Official In-Game Vendor Item Search

[shulginist]

With Mesanna talking to some of us the other day about having an in-game vendor item search what would you like to see included if it does come to fruition? This thread is not about whether you want to have it or not you can take that to the other thread.

This is about tossing ideas around to make it the best it can possibly be. As far as I know it is just in the talking stages now so maybe if there are some interesting ideas tossed around early they would think about implementing some of them.

 

[Thav12]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

With Mesanna talking to some of us the other day about having an in-game item search what would you like to see included if it does come to fruition? This thread is not about whether you want to have it or not you can take that to the other thread.

This is about tossing ideas around to make it the best it can possibly be. As far as I know it is just in the talking stages now so maybe if there are some interesting ideas tossed around early they would think about implementing some of them.

talk to the guys that run the well known sites. they have years of experience and have given us exactly what we like.

/end sarcasm

fix the EC client. more urgently needed to keep game alive for several more years (before EA yanks the plug on this oldie)

 

[unified]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Three concerns would have to be addressed to achieve a "middle ground" for those opposed to this for very good reasons.

1. Concern over devs time being taken away from fixing annoying bugs. Perhaps UO could take a page (literally) from those sites already hosting a vendor search tool. I woul actually love to see it be akin to the existing website where you can lookup your own character.

2. Concern over prices. Perhaps allow a search for items, but not the actual prices. I am more concerned about where an item can be found than prices, escpecially if I can find other items at the same vendor.

3. Concern over lag. See #1 above. If this tool were actually outside of the UI, and on a website, the lag concerns might be addressed. Additionally, it would be a better tool to be able to use it without having to log in.

If a decision to do this was paired against fixing problems in the game, I would rather those problems be fixed. As this thread is about how to make this an effective tool, you have my suggestions above.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I may not have said this. This is the worst idea ever.

There is no need for it.

What in the world can't you all find? Lets start with what you would need one for? What is this elusive item that takes player an eternity to find?

Nada or may there searching for motivation to actual play the game.

 

[Skrag]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Can that crap, Raven, and get back to the other thread. He specifically disallowed that sort of whining in this one.

Anyway, in-game search needs to be at least as powerful and useful as the existing illegal ones if you want people to use it.

 

[Freelsy]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I may not have said this. This is the worst idea ever.

There is no need for it.

What in the world can't you all find? Lets start with what you would need one for? What is this elusive item that takes player an eternity to find?

Nada or may there searching for motivation to actual play the game.

I think you're very wrong

It's not the fact that you can't find something. It's the convenience of any player being able to put their goods on display for the entire shard. You will be able to find excellent deals on most items.

How about those lower population shards? I come from Siege Perilous and would LOVE this system. Shards like Siege don't have hundreds of vendors with every item imaginable for sale. I for one would like to come home, hop on the game and get what I want/need without wasting time roaming the lands for a good deal.

Also, keep this in mind. 90% of your player base don't use stratics or those search engines. Hell, I've been playing uo since 2000 and didn't know about them until I started atlantic just 6 months ago.

 

[TullyMars]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Keeping with the post and attempting to not delve into the if it should or shouldn't be..

I'd like it to have this and just this,
Item count available on shard...aka how many for sale
Prices that break down commodity deeds and do the cost per each price.
The low price of the shard, the high price of the shard, the average price of the shard for each item.
Perhaps some cross shard pricing?

What I omitted that most people want or expect...
Location. I think armed with the knowledge above, you can decide if the vendor you found has a decent enough price or if you should keep looking for a new vendor.

 

[Zosimus]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

If its going to be in the game one day it should be all of UO lands and facets not just luna being the one that gets covered.

 

[red sky]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I may not have said this. This is the worst idea ever.

There is no need for it.

What in the world can't you all find? Lets start with what you would need one for? What is this elusive item that takes player an eternity to find?

Nada or may there searching for motivation to actual play the game.

I've brought an idea up like this a while back. The main reason I thought an idea like this would be awesome, is so that everyone has a chance advertise their items on a vendor at their house. I remember back in the day, I would go exploring and find some of the best bargains on vendors located in the middle of no where. Unfortunately, the UO merchant system has dwindled to revolving around search engines, that revolve around only one area of vendors, which is Luna, and unless you have lots of gold to spend, that is not an option. An idea like this promotes a great sense of community. More than some of these pathetic item-oriented EM events can even muster.

 

[Freelsy]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

More to the point of this thread though.

Honestly.. I think world of warcraft has the in game item search nailed down. A system similar would be nice. It's convenient and fast.

Possibly a vendor in each town near the bank. You could even give him his own little shop with lots of items laying all over the place. make him accessible by saying something like "I wish to view your wares" or something lame like that.

Or you could have all the current vendors scattered across Sosaria link to one major vendor located in the heart of each city. Have a search option that allows you to search for keywords, jewelry, scrolls, armor...etc. Instead of purchasing the item from the major vendor it could spit out coordinates and a vendor name. You would then have to travel your happy ass over to the vendor and buy it manually.

