I haven't seen a Templar, so they must all be dead!

[Anonymous]

Wrong.

If a clan is 'missing' people, they are not dead, or busy.  They are still alive and well, just that part of the world is not occupied by the players of ArmageddonMUD.

One big thing that I've learned over the years of playing in Zalanthas is that the player population of a clan does not tell you that -that- clan is the biggest and strongest in the game world.

So, next time you're trying to find that Nenyuk agent to rent out to, or that Salarri that you want to buy a 'special' weapon from, or that 'Kadian' where you want to buy that see-through bra (And, speaking of that, NO.  YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR BRA OR UNDERWEAR) and you can't find them...  EMAIL THE CLAN IMMORTAL OF THAT CLAN!

Shit, people.  There's at least a thousand people in Kadius alone, up north.  I mean, they BUILT friel's rest.

-Frustrated and Annoyed

[Bestatte]

Heh. After well over a RL month of waiting for a Nenyuk PC, I e-mailed mud and the clan imm. That was over two RL weeks ago. I never did get a response. I did see some PC saying they were with Nenyuk, but were only around for a day (game-day I'm assuming), and by then the need for the Nenyuk no longer existed. I haven't seen that Nenyuk PC since then either, and as far as I know, no one has seen any Nenyuk PC before or since.

I haven't had that kind of problem with any other merchant clans though. I just think Nenyuk is cursed with absentee players.

[EvilRoeSlade]

I have a feeling that being a Nenyuki family member just happens to be a really boring role.

[Stroker]

Hmmm ..... they're just biding their time before coming out of their shells.

[Anonymous]

The point is..that you are wrong to say anything about a certain clan, in game, based on the population of players within that clan.

I don't want to correct you in a populated tavern, through the OOC channel.

[Anonymous]

Most Nenyuks live in Steinal, and only visit now and then.  That's why.

[Petra]

I don't want to correct you in a populated tavern, through the OOC channel.

So don't.  Just let it go, honestly.  This stuff happens and it's usually newer players.  They'll learn.  You needn't be that eager to sound the red roleplay police siren .

[Bestatte]

Actually Guest has a very valid point and it isn't the first time it's come up. I remember a time when I was RPing with some merchants and one of the -merchant- employees commented that they were the -only- members of that house in town.

So yeah I agree with Guest. Just because there aren't any active PCs doesn't mean there aren't any members of the house in town. They're just not PCs is all.

E-mailing the clan imm won't always help (as in my situation), and sometimes it will (as I'm guessing in most other situations), but please - please people don't make RPed statements such as "He is the only Nenyuk here" or "She is the only Kadian." Because it's not true, and it sounds silly, particularly when suddenly the Kadian hawker NPC outside the Sanctuary starts shouting about how wonderful his stuff is.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, well, it's a minor crime.

It's about as bad as saying 'That's the new templar' about someone who has probably had a background of being a templar for a good 10 years.

I can understand it being a pet peeve, but I don't think it's worth an OOC at all.

[Another Guestish person]

Now, this is interesting.

I played a northern Kadian somewhat recently, and had my character treated the same way as Guest had his. And nobody worry now, I'm not going to make this a post full of bile.

It sucks. Your character is being looked down upon, or treated in different ways, because there's been a while since a Player played a family member of your house. This is especially troublesome when a Noble or family of another Merchant House says it as there's no way to, unless you're playing quite the eccentric, brush them off by mentioning various vNPC and NPC merchants. If I were a proper roleplayer and writing a book rather than putting feelings into my character, this wouldn't bother me too much.

It frustrated me a great deal. And it definitely does not come only from newbies.

[Sanvean]

My impression is that the Nenyuk players have also found it a very frustrating role. No one can manage to be on the game 24/7, but some people will take out their OOC frustrations regarding this ICly - which makes the role even less fun.

I see a pretty constant flow of these sorts of complaints, where merchant PCs get abused because the staff member handling the clan wasn't around to instantly load up whatever someone wanted, or wasn't willing to have 500 mask items added to the game, or made a mistake, etc.  - and none of that is the PC's fault. Sometimes PCs get abused because the merchant PC before them took a special order and then got pkilled by a customer, so the special order was lost or delayed.

