Ranger Archive
Thread: The Resource Market Terminal
GoldMemberBria wrote:
Ok, I've got all sides of this covered, as a ranger/bh with an alt toon who is a pure artisan.
First, of, I like the concept. From a crafter's perspective it is very difficult to get the creature resources you need without getting them yourself and it would be nice to have some tools to do this in a more formalized way.
That said, the system that is described here sucks from a crafter's point of view. Why? One very very basic fact: this is a game, mostly played by kids, and there is very little concept of responsibility, or following through on something that you agree to. We've all seen this. Maybe they don't follow through because they never intended to. Maybe they have to do some homework and decide not to play for a week, or maybe their job requires some overtime. Whatever the reason, I'd say that I'd give almost 0% probability of particular person actually following through on a specific amount of resource within a specific timeframe. So from a crafter's perspective, what would you do if you wanted say 25k of the current herb meat spawn on Tat? You'd probably put in about a dozen contracts for 10k of the resource, tie up tons and tons and tons of money (assuming you had it) and just hope and prey that a couple of them actually come through.
From the scouts side: this also sucks. You walk up to the terminal, see that there are two jobs for Tat herb meat, one for 25k of it at 10cpu, and another for 10k of it at 12cpu. Problem is, you know there's no way in hell you'll be able to fill either of those in their entirety, and the other problem is that of course right after you accept one there will inevitably be a new one paying more the next day.
So here's how I would suggest that it should work:
Artisans put in "bids". These are sort of standing offers with a certain amount of money in escrow. So for example someone puts in a "bid" for 10k of the current tat herbivore spawn for 10cpu, and he must put 100k in escrow. The any scout is free to fill any portion of that "bid" up to whatever is remaining on that 10k. This way the scout can find the best deal, and is not at any point "on the spot" to deliver anything, and at the same time the crafter doesn't have to hope and prey that some particular person comes through, as he is selling potentially to all scouts.
Now from the bounty hunter's perspective: BH's need things to do, and to be brought into the "main stream" of the game, so I think this was a very clever idea from that perspective. I think there certainly should be player bounties, but they shouldn't really need a reason, just money, lol. "That guy insulted me, here's 50k, go blast him". That otta be all it takes. So anyhow, I'd love to have bounties on other players, but I don't think that works well for this particular system that you describe here because although it would be fun for BH's, it burdens the scouts and artisans too much.
- Crafterposts an order for 100k of current Naboo Avian at 200cpu. They put 20 million credits in escrow. The deadline is 1 week from now.
- Hunterlooks at the terminal and decides to fill part of that order.
- Hunterkills plenty of "duckies" and manages to get 5k of the current Naboo Avian.
- Hunterreturns to the terminal and turns in the resources for 1 million credits.
- 1 week elapses and no other players fill the order.
- Crafter returns to the terminal to collect 19 million credits and 5k of the Naboo Avian.
At some level of Scout or Ranger, a player gains the option of "contracting". They are able to lock out a certain portion of an order for a small security deposit (maybe 1k at Hunting 2, 5k at Master Scout, 10k at Tracking 2, and 20k at Master Ranger with a 1 cpu deposit). This would ensure that the hunter would get some money for his harvests. The crafter is given the name of anyone that "contracts" the resources. Anyone on the crafter's ignore list is not allowed to take a "contract" although they can fill part of the order. If the hunter fails to fulfill the "contract", the crafter receives the security deposit and is given the option of placing a bounty on the hunter.
Giving BHs the ability to hunt anyone is not going to ever happen (consensual PvP only). So there will need to be some form of contract with an implicit PvP acceptance before a BH can go on the hunt. This would provide one part of such a system.
Lythender Nirou
Master Ranger/Master Squad Leader
Eclipse Server
Message Edited by GTOfire on 05-18-2004 10:41 PM
- You see some insane person offering twice the true value of a resource. You want to make sure you get a cut of this.
- You are hunting a relatively non-specific resource (general avian) and want to make sure that a better shift doesn't come in causing the general price to drop (as the crafter should be allowed to cancel any part of the order that is not fulfilled or contracted).
- You want the crafter to know who you are (remember the idea suggested that only people contracting would be identified to the crafter)
They might not be the best reasons but they are reasons why it might work. The main problem is that the original system (according to GoldMemberBria) would not be very nice for crafters and the non-contracting system isn't quite as nice for us. Combining the two seems like a good compromise although it devalues the contracting system a bit.
Lythender Nirou
Master Ranger/Master Squad Leader
Eclipse Server
Second situation:I manage to acquire the set amount of meat/hide after the contract expires.Either the BH dies or I die. I still have the stack of hide/meat. This crafter would enter my /ignore list and I'd easily sell the meat to another buyer (and no bounties). Either way, the crafter is out of luck (and potentially the BH).
I read ideas that CPU should decrease if the hunter brings less or even more than the set contract amount. What's up with that? What if, like above, the resource shifts in the middle of the contract? Penalize the hunter? On the other hand, aren't most crafters happy to get more units of hide/meat than agreed upon?
I'm sorry, but your ideas are a bit too extreme for me. This is supposed to be a game for FUN, not a game for WORK. If you want the 'thrill' of being stalked by a BH, open your jedi slot. If I want to be stalked and hunted, I'll go overt. That's where PvP belongs.
Now, put in player contracts for meat/hide/bone. Instead of imposing a time limit, impose a CPU decrease after a particular date.
Washell wrote:
/Agree, they are reasons that might make it work and it does bring a bit of the proposed system into the bid system.
I have countered some of GoldmemberBria's arguments but we need the input of a larger group of crafters to judge his/her and mine arguments on their values. GoldmemberBria's experiences may deviate from other crafters experiences and SWG may deviate from other mmorpg's in demographics.
Well to bring this post to a bit longer length, but going slightly off topic: I've been meaning to ask you this in-game but keep forgetting it, are you Jules Nemo or Disney's Nemo? Just curious
Washell Olivaw, Ranger/Rifleman, Eclipse
Neither
. If you want to keep guessing I can keep it secret a bit longer. Although it might be fun to see if anyone can guess
. It's not named after anyone else, though. Although the way the name was picked is probably similar.
Lythender Nirou
Master Ranger/Master Squad Leader
Eclipse Server
Great ideas, Washall.
It is just because such a system does not exist currently that I only take contracts from other guild members (and even here there is flexibility and understanding)and anyone else I would deal with on a first refusal basis, that is, I will not commit to getting a certain amount by a certain time, I will however commit to giving them first refusal on all that I harvest of that resource until they indicate that they are no longer interested.
I may be spoiled, but I already have ready access to +2400/3.5 hour buffs (I have never even heard of a 4 hour buff) so I wouldn't count them as rare....
Washell wrote:
*snip*
Calculus: +2900/4 hour buffs? I don't know, as a tanking ranger I wear everything out so fast I don't bother to buy good stuff. Switched to Rifleman now so it might get better. Going at it without doc buffs will finally force me to use some tactics
*snip*