@Mesana, it's time to evaluate vendor fees

[railshot]

The Real answer is human greed.
I have had vendors on many low population shards for years..
Spell books, and things to get started in the game have sold very well, and I have seen no big gold charges.. but I don't sell rares or event items.
The object of the shields causing the riff is off base.. shields don't raid other shards EM events.. or buy up from native shards players what is dropped.. ether.
They are only a method of them moving.
The real guilty party is the players out to make that super pile of gold off things that should not be worth the price they sell at on Atlantic.
I say this much.. stop the EM event drops or make the items shard bound.. you want to see sales grow... and prices come down.. there is your answer.

I don't really see how greed is at fault when it takes an average 1-2 months to sell anything and your asking price is completely negated by the fees.
But even if greed was at fault, it's not something Devs can fix. They can fix a faulty mechanic on the other hand.

 

[railshot]

and now for the other side.
I like to use vendors for storage. A high vendor fee discourages that kind of hoarding.

Limit number of vendors/sale slots one can have. Problem solved.

 

[Tanivar]

But even if greed was at fault, it's not something Devs can fix. The can fix a faulty mechanic, on the other hand.

They can restrain greed by making ridiculously high prices expensive for the seller using a daily percent vendor fee to discourage ridiculously high prices, which is what they did.

What they need to do is find another not faulty mechanic to restrain those ridiculously high prices that lets low priced items, like basic supplies, sit on vendors for ages without daily vendor fees.

Make the highest possible price on a vendor limited to one million? Anything higher priced than that gets sold in person in game?

 

[Tina Small]

In the Google spreadsheet that I mentioned above, these are the items that I'm looking for in vendor search on each shard to find out what their lowest cost is:

• Full magery spellbook
• Full necromancer spellbook
• Full mysticism spellbook
• Runic atlas
• Runebook
• BOD book
• Scroll binder
• Repair deed
• Alter service contract
• 10-charge powder of fortification bottle
• Small forge deed
• Large forge deed
• Anvil deed
• Spinning wheel deed
• Loom deed
• Soulforge deed
• Arcane circle deed
• Runed switch
• Butchers war cleaver
• Fishing pole with spell channeling
• Bag of sending
• Powder of translocation
• Pet summoning ball
• Exceptional musical instrument
• Snake charming flute
• Bone machete
• Acid proof rope
• +5 blacksmith gloves of mining
• Crystal ball of knowledge
• Blackrock stew
• Player-crafted meddable LRC armor pieces
• Player-crafted meddable LRC suits
• Arcane clothing pieces
• Exceptional iron dragon barding deed
• Exceptional dull copper dragon barding deed
• Exceptional shadow iron dragon barding deed
• Orange petals
• Rose of Trinsic petals
• Red leaves
• Darkglow potions
• Deadly poison potions
• Greater agility potions
• Greater confusion potions
• Greater conflagration potions
• Greater cure potions
• Greater explosion potions
• Greater heal potions
• Greater poison potions
• Greater refreshment potions
• Greater strength potions
• Invisibility potions
• Nightsight potions
• Parasitic potions
• Natural dye
• Natural dye from naturalist quest
• Natural dye from BODs

I'm trying to look up the lowest costs for basic items that I think new and returning players might look for on player-run vendors. I didn't want to get into looking at any of the different artifacts or other items that might be out of range for new or returning players who won't have lots of gold to spend. However, if you think I've overlooked something basic that is created or spawned with pretty consistent properties that I should include, please speak up or send me a message. I thought about including crafting talismans, but they spawn with too much variety. Could do recipes too but there's too many of them! A couple of things I might include are enhanced bandages and engraving tools, or maybe wooden chests but I'm not really sure which type of chests are most-used.

I'm also looking at whether or not you can find transcendence or alacrity scrolls for sale on a shard, as well as power and stat scrolls. Should be interesting to look at when it's done and maybe help us have some good discussions about how we can help make a better impression, as far as player-run vendors go, when Endless Journey kicks off. I suspect most of those people who will be completely new to UO or coming back after a hiatus are not going to be people who qualify for shard shields, so we really need to think about how we can help them get into the game on the shards they choose that are not Atlantic.

I'm closing in on the lookups for the the last couple of shards tonight, so if you think of anything else that could be a basic, staple for new/returning players and that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, give me a shout about adding it to the spreadsheet. Thanks!

