Weaponsmith Archive
Thread: Disgruntled Weaponsmith about smugglers.
Well that was weird, sorry about that. Suddenly it went to the next screen while i was typing...
It's rather simple. Smugglers can make or break any weapon. And it needs to be FIXED... Currently, I'm getting bought out on certain weapons, just so one person can get a 33% damage slice, and they toss the rest... Unacceptable.
Currently Smuggler supplies (Clamps, Knives, WUK's, etc) The quality doesnt matter. They can use any crap material for thier supplies, i can use any crap material to make the wuks for them, and it doesnt matter. A 13% effectiveness experimented wuk should be crappy, while a 99.1% effectiveness experimented Wuk should be the best (best conduct metal we ever had was 991 on starsider)
Clamps again, effectiveness doesnt matter, neither do knives, etc...
The Quality of the materials needs to matter in what thier final outcome is. They use crap, they get crap results. I shouldnt have people coming to my shop, buying 20 weapons, so they can get the slice they want. I agree the business is great, credits rolling in, but it's a time factor.
I want to keep my vendors well stocked, i usually do a run of 50 of each weapon to put on a vendor. I shouldnt have to restock the same weapon on a daily basis due to one or two people buying me out because of smugglers.
In conclusion 2 things need to be put into place, 1) the quality of the smuggler supplies NEEDS to be included into the slice 2) Thier skill needs to be incorperated as far as max caps per level of slicing.
Myrrax Hellfyre
-CSA- Master Weaponsmith
Starsider
Hey Stone,
Here is what the problem as I see it. Everything is governed by supply and demand on the game. Our server has about 67 Master WS last I counted. That number compared to say the Armor Crafters that have about 7, makes ourtrade an excess. This means that in order to do business we need to keep the prices low.Those low prices are what enables people to buy 20 weapons at a time and throw away the bad slices.
As for the smugglers, I agree. Why is it that material quality matters so much to most of us and not them? I think it should. We are forced to scour the galaxy for materials and usually wind up with much needed named resources with stats not much better than dirt.
So if you need my vote to push a change through you got it!
As a master smuggler, master weaponsmith, I would love for material quality of WUKs, laser knives, etc. to impact slicing results. It would be great to be able to get good slices on a consistent basis. Now, will the devs allow it to happen? Who knows, but my guess is no.
Slim Vargo, Corbantis
Stone,
Your complainig that your selling out of your product?
I would think you would be jumping for joy. I don't think the weaponsmith forum is the best place to worry about smugglers, you may want to post your concerns in the smuggler forum. But you made a product and priced it at what you thought was a reasonable price, and then you sold out. So . . .
Either be happy, or raise your prices.
On a side note, the devs have said that one of the fixes to the smuggler profession is making their tools and spiceeffectiveness depend on quality and experimentation. This has not been done yet, but in theory, will be fixed one day.
But its not the smugglers fault your selling out, its probably that you are so awesome, that everyone wants your weapons. I'm also guessing that you could safely raise your prices (if you are truely selling that many weapons).
I see people complain about this kind of stuff all the time. I'm a smuggler as well as a weaponsmith, so I frequent both forums and smugglers tell stories of how they've been banned from WS shops because they bought them out, sliced the weapons, then resold them. In the end, I have to ask the weaponsmiths why they care.
You set your own prices, someone paid those prices, and they should be able to do whatever the hell they want with what they buy. If they resell it for a higher price, great. You'll get a regular customer out of the smuggler and you'll always have a market for your weapons. Where's the problem?
So, I started thinking about why folks object to this and I came to the following conclusion: people are greedy and they get pissed that someone else does something that allows them to sell for more money. It's like people feel as if THEY'VE been cheated out of the extra cash. Guess what: you haven't. You provided an unsliced weapon that was worth X amount of money. Someone else sliced it and altered that weapon's value. Therefore they deserve the extra money for the service they provided. It's not their fault that you priced your gun too low and then some idiot paid too much for it.
If you're that worried about having your weapons sell out and not having any left over for regular customers, do custom orders for those customers and hand deliver them. I just fail to see any real problem here.
