If it's a player driven economy, why NPC vendors?

They kind of did this a while back in a way, you know? When archers had arrows that cost 2g per arrow. The supply was there on the npc vendor and was just so expensive, you really cried as an archer. #poorarchers!

Sure, there were makers of arrows that would could do some good business. But as an archer, I gotta tell ya, it SUCKED.

Though, as a seller of those arrows, it was nice - guaranteed su..customers who were at my mercy, lots of chickens I would kill, trees to chop, ingots to make, etc. (Naw, not really good).

 

@DepGames i do accept i dont own a house, and it will be along time if ever till i get one... i dont accept beeing treated like someone inferior because someone thinks they bought a game, not just a license to play one along with certain benefits.

if you just wanted to piss me off... job done.

 

It takes a village to keep me supplied with black pearls.

 

Now you know how many of us felt over the years when suggestions were ignored but the moment a whale asked...poof...feature added.

I'm just glad I agree with BDF. Maybe his whale-ness can push this one through.

 

@Baron Drocis Fondorlatos

Perhaps this could be a good idea when, as other players have suggested, there is a much more robust economy and player-base in place. I have heard you say you can make 1k+ gold per hour, so I believe you are already ahead of the curve. I also believe you spend substantially more time playing than the average player, enabling this idea to work for you presently, which is why it is no doubt appealing to you.

Those of us who have less time to play haven't progressed nearly as much as you, do not yet possess half the knowledge of the inner-workings of the game as you do, etc.

Again, perhaps for a later time. I personally depend heavily on NPC vendors as my source of income in game. I cannot survive without them.

 

Let's look at Black Pearl as an example since it keep's getting brought up.

Suppose Black Pearl is available in the game. (and it is) Now suppose NPC's don't sell it. Now suppose that players can therefore set whatever price they want for it?

Do you think we won't know who's selling Black Pearl? Do you think there won't be competition for sales? There would be entire guilds that only sold Black Pearl. There wouldn't be shortages, there wouldn't be over inflation. There would just be tons of players trying to gather and sell Black Pearl.

 

I think everyone including the OP is missing the point to all of this. The problem with the economy is not NPC vendors. The problem is the fact we can pretty much gm anything we want. So in the long run everyone can just craft whatever they need for themselves and forego the whole vendor system entirely. Even with this economy they are trying to make work right now.
Why would I go buy some armorsmiths overpriced items when I can just make them myself. Don't forget we also will be getting multiple character slots as well. As I see it, in the end there will be no economy except for those who won't actually work up their own crafter alts, and will buy the items. Also the crafters who won't get their own materials will buy them, but even that will be short lived once the big rush of crafters has gotten to where they want to be.
Maybe I am totally wrong and have been misinformed, and I truly hope I am. But right now this is how I see it. You want an economy? Then you limit what each player is capable of doing for himself, and you make it where we have to rely on others.

 

If there were NO NPC vendors to buy all the rusty swords... then instead of most players having LITTLE gold, they'd have NO gold.

The only gold players would have to buy YOUR stuff, would be the actual GOLD that drops directly from monsters... which is almost nothing.

The economy would dive into massive deflation overnight.
And nobody would have any gold at all.

Nobody would buy YOUR drops for more gold... because nobody would have any gold.

 

Theory's are great, until they meet reality in a GAME.

If Port removed all the Black Pearl from NPC's there would NOT be sufficient BP for a dozen people to cast a fart.

If you really want to promote a cause that a lot of people could/would get behind, use your influence and tell Port to increase both nodes and yields.

Until they do that, they best leave the NPC inventory alone.

 

Didn't read about that - except you pay for it. Don't think this will happen.

 

I couldn't disagree more. I want a entertaining game, not a life simulator.

 

We'd have to switch to baked beans to cast that spell.

 

Adam has some theories that have been proven correct for hundred's of years. It's not "if" this would work, it's "it would work".

