update Doc.
That really sucks. It really boggles the mind that the amount of communication had dwindled down so much from the beta days. Like a faucet being turned off over time.
Oh well, good to know at least there isn't anything TO know.
Fribble wrote:
Ok, thanks for the update Doc.
That really sucks. It really boggles the mind that the amount of communication had dwindled down so much from the beta days. Like a faucet being turned off over time.
Oh well, good to know at least there isn't anything TO know.
I would like more information too but I don't expect the level that was in beta. In beta 1 and 2 the level of information was huge compared to beta 3..and the level of information now is less than then. I think that is natural.
I hope they get better at using In Concept because that is where some of this stuff should be. But they are always going to jump quickly on changes they feel have to be made for the stability of the game engine and we are going to have these cases where they act first and take our pulse later.
I will tell you that f or all my frustrations with the process I do believe that most of the people involved for SOE have a genuine desire to make this game fun and exciting, not just for the bottom line but because they are fans of the game. I know that people like Pex and Blair and Justg and even TH spend a lot of time when they are not in the office either on these forums or playing the game. Sometimes it is difficult to appreciate something this complex from day to day.
Recently a friend of mine came back to the game after being away since beta 3. She was blown away by some of the things that are better. That aren't broken now, and the content that has been added. She isn't nearly as jaded as I am about some of those changes because I see them day to day..she got them all at once and was pretty impressed with some of the changes.
The merchant profession isn't a profession that has had a huge wow feature added. (Merchant Tents are a nice feature and I love them but they aren't a huge feature for us). Maybe we will get that in the upcoming months. That would be nice.
Doc,
When you do know about implementation, can you please post a heads-up so we can prepare? In particular I would like to know
- Will vendors scale to the ability when they were created or the ability when the patch goes live? (i.e. I place vendor at management 4. I then get master merchant. Will the limit of the vendor be management 4?)
- Will the vendors need to be replaced in order to have full capacity (i.e. all existing vendors start at 150, and we need to place new vendors with higher capacity?)
- Will capacity "count" the offers and/or stockroom?
What I am also concerned about is exploitation:that people will get master merchant, place vendors, drop master merchant, andthen continue to have the "master merchant" item limit, while people who play by the rules are forced to constantly upgrade vendors every time they gain a new skill level, or live with the limits which their current skills allow. It is clearly unfair to penalize people who play by the rules, and still, in effect, reward those who do not. I don't foresee a huge decrease in vendor storage and database stress unless the vendors automatically scale the limits to the skill and don't rely on the replacement of vendors to change the vendor item limits.
DocSavag wrote:
From reading the Development forum it looks like they are going to scale the limit to the merchatn profession as we have suggested. That is more information than I have gotten directly about it.
What's funny is I have a hard time pinpointing what Ifind most distressing about this,though I put it all aside for long enough to put up a fight in the thread that TH started.
- I find the poll that they posted ridiculous. The three options as you pointed out to them can be summed up as: 'I'm for this change it will be good towards the community' 'I am greedy' 'I don't care'. Hell that's not a poll, that's pretty much a census, since 99.9% of the non-merchants that come to the forums are going to merrily click 'A' and move on.
- The 'reasons' that they posted for needing to cap vendors. It let's people sell too much, it makes it too hard for people to sell? If you're going to lie to me, at least come up with a lie that has some believabilty to it.
- The fact that this came up first on a wide-open forum giving merchants no chance to discuss it with the devs in a less free-for-all environment. Players who don't know any better will buy the 'monopoly' argument no matter how ludicrous it is, ones who hate the vendor UI will chime in all for it, and the griefers who just like to see people get hosed will also. But the feedback was overwhelmingly against the cap, with a very small segment saying 'If you must go ahead, at least scale it'. Thunderheart has taken that as approval of the community for the cap, and quite frankly that's BS.
- The fact that as with the poll on the changes to the forums, our input meant nothing. Never did. Their plan from the start was to do a scaled cap, and they introduced the topic in exactly such a way as to get that suggestion as a response. Now when they introduce it they'll make a grand show of their willingness to meet the customers halfway. We would have been better served to simply vote 'No' and not hang ourselves with their rope.
This game is drifting ever closer to being a hardcore only game, where casual gamers need not apply. I run a great shop, but y'know... I could just stop and play my commando alt. He's same server so I'd have the benefit of all my great crafted weapons etc, and I could just run 1000 items a week load all my vendors and be sure they'd quietly sell while I burned stuff. It's really becoming an acceptable alternative.
Yea those are my concerns as well. I'll pass along any information I get as soon as it possible.
NJ62 wrote:
Doc,
When you do know about implementation, can you please post a heads-up so we can prepare? In particular I would like to know
- Will vendors scale to the ability when they were created or the ability when the patch goes live? (i.e. I place vendor at management 4. I then get master merchant. Will the limit of the vendor be management 4?)
- Will the vendors need to be replaced in order to have full capacity (i.e. all existing vendors start at 150, and we need to place new vendors with higher capacity?)
- Will capacity "count" the offers and/or stockroom?
What I am also concerned about is exploitation:that people will get master merchant, place vendors, drop master merchant, andthen continue to have the "master merchant" item limit, while people who play by the rules are forced to constantly upgrade vendors every time they gain a new skill level, or live with the limits which their current skills allow. It is clearly unfair to penalize people who play by the rules, and still, in effect, reward those who do not. I don't foresee a huge decrease in vendor storage and database stress unless the vendors automatically scale the limits to the skill and don't rely on the replacement of vendors to change the vendor item limits.
I stumbled across a little related info over in the Thread Poofage topic following a link from the Dev Tracker. At least it gives us a bit of a timeline on when the changes are coming.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=Developers&message.id=20659#M20659
Sure, everything is getting looked at. Even the 60+ page on bazaars and vendors has been read and there is a redesign on the table based on player feedback (I'll be writing up the changes later in the monthall of the feedback has caused a change in design which has pushed the changes to the next publish).
The benefit is that its all in one place and easy to find. Sure there arelots of comments and many posters don't necessarily want to read the thread, but both myself and the devs read it through.
Kurt "Thunderheart" Stangl
Assistant Community Relations Manager
Are we getting an extra vendor (i.e. 7 total) at master, or is that a nasty rumor? If so, I would love an extra vendor but that devastates my floorplan - nabooan medium house, 5 vendors, all between the columns in the main room, named Ares, Athena, Poseidon, Aphrodite, and Hades. My special order vendor is named Lloyd and lives in the basement (ok, never let a boy name vendors). I suppose I could add Artemis and Apollo, but there are no columns left for them!!! I would have to block doorways!
I'll post a screenie when I figure out web space...
Yep that is the latest I have too. They are changing their plan based on the feedback given in that Development thread and feedback that I've been giving them from the forum. I don't now whether to be hopeful or terrified.