Interactive Haggle System

[Starstarfish]

I hate to say this, but that's just how the game functions. It's not the helpfile's fault people aren't interested in purchasing smaller things.

The issue is the people not wanting to buy smaller, prop items. Only trades like clothing and blacksmithing are viable on this game.

It might not be anyone's fault, but if that's the overall conclusion, that I think that should be more clear that some trades should only be taken by people interested in the RP aspect of it, not because it will be actual IC viable employment. Which, maybe some of that will be improved with ASSETS or not, I'm unsure.

But, the fact that it's something evidently so readily known by established players that no one else would know does put newer players at a disadvantage in the choices they are making.

I mean, one obvious option to fix some of that might be that the wash command should actually require having soap.

[Rabek]

If NPC shops are selling for less than PCs can make it for via buying the ingredients themselves, post a request/typo note about it. Almost every time I've done so, the staff have adjusted prices.

That said, the benefit to PC crafters are twofold:

1. Cheaper than NPCs
2. Customizing without having to retool.

#2 is the more important one.

Ingredients can't benefit from either. They're more supporting skills for someone who can utilize them than a primary source of income, unless you give large bulk discounts. Like 1 silver for 5 apples or something.

By contrast, the cost is time. You have to find a merchant who sells what you want. There's no quick and easy way to do this. You then have to wait for the merchant to make it. The cost (time)/benefit(reduced price) ratio for ingredients just isn't there. You next to never need them to have a special string (and some you can't), and they're so cheap that buying them yourself is quicker and easier than finding someone selling. There's really no way to fix this without absolutely ruining the economy except maybe removing them from sale entirely, but we don't have the playerbase to make things 100% PC sold.

Shops help with the time costs a little, but you still have to weight the risk of going halfway across the city to check a player shop that may or may not (probably not) have what you need in stock, when you could just save your limited play time and buy it for 1 silver from an NPC.

None of this will benefit from an interactive haggle system, which I feel would just make the game more tedious rather than more interesting.

Given that the help files were written before the current crafting system or the future asset system, here is how it was (probably) intended: You say your job is 'farmer' and that's where you pretend your weekly silver income comes from. Anything you make over your weekly default income is really just bonus. That's how it's always been. That's what the help files are (probably) suggesting when they suggest IC careers.