Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: Why I'll never wear my Master Title in public again
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Jiman
Wed Jul 07, 2004 11:46 am
#1
I used to be proud to wear my Master Weaponsmith title when I was jetting around collecting resources. But I have become more and more disheartened and today was the last straw.. never again will I wear it. Here was my experience.
Had someone /tell me and ask if I could build a rifle for him, either a DLT20 or a CDEF rifle. I say sure, but I would have to get back to my shop. He then says can I also make a DH17 Snub Nose Carbine. I say sure, no problem. I'm a small W/S and don't keep a lot of these on my vendor (none in fact), mostly melee weaps. I'm also just a 10pt smith. I ask him do you want scopes? Stocks?? his reply "what are those?". So, I take the time to explain them to him and he tells me he wants stocks on both of them. OK, Off I go to my shop... Unfortunately I'm not at home and don't have access to my w/s tool, so I have to craft by manually looking through the resources I have on me and those loaded in my station. I'm sure you all know what it's like to have to go through all of your "Ferrous metals" to find the one with the highest OQ/CON combination. A real pain! So after about 20 mins of sorting and craftingI make both weapons... not too bad, not great either, but average that I feel any new player would get a great bonus using:
DLT20a 139-213 5.9
DH17 117-219 3.5
I get them done and tell him they're finished.
and here goes the conversation "edited for brevity".
Lenopi: "great how much?? and can you come to coronet cuz I can't afford to fly to you"
I don't sell a lot of these, so I tell him
Joselyn: "how about 7.5k each?"
Lenopi: "ummmm" "I can't afford that".
Joselyn:"Ok, How much do you have?"
Lenopi: "800 credits".
I chuckle to myself and tell him to do some missions and get back to me. He says ok. A little while later I get a /tell from him
Lenopi: "ok, can you hold them for me?"
A little while later........
Lenopi: "Can we have both for 10k please?"
Joselyn:"sure, no problem, but you'll have to fly to me for that price".
Lenopi:"no problem, oh, btw, what was the stats of that rifle again?"
I tell him and he says
Lenopi: "never mind, I can't afford them"
Joselyn:"you can't afford them, or you think you can find someone else cheaper?"
Lenopi: "I can't afford them, I'm new. besides, someone is going to give me a rifle for 2.6k"
Joselyn: "Well, thanks for the waste of my time. Next time don't contract someone to do work for you unless you plan on paying them"
Lenopi: "Oh Well. You're rich, does it matter?"
Now, I am by no means rich. I have 200k in the bank and 400k on me. Poor by almost any Weaponsmith standard. It just amazes me the ignorance of people who have no care or concern how they treat others. After all "it's just a game".
Now, of course, my hope would be that all weaponsmiths would ban together as a cohesive unit and politely refuse to sell to this cretin. But I'm sure everyone will just blow this off anyway. Just felt the need to vent a little.
My final response: /ignore lenopi
and of course the obvious follow-up to that is the /ban from my shop......
Message Edited by Jiman on 07-07-2004 02:57 PM
ttjjgg
Wed Jul 07, 2004 1:43 pm
#2
Hello
Part of the problem in my opinion is that you did not properly qualify the buyer. The person was asking for "newbie" weapons, two people normally buy those, a newbie, or a person starting a new profession. As most newbies do not have the 15k to spend on weapons, only two weapons at that, you should have clarrified the price first. You might have wanted to ask if he was new or just swithing proffessions first. I have found that most new people do not have a grasp of the value of money quite yet, and that by the time he gets 15k or 10k from missions those will be outdated weapons for him. While they would have been nice weapons you have to remember that this person who could not afford to leave Corellia is not going to hop over to Dantooine to pull a couple of Mokk missions to be able to pay for that.
Cut the new players a break, or if you don't want to, qualify them first. Make sure that is what they want, and then make sure that is something that they can afford to buy, otherwise you'll have a couple more weapons for your vender.
Fixer087
Wed Jul 07, 2004 5:05 pm
#3
I have found a sort of solution to this problem...
I still wear my master tag in public...
When I get these kinds of questions my response goes something like this...
