The Tradesman's Inn

Here is how I see it. From my starting city to my guild city it takes 30 min on foot. This distance is not even a quarter way across the map. No one is going to come to my store to get items if it takes this much time to get there. Here are the ways that I can see it working:

1. My only customers will be people from the area that pass through my city, such as alliances and travelers. Since traveling is such a pain I don't see much of those.

2. One person makes the trek for a bunch of people. But why would he, there is not enough variations in the items to go so far not to mention the risk he caries bringing everything back with him.

3. My guild ferries people to my city and back. This also carries risk. What if someone decided that they want the ship or to kill everyone on it.

This also means that my guild must keep up good relations with everyone around us to keep a steady customer flow. Or they have to make it so safe, so impenetrable, that no one would dare cause any trouble in the city so that people, even if they are far away, will flock to my city to buy what ever they want without fear of it being taken away.

Also the only thing that will sell big will be the consumables (ie: arrows, potions) because people are not going to need weapons or armor every day. The passer by will probably just stock up on what ever he is lacking. The mobs in this game drop armor that is good enough to avoid paying for armor. The only people that you could sell too would be your guildies, but being the good guildie that you are you already offer them a discount or free if they have the mats.

Basically what I am saying is that crafting and trading are in bad states right now. Someone needs to tell the devs to vairy up the resources and make it easier to travel at least between friendly cities. Sure we all want this to be as realistic as possible, but without the fun what do we have. We have a game that is dedicated on combat and everything else is just to support the people who are fighting.

I think crafting shops will work in DF. DAoC had a consignment merchant system where people had to travel to the housing areas to use them, and they worked fine there. Also, no rapid transit in DF is a great thing and should not be changed.

This is one very large flaw in your reasoning stopher87, you keep mentioning risk e.g. the risk one person takes bringing back stuff for several people. In reality there is no risk invovled in any of your 3 points. Traveling takes a little time but bank all your stuff and go, problem solved. One person makes the trek, completes the trade next to a bank and immediatly places his items in. Same goes for your 3rd point. Travel and trade don't actually invovle any risk.

But its true that people aren't going to want to drop everything and come to you. In that respect your right, a shop in one place would have a very limited market. Far more limited than a crafter who is actually active in selling his wares and can bank up and move to a new city/market any time he likes with 0 risk.