Other than urging people to remember that merchants have OOC things going on as well, I'm not sure what to do.  Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Being realistic, if I played a merchant character and I was abused for what the last dumbass did, I would not take orders from that character any longer.

Suggestively, I might ask the clan immortals to better monitor their operations and perhaps use NPCs to get the PCs' goods to them, if the PC was not available.

[Bestatte2]

2 lazy 2 log in..

Anyway, suggestions as requested:

Players of people who need merchants: BE PATIENT! Especially if you actually run into a -new- player of a merchant character. I can't tell you how frustrating it was, as a merchant PC, to have half the city waying me, trying to get my attention, yelling at me because the previous merchant never did what they were supposed to do, or the previous merchant showed favors that I wasn't obligated to show..or that they did -not- show favors that the customer expected me to show anyway..etc. etc. etc.

My biggest headache was with people who expected my character to know everything about what the previous merchant knew. It just doesn't happen that way, much as we wish it would.

Also, sometimes we get stuck in sticky OOC situations, where a clan imm is gone without notice for who the heck knows how long, and we're waiting on the same orders/requests you're waiting on. There is NO way to roleplay around this, and it sucks big-time for you, but imagine how badly it sucks for us because we have to hear it from EVERYONE, not just you.

When I was a merchant pc, starting out, I didn't know squat about what to expect. I had a lot of help from Sanvean, who showed an incredible amount of patience for me even though we discovered after the first week that she wasn't even my clan IMM. If it wasn't for her, I would've quit the role after the first week.

But she can't do that for everyone, and she can't be there all the time. And sometimes, things just get stuck in the middle and don't get done. Again, there really isn't any reasonable way to RP around it. All we can do, as players of merchant PCs, is say "e-mail the clan imm and ask them." We've done all we can do IC and OOC, and we can't go further than that.

To the staff of merchant clans: Be actively involved in your clans. If your PC merchant needs stuff every day, respond every day. Even if it means saying "Can't do that today, sorry. Try again next week." There are two IMMs assigned to each merchant clan now from what I remember seeing on the weekly update. Surely one of you can offer SOME response. Once a week, it would be great to have some RPed interaction, if only for 10 minutes to deliver special orders, or get clarification on an item, or check the security of a lock on a door. Just something to let the merchant PC's player know that you REALLY take an interest in your clan and want to keep things moving.

Mekeda was an excellent example of the above, when I was in Kurac. At least once a week, often more than that, a kank started wiggling its antennae, or the stablehand helped explain why it was important to feed the kank the right kind of treats, or the Captain would yell at me (or one of the other military folks), or a merchant's NPC guard would smirk.. Nechomachus was another great example when I was with Oash. He had me laughing my ass off with his NPC guard's gestures and arched brows and smirks and movements..

It's often the little stuff that makes the biggest difference. Just knowing that the clan imm is THERE - is often enough to bring the merchant PC's player an immense sense of confidence in their role.

To the merchants themselves: Read the docs. Read everything there is to read about your clan. Learn who their current allies are and why, who their current enemies are and why. Ask your clan imm to fill you in on EVERYTHING that your character would know about current situations with the clan business. If possible, ask if you can connect with the previous PC's player and see if there's anything he feels your character would and/or should know. Just because Susie Salarr hated House Grub doesn't mean you have to, but it will help to know that she did, when House Grub starts snorting at you when you knock at their door.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Agreed, Bestatte.

[Another Guestish person]

Was actually very surprised that this was so common. Thank you for that post, Sanvean, and thanks to Bestatte for expanding on it.

When I played, I had a feeling of only being there to serve others. Not in the sense of my character serving their characters, but in the sense of I, the player, servicing players. I'm certain that it can be a role that is great fun to play but it taxed me.. immensely. Maybe doing as Venomz said, and OOCing out that they should mail the Imm, might work.

Obviously and thankfully, not everyone has these problems, but I think enough do that it was great that Guest put the thread up.

