Hiring Context 1 (Source)
http://soe.lithium.com/swg/board/message?board.id=merchant&message.id=56436&query.id=127915#M56436
I have de-stickied the old "Top Issues" list so we can start putting together a new one. The old thread can be found here.
Of the 18 issues on the old list, only two (possibly three) of them have been dealt with. Now that work on the CU and RotW will be winding down soon, I'd like to have a new list of issues to be able to present to the Devs when they're ready to throw some love our way.
For the sake of convenience, I am pasting the original list that Doc compiled here. Please post your unlisted ideas for inclusion as well as suggestions for changes to these items. As we work through the discussion, I will keep the list updated and then we'll get everything prioritized for the final draft.
Merchant Top Issues List
1 Exploit Merchant Skill Point Exploitation FIXED
2 Game Play Remove Empty Vendors from Global Map FIXED
3 New Feature Ability to Remove Abandoned Vendors Cooperative Merchant shops suffer from the extremely limited control the owner of the structure has on the vendors inside. Short of removing all items and destroying the structure the owner of a “Mall” has no method for evicting a vendor. This is a problem on a number of fronts but the two most common are vendors that are abandoned by their Merchants and are taking up floor space that could be better used by another vendor or disputes between the Mall owner and the Merchant running the vendor (refusal to pay agreed rent for the space etc). The structure owner needs a method for evicting the vendor while mitigating against griefing. The suggestion is to allow structure owners to issue an eviction notice to a vendor which will be served in one week from the time it is served. This will give the Merchant owner of the vendor a week to clear his merchandise out and remove the vendor himself. Suggest a method for rescinding the eviction as well in case an amicable resolution is worked out between the two parties.
4 Game Play Vendor Interface Enhancements The Vendor interface is clunky and inefficient. The search features need to be enhanced to allow more robust searching, the offers and stock room interfaces need fewer clicks and batch processing support to allow large scale sales and re-pricing efforts to be done with a minimum number of clicks. The offers system itself needs to be enhanced as well giving the supplier more slots to offer merchandise and more information to be captured (Suggested Retail Price etc)
5 New Feature Consignment Sales Support Wholesale purchases for Retail sales is only one method of merchant-supplier collaboration. Another is consignment sales. Consignment sales is defined, for the purpose of this feature request, as items purchased by the merchant with little or no up front cost with the understanding that a split of the sales revenue will take place upon the sale of the merchandise. This relationship is desirable because it removes the financial burden
6 New Feature Directed Sales Both for customer orders, PA or Factional specials etc the vendors should be able to allow a merchant to place an item up for sale that can only be purchased by the indicated party or group. (e.g. guld:WAH, faction:Imperial, Chataka)
7 New Feature Image Design Support for NPC Vendors The current method for creating a vendor is cumbersome when your goal is to create a vendor with a specific look. You essentially have to create vendors over and over until you randomly get one that you can live with. Merchants would like the ability to have their NPC vendors Imaged Designed to customize their appearance. We believe that Image Designers are ideal for this job and would support a /consent system that allowed a vendor to be altered by an Image Designer.
8 New Feature Global Item Listing (Searching) CURRENT SYSTEM NEEDS WORK The global map advertising is a great tool for getting people into your shop to browse your wares however many merchants would like a global item listing that could be searchable and would allow them to compete with the bazaar for sales. One method would have a “premium auction” feature in Merchant that would allow merchants to place items (for a fee) into the global listings that would be in a separate tab on the bazaar terminals. This would be searchable and show the item details and the price listed. Purchasing the item could still be handled at the local vendor, this method would be an advertising method and not a sales method.
9 New Feature New Structures (Malls and Shops) The merchant tent is a wonderful structure that indicates the high likelihood that there is a merchant vendor inside. The tent however lends itself to smaller operations or specific types of markets. New structures like a small store front shop and a larger Mall like structure would enhance the merchant ability to have identifiable structures that indicate merchant vendors inside.
10 New Feature Detailed Sales Reporting The addition of the mailsave command has made creating offline sales data easier, however the game still needs in game support for basic sales reporting. This feature would enhance the ability of merchants to manage their vendors and maintain relationships with their suppliers. Back to top View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address MSN Messenger ready
Joined: 09 Nov 2006 Posts: 1028 Location: South Carolina, USA
PostPosted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:02 am Post subject: Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post Delete this post View IP address of poster
This thread mentions some merchant issues along with premium auction info
http://soe.lithium.com/swg/board/message?board.id=merchant&message.id=16571&query.id=128097#M16571
Hiya. I should say I'm pretty new, but in my online life I've always gravitated towards the merchantile life. Normally though, that doesn't prevent me from being able to do other things when I'm not fiddling about with vendors. I love being a merchant. I also want to participate in the GCW as something more than cannonfodder.
