The Tradesman's Inn

Alright, this discussion pertains to the fact that the game does not include an auction house system, trade chat system, etc.

I know many of you are concerned about this, as you have had these conveniences in nearly all other MMO's, but I am truly not worried about this.

In fact, I'm glad the game doesn't have a trade channel.

Why?

1) Right away, it sets apart who is organized, devoted and who knows how to market their goods. These people (us) are the ones who are going to be fine. As you probably noted in the other topics, when I make a trip into town to sell, I will always be at the same place (and selling wares there throughout the day as well as doing free repairs). People will know that Bloodcraft Industries is located in this town, from these times, and understand that items will cost this much. What this means is, despite all of us crafting for our respective organizations and making gold, we are BRANDING our product, which people want.

2) The market won't be flooded. Problem with auction house or bazaar systems like in World of Worldcraft and Star Wars Galaxies is that everyone is crafting and throwing their wares on the market. Nobody finds anybody, and nobody has to do any work. This creates a LOT of crafters, all making the same stuff, and then it becomes a bidding war - ending up lowering prices across the board to the point where crafting is barely profitable.

3) More fun. I like meeting people in town, getting to socialize and help people, and I'm sure most of you do as well. We WILL have a presence, and people will come to us (especially repeat customers and referrals). It's all about maintaining a customer-first mentality.

Now what do you guys think?

I agree with all three of your points. I think this game will lend itself to true crafters more than most, if any at all, of the other MMOs. Crafters will have to work harder than usual to get their wares sold, but this is what they like doing anyway. There will be more people focused on the PvP side of things that will mean spending more time on selling of wares will detract from them PvPing, which will allow the crafters to work better. I like the idea of less wide-spread communication channels in-game.

I disagree bigtime, the fact NO chat system other than /Guild /say/yell is going to be in the game is a HUGE disadvantage. as non guildied I should not be forced into...

A. Being marginalised so you have no real social interaction.
B.Will be expected to stand in town all day using /yell like 1000 other people. (utterly unworkable)
C.Because your unclanned your gonna spend ALLOT of time in the wild tryin to gather mats, thus you wouldn't be able to stand in town all day spamming yell anyway.
D.well, This has little to do with crafting anyway, but still....You will be totally cut off from conversation with others. I know some will say you have "/msg name" but seriously that is not a good game mechanic, its just lazy on the Devs part...

Not having a trade channel is a joke in my book, an completely archaic.

But being a non-guilded type means you're generally not all that interested in random conversations which chat channels usually entail. I too plan on being unguilded (unless I am really convinced I should join a clan), and part of the reason is because I want to be HIGHLY selective as to whom I speak with ingame. I'm not playing the game for the social element; when I get home from work the last thing I feel like doing is talking to random noobs who think the word 'anal' is funny and spam trade chat with jokes pertaining to it as a subject. Sure, I can switch off the channel, but it still encourages noob-ish activities and seldom actually functions for its desired purpose. imo THAT is why the devs are avoiding channels, and have opted for trade boards instead. If people want a social environment, there are always clans to join, or you can do as I will do and make a friend list with whom I will actually respect and spend most of my game time conversing with (and forging deals no doubt! ) I still think channels are unnecessary!

See I usualy play at night our time, an I find far less young ones online at that hour.I have had some good conversations at night(in other MMOs) I dont talk to the kids who spam fart jokes, But I am a very social person an enjoy chatting while I am out crafting/collecting mats.....This alone is the reason I am gob smacked at who the pillok was that decided we dotn need to be allowed to chat to people. Specially since only guilded people are alowed to socialise on more than a 1 to 1.

Seems to me they are attempting to push people not to subtly into clans no matter what. I have spent most of the last 25 years at sea talkin to 4 other people 24/7 365. So I know how you feel about not feeling up to "chatting" with strangers....but still, I find it alot of fun sometimes.

I think I agree with dropbear on this one.

I've always been a 50% crafter 50% player. I like crafting but I also like actually playing the game. Which means I don't necessarily want to stand around for hours on end in town spamming the chat channels to hock my wares. I found that to be pretty annoying in EQ. An auction house would be nice so I could just drop my item at the auction and spend the rest my time getting resources or exploring.

-my 2 coppers.

I wish they would use localised auction houses. The game is already tough on crafters and clanless players, they should have some way to buy and sell equipment; spamming race alliance chat for potential buyers/crafters and then running across the continent just to get a new armor isn't my idea of a fun afternoon. EVE is a pvp game with auction houses and their economy works just fine...

Lack of an Auction House will make crafters have to stick out amoung the masses. Which I believe to be a good thing. If DFO offers a way to inscribe crafted items it would allow crafters to circulate their name and what wares they can craft throughout the world. Get good enough and you should be getting messages from people wanting your wares because they took um off a poor unsuspecting buyer.

Another solution would be to have Auction houses for each race. If you want your wares to go world wide you best be traveling. Personally I think this should be the same for banks. It only makes since.

I hope the developers know what kind of world they want to make and stick to their guns. All this should be settled in game at launch. From there it is up to us as the players to work within that world to make our way. I hate games that have no solid conviction and are constantly changing things to appease the loudest protests.

I completely disagree. Crafting, if done right, is a PVP activity that involves competition. In order for players to compete, there must be some sort of medium for them to do so. An automated marketing system allows competition. Who can keep the most in-demand base resrouces available at the lowest price. Who can provide the best 2-handed sword in the area? Where is the nearest market to buy that rare item? Without an actual market system there is no competition. The only reason that you beat the other crafter is pure luck - you happened to be online when the right customer was wakling through town. I don't call that competition.


As for flooding the market: Well, I guess I would prefer that to not being able to sell more then a fraction of my wares. If they did this the smart way and localized the banking system, then you would only be competing against other crafters in your location. So yea, universal banks and Universal markets might make it difficult to distinguish yourself in any way.

As for socializing, your more then welcome to go find friends and pass out hugs and whatever. I'm in the market to compete, beat and dominate, not to make friends and influence people.

Another point: The current system (no system at all) depresses the economy by placing a heavy, but hidden, transaction tax on every sale and every purchase. Think about it: how much time does it take to advertise wares, have a conversation with a customer, walk to the bank, complete the transaction, then walk back to where you were. Let's say you make a shiny long sword from 100 gold in base resources. You then spend 5 minutes contacting a potential customer, agreeing on a price of 150 gold, walking to the customer, concluding the transaction, and walking back. In that 5 minutes you could have harvested about 15 iron ore, which amounts to around 25 gold. So, instead of that 50 gold profit that you think you made, you actually only made 35 profit. You just got taxed about 35% of your income. I'd much prefer a 5% auction house fee over a 35% transaction tax.