[Guest Nenyuki]

Playing a Nenyuk isn't easy. First of all, it requires good organization skills. If you don't have these then you're going to really suffer due to the sheer size and number of people you speak with and rent houses to on a daily basis. Next, it requires a thick skin. If something came up in real life or I wanted to take a break for a real life week or so I would come back to a rumors board full of complains that I was constantly unavailable, turning my back onto commoners, or just plain scheming to screw them over. It's not a great feeling to log in and see complaints about you taking a break when you've been logging at least two to three hours a night for the past two months.

It's not at all surprising that the players of merchants can so easily burn out. Sitting by yourself for hours on end gets quite stale. And sitting is required. There are times when you're busy and there are times when you're not. If you log out every time there's a lull or after twenty minutes of nothing, you'll come back the next day to hear about people complaining more about how horrible a Nenyuki you are and so on.

In short, you should walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you critisize. Try out the role of a merchant and play it for a few months. You'll learn to appreciate this little-creditted role a lot more than you did before.

[Malifaxis]

I would really like to make the comment that it is not just Nenyuki merchants that are hard to play.

Any merchant of any house is difficult if you have any form of a lust for life.

[flurry]

One of my previous characters was a merchant in a merchant house.   It was  -really- difficult at times.   The amount of abuse you take at times from other PCs is hard to understand unless you've experienced it.   Sometimes it makes IC sense, and that's fine.   That's part of the deal, as far as I'm concerned, and I don't have a problem with that.   But some of it really has a strongly comes across as OOC frustration that's spilling over into the RP, and that can be hard to take especially with the frequency that it happens.   It's especially hard when you feel like you've gone above and beyond, but the PC is just getting abusive because the player is impatient.  And it felt like that fairly often.

I would strongly encourage people who have been frustrated with dealing with orders with merchant houses to play in a role where you have to take those orders yourself.  I think it will put a whole new perspective on it for you.

[da mitey warrior]

I'm not sure what everyone else is talking about, I think being a house merchant is one of the best roles in the game.  Wheeling and dealing, making piles of sid, and selling stuff all day.  Best of all, you have a monopoly in whatever stuff you are selling so your customers beat a path to your door.

All a pc house merchant needs is some keys, a wagon and an imm who's willing to load a pile of crap for you to sell.  If you get all that you are set for an unending series of adventure and interesting times for your character.  Build a merchant empire, travel the world, battle raiders and duck angry nobles.  There's nothing you can't do.

The really hard roles, in my opinion, are nobles and templars.  Since they are far more restricted in where they can go and what they can do.  They are far more likely to be forced to sit alone doing nothing and need alot more self-motivation and drive than anyone else.

[creeper386]

Myself... I think I'd love to play a house merchant and really hate to see things IC due to OOC circumstances(Such as playing times), but I've never had the chance so I honestly don't know how much of a hassle it is. Although I've heard all sort of bad things I'd jump on the chance to play a merchant family member or something like that, but I suck. So haven't ever had the chance, or get enough IC trust to ever do anything fun.


OH well. Be patient thats good advice.



Creeper

[mansa]

As of Wednesday, January 14th, I know that Salarr, Kadius and Kurac are accepting applications for Family Members.  Just email the clan immortal, and they'll tell you what you have to do.

Salarr: Ix Machina and Xygax
Kadius:  Ashyom and Sanura
Kurac:  Mekeda and Kivan

[Ix Machina]

When we have need of family members, we post. Otherwise, you can get a job ICly with a clan and work upwards.

Now, playing a merchant or agent of any Merchant house is probably one of the most frustrating roles in the game because you are constantly hemmed in by OOC factors and IC factors and rely heavily on immortal support.

Will I load up objects for my clan PC's to sell the very day they ask for them? No. Why? Because my PC's are not walking armor and weapons vending machines.

Please think about that. ANY merchant house merchant and agent is not a walking gear and apartment vending machine. Many of them have other IC responsibilities and getting equipment made is not an exact science.

I can assure people that there are people in clans available to take their orders. If worst comes to worst, email the clan immortal. Many of the merchants in-game log in for between 2 and 10 hours a day. If you aren't around when they are, don't assume they're never around. And if they take a break from the mud for fear of burning out, then respect that too.