The business and merchant paths have some extraordinary things that we are expected to pay skill points for. I don't need Master Merchant. What I want is a shop that shows up on the map. So lets go through the costs for that and the wonders I receive in return.
Business I, 2 skill points, total cost 2.
Access Fees. Might be great for some purposes, but I don't want to do anything to discourage anyone from entering my shop so I won't use it. Admittedly I'll miss out on the business xp from that.
Business II, 3 skill points, total cost 5.
I gain the ability to spend 100 credits to get a little star next to my sale on the bazaar. The shape of things to come. Does the star actually do much? For 3 skill points we shouldn't have to pay for it. It should just be there for all our sales. And even then it'd be feeble.
Business III, 4 skill points, total cost 9
Yay, a vendor! I'm not going to complain about this one. If I didn't want to be advertised on the map, I'd stop right here. The vendor machine we get is chunky, but suits me just fine.
Business IV, 5 skill points, total cost 14
Hiring +10. And here we get to the problem. We have to spend skillpoints to change the outward cosmetic appearance of vendors. Why? Will my customers walk in and say "Nay! I shall not buy from thine chunky vendor! I only buy from Twi'Lek females in purple dresses!". 5 points.
Onwards and upwards to:
Novice Merchant, 6 skill points, total cost 20
A second vendor, and more cosmetic options. I can see a second vendor being handy, but given they can hold as much as you like, I'll just be using the one. Well, I'll stick the second in my other room for the xp, but only one'll actually have anything on it.
Advertising I, 5 points, total cost 25
Now, I should admit I haven't quite got this one yet. 5 points for a vendor to recite some canned speech though. Hummm.
Advertising II, 4 points, total cost 29
Now we get to set the speech of our vendors. Somewhat useful I suppose.
Advertising III, 3 points, total cost 32
Finally. Advertisment on the map is ours. 32 points though. You can do a lot with 32 points. Hang about though. We don't actually get map advertisment for 32 points. We get the right to buy it. I don't know the costs involved.
While we're here, lets look at the other Merchant skills.
Advertisment IV, 2 points.
Half price advertisment. Harrumph.
The Hiring Path - Completley worthless for reasons given above.
Efficiency I, 5 points
We get 20 percent off bazaar costs. Thats a whole 4 credits off a regular sale, and presumable a mighty 20 credits off a premium one. And just 5 skill points!
Efficiency II, 4 points
20% off vendor costs. They're pretty cheap to run anyway. I suppose if you had 6 of them it might save you a bit of money.
Efficiency III, 3 points
Another 20% off bazaar fees!
Efficiency IV, 2 points
20% off all structure fees. Actually I quite respect that one, with the number of harvesters I have. And the right to place a merchant tent, whatever one of them is. I'll bet architects don't sell a lot of them. Not sure I've ever seen one.
The Management Path
Additional vendors. Great for those who want them. And the ability to change our shop sign. Changing the sign on your door ought not to be a question of skill points! Neither should adverting for that matter. Variety in house signs would be a good thing. Everyone should be able choose from a variety of signs, with additional ones if theres a vendor in the house.
Master Merchant - Those of you who have this, I have utter respect for your dedication. But unless the holocron was especially cruel to you, why?
Frankly, I think the biggest problem with Merchant is the insistance on having 4 paths to a profession. You could merge all four paths into two paths or even one without anyone calling for a nerf. Some things we're asked to pay points for should just be available to anyone who wants it, for the price. Premium auctions. Ebay doesn't require you to have a special skill to pay them extra cash to mark your auction premium. Neither does the yellow pages inisist you give up being a commando to advertise with them.
I want to be a merchant, I really do. But I also want to be able to makes things, and maybe still be able to shoot a gun. The skill point to benefit ratio for the merchant and businessman is feeble, and needs to be seriously looked at by the Devs.
Alrevolis Vosteo Back to top View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address MSN Messenger ready
Joined: 09 Nov 2006 Posts: 1028 Location: South Carolina, USA
PostPosted: Today, at 6:43 am Post subject: Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post Delete this post View IP address of poster
http://swg.warcry.com/scripts/columns/view_columns.phtml?site=13&id=1038
Suggestions and corrections are always encourage. This guide is the fruits of all the Merchant Forums posters. Thanks for all the help.
How to become a Merchant: You must complete Business 4, have 5000 Merchant XP, and train Novice Merchant with a Merchant Trainer.
Merchant XP (comes in lumps, sometimes broken):
- 150 XP per hour per vendor (Can place first at Bus 3)
- 50 XP per view of vendor by person (Can get every 10 minutes)
- 50 XP per visitor if you charge an Entry Fee (Can place at house terminal at Bus 1)
- NO XP for purchases ... none ... zip
- Suggestion: Go up management first to get per vendor xp
Placing a Vendor: Once you have Business 3 completed you can place a vendor by using the “Create Vendor” option of the house menu of a house you own or on the admin list. the vendor will be added to your inventory. Simple drop it where you want it. Vendors and their contents do not
Moving Vendors: Terminals can be moved prior to being initialized. All others can only be rotated. After initilization vendors cannot be moved.