 

[Lady Storm]

Railshot the rest of us who sell the everyday items and suits have no trouble with the fees...
EM drops and Special items gotten in game play that is so air thin in distribution to the average player is the real issue the OP is having trouble with.
Because nearly all the big spenders are on Atlantic they raise the cost of their items to match or go a tad bit over the Atlantic price.
So those items are sitting so long its eating up their gold.
I am sorry its pure greed.
If you hunted and won that item(s) it cost you just your time so any price you set is your worth of the item... not ours.
If you bought it in hopes of making more on it .... good luck chuck... and don't bug the boss for a money change cause if I was she... id tell you to punt too.
Ether way the seller is at full fault for the charge.
Come on think it over ... if it sits there for months on end and no one has bought it yet... your price is ether too high or the people around you who do play don't want it.
I have watched the price of EM drops over the last 5 years grow like a weed and it forces out the casual buyer... not every player has a plat In the bank to blow on junk.

 

[Pawain]

Ether way the seller is at full fault for the charge.

You are correct. I should take all the things off my vendors that only a new or returning player would want. Since those things will sit for weeks and the vendor will fall and I am out 900k.

 

[Lady Storm]

Pawain use a few of those safes... they do have a timer if I have seen correctly.
There is a other way to sell your bigger costing items .. again use the safes but don't price them just yet.. place a plaque or bulletin board and have them leave bids or requests to purchase...
Sort of like they do at the rares fest.
You don't loose a thing and there is a good way to sell the super high stuff.

 

[Caitlyn Snow]

Pawain use a few of those safes... they do have a timer if I have seen correctly.
There is a other way to sell your bigger costing items .. again use the safes but don't price them just yet.. place a plaque or bulletin board and have them leave bids or requests to purchase...
Sort of like they do at the rares fest.
You don't loose a thing and there is a good way to sell the super high stuff.

These do not show up in vendor search though


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[Mervyn]

This thread has been successfully debunked:
Finding Basic Items on Player-Run Vendors, By Shard
no change to vendor fees required.

 

[Uriah Heep]

*wonders why Mervyn is so opposed to a change in vendor fees*

 

[Mervyn]

Everything i do and say is based on logic for what is best for the game.

 

[Mervyn]

I'm not being funny or anything, since the ingame vendor search was added, the vendor fees have not actually increased. So nowadays you get free listings on a search, and people are crying over the fees that have not gone up?

I do however beleive that shard shields have had a negative impact on the game and made a post about it when they first came out. And everyone jumped on me as usual.

In fact, i even got trolled by the then forum admins and had the thread moved to spiels and rants 2011:
Shard Shields = End of PvP

So I'm just relishing you all sitting in your own filth that you created.

 

[Lucivius]

Railshot the rest of us who sell the everyday items and suits have no trouble with the fees...
EM drops and Special items gotten in game play that is so air thin in distribution to the average player is the real issue the OP is having trouble with.
Because nearly all the big spenders are on Atlantic they raise the cost of their items to match or go a tad bit over the Atlantic price.
So those items are sitting so long its eating up their gold.
I am sorry its pure greed.
If you hunted and won that item(s) it cost you just your time so any price you set is your worth of the item... not ours.
If you bought it in hopes of making more on it .... good luck chuck... and don't bug the boss for a money change cause if I was she... id tell you to punt too.
Ether way the seller is at full fault for the charge.
Come on think it over ... if it sits there for months on end and no one has bought it yet... your price is ether too high or the people around you who do play don't want it.
I have watched the price of EM drops over the last 5 years grow like a weed and it forces out the casual buyer... not every player has a plat In the bank to blow on junk.

Respectfully Lady Storm, my original post has more to do with the self-defeating game mechanics the current system has for lower population shards. The system actually discourages players from placing a vendor, regardless of price. A low priced item is still subject to fees same as a high priced item. For lower population shards the demand is smaller, therefore there are very few vendors. When new/returning players visit the shards they are discouraged by the lack of available items.

 

[Cinderella]

one way of selling high ticket items is to put a book on your vendor
put details inside: product, price & your contact info (ICQ # or how to get in touch with you)

sell the book for free (have book title product & price)

===========================================

I told this to a guild member a couple summers ago, she was complaining about vendor fees
she was being charged 2K a day for an item
she placed the book on the vendor and was contacted within a couple of days

==========================================

one thing I wished they would change is the steward deed
once you place it, it takes 125 storage from your house, no matter how much is inside it
and it takes one vendor from your count
if they changed this, then I could store my BODS there
if it takes from vendor count, then it shouldn't count against house storage

ok I know having a vendor to store BODs only takes 60 gold a day
but to set them up:
deposit gold
disable vendor search
rename vendor
rename shop
drop bods in
making sure you hit escape so you don't accidently sell for 22 gold

steward deed:
drop in BODs
name steward


Vendor Contract 10K gold
Steward Deed 10K cleanup points (that's 10k items taken out of game to get it)

 

[railshot]

They can restrain greed by making ridiculously high prices expensive for the seller using a daily percent vendor fee to discourage ridiculously high prices, which is what they did.