IC frustration is understandable, being a jerk as a player and heaping abuse ICly on a player due to OOC circumstances is not, and will likely cause less people to play the roles of merchants which everyone seems to need. Keep in mind there are OOC constraints on these players as well, and rules that they go by.

I think most people would do well to remember that behind each character, there is a living, breathing human behind a keyboard. Except for me, because I'm a robot.

[Twilight]

Am I the only one struck by a sudden evil desire to have a Nenyuki, playing only between 2 and 4 am pacific a couple days a week?

I've always had rather positive experiences with merchants, even when it took 5 IC years to get an item that wasn't special, it was fun IC'ly.  Maybe because I wasn't really concerned about the item OOC'ly at all.  Thats the only advice I would give.  Remain OOC'ly uncaring about things like special items.  They don't really matter.

[spawnloser]

Personally...I can see why someone would have the desire to play a merchant house merchant/agent.  However, I am not sure that I would want to...just because of all the things that have been listed.  I went through, with a character, waiting for nearly 6 IG years for something...something that could and should have only taken a short amount of time to do.  I could understand a year, as it was for custom things...but still, the only excuse that was given was not having access to things.  Later I found out that the IMM for the House wasn't loading things.  I don't know why.  I just know that that was what I was told.  Since then, there have been additions to staff, which may eliminate those problems, but still...I feel sorry for the person that had to put up with me.  I could not justify that kind of delay either IC or OOC...I could not justify my character being okay with this.  I'm sorry.  It sucks to be on the receiving end of such things...it sucks having the family name dragged through the mud by people pissed off at such disturbing delays.

My suggested solutions, which are things for staff and players...
First, players of these roles, make it clear when there are delays for any item, WHY.  I'm not saying to use the OOC command to tell the player...but come up with a screwy excuse if it is an OOC problem, so the other player can figure it out instead of continuing to hound your character every saturday.

Second, players hunting these people down, calm down.

Third, Imms of the merchant houses, be prompt...I'm not saying to load things the same day, but to load things when they should be loaded.  Don't let yourself get turned away from that, as it screws with the people playing the roles you all seem to be advertising for, and could drive them away.  I know one person that was getting tired of his role for OOC reasons...I know another that did get tired of the role and did something intentionally to get his character killed off.  It creates more work for you trying to find someone because the previous person didn't have the support they wanted.  Now, I'm not saying that anyone doesn't do these things already...I'm saying that I know it happened in the past, however.

[ashyom]

I suppose, being a Kadian Staffer, it's my turn to post my thoughts on this.  Much of this is applicable to the other merchant houses and their respective staffers.  This is a bit long-winded and I've glossed over many issues.  If I've missed something, please take it with a grain of salt.  But what it basically boils down to:  Customer players need to give merchant players some slack, and vice versa.

Many times, it seems like people forget that we're living in a society where its technology is fairly crude compared to today.  It has been described to be slightly more advanced than the Bronze age on Earth.  Despite Kadian's large village consisting of few hundred crafters, it's still difficult, if not impossible, to supply clothes and items for a chunk of two cities, and a few villages' people promptly.  Let's compare RL; hundreds of years ago, it was pretty customary for castles to take generations to complete.  A fancy, embroidered, lace-frilled suit for a well-off commoner might take several months.  Today, we can crank out thousands of fancy, embroidered, lace-frilled suits in a week.

Back when I first started as Kadian Staffer, I decided, at Naephet's advice, the rule of thumb would be, a convenential order (ex: a blue shirt) might take a month to fill.  An unusual order of whatever of which we do possess designs for (unusual, meaning a blue shirt with fanciful embroidery and a matching skirt with frills) might take 1-3 months.  A special order for a completely new design, most likely a year or two (a custom-design for a hanky wouldn't take that long, though).  The more complex it is, the longer it takes.  Following that policy, I generally load any orders from between Wednesday of previous week to this week's Wednesday on the following Saturday, and special orders 2+ weeks later.  It might seem odd, but these 2 days give me the time to make sure I can have them ready on Saturday.

