Vendor System

Wiz

Wiz

NOT DONATING *EVER*
EDIT: STOP posting ideas on how to reform the vendor system, either come up with something to replace it with, talk about the already proposed replacements, or make a new thread.

The old vendor system is going to be pulled soon. While there are a few really good vendors, the vast majority of vendor owners have few and overpriced items, and frankly most of the trading goes on in /auction anyway.

The problem is what to replace it with, if anything. We're NOT going to use the trade house idea earlier discussed, as honestly, we feel it would be taking away from the social/immersion part of the game to completely automate all trading.

One idea that came to mind is holding weekly "market" events where a GM holds little games and otherwise attracts people to a zone (NOT newport, in fact, probably not any of the cities) for easily accessible buying and selling. After this became an established tradition, GMs might not be needed to run it anymore.

Feel free to share your thoughts on what should go in instead, but please note that the old vendor system going away or not is not open to discussion, because I don't want this thread to degenerate into five pages of people screaming back and forth about whether they love or hate vendors.

Again:

This thread is not for voicing support or dissent on old vendor system going away. Start your own thread if you want to comment on this. This thread is for pitching ideas on a replacement and discussing the idea of a market day. Anyone that chooses to ignore this very big and obvious text will not have a fun day.
 
Oh, yeah, as part of the removal of the vendor system, everyone with a vendor will be refunded money for time left on the vendor, money on the vendor, and items on the vendor, of course.
 
gonna be like before the bazaar commonlands? Is there any chance you could add a player merchant like the bazaar in a non used zone (like freeport) which you can idol a toon there .
 
hassan said:
gonna be like before the bazaar commonlands? Is there any chance you could add a player merchant like the bazaar in a non used zone (like freeport) which you can idol a toon there .
Click to expand...

What do you mean by non-used zone in regards to freeport? Non-Used as in not many players go there? or un-used as it is unpopulated by NPC's? Both of which are a falacy as all 3 freeport zones are populated and frequented by players for xp.

I dont really think this idea is going to go far since wiz obviously has a distaste for people idling and selling as clearly stated in his post since he obviously wants some sort of interaction between the buyer/seller other than a right click.

Personally, i feel there isnt a real need for an absolute system to sell. Between /auction and the Trading forums there is ample ability for people to sale their wares. The only issue i would have with this is that i live in a funky timezone so i may not have the customer base as people selling during primetime. Still its not such a problem as needing a vendor of sorts.

To Wiz: In regards to your GM-hosted events to market wares, as i stated i live in a timezone that would not allow for me to "make the market" overall inhibiting my ability to compete with most if not all persons selling thier stuff. At least, i am 100% unable to make any other GM-events so likely i would not be able to make these either.

Unfortunatly, after racking my brain for ideas that allow immersion/interaction, nothing comes to mind. Other than the simple already existant /auction and Trading forums as i already mentioned. They seem to work fine anyway.[/list]
 
One thing ive heard alot of people (sod and live) miss is the tunnel. I'd love to see something like that start up again.

/SHOUT 2 bags at torch 2 Hail me!!

because in the tunnel it wasnt just buying and selling, there was entertainment. Mages would show off their spells, illusions went rampant, pets would be made from mobs, necros would make their pets talk, people would make fun of the hodge podge colored armor people would end up with, because back then the rage was fine plate steel being dyed. Druids had their hey day binding at the tunnel and selling themselves for PP. People would kill Sgt Slate and Shady. If you want interaction it would be the tunnel reborn. Trading went automated (aye easier but no interaction) and a big part of EQ died with it. Damn you Luclin!! Damn you!!!

Morgaine & Mareleena
 
MystikRavyn1512 said:
One thing ive heard alot of people (sod and live) miss is the tunnel. I'd love to see something like that start up again.

/SHOUT 2 bags at torch 2 Hail me!!

because in the tunnel it wasnt just buying and selling, there was entertainment. Mages would show off their spells, illusions went rampant, pets would be made from mobs, necros would make their pets talk, people would make fun of the hodge podge colored armor people would end up with, because back then the rage was fine plate steel being dyed. Druids had their hey day binding at the tunnel and selling themselves for PP. People would kill Sgt Slate and Shady. If you want interaction it would be the tunnel reborn. Trading went automated (aye easier but no interaction) and a big part of EQ died with it. Damn you Luclin!! Damn you!!!

Morgaine & Mareleena
Click to expand...

That's the reason we don't want to add automated trading. There's something lost that you just can't measure in hard numbers when you remove all social interaction from a system.
 
kineldar said:
hassan said:
gonna be like before the bazaar commonlands? Is there any chance you could add a player merchant like the bazaar in a non used zone (like freeport) which you can idol a toon there .
Click to expand...

What do you mean by non-used zone in regards to freeport? Non-Used as in not many players go there? or un-used as it is unpopulated by NPC's? Both of which are a falacy as all 3 freeport zones are populated and frequented by players for xp.

I dont really think this idea is going to go far since wiz obviously has a distaste for people idling and selling as clearly stated in his post since he obviously wants some sort of interaction between the buyer/seller other than a right click.

Personally, i feel there isnt a real need for an absolute system to sell. Between /auction and the Trading forums there is ample ability for people to sale their wares. The only issue i would have with this is that i live in a funky timezone so i may not have the customer base as people selling during primetime. Still its not such a problem as needing a vendor of sorts.

To Wiz: In regards to your GM-hosted events to market wares, as i stated i live in a timezone that would not allow for me to "make the market" overall inhibiting my ability to compete with most if not all persons selling thier stuff. At least, i am 100% unable to make any other GM-events so likely i would not be able to make these either.

