Topic

Problems with selling items that can be obtained from the vendors

I've played quite a few MMOs, and often spend much of my time in the trading/crafting areas of the game (which was one of the reasons I joined Glitch).

Unfortunately, the economy in Glitch seems to be a bit broken in some areas.

The most obvious one is for items which can be bough from vendors. In this case, with max upgrades the spread between buying and selling is only something like 30%, and vendors generally have unlimited stock and will buy unlimited amounts.

This has an awkward interaction with the auction house cut which is large 7%.

Thus, if you want to make and sell something in the auction house, there is only a tiny window of prices which make sense. If you want to sell the item, it really needs to be at least 10% less than the auction house price, or players will just buy it from the vendor. As the auction house fee is non-refundable, items really do need to be priced to sell.

At this price, after the auction house cut, there is very little margin over just selling the item to the vendor. If the item doesn't sell then even that is wiped out.

This leads to a very stagnant economy in many items, most of which are simply not worth making.

Having vendors is admittedly useful for new players, but the narrow spread between buying and selling is bad for the economy. Most other MMOs I've played have a much larger spread.

This could be resolved by enlarging the spread, removing more of the vendors or reducing the auction house fees.

Posted 89 days ago by Zandev Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • There are rumors of having the vendors removed and every resource obtainable by hand, this should fix the stagnant economy. Trust in TS to make all the items that are supposed to be useful, useful. ;)
    Posted 89 days ago by LųĉĩđεşşΨ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Having the vendors isn't neccesarily that useful for the new players. Aside from the fact that it's a third party API-based webpage so not an integrated part of the game, I woukd like to see an early quest added such as "use Glitch Remote to search for and buy a tool from another player's tower."

    The vendors should just fade away.
    Posted 89 days ago by Feldspar Gravity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • there have been rumors of disappearing vendors but until we are able to actually make everything sold by them, rather than maybe half, they will remain just that.  if it was a high priority, I think the skills to grow mushrooms or oats or to make things like focusing orbs and bags (which there is a huge demand for among new players) would have been introduced instead of the recent PM3 potions and faster gardening skills.

    something similar to a quest is needed although I am not sure a specific type of third party software should be mentioned.  there is a  helpful hint on the log on page that recommends locating "hard to find" items in auctions but none for tower shopping.  a new player who needs, say, a frying pan, sees "This can be made with a Tinkertool or purchased from a Kitchen Tools Vendor or Uncle Friendly's Emporium."  until towers stop being one of Glitch's best kept secrets, new players will have to more or less stumble across them or wait until more experienced players take the time to pass along information about them.
    Posted 88 days ago by armi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, naturally, only craftable items would disappear, and the quest of buying them from a tower should come after a tower search is an internal game component. As tools and resources became craftable they could dissapear from the vendors.

    Speaking of which, TS should implement the Tower SDB search as a built-in.
    Posted 88 days ago by Feldspar Gravity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Over time as we can make or harvest more and more items only available from vendors. The vendors will be phased out. I'm sure some will always be there, but eventually most wont be. That aside the time for delivery from AH and the fee, i believe are a combination of its convenience, and trying to encourage us to to find / buy / or make the item ourselves. It puts more emphasis on player interaction when there's a fee and time delay on a service that finds you...rather than you going to find said item. In turn if you take the time delay and the fee away, it gives ppl less reason to go to towers, or other players to trade. It also encourages ppl to find out how to get things, rather than just placing orders and thats it. For new players, for Furniture Items, Icons and other special items it is still Ideal, also all items are one page and directly linked to the site rather than having to go offsite.Yes i do think the AH serves a purpose, but i also think that the emphasis should be the way it currently is. It will balance out more the less vendors we have and the more we can make and harvest ourselves.
    Posted 88 days ago by Lyrical DejaVu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I for one look forward to the day I can fish for salmon, gather honey, and grow my own mushrooms. 
    Posted 88 days ago by Pickle Juice Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I want player run vendors. That would be great.
    Posted 87 days ago by Reirei Umezaki Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The problem is that money doesn't matter as well. You forget this. And there really is no need to interact with other players. Everyone can be an island and do his/her own thing and not really lose anything from it. There's little gain from player interaction in terms of economic gain. That's the real problem. Vendors or not.
    Posted 85 days ago by Mr. Dawgg Subscriber! | Permalink