They did nothing of a kind. They just moved these high prices to chat and forums. What they did do is completely kill commerce on lesser populated shards.

 

[railshot]

Come on think it over ... if it sits there for months on end and no one has bought it yet... your price is ether too high or the people around you who do play don't want it.

There is a third option, which is what at play here. On a lesser populated shard, you may go for a month before a single person needs that LRC suit. Longer if it's an expensive item. All that time you fees are racking up.
And complaining about greed is just counterproductive. The prices are set by supply and demand, and no Dev meddling outside of supply and demand will affect them.

 

[Lady Storm]

I like the book idea... put a mannequin up with the suit on it so they can examine it.
As for the High cost of a suit.... geesh 800k for a suit ... that's high... now I have not seen the suit and all its costs to make it... but if its just a 70 suit LRC...
Lucivius we just gave you tons of options to curb your costs...if you really think that your at a loss for the time it sits on a vendor on a low shard...
I tend to wonder what your selling that eats up so much and sits forever on your vendors... even on the low end shards I see the lrc suits of a reasonable price fly off the vendors.

 

[Pawain]

I'm not being funny or anything, since the ingame vendor search was added, the vendor fees have not actually increased. So nowadays you get free listings on a search, and people are crying over the fees that have not gone up?

I do however beleive that shard shields have had a negative impact on the game and made a post about it when they first came out. And everyone jumped on me as usual.

In fact, i even got trolled by the then forum admins and had the thread moved to spiels and rants 2011:
Shard Shields = End of PvP

So I'm just relishing you all sitting in your own filth that you created.

So, you want me to drop runes everyday to sell a LRC suit for 200k. Then just hope a new person picks it up.

 

[railshot]

No, they really don't fly off the vendors. They sit and gather dust, just like the gargoyle LRC suit for 1000 gp that's been sitting on my LRC vendor now for several months. How much lower do you think I ought to push the price in order for it to sell on a shard like Balhae?

^^This. I think people who are insisting that this huge problem is fixable by just setting reasonable prices and not being greedy are either incredibly naive or have not tried to sell anything outside of Atlantic in the last 5 years.
The only way to sell something within a week on my shard is to take something expensive and price at something like 40% of Atlantic price. A cross shard trader might snap it up in order to export it to Atlantic. Yep, that's fighting greed all right.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Well we can point/counterpoint and debate and argue and use reasoning and logic and whatever else is at our disposal, but---unless you can get some of those particular people Mesanna tends to favor behind this movement, this won't go anywhere at all. There, I addressed the elephant in the room.

 

[BeaIank]

I would keep a stocked vendor with basic goods at Legends if the fee was taken on sale and not by this ridiculous system that is in place that makes me lose gold by having a vendor with basic stuff.

 

[Naitch]

Amen

 

[Lady Storm]

Tina is on Balhae ... if any have ever been there...
I had 6 castles there btw.....so know it well and I still have a few of my crafters trapped there.
I can attest that the sales there is soooo slow that your lucky if anything sells.
But that's is not the case on some small population shards...
Thing is .. your all aimed on selling the stuff a new player couldn't afford for a month of Sunday's play.

Don't get me wrong..I understand what your asking for and why.
Its not gunna happen.
Thank the guys who have driven the gold to the ceiling on stuff.
175mill for a rare or EM event item....
Castles on Atlantic... over 5 plat...
See the Dev team see the prices on Atlantic and the amount of items we put up...

They cant lower the cost for other shard without lowering it on Atlantic... not gunna happen

 

[railshot]

They cant lower the cost for other shard without lowering it on Atlantic... not gunna happen

They don't need to have a different scheme on Atlantic. Fairly priced items sell fast enough there that the difference between a percent of sale value and weekly percent is not going to be that much.
It's not like we are in an uncharted waters here. Dozens of MMOs that came after UO learned what not to do and figured out how to drain some gold off sales without driving commerce underground. It's not hard to adapt it to UO.

