Smuggler Archive
Thread: The slicing changes will eliminate slice vendors
Does this change the discussion about whether contraband should be allowed on vendors? Are we going to see master WS/AS dropping smuggler like the plague once these changes go through? Am I wrong and will there still be a market for presliced gear? How will the need to retune and repair slice-addled weapons affect our business? Is there any real downside to the proposed slicing system, or it okay to feel ecstatically happy about it?
Man, it's gonna be fun jawing about all this stuff.
One of the Four Horsemen of the Smuggler Apocalypse! 
I know some real smugglers are also smiths, and may make some money off the slice vendors currently, but I ultimately think this change will be much better for plain smugglers and reduce the combat discrepancy between those who can afford to find the perfect slice and those who have to make do with the best result from three FWG5s.
And I do think it will shift the opinion in that poll from 90% A to 98%. JTG's argument still holds up, but all the smiths in there going on about the freedom to run their business as they choose.. well, I'm pretty sure they're all going to choose to stop offering sliced materials once this change comes to pass. There just wouldn't be any profit in it.
Smuggler_Caylin wrote:
I certainly hope that the depth and customization options of this system will eliminate the need for sliced equipment to remain on vendors. Which brings us back to the poll up top...
Obviously the future of sliced weapons on vendors depends on the new slicing system and more importantly, how the CURB impacts what players want from their weapons, which I suspect will be much different from what they look for in a weapon currently. If the combat system is such that most players want the same changes made to their weapons via slicing, then sliced weapons on vendors may still be viable, though in a much different form that we see it today.
As a WS/Merchant, I like the ideaof being able toget a handful of each weapon type sliced in order to meet my customer's needs rather than having to get 50 or 100 sliced of each type so I get some good slices. As a player, I like the idea that I can choose the type of slice for my own weapons. If players find it sufficiently convenient to get their weapons sliced on their own and smugglers areup to the challenge of meetingthe demand, then those vendors will fade away and that's ok by me. If players find it inconvenient to find smugglers and want the option of buying weapons already sliced, I will of course cater to those needs.
I'm guessing that there will always be a segment of the player population that will prefer buying sliced off a vendor if it is more convenient but it's way too soon to tell if that will hold true post-revamp or even if Merchants will want to continue to offer them. Obviously if sliced weapons were sold quantities would naturally be limited and price would reflect a completely different equation since there would be no waste or rarityinvolved or weapons sitting on the vendor for months on end.
I've always understood the Smuggler's unnatural obsession with what happens to weaponsafter theyslice themas a combination of professional jealousy and a broken profession. Most complaints about weapons on vendors have to do with a perception that every time a smuggler slices a weapon, it sells for hundreds of times its normal price. Fortunately this will be a moot point now and hopefully this will give smugglers enough to do within their own profession that they become less concerned about trying to limit what other professions do.
Smuggler_Caylin wrote:
I certainly hope that the depth and customization options of this system will eliminate the need for sliced equipment to remain on vendors. Which brings us back to the poll up top...
I dunno, I was thinking the complete opposite
In a world where people think you can now get 45% damage slices or expect to get everything for free or whatever the annoying request of the day is I dont' see how a more complex / fine tuned system can do much but make it harder to work with people face to face and thus create /more/ of a reliance for vendoring to keep our sanity.
I dunno, guess we'll just have to see how things play out.
SpinningCloud wrote:
It's not just sliced weapons and armor I consider the issue. Spices and slicing tools should be contraband as well.
None of it belongs on the bazaar and I think if it's on a vendor then that vendor should be at SOME kind of risk just as if it was on a player that gets scanned.
Well tools have never been an issue to me since for the most part on my server they are not on vendors. Not because of role play by any means but because for the most part smuggler tools dont sell well so a vendor will pop up from time to time and with in a few weeks its gone.
First off, it sounds like slicing tools are going to be multiple use things that last a while, meaning we won't have to buy a dozen crates off our local supplier every few days. So it could be pretty easy to keep these on hand and not need to resort to vendor sales.
Secondly, I really think slice vendors are going to be massively reduced in number. Some smiths may keep at it, but the two main reasons they exist are a) a great slice is a rarity and b) it's hard to find a smuggler. b) will no longer be the case once these changes hit--how many new smugglers do you think will be popping up over the next few months--and a) won't exist either; a good smuggler should always be able to get exactly or very close to what his customer wants, removing the need to hit up a vendor stocked with the best. If a great slice is no harder than finding a competent smuggler, people are not going to pay that much for presliced gear: it'll be convenient, but not significantly moreso than finding a smuggler, and while I'm sure one type of slice will end up being generally favored, letting a good smith anticipate this and stock to meet its demand, it shouldn't be as lopsided as the "30%+ damage or bust" market that exists now.
Thirdly, spice is going to decrease in availability. You'll no longer be able to dump a million grind resources in a factory, log off, and come back to find 40 crates of spice. Each unit of spice is going to represent an amount of in-game time spent running smuggler missions. The new amount of spice out there will be dependent on how much we're given as payment (and how much we're enticed to steal), and will be bumped up by the large number of new smugglers popping up, but it's not going to be nearly as easy to generate as it is now.
All these things should reduce the resistance to illegalizing these items. It wouldn't eliminate the foundation of arguments to let merchants act as merchants, but it should severely cut back on their need to stock smuggler items. Once the need goes down, many of the arguments against a contraband system will as well.