The devs couldn't just remove Black Pearl from NPC's they'd have to make sure Black Pearl was available in the wild. Which btw, it's only supposed to be available when the moon is full so it's supposed to be rather rare by design. I personally think that means it will be very pricey (but still always available from NPCs) in the current system.

It's funny to watch all these reactions though. That's why I love this game, it's not like the other ones, you really get to think about things here.

 

I think the developers have far more pressing issues like fixing NPC quests, adding storylines, adding NPC dialog, texture fixes, etc, etc.

Like I said. A nice idea in theory; but, too much is currently broken and needs fixing before we get there.

I'm not opposed to the idea in theory; but, would think things should still be available from NPC's, perhaps at x2 or x3 the going prices of player vendor prices to drive the player economy.

 

I agree with no vendors. I can make plate mail and the only advantage is to possibly get an extra durability kick to it by exceptional craftsmanship when I can just purchase the plate mail for pennies from a vendor versus spending the amount of time and effort to craft platemail (getting all the resources etc) It almost seems pointless to raise crafting in certain aspects unless you are going to enchant. Not sure if I went off topic but just getting my own opinion about vendors.

 

Based on many of the threads that get started and the replies, it's pretty obvious plenty of people are trying to steer the game in a direction that benefits them personally. Since this game is trying to be a jack of all trades and bring together several different kinds of play styles (single player, MMO, Sandbox), there will always be parts of the game certain player groups don't like, but they all have to exist so the vast majority can find value and entertainment. I personally think the player economy idea is a folly. I completely support the notion that the best gear is player created, but the game itself needs to provide gold and resources so players who want to play and experience the game in a solo fashion can do so. There should be no dependence on or requirement from other players to complete or enjoy the game. It's a great benefit, but these ideas push it toward being mandatory.

There should be predictable drops of loot and gold, just like every other game out there, so casual players and players who don't want to treat this like a sim can enjoy it. Additionally, there should be plenty of hardcore elements like master crafting, PvP as well as Sandbox elements so a majority can indulge in their own style. Just because I don't want to participate in PvP doesn't mean it should be ripped out.

The idea that players will reach a natural equilibrium is a great notion but it won't happen. Left to their own devices, there will be haves and the have-nots and that will ruin the game. Great gear should be craftable and fetch a reasonable price, but there needs to be NPCs, loot drops, and achievable gold if the game is to survive. I shouldn't have to hunt from town to town, from vendor to vendor to enjoy the game. If I know Player X has the armor or weapon I want, great, I can get there and buy it. However, I shouldn't be forced into that. What you are suggesting pigeon-holes people to play in a specific way.

I also find it unusual, that the player who has repeatedly made comment about not wanting a friends list, doesn't want to engage with other players, is asking for very specific player interactive features. That is very contrary.

I use the word "you" in a generic sense, but I don't want to be dependent on you in order to get my monies worth from this adventure game.

 

I/we argued for this a long time ago. It is just another issue that represent that this game was not made by champions of Ultima Online or sandbox box games, but instead by EQ fanboys looking to social engineer a microtransaction hell rather than a true player driven economy. The powers/abilities that take away from what should be player abilites and given to the gold standard CotO currency should make this all not a surprise. A NPC driven economy is key to selling more CotO currency.

 

NPC vendors are only competing with you for newbie armor, Change that armor to copper or bronze and you have already created a better product than any vendor in the game has.
Same with weapons.

And ensuring that the starting towns have a stable supply of affordable newbie armor is a valid reason for NPCS, there is NOTHING that says that players cant undercut their prices. Same with anything else, having them ensures that players cant rip off newbie players who dont know any better.

 

lol i love it when players are so certain that this one thing would fix everything overnight. this case is particularly amusing because the rationale is "a guy 200 years ago said it works" well i got that beat Jesus said get rid off all the banks and you can find true happiness. so lets do that and his word is 2k years old... trump card...

 

Even EVE has NPC vendors. You need NPC vendors for certain items - you can't rely on the dog-eat-dog economy some people think is the promised land in SotA. Mind you half of the SotA economy if backed by real life currency anyway so that is a big thing that factors in.