Merchant Archive

I'm just wondering if anyone has any links to places that developers or correspondents have said that vendor poaching is:

1. An exploit

2. Being dealt with

I'm not trying to start a debate on whether or not vendor poaching is an exploit or not. I beleive it is, but that's my belief. I'm not trying to figure out what my, or anyone's, beliefs about it are, I'm trying to find out what the developer's beliefs are.

Koweim

Master Merchant/Master Weaponsmith

Naritus

K

Note that "never intended" does not equal "exploit" (as so many here are prone to call vendor poaching)

There's all kinds of things in the game that were never intended.

Consider the following statement:

"It was never intended that [insert tough creature name] could be killed by a solo player. However armorand doctor buffs have enabled it to occur."

Does that mean a player solo killing that creature in 80% composite and buffed 2500+ is exploiting? No.

SWG Lexicon: "Every Player" Means "Except Crafters"

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Ewach - Founder of Travelers Respite on Sunrunner
Located halfway between Anchorhead and Mos Eisley (2180, -4684)
Visit my Shop at (2030, -4660)

K

K

My post had nothing to do with whether skills were required to be dropped. Do I think that people SHOULD be able to retain vendors? No, I don't. However, they have and the code permitted it. There's even enough grey area in the working of the skills for the first people to have dropped their skills to NOT have thought they were doing anything wrong. (The "place vendor" vs. "operate vendor" argument)

My only point is the use of the word exploit, and to answer your previous question, NO I do not think placing vendors and retaining them is an exploit.

I'll freely admit I have six vendors and no longer have any merchant skills. I originally started out this game as a crafter and wanted to be a merchant, with consignment sales and the whole bit. However, there are no tools (at the moment) to operate in that manner.

There are those in this Merchant forum that have left skill points in merchant because they felt it was the right thing to do in order to keep their vendors.I commend them on that decision, but I, for one, refuse to leave those points wasting away awaiting some useful tools that do not even have a publish date yet. I already have skill points in politician (a profession as neglected, perhaps more neglected, than merchant).

In my humble opinion, the word "Exploit" has a very specific connotation and should be used in limited circumstances.

Someone using a bug in the code to duplicate items or duplicate credits: EXPLOIT.

Or, how about a definition:

Exploit: Something that, if done or admitted to, would result in account cancellation. Something that, if brought to the attention of the developers, is fixed immediately.

This "can keep a vendor" issue has been around for a year now and not one time in that year has anyone been told (for fear of account cancellation) to remove their vendor before dropping their skills. In fact, up until very recently, you could not even point to an official statement saying it was "not as they intended".

Again, I write all of this not because I think people should be able to keep vendors, just that I adamant disagree with calling it an exploit. Injustice? Yes - it is. But so is the fact that there are no useful merchant tools to actually be a merchant.

SWG Lexicon: "Every Player" Means "Except Crafters"

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Ewach - Founder of Travelers Respite on Sunrunner
Located halfway between Anchorhead and Mos Eisley (2180, -4684)
Visit my Shop at (2030, -4660)

I really can't stipulate to your definition. Exploits are cases where someone uses an unintended aspect of the system to gain an advantage. Whether they can be banned for it or not depends largely on the type of advantage, how easy it is to prove it was done intentionally, and the effect doing has on the game. The fix relies heavily on the overall impact it has and the complexitiy of fixing it. This issue has not been deemed a bannable offense by the dev team, they don't endorse the practice though.

I don't generally toss around the word exploit. I do feel that keeping vendors you don't have skill points for is explotative but I'm not hung up on calling it an exploit. Its not healthy for the merchant profession, it violates the spirit of the skill point system, and its been identified as broken by the dev team. Its slated to be fixed as soon as the development time can be scheduled for it. Hopefully that is very soon. Debates about the word "exploit" wont' change the facts about this situation. And we really don't need another 140 post thread discussing this issue.

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Chataka Windae
Rifleman/Combat Medic
CEO, Windae Enterprises
Mesric Sanctuary Founder

Another humorous rationalization of the merchant exploit.

K

You are trash. Exploiting trash and scum.

/throws eggs.

K

i like pies too much to throw. especially apple pie, refrigerated. mmmm mmmm good.