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My Opinion: This is too specific in details to be a bug.
Normal vendor resets require the vendors to be deleted, and new ones are placed. The vendor reset caused both buy and sell prices to be reset.
However in this case we have the original vendors still in place, not deleted as in a normal vendor reset publish.
More importantly, the NPC Jewelers were reset completely…BUT NOT deleted. Had this not been the case I could have made several million just buying the sold down price of 188gp for Diamonds from the same NPC, and resold them to the same NPC for 200.
Normally I have to buy them from the NPC at 189, and take them to another NPC that is buying them for 200.
Obviously someone on the Dev team was aware of this and made sure this was stopped.
The reset on the NPC Tinker, Tailor, Bowyer, Weaver, Smith and Provisioner caused the purchasing of the same item from a NPC at a lower price and resale to the one purchasing from a higher price to be stopped.
If this was just a bug, the NPC Jeweler would have been reset the same way…..this is a very specific and controlled change.
Now, having made about 400,000 million GP in the last two years buying and selling to NPC’s, I can understand why the Dev’s would want to shut this gold flow down. It was a lot of gold coming into the economy.
This will not stop me from making money; however the flow of money will now be from the players to the NPC’s…gold out of the economy. I will be making just as much in all likelihood, just not gold created from thin air on NPC transactions.
I know a lot of folks are going to be pissed, and I can understand why.
I also understand why, if this was done on purpose, the Dev’s did the change, and also why the change was not announced. If this was know in advance, I would have made around 10-20 million leveling the NPC’s in the week prior to the publish trading on margins narrower then I normally trade in. (My normal range is 10gp for the transaction per item; I go much lower when I know the vendors will be reset, or when I want to drive a competitor out)
So, while I know this will not be the popular opinion, my hats off for closing another major gold flow. I will adjust and change my game play, and hope that this helps bring the economy in line.
Now that the change is out, Dev’s, could you please confirm if this was intentional or a bug?
Thanks
[/ QUOTE ]Hi! This is an intentional change designed to fix the specific issues with NPC vendors you've so eloquently summarized above.
Fundamentally, UO is an open faucet economy. Resources and wealth are created without regard, mostly, to existing conditions. This doesn't mean that gold should be allowed to infinitely flood the economy. There are many checks and balances put in place to try to control this flow.
However, this was an exploit, and thus we gave no warning. It may have been long standing, but the damage (not only economic) done is bad enough, let alone if it had continued.
We recognize that many will be surprised by the shift in gameplay, which will make selling items back to NPCs less profitable. This will mostly impact those who try to buy low and sell high elsewhere. The design team will keep this in mind when designing future mechanics that involve merchants, but we're closing the gap now.
As always, please report known exploits through Community, rather than have to risk some future visit by a GM.