Well, I don't have my crafting stuff on me, at the moment; can you wait till I get back to my shop? (That's if I don't have the requested item on one of my vendors)
<I find this gets rid of 20-30% of the people asking for weapons on the spot. And I don't carry any of my crafting stuff with me, anymore; it takes up to much room.>
When I get a "sure, I can wait" answer, I then request that they send me an email so that I don't forget.
<I find this also gets rid of another 10-20% of the questioners. I don't know why the email is too much trouble, but it is fine by me.>
Also, if I am really busy and the person is requesting that I make whatever for them "right now," I inform them that I have 10k per weapon fee for stopping what I am doing and making their weapon for them, and it is payable in advance. Anyone who agrees to that is serious about having their weapon made.
I don't, however, ever make a weapon for anyone who sends me a TELL out of the blue asking for something who is not also willing to travel to me. I am providing the service for them, and my time is more valuable than chasing people down trying to hand deliver weapons to them.
I hope that helps in some way,
Corwynn Roesone
DarkMortar
Wed Jul 07, 2004 5:14 pm
#4
hey you did not waist your time... sell your gun in the bazzar!
Rockhurst
Wed Jul 07, 2004 9:11 pm
#5
lol...I guess I'm on the BH food stamp program
Jiman wrote:
Now, I am by no means rich. I have 200k in the bank and 400k on me. Poor by almost any Weaponsmith standard. It just amazes me the ignorance of people who have no care or concern how they treat others. After all "it's just a game".
But, I do hear what you're saying...people like that ruin it for those of us that are serious about getting a weapons or armor made.
Message Edited by Rockhurst on 07-07-2004 09:14 PM
SmithingWeapons
Wed Jul 07, 2004 9:59 pm
#6
That is why I run around with the Master Politician tag over my head and have a small select cliental outside my town and guild. if someone contacts me for a weapon, I normally tell them it will take 24 hours.
Jenner - Mayor of Pride on Lok (kauri)
Jenner - Mayor of Pride on Lok (kauri)
Vassax
Thu Jul 08, 2004 12:43 am
#7
I understand totally. Some people just don't understand what it takes to do some of the crafting classes, and how much time we as weaponsmith put into finding and getting resources to craft good weapons. I have received many of those types of tells asking me to craft a weapon then telling me they don't want it. The only way I get around this is to keep a vendor stocked with all types of weapons. When they tell me I just send them to my vendor. Unless they want a enhanced weapon made.
Weaponsmith is a blessing and a curse all in one.
Good luck to you
hinchles
Thu Jul 08, 2004 2:58 am
#8
so far ive only had good experiences
im 4/4/1/4 atm so not even master i make lots of melee stuff and low end rifles and sell them damn cheap on bazaa just to keep me in a flow of money. theyre not particularly good things but theyre not the worst stuff around.
i do have people who regularly buy my stuff on bazaa and also a few people have made specific orders for things. I make everyone well aware that im not master and other people can make better but as such i make stuff cheap as most of it is made from grinding resources anyway.
what ive found so far is people are willing to pay the price of a much better weapon crafted by a master to me just because im friendly and willing to help them out/ have a chat etc.
although im sure there will be bad people and time wasters out there so far im having it lucky
im 4/4/1/4 atm so not even master i make lots of melee stuff and low end rifles and sell them damn cheap on bazaa just to keep me in a flow of money. theyre not particularly good things but theyre not the worst stuff around.
i do have people who regularly buy my stuff on bazaa and also a few people have made specific orders for things. I make everyone well aware that im not master and other people can make better but as such i make stuff cheap as most of it is made from grinding resources anyway.
what ive found so far is people are willing to pay the price of a much better weapon crafted by a master to me just because im friendly and willing to help them out/ have a chat etc.
although im sure there will be bad people and time wasters out there so far im having it lucky
Jiman
Thu Jul 08, 2004 5:16 am
#9
Thanks for all the replies and ideas. I agree that I should have qualified my customer in advance. I was a little busy with another customer who was looking for my vendor and missed part of the conversation. And I believe in helping out newbies also. I price all my weapons very reasonably on my vendor, I sell most of my weapons for under 10k, I think my highest is my Gad sticks at 8k, with my FWG5s at 5k. Very reasonably priced for our server (Bria). I think what made me mad in the whole situation was his comment about being rich and no big deal. No matter how much money a business person has or doesn't have, they should at least get some respect from the customer. We don't ask in advance for a "credit check" from our customer before we discuss building the weapon, and any quick survey of the bazaars would show a newbie approximate prices of weapons.