There have been people who asked, why don't I give a list of items to the merchants, or let them have access to everything instantaneously?  The answer is, to cite Ix, they are not walking, talking vending machines.  It takes time to submit orders, and wait for items to be brought out from the warehouses.  Sometimes they have to be shipped halfway across the known world.  If you want to have something now, go visit visit one of the shops in the Bazaar or Freil's Rest where they cater to people who must have things now.  They have a generous supply of fashionable clothes readily at hand.

There are a few of players who submitted very specific orders, and posed it in a way ICly that led the merchants and myself to think, this person will mail the staffers with the descriptions of the aforementioned items.  So I sit, and watch my mailbox.  I very rarely get these emails.  These are usually the people who bi--err--complain about waiting "ten years" for an order.

Additionally, in my experience, when we try and fill these very specific orders with similar, look-a-likes, players sometimes...respond badly.  Here's an example a Salarr merchant player once shared (colors and names changed to protect the not-so-innocent):  S/he presented a Fancypants person with a grass-green leather suit.  This person said, "No!  I wanted leaf-green leather suit!"  Poor player.  I have also heard of instances where people were upset because the clothes weren't sized properly, or the description didn't match perfectly what they wanted or it wasn't brought out instantly at right that moment, etc...No wonder most merchant players feel stressed!

All this is why I warn players who apply for Kadian merchants.  I tell them, "This role is stressful, both IC and OOC.  It can be tremendous fun, but you'll have to learn to let the flack from customers roll off your back."  Some people can take it.  Most can't.  As result, I try and be as flexible as possible, to help ease some of the stress, without letting it become unrealistic.

I hope this clarifies some things.
Ashyom

[Krath]

I can imagine if I was a merchant and people started to vent to me icly because they were pissed OOC about it..I would bring new terms to the words Asshole of a Merchant :-D

[Ix Machina]

I'd like to add one more thing, and this, again, follows along with my previous, and Ashyom's well-put post. It is on the subject of custom-designed items and specialty-rare items.

Recently, I've noticed a huge upsurge in requests for specifically-designed custom items. Most of these items only are loaded one or two times, for one or two specific people. Many times, these items are for nobility or for templars, or the people who work for them. In order to have one custom item built, it is necessary to build the item, have it looked over, then edit it, then have it approved. (I don't think I'm giving away any arcane immortal secrets. And I didn't tell you anything about the time it takes to scribe a ritual summoning circle in goat urine to summon up the highlords who approve items  :twisted: ) This is a process that every item in the game (or nearly) has had to go through, and it is time consuming, for both builder and approver, although this time is reflected in the quality of the objects that make it in the game.

Why do I bring this up? Because the silk pants with smiley-face trim that Lord Fancypants ordered specifically tailored for him which he will, in likelyhood wear once, then throw into a closet to never see the light of day, takes just as much time to build and approve as a spear that would be available to -everyone-. In simplest terms: for every specific, custom-made object in the game that enriches one pc's small existance, takes the exact effort as an item that enriches the whole mud.

While most clan imms don't mind making a custom item here or there, it becomes time consuming when we receive requests for ten custom items a month (even 5 a week at times). That's ten objects that could have been added into the game available to everyone that weren't built. While there is definitely a 'wow'-factor in owning a custom-designed/built object, when you are constantly insisting on them from IG merchants, you end up pulling builders away from things that benefit everyone, not just yourself.

As Ashyom, I have also instigated rules for custom items, which have been made stricter in accordance with an obscene influx of custom goods.

Normal items which are easily crafted/pulled from the warehouse take about a month IG time to deliver, give or take what the order is. If it's larger or has to be matched, it might take a little longer. If it's a nice set of non-custom armor/weaponry, it will take even longer than that... depending on the crafters and if the items are 'in stock'. Expect at least two months. If it gets to you before that, well, good for you, the items were available sooner. Certain goods are on a 'time release' because they are -always- made to order and only a specific amount are released at a time. We will not load these items faster no matter how much you beg/plead/threaten/become frustrated. Custom items are now backlogged and take a minimum of two years. Remember, you are not the only one ordering things and even vnpc crafters are busy crafting hundreds of items to supply to 2 citystates and other smaller villages and outposts.

None of these times are set in stone. They are simply an average and can change on a month to month basis.