- /move forward 10 (will move object 10 spaces the direction you are looking
- /move back 10 (will move object 10 spaces the opisite direction you are looking
- /rotate left 30 (will rotate the object left 30 degrees)
- /rotate right 30 (will rotate the object right 30 degrees)
Number of Vendors: Maximum of 6 (total in all locations) at Management 4
- 1 at Business 3
- 1 at Novice Merchant
- 1 at each level of Management
Vendor Maintenance:
- NPC – Maintenance rate bugged at 1.
- Terminal/Droid – Maintenance rate equals price of all items on vendor/1000
Available Vendor Types: Pictures of all vendors
- Business 3: Bulky Terminal
- Business 4: Robo Bartender Droid
- Novice Vendor: Bazaar Terminal, Random NPC (Random Player Race, Selectable Male/Female)
- Hiring 1: Power Droid, Player Character NPCs (selectable now)
- Hiring 2: Bank Terminal, Treadwell Droid, Additional NPC (devaronian, ishi tib, nikto, weequay) (Race list to be added)
- Hiring 3: Fancy (Travel) Terminal
- Hiring 4: Surgical Droid
- Master Merchant: Protocol Droid (C3PO type)
AD Barking: Available at Advertising 1. Under Vedndor controls select Ad Barking, then sellect one of the categories.
Custom Ad Barking: Available at Advertising 2. You now have a category called custom (at end of list) that allows you to create your own phrase.
Planetary Ad Campaign: Available at Advertising 3. You can now register you vendor on the planet map. Since your vendors name is listed on the planetary map, you should name your vendor in such a way to identify the store and what it sells. (i.e. Draznar's Adventure Outfiters or Draznar's Power Supplier)
Word of Mouth: They never added the feature to have an NPC in cities to advertise their wares and vendors.
House Signs: A new sign is available at each level of Management. Must be the onwer or on admin lis to select.
- Sign #1 - Management 1
- Sign #2 - Management 2
- Sign #3 - Management 3
- Sign #4 - Management 4
Efficency Discounts:
- Efficiency 1: 20% off Bazaar Fees (16 credits or 80 credits for premium sales)
- Efficiency 2: 20% off Vendor Fees
- Efficiency 3: 20% off Bazaar Fees (12 credits or 60 credits for premium sales)
- Efficiency 4: 20% off Maintenance Fees (any structure you own, i.e. on your lots)
Merchant Titles:
- Advertising IV = Propagandist
- Effeciency IV = Businessman (same as Artisan/Business tree)
- Hiring IV = Foreman (same as Architect/Construction tree)
- Management IV = Manager
Cut, Copy, & Paste:
- Ctrl-O (options), Controls, Map Keys, Chat Controls
- Remap Cut (Ctrl-Shift-X), Copy (Ctrl-Shift-C) & Paste (Ctrl-Shift-V)
Using Color:
- Signs: #FF0000 (may use several times to change color)
- Shouts: '#FF0000 (may only use once)
- Macro: #FF0000 (may only use once per command)
- (where FF0000 is the hex color for red) Hex Color Link
Multiple Line on house sign or harvesters: Create color text in macro or email editor, copy and paste to name field.
Ideas for signs in house: change the name (use color) of a packs and drop it.
Vendor on Planetary Map: Option available on Vendor after getting Advertising 3, Register then select category.
Dressing a vendor: Requires Hiring 4, just drag cloths, armor, or weapons onto vendor. The vendor will never return the item.
Length of sale: Items remain for sale for seven days, just like on the bazaar. They drop to the stockroom. Items in the stockroom are deleted after 72 hours. DO NOT Store items in the stockroom.
Offers to Vendor: Items offered to a vendor count against the person 25 limit on bazaar sales.
Misc. FAQ:
- Can someone else manage/share a vendor? A: Only the owner of a vendor can manage that vendor.
- How many items can I put on my vendor? A: There is no limit. Just keep in mind how long items stay up for sale.
- Why do I see the items from my other vendor? A: You are looking at the Region view on your vendor. The merchant has a unique view, where we can see Univers, Region, or the specific vendor. Customers can only see what is on that specific vendor.
- How much does Efficiency x save me? A: Efficiency saves you 20%. Thus at Efficiency 3, you would save 40% on bazaar fees or pay 12 credits per listing.
- What was the price I had on this item in my stockroom? A: If you double click icon the item you will see the previous price and description.