Also, on a side note, I don't recall ever contacting a weapon smith to make me a weapon when I first started. I did missions with my CDEF pistol and bought bigger and better stuff off the bazaar and vendors until I had amassed enuf money to consider contracting a smith.
Am I being too hard on a newbie? Maybe!
Should I let this bother me? Probably not
It was probably just the proverbial straw. I have been killing NS/Krayts/everything else and haven't gotten a single decent loot drop yet I can go to Fort Tusken and 3 hit kill everything there and manage in 30 mins to get 2 crystals and 5 rifles....... very frustrating.... Plus, I was frustrated at not being able to get the lousy 30 remaining AP for Master Architect so I can get rid of it..... Just another part of this whole experience that is frustrating.... then this happened...... But, I'm over it now.... momentary lapse in my ability to ignore the inane things in life.... thanks for all your support and understanding.... that is sometimes the best part of the forums.... I can vent here and not at my customers!!!!
hinchles
Thu Jul 08, 2004 5:39 am
#10
lol you sound like you had fun.
as for the loot drops dont get me started my main char (pure combat) camped dath NS spawns including killing 4 eldars the other day.
what did i loot? some orange rug thread and a really crappy ns lance.
i sliced a container for a guild m8 and he had a +7 ws experimentation tape in it
which he wouldnt give to me (really wish i'd stole it now)
as for pricing if you sell fwg5's and theyre actually any good for 5k on bria damn when i played bria i brought a pre-nerf krayt fwg5 cost me the best part of a million. Still *shrugs* its all swings and roundabouts as your ws reputation builds up you'll prolly start getting more custom orders for special weapons off people and everyone else you just direct to your vendors keep them stocked with reasnoable stat normal weapons and your away
I personally have been hording geo loot for the past 2 months so when i do master i should be able to knock out a good batch of really high quality weapons. *hope*
as for the loot drops dont get me started my main char (pure combat) camped dath NS spawns including killing 4 eldars the other day.
what did i loot? some orange rug thread and a really crappy ns lance.
i sliced a container for a guild m8 and he had a +7 ws experimentation tape in it
which he wouldnt give to me (really wish i'd stole it now)as for pricing if you sell fwg5's and theyre actually any good for 5k on bria damn when i played bria i brought a pre-nerf krayt fwg5 cost me the best part of a million. Still *shrugs* its all swings and roundabouts as your ws reputation builds up you'll prolly start getting more custom orders for special weapons off people and everyone else you just direct to your vendors keep them stocked with reasnoable stat normal weapons and your away
I personally have been hording geo loot for the past 2 months so when i do master i should be able to knock out a good batch of really high quality weapons. *hope*
Fixer087
Thu Jul 08, 2004 7:08 am
#11
I know what you mean about running missions, etc when you started. It never even entered my mind when I started playing to send TELLs to people and ask for special services or lower prices just because I am new, but it seems that that is fairly normal operating procedure these days.
Can you imagine walking into your local Wal-Mart and tossing out, "Hey, I'm new around here; can I get some free stuff? Oh, and can you bring it to my house for free, too?"
Just my thoughts,
Corwynn Roesone
Shadowfire
Giamai
Thu Jul 08, 2004 3:23 pm
#12
actually i guess qualifying customers is good advice but i understand your frustration at the "you're rich" comment. thats pretty obnoxious.
there wasa newbie a month back who informed a guildie of mine (through repeated tells til he went on /ignore) that since he was an architect, hehas totip him 10k for no reason. he said, in affect, i'm a newbie and you're an architect so you must be rich so hand it over.
generally, i don't wear my master ws tag for a similar reason, i get repeated /tells for me to fix people's weapons...i don't mind doing it but i would never get out of theed if i responded to all these /tells.
anyways enough rambling. good luck.
ZeroRyouko
Thu Jul 08, 2004 3:42 pm
#13
The beggers seem to be attracted to any Master title. My other character is a Master Swordsman, and about once a week a newbie asks if they can have one of my weapons. As if I carry around a backpack full of 2-handed curved swords to hand out to everyone. 
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