As in ashyom's example about the green leather, you'd be surprised at how often that is the case. It quickly becomes frustrating to both merchant, and I think to the clan immortal when we run into situations like that, end there ends up being 3 suits of green armor with only slightly different adjectives to differentiate.

[Anonymous]

What makes Nenyuk PCs seem more unavailable than other clan's merchants is a noticeable lack of PC employees for Nenyuk.  I've played a Nenyuki aide and it was fun, but there hasn't ever been a large base of PC's that I've seen.  In other clans the number of PC employees make up for availability issues by relaying messages and items, bridging between different playtimes.

But what can be done?  There's really not a whole lot that a Nenyuki employee can do, and certainly not enough to keep 3-4 PCs active enough to span most hours of the day.  Maybe things have changed, but unless they have I'd say that's the biggest problem with any perceptions about Nenyuki availability.  No underlings to relay messages.

[Jacques]

I had a character wait several IG years once, saving up the money for a custom piece of jewelry (an earring). He then waited several MORE IG years to find a merchant PC to take his custom order, and paid the considerable fee for the item. I, the player, wrote up the item completely, and forwarded it to the clan imm. Over six IG years later, I run into the merchant PC and ask him why I was never contacted about my item. He had forgotten the order even existed. ICly I was very, very upset. I never did get it.

What can be done about it? Well, ICly not a whole lot. I would suggest, however, that a little OOC communication (on both our parts) might have turned this disaster into something worthwhile. After, say, one or two IG years, an appropriately-placed PM or email might have reminded someone "Hey... there was that thing I was supposed to do, or at least come up with an excuse for..." This is not to say that people should nag. However, I think that a lot of the problems come from relying TOO MUCH on IC communication. We can't be on all the time our characters are - to overcome this very OOC problem, an OOC solution would seem to be appropriate. We're just all so used to the fantastic RP and absolute IC focus of the game that sometimes (me especially) we forget that we can just PM or email someone, if we know who they are. When all else fails, there's always the clan imm. Something as simple as giving someone a REASON for the delay, RP'd as though relayed by a VNPC messenger, could at least give people something IC to complain about. For example:

Stupid fecking gith... raided the caravan with the silk for my new sexy boxer shorts. Now I won't have them for my wedding night.

Or whatever. I realize some people aren't going to like the idea of handling problems like this OOCly, and SOME method of OOC communication will need to be established. But would having a clan-specific GDB account to send PMs to, or asking merchants to make a specific contact account, be too much to ask? It would certainly help in problems like those described.

[Ix Machina]

In such a case as the above, a friendly email to the clan immortal (not the player, but the clan immortal), cc'ing the mud account, is sufficient. If it's something where the player or immortal forgot (noone is perfect, and please bear in mind, for merchants, the role of 'merchant' soon becomes a job in and of itself), this is usually a sufficient reminder.

Please do not consider this a license to repeatedly email the immortal every two days asking where the custom sword/hat/whack-a-mole-game you ordered is and when it's going to be delivered, but if some period of time has gone by (say 2 IG years) and you havent' been able to speak to someone in game about the order, then that's a good time to drop a line to a clan immortal.

If it makes you feel any better, just remember that you're not the only one. And yes, it is frustrating.. why.. I remember one character I had was ordered to design a pair of custom items for someone and as a thank you, order something for themselves that said first party would pay for. I also wrote up all three items and sent them in, patiently waiting. My pc waited a good 5 years, while the said first party ended up dying anyhow. Finally, I retired the pc. I found out later that the items were indeed made. Why they were never delivered, I still have no idea and have moved on to bigger and better things.

So it's happened to all of us, but luckily, I think we're all capable of moving on from it.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Why buy a whack-a-mole game when you can play whack-an-elf?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Also, and I think this is an important thing to note, PCs die. A lot of those folks who order special items never live to see them. I know that this was pointed out to me one time when I ordered a special item and, impatient with the delay, e-mailed the clan Immortal at that time. It is a waste of time to create a special item for a dead PC. It is also annoying.

The Immortals have certianly brought up a good point with the lack of technology assocciated with the crafting of any item. There are no factories, no awesome machines of mass production. ICly, every single red dress with black trim is different, even though OOCly, they are the same dress.