Unfortunatly, after racking my brain for ideas that allow immersion/interaction, nothing comes to mind. Other than the simple already existant /auction and Trading forums as i already mentioned. They seem to work fine anyway.[/list]
Click to expand...

Honestly, the GM "sponsoring" would be mainly to establish the zone as a trading zone, I imagine after a few events, people will be going there on their own volition and setting up trading even when no GM is there.
 
Is it possible to add a vendor sort of deal where a player can see everything a person has for sale but to buy it he/she has to make direct contact with the player? Let's say like a poster with a list of items available and this poster is only available in the zone as long as the characte is in such zone (if you have planned an EC tunnel kinda thing.)

I think it'd be nifty and still make it possible for people to show their wares and interact without having to spam auction non-stop.
 
[/quote]Honestly, the GM "sponsoring" would be mainly to establish the zone as a trading zone, I imagine after a few events, people will be going there on their own volition and setting up trading even when no GM is there.[/quote]

Okay, well the best thing I can come up with would be, West badlands where the coach used to be. Relatively easily accessable by all through Newport TL or wiz/dru ports to Nbadlands. Also setting up 1 to 3 bankers in the houses there will make peoples items to sale (as well as money for buyers) easily accessable. And its a large enough zone with enough landmarks nearby that would allow people to /shout or /auc with a location for people to seek them out. Maybe add a couple of NPC vendors that sell standard supplies (unless one already exists, its been awhile =p). But all in all this seems like a viable location away from cities that all people can relatively access rather easily.
 
Gaby said:
Is it possible to add a vendor sort of deal where a player can see everything a person has for sale but to buy it he/she has to make direct contact with the player? Let's say like a poster with a list of items available and this poster is only available in the zone as long as the characte is in such zone (if you have planned an EC tunnel kinda thing.)

I think it'd be nifty and still make it possible for people to show their wares and interact without having to spam auction non-stop.
Click to expand...

We could use the storage satchels and allow players to view what another player has in their storage satchels (bank or inventory) with a command in the trade zone. Simple way of seeing what's for sale.
 
sounds good, only thing I don't like is trying to find the best bargain for an item without a search engine
 
I like the trading satchel idea, in part because it would help guildbanks show what they have available for members, if need be, whithout having to constantly update a website or something.
 
Allielyn said:
I like the trading satchel idea, in part because it would help guildbanks show what they have available for members, if need be, whithout having to constantly update a website or something.
Click to expand...

Yea, that would be SWEET!
*tosses out the spreadsheet idea she was gonna hyperlink into the officer's section of her forums*
 
Perhaps instead of completely removing the current vendor system, you could implement a way for them to be more temporary.

I.E. once a vendor is rented you cannont update or extend its contract with you. And once it expires you cannot rehire the same one twice in a row.

So, you hire vendor a and your contract runs out. you find vendor b available so you rent that. THAT contract expires, then you can go back to vendor a assuming its available.

Also reduce the amount of time each vendor is rented, because honestly who the hell needs 6 weeks to sell the crap they have. Like 500p for 1 week, maybe 2 weeks, at the end of which time if you dont make profit, its your fault, and now you need to move on and find another vendor.

This will allow people to not be able to ultimatly keep a single vendor in a prime location or not, for an indefenate period of time.
 
I was thinking it might be useful alongt the same lines kinelder, to have day and nighttime vendors. With that you can effectively double the number of vendors in any given city. But this still doesn't address the lack of interactiveness that Wiz and others are describing.
 
I don't like the idea of market day, I disliked the EC tunnel mainly because of the stress, spam and tell hell and with the manners of a lot of the players here I just don't think it would be a fun or worthwhile experience. Yes it does favor the "little guy" level 35 trying to sell 2 items from kaladim but it would just add another huge fustrating timesink to players who really make the effort with tradeskills or proper groups in dungeons daily with the intent of camping named (i dont mean in green zones either).

Maybe 1k for 70 days is just far too cheap for the existing vendors..?
 
i won't be happy unless the merchants cost 50 gold total and theres more than enough for everyone
 
Wiz said:
We could use the storage satchels and allow players to view what another player has in their storage satchels (bank or inventory) with a command in the trade zone. Simple way of seeing what's for sale.
Click to expand...

If it's possible to have a browsable 'trade satchel', would it be possible to enable it for all zones? To continue some crappy brainstorming:
  • Something similar to a right-click inspect could bring it up (maybe a '/cmd goods <name>' type thing for people nearby)
  • A browsing layout similar to the current merchant interface, but limited to 6-8 slots.
  • Items are put in a dedicated 'trade satchel' located at the bank. It would be unfair to monks and wimps to force them to haul around 60 stones of merchandise.
  • When an item is purchased, it is sent via post to the buyer.
  • A sale confirmation click is required to keep people from idling their characters at the SNP bankk.
    [/list:u]

    The main downside I can see to this is that while I would be able to browse my groupmate's trade satchel in MielechC, I don't ordinarily carry around the 1.2kpp necessary to buy the greenwoven shield he's selling at a discount before he logs. It wouldn't be very RP to enable direct wire transfers from one bank account to another in this case. Also it would likely be hell to code, and gets away from the idea of immersion you're looking for.

    Upside is that it enables people to easily trade face-to-face, and encourages greater social interaction as people go around browsing the offerings of people and groupmates around them.
 
What i'm really trying to say is you must still consider the value of people's time, if a level 30 stands around for 2 hours just buying or selling they've lost something like 100pp in potential loot or whatever. If myself, who's taken the time to explore, make friends for good groups, get to 65, master a tradeskill etc. stands around for 2 hours trying to sell stuff the loss of time makes it hardly worth while even if I do manage to sell any items...
 
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