Market and Trading Changes

[Ass_Kraken]

But why would they want to take out what you're doing? It's already easy enough to avoid if people aren't idiots. I find scamming pretty fun to do too.

Snake luring too.

[Slayblaze]

Tafkas' method is very common in Korean MMO's since its easy to implement and requires little or no maintenance from the developers. I've seen it in literally dozens of games as an alternative (or in addition) to a full-blown Auctionhouse system. It's easy on the seller, but a bit of a pain for the buyer as shopping around means physically walking to each and every player to check their wares which can be very time consuming. Also the seller needs some way to "stand out" amongst a sea of competitors, often resulting in some err... 'interesting' ways of attracting the shopper's attention.

I think this could work in Salem, it fits in rather well with the 'storyline', but I'd still rather see a one-stop shopping method in the future.

[tafkas]

Koreans dont even bother with special stands. You just sit down and enter shop mode and sell from your inventory. My suggestion was a watered down version of that, which would actually cost silver.

[Procne]

I do believe that devs want to avoid auction-house-like open market. And have stalls something of a money sink or available for real cash only. And I would be fine with it if it didn't simply mean that selected few players get to hold monopoly on stalls, because they were first to buy those. I really would be willing to pay $ every month for a stall, or even some slots in one.

However, it's more important to provide some safe method of trading without stalls. Standard trade window, where both sides place their goods and accept at the same time, would do.

[_Gunnar]

I would have no problem with the current trading system, if Boston didn't exist...

Since you can't attack anyone in Boston, I think its necessary to implement some more available form of secure trading.

[Ihmhi]

I think the current barrel trading system is bad and needs to be replaced with secure barrels.

There also needs to be some sort of proper auction house system and an improvement on the stall system. I think both can work in the same game if implemented correctly.

There seems to be this obsession among the community with making this game as difficult as possible - make it easy to steal and scam and all that. I think that's insanity.

In any MMO, the hardcore PvP and/or PvE user base is always a fraction of the casual userbase. Any game designer worth their salt knows that you need to accommodate a range of playstyles. If you can't even nail down something as fundamental as simple and secure trading and stores - things that have been in MMOs and other online games for the better part of a decade - you're not going to have much of a casual userbase. The player who hops on for a few hours a week (and would be willing to buy silver in the cash shop) is not going to be willing to stand around in Boston for two hours trying to sell his wares only to have them stolen.

Personally, I have very little motivation to produce things outside of personal use. I don't bother trying to sell things to people I don't already trust because I've been stolen from far too many times. It's wasted effort on my part. I have dozens of chests full of things I'd rather have on the market if only I had the option to sell them there passively.

A good economy, a competent trading system, and a large casual userbase are the lifelines of any game - especially an MMO. The current trading system fails to serve all of these purposes and needs to be changed ASAP.

[Steve]

... Personally, I have very little motivation to produce things outside of personal use. I don't bother trying to sell things to people I don't already trust because I've been stolen from far too many times. It's wasted effort on my part. I have dozens of chests full of things I'd rather have on the market if only I had the option to sell them there passively.

A good economy, a competent trading system, and a large casual userbase are the lifelines of any game - especially an MMO. The current trading system fails to serve all of these purposes and needs to be changed ASAP.

Nice post, I agree.

But apart from the secure trading - I can't see how Salem, even if it had a secure trading system, could develop a good economy. From what I've seen almost all trading in the game is from more developed players to less developed players, i.e. iron bars, nails, the occasional backpack, seeds, a few select inspirationals (primarily the C&D variety). Less developed players are the buyers in Salem - but once they are more developed they don't need trade anymore: given enough time (or enough botting) every player can produce everything themselves.

As such the economy is not sustainable because it depends on new players entering the game. There's too little necessity for developed players to trade anything amongst themselves.

I can well remember being happy to find a bunch of Singing Old Logs - now I just yawn cause I have no use for them anymore. Once you have all skills (or all skills you care for) the whole bunch of items becomes meaningless (unless you're the sort of player that feeds an army of alts).

[MagicManICT]

I can well remember being happy to find a bunch of Singing Old Logs - now I just yawn cause I have no use for them anymore. Once you have all skills (or all skills you care for) the whole bunch of items becomes meaningless (unless you're the sort of player that feeds an army of alts).

You (and others) may or may not know this as it was discussed many months ago, but all proficiencies will eventually have some sort of bonus tied to them just like Stocks & Cultivars, Mines & Mountains, and Hunting & Gathering (or is it F&W for fishing tackle wear?). Right now it might seem useless (and probably is if you're putting your characters into harms way), but when those do get implemented, you'll be way ahead of many others that just ignored them.

[Steve]

Thanks for the info, Magic.

[Oddity]

I think the current barrel trading system is bad and needs to be replaced with secure barrels.

There also needs to be some sort of proper auction house system and an improvement on the stall system. I think both can work in the same game if implemented correctly.

There seems to be this obsession among the community with making this game as difficult as possible - make it easy to steal and scam and all that. I think that's insanity.

In any MMO, the hardcore PvP and/or PvE user base is always a fraction of the casual userbase. Any game designer worth their salt knows that you need to accommodate a range of playstyles. If you can't even nail down something as fundamental as simple and secure trading and stores - things that have been in MMOs and other online games for the better part of a decade - you're not going to have much of a casual userbase. The player who hops on for a few hours a week (and would be willing to buy silver in the cash shop) is not going to be willing to stand around in Boston for two hours trying to sell his wares only to have them stolen.

Personally, I have very little motivation to produce things outside of personal use. I don't bother trying to sell things to people I don't already trust because I've been stolen from far too many times. It's wasted effort on my part. I have dozens of chests full of things I'd rather have on the market if only I had the option to sell them there passively.

A good economy, a competent trading system, and a large casual userbase are the lifelines of any game - especially an MMO. The current trading system fails to serve all of these purposes and needs to be changed ASAP.

True. Reminds me of something I read about SC2 the other day: http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/11m21k/starcraft_2_will_be_dead_before_legacy_of_the/