Just a viewpoint to be considered.

[My 2 sids]

Just an idea here... but if "everyone" seems to be wanting spechal orders, maybe the merchants could take another look at what they keep in stock?  Maybe we could take out some of the old stuff (hey, these nobles have passed... no use having junk sit and rot in a closet)  And keep a bit more loaded.  

I mean, take Kadius for example.  The stores change color patterns.  Fine, but then you have to expect if suddenly there is a new noble pc X and large influx of X servents... they are going to need clothes even if the only thing avalible has the colors of house Z.

[flurry]

I think part of the appeal of special items is that they're not in shops, though, but I see your point.

Also I imagine the immortals for those houses would be happy to get submissions for new items for the shops.

[Seeker]

The last time this issue came up, I remember reading some good advice.

If I were a PC who had plans on getting some cool stuff from a Merchant House, I sure as hell wouldn't approach a House representative demanding service.

PC Merchants are usually so jammed with cash that money is not really much of an incentive to them.  They are usually well-connected Family members, or the very best and most profitable craftsmen in the Known World.  They  can pick and choose their customers and their orders.  VNPCs and the shops will keep the Merchant House running, and most of a Merchant PCs off-line time can be considered as being used for sales and stuff.

There is really no reason for a Merchant PC to have to deal with my character, unless I give him one.  Staff deliberately seeks to limit the availability of many items, so brow-beating a Merchant PC will only make it less likely for me to get my coveted goodies.  I need the Merchant PC to be on my side.

The answer is to coodle and smooze with them.  If you want them to do favors for you with their Houses, you had better give them a reason to want to.  

Even nobles do not command the services of the Merchant Houses.  If a PC Merchant finds it a pain to deal with Lord Fancypants, he is being entirely reasonable in leaving that Lord to harass and belittle the shop keeper or one of the other of dozens of (virtual) Merchants instead.

And as far as sleezy hunters and commoners... forget about it.  Unless you work very hard to make friends, or offer services they can't buy with their wads of money someplace else, they have better opportunities then dealing with you.  Just the way it is.

Its a seller's market.... and hundreds of thousands of people are begging, grovelling, enticing, bribing and cajooling for the Merchant Houses finest goods and services.  Why should a Merchant PC have to put up with my crap?  They don't.  And they don't.

Seeker

[Angela Christine]

I think more one-off items in shops would make shop merchandise more atractive.  Like there used to be a shop that sold a pair of boots with sheathes built in for under 100 'sids, but the catch was that they only ever had one pair in stock, just one pair per reboot.  Sometimes I'd have a character that wanted that kind of boots, but I might have to wait up to a couple weeks for there to be a pair available, unless I got lucky and logged in right after a reboot.  I'd like to see items like this in all the shops.

Salaar might have a 500 'sid fancy greatsword in stock, but just one, and once it is bought it is gone.  Next Saturday they might change it, and that week the one-off items would a 200 'sid great axe and a 1500 'sid jeweled dagger.  Kadius might have a coupe fancy gowns, shoes or jewery items.  Kurac could have ... Kuraci type items.  

It wouldn't even have to be loaded into inventory the usual way (whatever that is) if that would be too complicated.  Instead the imm could periodically create an item, give it to an NPC, have the NPC walk into the appropriate shop, and "offer <item> 1".  The shop will happily accept that offer, and now it has a rare item availble.  The nice thing about doing it this way is that the rare items don't necessarily all appear in shops Saturday night, so the Reboot Race Stratagy wouldn be ineffective.

This would give people a better idea of what unusual items are available for special order, put some of those forgotten or long ago special ordered items back into circulation, and give people a chance to get something unusual without hounding a PC vender for weeks or months.  You still couldn't get a whole matched set of things, you'd need to order for that, but you could something.


AC

[sacac]

AHH! I hate kadian shops.. I mean come on.. I probably like that one color.. but I would like to see more
In the past I have ordered a lot of special items. And only lived to get a couple.
And I would like that by AC.. you know.. that might be useful for everyshop that is freequented by PC's.. why
because it could be those lone commoners that are having to sell thier items from the great wars and junk