 

[Caitlyn Snow]

They don't need to have a different scheme on Atlantic. Fairly priced items sell fast enough there that the difference between a percent of sale value and weekly percent is not going to be that much.
It's not like we are in an uncharted waters here. Dozens of MMOs that came after UO learned what not to do and figured out how to drain some gold off sales without driving commerce underground. It's not hard to adapt it to UO.

Adapting to change. Hah. Is this why other MMOs are exponentially more popular?


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[Mervyn]

So, you want me to drop runes everyday to sell a LRC suit for 200k. Then just hope a new person picks it up.

How did you deduce that from what i said?

 

[Yadd of Legends]

Limit number of vendors/sale slots one can have. Problem solved.

Also I’m failing to see why it should bother me if people do use vendors for storage. Why should anybody care about that?

 

[Merlin]

We need more gold sinks, not less. I would guess that vendor fees are the biggest gold sink in game.

Unless they can come up with a sure-fire way to replace this gold sink, elimination of any vendor fees should be outweighed by a new sink somewhere else.

I'm inclined to say leave them as is. There might some annoyances on lesser populated shards, but this system isn't broken and doesn't need fixing.

 

[MalagAste]

We need more gold sinks, not less. I would guess that vendor fees are the biggest gold sink in game.

Unless they can come up with a sure-fire way to replace this gold sink, elimination of any vendor fees should be outweighed by a new sink somewhere else.

I'm inclined to say leave them as is. There might some annoyances on lesser populated shards, but this system isn't broken and doesn't need fixing.

This is one thing you and I agree on 100%.

 

[Caitlyn Snow]

The current gold sinks are (afaik):
Vendor fees
Town commendations(city loyalty titles)
Clean up points(1pt per 100gp)
Library/Museum/Zoo donations
NPC vendors
BOD Bribing.

None of these hold much interest anymore.
If they made one like the housing lottery or if they added some cool items that sold raffle style (shard bound of course) they could implement some massive sinks and maybe help return the economy to manageable.
There is so much that can be added, but the Devs have their own plan about where the game should go and it’s infuriating at best when they refuse to listen to the player base.


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[Tyrath]

From a different perspective. The new player wants to set up a shop to make some extra gold selling potions for example. On most shards it is not going to take the person long to figure out that running a shop is a losing proposition. As far as gold sinks there are never going to be enough to siphon off all the duped and scripted gold that has amassed in UO over the years. Once again the usual folks want to protect the status quo, sadly these are the ones that brag about Mesanna telling them this and that.......... and their one on ones with the devs, I mean its not broken if you are one of the elite or old players that is sitting on more plats than you will ever be able to spend Prepares to receive my next stratics ban now

 

[Uriah Heep]

. There might some annoyances on lesser populated shards, but this system isn't broken and doesn't need fixing

Says the man on Atlantic...

 

[Merlin]

Says the man on Atlantic...

I have characters and vendors on Lake Austin, Legends and a few other smaller shards, too...

 

[BeaIank]

If you need gold sinks, charge players 20K to 50K gold for the daily city trade deal. Or make the vendor fee a fixed 50%, or implement a monthly royalty tax that eats 50K or 0.01% if the gold the account owns from your account gold every 2 or 4 weeks, but change the vendor system to something that I know how much gold it will cost me to sell an item so I can plan around it, not this... thing... that discourage players to set up vendors because they are sure to lose random amounts of gold and have to keep checking their darned vendors every few days to make sure they have enough gold to stay up.

 

[railshot]

We need more gold sinks, not less. I would guess that vendor fees are the biggest gold sink in game.

Unless they can come up with a sure-fire way to replace this gold sink, elimination of any vendor fees should be outweighed by a new sink somewhere else.

I'm inclined to say leave them as is. There might some annoyances on lesser populated shards, but this system isn't broken and doesn't need fixing.

The commerce is essentially dead on my shard. You do not sell things. Not just because the fees will kill you, but also because you might need it a few months from now, and you know you won't be able to find anything for sale. People with shard shields sell and buy on Atlantic. The rest are screwed or have to beg their friends with shard shields.
This is especially damaging to new players or returning vets (not all of them can tolerate Atlantic) who do not have access to the functioning market.
This is way beyond annoyance. This is something that is essential to any MMO that is completely broken.

As far as the gold sinks - there is also insurance with prized items. When my character with 3 suits dies, I am out 29k. I'd say it's a pretty good sink.
I don't dispute that gold sinks should exist. However, a gold sink that kills commerce is doing the opposite of what it should.

