Vendor Search Discussion

[Arrgh]

There is one way to make it better. In the window that opens to search what you are looking for,there would be a blue gem beside each vendor that can be clicked so you may be able to recall to that specific vendor house. It would look somewhat like the spell book.

A blue gem for Tram facet, red for Fel?

 

[Hunters' Moon]

A blue gem for Tram facet, red for Fel?

Maybe? That way the buyer would know they are entering Fel and will be open to attack. The gump that opens should be comparable to what is seen in our rune books.

 

[Petra Fyde]

Basically every significant con to this I can think of has a workaround.


Con: Will hurt the current vendor search sites. (I consider this a con because they have provided a necessary service, even if we don't all approve of how they have provided it, for some years now.)
Workaround: Firstly, those sites will still have a niche in terms of searches, because they offer a more-focused search of specific high-vendor traffic areas.

Secondly, those sites also tend to offer other services beyond the vendor search. They will, I think, survive an official, shard-wide vendor search.


-Galen's player

Con? really? I would be delighted if the official vendor search shut these sites down. Just about everything about them is done illicitly.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Con? really? I would be delighted if the official vendor search shut these sites down. Just about everything about them is done illicitly.

As stated, those sites provide a service we the player base clearly wanted. They would not have thrived had we not wanted them.

-Galen's player

 

[Petra Fyde]

possibly, I still think the game would be better off without them. In the end I guess it's down to personal choice and I, personally, don't want them, refuse flat out to support them and will continue to hope (probably in vain) that an official search, in game, will kill them off.
On the other hand I could wish for all freeshards to be closed down and the players there persuaded to return to official shards, but I know that one won't come true either.

 

[Woodsman]

possibly, I still think the game would be better off without them. In the end I guess it's down to personal choice and I, personally, don't want them, refuse flat out to support them and will continue to hope (probably in vain) that an official search, in game, will kill them off.
On the other hand I could wish for all freeshards to be closed down and the players there persuaded to return to official shards, but I know that one won't come true either.

The difference is that on the first one, EA can compete with an in-game official search and it can have an impact on them.

On the second one, EA would have to offer several different styles of shards (pre-AOS, pre-UO:R, pre-T2A, etc.) at little to no cost. That won't happen because it would be way too expensive.

 

[Woodsman]

In addition to an in-game search, reducing the need for some who go out-of-game for their search needs, I wish EA would consider a proper messaging system. Just this past week, EA announced a portable mailbox for Warhammer Online players. They can literally drop their mailbox just about anywhere now, and get their messages right there.

Meanwhile, we are stuck with ICQ and a clunky mailbox system that requires you to own a house on that shard, have used the token to get a mailbox, and that people physically visit your house and that you then physically visit your house. I really hoped that with the messaging system added with the New Magincia stuff for the lottery and vendors, that they would expand it a little more and allow us a legitimate in-game messaging system, since they offer that on all of their other MMORPGs.

 

[Petra Fyde]

The difference is that on the first one, EA can compete with an in-game official search and it can have an impact on them.

On the second one, EA would have to offer several different styles of shards (pre-AOS, pre-UO:R, pre-T2A, etc.) at little to no cost. That won't happen because it would be way too expensive.

yeah, but I can dream? If they were all closed down, how many would return to play the shards we're all on now, because it was the only UO in town?

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

possibly, I still think the game would be better off without them. In the end I guess it's down to personal choice and I, personally, don't want them, refuse flat out to support them and will continue to hope (probably in vain) that an official search, in game, will kill them off.
On the other hand I could wish for all freeshards to be closed down and the players there persuaded to return to official shards, but I know that one won't come true either.

To me "better off" and the issue I referred to are separate.

One can argue if the game is better off without them. But, clearly, the service was wanted and used. Based on that, I thought it fair to include this on a list of cons with workarounds.

-Galen's player

 

[Luvmylace]

I just ask why we need this, especially when there are better things to fix or add. After all these years who cares if it is on a search engine or a website .Half of the fun of shopping is visiting the shops .Automated vendor search in UO just seems so" techi" and out of place. Better yet it is making UO look like a AOC wanna be

 

[Rupert Avery]

If we are going to go into the relmof other MMO... UO is not like other MMOs not even a little bit.. there has been nothing like it before or after... yes similar and with aspects of UO but nothing the same... Why should UO copy what ever other 'MMO' has? I agree 100% when it comes to communication it needs that from the Devs and that seems to be peachy at the moment. What I wouldn't want to see is UO become like every other new MMO with a short shelf life that either makes a quick buck or fails.

 

[Woodsman]

yeah, but I can dream? If they were all closed down, how many would return to play the shards we're all on now, because it was the only UO in town?