But, folks should take notice of one other thing in the thread here. Someone mentioned that their server seems to have 67 master smiths. Ask yourself why this is. My theory is that it's because you can't do any business unless you're a master smith. And that's a problem that's leading to people having to consistently lower their prices. THIS is why we need reform in this profession to allow people from novice all the way up through master to make and sell quality weapons.
First off, I am training to become a merchant/weaponsmith and I accept the whole "buy low sell high" argument, but it does not justify buying out an entire stock.
It is a reasonable goal for a weaponsmith to wand to run a shop where people can come and find a broad selection of weapons at all times. If a weaponsmith get thair fun from having such a shop then a smuggler who comes in and buys say 50 tangle pistols, will ruin some of that weaponsmiths fun. Further more, stress is caused by the inability to reach set goals no matter how much you struggle. The inability to keep a vendor stocked will there for cause stress to the weaponsmith, is the weaponsmith had that as a goal.
Remember we do not play this game to have billions of virtual credit in the bank. Weaponsmith or other crafters, are not like real world workers who does thair work to get paid. As such I se it as a fully fair manor to bad people from your shop who buy excessive amounts of weapons.
The way to do this, if smugglers so wand to, is to contact the WS and get a deal in place for say 100 crates of tangle pistols a weak, that way the weaponsmith can make a special run of them so the stock will not get depleted.
Alternately to though combat characters that but up large amount to get the perfect slice... buy a gun from 10 different weaponsmith, not 10 guns from one.
solo,
the problem is, if I have 20 people that come to me once a week or once every two weeks and buy a gun or two, they can't get any because the smuggler who came 1 time bought them out. Yeah, great, today I made all kinds of money, but what about next week, when my regulars are in another shop and that smuggler has moved on?
Solo4114 wrote:
I see people complain about this kind of stuff all the time. I'm a smuggler as well as a weaponsmith, so I frequent both forums and smugglers tell stories of how they've been banned from WS shops because they bought them out, sliced the weapons, then resold them. In the end, I have to ask the weaponsmiths why they care.
Because money doesn't matter. It never has.
If I'm making more than I spend, it's not going to be exciting to sell one person buy out my entire stock. Wow, look, a bunch of money that is going to rot in my bank account, because the game doesn't have anything for me to do with it.
What does matter is being taken advantage of and displeasing our customers. Money has no worth, these two things are the only things that do. So because of one greedy person, I now have 30 customers who leave my shop without a weapon. To go buy a weapon someplace else.
Once you hit a certain point with your business, you'll realize the same thing. Everything is worthless but notoriety and loyalty.
Logix,
If the smuggler wants to "make" a great sliced weapon, I suppose he will try to get his hands on the best weapons. Therefore making the best weapons better, thus enabling him to make a greater profit. So if he is going to buy your weapons, that is a greeat compliment, probably due to your "notoriety and loyalty". So you should be proud if they choose your weapons.
Also, I think you have failed to see that this smuggler is a customer too. To say so would be racist, since saying that customers who buy a few weapons are good, but anyone who buys a lot is bad.
That is just plain silly. (Yes, I know you are not a racist, just noting your statement slants that way.)
If you are truley interested in "notoriety and loyalty", treatALL of your customers with the respect they deserve, including smugglers
Why not practice your customer service skills and contact the smuggler directly and explain to him/her that you would be more than happy to provide your services to them, but since it is not good business for you to have an empty vendor, that you would like if they contacted you with the weapons (and ammount of them) that they wished to purchase, and that you woill gladly make these custom orders for them, maybe even offering a dsicount fortheir bulk orders.In this way creating a better environmnet for you, the smuggler, and your customers. Then everyone is happy, and you have taken a proactive approach, instead of blaming someone for a situation quickly and easily resolved.
Money does matter. You cannot do anything without it. You and I may not like it, but please don't be silly. If you don't have credits, your not going to get anything done. If credits don't matter then make tons of weapons and offer them all for 1 credit. Yeah, I know, not going to happen.
If you sell out of weapons, make more.