- How do I create and reuse a standard advertising email? A: Email the message to yourself, then you can forward it to others.
- How can I copy my descriptions? A: Map keys for cut, copy, and paste (see above). Create macros or messages with the descriptions. Cut and paste to the description field.
- How do I manage vendors on other planets. A: Select stock room. Click the button for the whole galaxy. You'll see ALL your items on EVERY vendor that didn't sell. Click on sell and the item wil go back on the vendor it was previously listed on.
- How do I rename a vendor? A: You can't rename a Vendor. You will need to create a new on and transfer your inventory.
- How can I hire an NPC to bark in a city? A: You Can't. This feature was canceled in Beta.
Known Bugs to be fixed in next big patch:
- Ad barking and Planet map registration need to be reset after every server reboot (every morning).
- NPC Vendors Maintenance is bugged at 1 or 0.
Known Bugs:
- Players can place vendors, surrender Merchant skills, and still retaining the use of the vendors. This undermines those that are merchants, and makes our class a throw away. NO OTHER CLASS IN THE GAME ALLOWS YOU TO RETAIN A SKILL AFTER YOU BACK OUT OF IT!!!
- Vendors randomly vanish, sometimes returning on server rest, sometime not. This may be tied to the house being on a server boundary. CSRs have fixed a few.
- Items in the stockroom portion of the vendor vanish at anytime, as little as 15 mins, and as long as 10 days.
- Vendors do not report that they are nearly out of mants.
- Humans vendors are all bald.
- Giving cloths to a vendor that are meant for the opposite gender or wookies, may result in a naked vendor.
- Emails from sales (Our only real way to track sales) are often never seen.
- The %TT and so on do not work in the "NON CANNED" barks.
- Experience per vendor overtime does not accrue on NPC vendors after gaining Eff 2 (Reduced maint rate to zero), unless they are registered for planetary map. Place some droid or terminal vendors with a few items.
- Failed to create vendor. Your inventory may be full. The volume of the female Aqualishes are bugged such that it takes up more space in your inventory than you have available.
- All items on Stock Room or Offer disappear after dealing with one. For some reason a category is being changed, so list only shows this empty category. Fix by clicking All.
- Merchant Signs on some house are not placed correctly.
- Some are still having problems with Ad Barking dropping after a few times.
- Pre-patch vendors (9/??/03) will not wear clothes.
Links:
- Replacing Hiring to Firing Post - A humorous must read
- Annoying Customers you want to throw in the Sarlacc Pit - More merchant laughs.
- Obscene names - See merchant can have a sense of humor.
Power Leveling
Suggestions and corrections are always encouraged. This guide is the fruits of all the Merchant Forums posters. Thanks for all the help.
Recommended Path:
- Novice artisan: Mine or buy a bunch of metal. You can use my survey macro (See Macros at end). Use my Practice Crafting Macro (See Macros at end) to make survey devices.
- Business 1: Buy a house. Setup a entrance fee of 1 credit for 10 minutes. Change sign to say you will tip those who pay your fee.
- Business 3: Place up a vendor and sell stuff. I recommend selling items that you can make or buy off a friend. Change sign to reflect what you are selling
- Business 4: No need to craft, You are now waiting on merchant experience. Note: Experience is buggy(See experience section of Guide)
- Novice merchant: Remove your vendor and put up 2 NPC vendors.
- Management Tree: Place another NPC vendor for each level. I used my basement to store empty vendors.
- Advertising Tree: At 3 start registering your vendors on the planetary map.
- Hiring Tree: You can have fun with different vendors.
- Efficiency Tree: If you stop getting experience after taking Eff 2, change some or all your vendors to droids or terminals (expect higher maintenance).
- Master: Congratz you can now place your silent protocal droid and maybe try another holocron.
Survey Macro: /kneel; /sam; /pause 3; /sit; /pause 30; /ui action toolbarSlot13; (Macro in Shift F1)
Practice Crafting Macro: Macro in Shift F1. Crafting kits in Shift F2–F4. Experiment to find the /sel ## for one of the survey devices.
- /ui action toolbarSlot13;
- /selectdraftschematic 80; Need to find correct ##
- /pause 4; Time to click resources
- /nextcraftingstage;
- /nextcraftingstage;
- /createprototype practice no item;
- /createprototype practice no item;
- /pause 3;
- /ui action toolbarSlot14;
- /selectdraftschematic 80;
- /pause 4;
- /nextcraftingstage;
- /nextcraftingstage;
- /createprototype practice no item;
- /createprototype practice no item;
- /pause 3;
- /ui action toolbarSlot15;
- /selectdraftschematic 80;
- /pause 4;
- /nextcraftingstage;
- /nextcraftingstage;
- /createprototype practice no item;
- /createprototype practice no item;
- /pause 3;
- /ui action toolbarSlot12; Restart