Probably not many. People are pretty attached to those free shards and they offer a lot of things EA can't, either specific rulesets/eras or other things, and for many they are probably their last attempt at playing UO before they quit UO entirely and move on.

 

[Woodsman]

If we are going to go into the relmof other MMO... UO is not like other MMOs not even a little bit..

Yep, it's got a fraction of the players that many others have.

Why should UO copy what ever other 'MMO' has?

UO already has search engines though. This is adding something that applies to all players rather than a select few, and being in-game instead of in another window.

What I wouldn't want to see is UO become like every other new MMO with a short shelf life that either makes a quick buck or fails.

UO will have a short life if something isn't done to bring more people in. There are people who think everything is just fine (especially those on Atlantic ;-) ) but UO needs players, period.

In-game vendor search may not seem like a big deal, but it'll be nice for shards where the population is spread thin, and more importantly, it will be one of those things that can help new players out.

Don't get me wrong, I would much rather they put the resources into a better new player experience or an in-game messaging system like EA's other MMORPGs have, but they have decided to shy away from new players for whatever reason. Even still, these kinds of things can help.

And a vendor search shouldn't put much strain on the dev team - it requires a database person, some UI elements, and some testing. It doesn't require a few months or artwork of a group of designers trying to determine story arcs or anything like that. Somebody needs only decide what they are going to display, what the UI should look like, and then get out of the way. That's assuming they don't try to make it too complex. I hope they don't go for complexity.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

Mesanna: *We want to put in an in game Vendor Search*

Imo there will be a in game Vendor Search 100% for sure - we dunnot know when, we dunnot know how it will be, but we for SURE can do our best by continue to post our ideas.

So it wont help in any way to discuss about if its GOOD or NOT and burn our brains for that poor 3rd party website(s) if they will still be alive or not etc...

There will be an ingame Vendor Search - face it - WE are now able to help with ur ideas to get this thingy running - sure, MYTHIC will decide how it will look and feel and be - but than, as the past has proofen, they monitor stratics ALOT and i bet they can use alot of our ideas - which will help to have this search asap and get us the candy we want for so long

So we better continue to concentrate on ideas for this nice new feature! If i am allowed to say that here

 

[Woodsman]

How in the hell are they gonna add in a vendor search when they don't even know how to fix the character & guild searches!?

Because those two things are probably dictated by EA corporate security polices since they involve accessing in-game data through external websites.

After all of the security problems that other companies had (Sony PSN LOL), and even later after BioWare's major security problems with one of their official websites Updated June 23: Important Information for BioWare & EA Account Holders that exposed "user names, encrypted passwords, email addresses, mailing addresses, names, phone numbers, CD keys and birth dates", EA security seemed to have gotten a bit panicky about what games and systems can push data to the web. EA was already panicky after watching Sony catch **** left and right over its problems.

That's not to say that the person(s) who would/could work on an in-game vendor search could also work on external character and guild searches, they probably would be the same person(s), but EA is extremely touchy these days about things that touch internal data.

I really question whether the Mythic MMORPGs will ever have their full web functionality restored, or at least anytime soon. Newer games that have that stuff, like SWTOR, were able to have a lot of work done on their systems from the beginning.

For Warhammer, Camelot, and UO, there probably has to be some changes with their databases, or somebody has to do an audit and then clear it, and they are probably low in priority.

 

[Ron Silverbeard]

And a vendor search shouldn't put much strain on the dev team - it requires a database person, some UI elements, and some testing. It doesn't require a few months or artwork of a group of designers trying to determine story arcs or anything like that. Somebody needs only decide what they are going to display, what the UI should look like, and then get out of the way. That's assuming they don't try to make it too complex. I hope they don't go for complexity.

THIS

And MYTHIC, if you need players to test it, LET US SUBSCRIBE somewhere for testing, or better, put on a Testshard, and rock and roll!

 

[Tanivar]

Probably not many. People are pretty attached to those free shards and they offer a lot of things EA can't, either specific rulesets/eras or other things, and for many they are probably their last attempt at playing UO before they quit UO entirely and move on.

So likely right on target.

UO as it is is not particularly fun. It's gone seriously downhill since they cast the shadow of AoS over it. I play this sandbox more or less out of habit because most other games are just level-based monster-hackers which is more boring than UO.

 

[startle]

Imo there will be a in game Vendor Search 100% for sure - we dunnot know when, we dunnot know how it will be, but we for SURE can do our best by continue to post our ideas.... WE are now able to help with ur ideas to get this thingy running - sure, MYTHIC will decide how it will look and feel and be - but than, as the past has proofen, they monitor stratics ALOT and i bet they can use alot of our ideas - which will help to have this search asap and get us the candy we want for so long So we better continue to concentrate on ideas for this nice new feature!

Keep the positive energy coming....