 

[Caitlyn Snow]

I’m not in opposition to the change from daily % to % at sale. But I don’t think the % should be low either, as it is functioning as a gold sink. Like I said, if they were able to make some more inventive gold sinks, i wouldn’t be griping.


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[Uriah Heep]

How about a compromise if you think a gold sink MUST exisit to straighten out the economy. Eliminate the fees on anything under 1 mil...raise the price for a vendor deed to 150k or whatever...and lower the drop rate of gold on everything ingame, mobs, champ spawns, everything! by 20%. Maybe you shouldnt kill the merchants looking for a gold sink, maybe you should just slow down the rate of new gold coming in'

 

[railshot]

Also consider this - gold inflation is not really a problem for an average player. Yes, everything costs more than it used to be. But everything sells for a lot more as well. As long as you are earning gold by selling drops (as opposed to just farming gold pieces from mobs), inflation has little effect on you. But this is the case only where there is a functioning commerce (such as Atlantic). If you play on a lesser populated shard and don't have the means to trade on Atlantic, you have no legal ways to earn gold in sufficient quantities. This is why I think gold inflation is a very distant second to vendor fees as far as economy problems go.

 

[Lucivius]

I’m not in opposition to the change from daily % to % at sale. But I don’t think the % should be low either, as it is functioning as a gold sink. Like I said, if they were able to make some more inventive gold sinks, i wouldn’t be griping.


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Caitlyn it sounds like your issue with more with gold sinks, or lackthereof. To me that is different than having a broken system that actually discourages participation and commerce. Surely we can all understand that the current vendor system is self-defeating on lower population shards.

 

[Caitlyn Snow]

I understand this issue. But it rests upon another. Like I said, on lower population shards, (I play on Drachenfels) it’s hard to have vendors because of the daily fees. I took mine down because I can’t afford them. I am willing to pay to have them up, but the daily % is ridiculous. However, if I have to pay 10% at sale, I wouldn’t be mad at all.



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[Lucivius]

I understand this issue. But it rests upon another. Like I said, on lower population shards, (I play on Drachenfels) it’s hard to have vendors because of the daily fees. I took mine down because I can’t afford them. I am willing to pay to have them up, but the daily % is ridiculous. However, if I have to pay 10% at sale, I wouldn’t be mad at all.



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Yes, this is exactly my point. Actually thinking more about it, the current vendor system probably has a counter effect to being a gold sink as well. Since the current system discourages placing vendors on any shard except Atlantic then gold is not being spent on other shards. We seriously need an overhaul. Too bad we aren't getting a Dev response to this thread.

 

[Uriah Heep]

Too bad we aren't getting a Dev response to any thread.

Fixed that for you.

 

[celticus]

It would seem common sense to fix the vendor rental fees, from all perspectives. They should not charge the gargantuan fees on a daily basis. This STOPS a lot of people from making their wares available, openly and easily, and contributes to hoarding, and overall lack of availability of goods, and it is counterintuitive to UO merchandizing, among other things. It is something that should be fixed, in most if not all shards. The suggestions on percentages to be charged on point-of sale in this thread are all good options, better than what the system has now. I wonder if it is ever going to be addressed by the devs? **holding your breath can be dangerous** Just my thoughts...I appreciate the person that brought this issue up in OP..

 

[railshot]

I think the ideal solution would be to have a universal marketplace where you could sell and buy items, no matter which shard the item is on. But I doubt we'll ever see anything like that, unless Broadsword/EA can figure out a way to have us pay extra for it to justify the loss of any transfer token sales. (Yeah, yeah, I know you're thinking who buys transfer tokens when there are shard shields. However, I suspect that the people running the third party sites have to rely on them to some extent.) What we have now is just a mess and is not beneficial or a boon to every player. Some benefit from it far more than others and that situation is simply not going to keep the majority of people playing, especially after Endless Journey starts and most of the new or returning players from that don't have shard shields and don't want to pay for transfer tokens or to have to start building characters on Atlantic. The situation is just getting worse and sooner or later Broadsword needs to confront it and find a good solution, or else all their efforts to kick off Endless Journey will be a waste.

I fully agree. A cross shard market[lace would go a long way towards fixing the enormous damage that introduction of shard shields did. However, it would probably be difficult to implement. A change to point of sale fees is quick and easy to implement that can produce immediate relief.
BTW, one thing nobody mentioned. The point of sale percentage has to be reasonable. Make it too high, and we'll have the same situation as now.

 

[Great DC]

Decreased population of the game and shard shields is the problem you people are actually arguing about. Vendors are just a subplot caused by both of those problems. I had lots of arguments on here about how bad shard shields were for the game back when they came out, but all the people in this thread now complaining about vendor fees said they were entitled the shields cause they paid for their accounts longer. These entitled folk deserve the repercussions of their own greed. Now no one plays their shard and they cant make any gold, wahbulance! Those shields should have been given to everyone or no one, the economy is ruined now. I suggest you all go back and read all of the anti shard shield discussions on here and then cry yourselves to sleep over the problems your greed caused the game.

 

[Pawain]

Decreased population of the game and shard shields is the problem you people are actually arguing about. Vendors are just a subplot caused by both of those problems. I had lots of arguments on here about how bad shard shields were for the game back when they came out, but all the people in this thread now complaining about vendor fees said they were entitled the shields cause they paid for their accounts longer. These entitled folk deserve the repercussions of their own greed. Now no one plays their shard and they cant make any gold, wahbulance! Those shields should have been given to everyone or no one, the economy is ruined now. I suggest you all go back and read all of the anti shard shield discussions on here and then cry yourselves to sleep over the problems your greed caused the game.

I was not here for the shard shield argument. But you have been missing nightly PvP on LS. A bunch of FATE returned and others have been fighting them and whoever.

The slow market is the problem on LS. A stack of essence at 250k could sell instantly or last a month and sell for a loss.

 

[railshot]

Decreased population of the game and shard shields is the problem you people are actually arguing about. Vendors are just a subplot caused by both of those problems. I had lots of arguments on here about how bad shard shields were for the game back when they came out, but all the people in this thread now complaining about vendor fees said they were entitled the shields cause they paid for their accounts longer. These entitled folk deserve the repercussions of their own greed. Now no one plays their shard and they cant make any gold, wahbulance! Those shields should have been given to everyone or no one, the economy is ruined now. I suggest you all go back and read all of the anti shard shield discussions on here and then cry yourselves to sleep over the problems your greed caused the game.

I think the biggest repercussions are suffered by those who do not have shields. The ones who have shields always can move stuff to and from Atlantic.
Either way, something tells me, devs are less likely to touch the shields then just adjust the way vendors collect their pay.

 

[Tyrath]

Transfers in general were the dumbest and worst thing they ever did to the game. Shields just expanded the disease of transfers just marginally added to it.

 

[celticus]

I think the biggest repercussions are suffered by those who do not have shields. The ones who have shields always can move stuff to and from Atlantic.
Either way, something tells me, devs are less likely to touch the shields then just adjust the way vendors collect their pay.

I agree:
One thing at a time -- Make vendors consignment or point of sale for a more reasonable cost than in place now. Do that ASAP.
Also change it so that items in containers are always for sale, no no-for-sale contents, to diminish hoarding stuff on
vendors that are not for sale.
-- Later work on the logistics of changing shard shield use, and be prepared to change what or how much can transfer
across shards, etc. That is another can of worms...and also apparently an argument that was raised before and died..

The vendor thing is something we need as soon as possible.
These games evolve with time and take different twists. This one is only one of the problems, but can be solved with just a relatively small code modification. The vendor problem is causing people to stop using vendors due to the low pop, high rental cost, and bleeding of items/wares to high pop shards like Atl.
I know that modifying the vendor fees is not going to solve the merchant problem, but it is one step in the right direction, and I think we should ALL agree on this one step..
If we do NOT all agree on this one step, can we hear the arguments as to why vendors should not change?

 

[celticus]

I was looking for an old post and on the way to finding it, came across this old thread that one of the devs (Phoenix) started back in April 2011 regarding the UO economy. Might be worth a read: The Big Economy Thread. Much of it focuses on the topic of gold sinks.

I'm not sure the current dev team feels the same way Phoenix did. Would be interesting if @Kyronix would weigh in on the subject and give us his thoughts and tell us if anything is in the works to straighten out the mess that we have now. (Edited to add: Shard shields were added to the game with Publish 73 in November 2011, so Phoenix's comments did not address the impact of the shields.)

Thank you for the reference. The thread goes back to 2011. Today the inflation is larger on one side and on the other side population is lower, and vendor numbers have been reduced drastically. It seems like a relatively quick fix needs to take place of some type, as has been suggested in this thread, to try to encourage vendor placement. I like the vendor search option added to uo recently, but what good is it if there are no vendors? I think that using vendor fees as a money sink is not a good idea, and there are many other ways to create gold sinks, other than vendor fees..