Also, this feature would need to update automatically when something is bought out. It would be a pain to view items that have been sold or taken down.

 

[Zosimus]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

DaoC has a vendor system and Warhammer has the auction house. They will simply add one of the two most likely to UO. The devs will have to change the code to adapt to UO but it will work. I prefer DaoC system which to me is more thorough then WAR"s auction house style.

 

[Metalstorm]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I'd like to see it follow the KISS. rule. Keep it simple.

Item, price, shoppe name, coordinates.

This would hopefully be quick, lag free & contain only bugs of the non biting variety rather than the crash to desktop variety

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I have lots of ideas about that. But honestly I think there are more impotant issues in UO that need the developers' attention.

 

[shulginist]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I may not have said this. This is the worst idea ever.

There is no need for it.

What in the world can't you all find? Lets start with what you would need one for? What is this elusive item that takes player an eternity to find?

Nada or may there searching for motivation to actual play the game.

Once again this isn't about if you want it or not. L2Read.

 

[MalagAste]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I think it would be good if they could do an ingame search for the item and then make a "waypoint" to it on your map....

I think that makes some sense.

I am sick and tired of "Luna" and the search sites mandating the pricing.

 

[shulginist]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

If its going to be in the game one day it should be all of UO lands and facets not just luna being the one that gets covered.

Mesanna did mention it would be all the lands not just luna/zento which is nice.

 

[shulginist]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I think it would be good if they could do an ingame search for the item and then make a "waypoint" to it on your map....

One of the ideas being tossed around was buying a rune to the vendor that has the item you are looking for.

 

[shulginist]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I have lots of ideas about that. But honestly I think there are more impotant issues in UO that need the developers' attention.

While this is true it isn't up to us what they are going to focus on all the time so if they are going to go ahead and do the search we might as well give as many suggestions as possible.

 

[shulginist]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

More to the point of this thread though.

Honestly.. I think world of warcraft has the in game item search nailed down. A system similar would be nice. It's convenient and fast.

Possibly a vendor in each town near the bank. You could even give him his own little shop with lots of items laying all over the place. make him accessible by saying something like "I wish to view your wares" or something lame like that.

Or you could have all the current vendors scattered across Sosaria link to one major vendor located in the heart of each city. Have a search option that allows you to search for keywords, jewelry, scrolls, armor...etc. Instead of purchasing the item from the major vendor it could spit out coordinates and a vendor name. You would then have to travel your happy ass over to the vendor and buy it manually.

Also, this feature would need to update automatically when something is bought out. It would be a pain to view items that have been sold or taken down.

This is exactly what I was envisioning. Glad to see others are thinking on the same page.

 

[Kiminality]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I'm for one, but I agree with the concerns some people have.
Honestly thought, a lot of the damage such a system would do has already been done, only really mitigated by the fact that the existing searches largely mimic general player shopping habits (indexing Luna/Zento and other prime vendor spots).

If there were to be an "official" version, I'd suggest these two features:
1.) Opt-in/out. Allow vendor-owners to specify whether they want to be indexed under the system, which would allow similar protection from resellers that comes from obscurity under the current system (with the ability for the home owner to override it, to keep their vendor house "off the grid").
2.) Have various areas designated "marketplaces", and allow players to "deploy" their character into like a market-stall, allowing anyone who wants to invest their logged-in-time in such a way to turn their character into a vendor (with a limited sale inventory) in a "prime location". That would allow the duality of "spend gold" (on a vendor) or "spend time" (by using your character).

Also, indexing should probably double the vendor fee, or take 5% out of every sale, or something like that... I hate gold sinks, but in a "world-y" sense, you don't get something for nothing.

 

[HongKongCavalier]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

If they do decide to add a vendor item search system, I'd like to see a system also added to post items/services you are looking to buy so sellers can contact you.

Even better, but much more complicated and a little off-topic I'm sure, would be to have something along the lines of a purchase-order deed, where you could fill out what you want and leave on your vendor at the price you're willing to pay for the product. If another player drops the items requested on the vendor, the gold gets deposited in their account.

But back to the original question... I would like to not only have the option of specifying what I'm searching for, but also to be able to filter/exclude what I don't want returned in my search, and a way to permanently save searches for later re-use.

Also, a way to make an offer directly to the seller on the item you search would be nice.

 

[Skrag]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I wish I could read one of these threads without getting a headache.

If there were to be an "official" version, I'd suggest these two features:
1.) Opt-in/out. Allow vendor-owners to specify whether they want to be indexed under the system, which would allow similar protection from resellers that comes from obscurity under the current system (with the ability for the home owner to override it, to keep their vendor house "off the grid").

Why in the bloody blue blazes of hell would anyone anywhere ever for any reason opt out? If I'm trying to sell an item, why would I ever possibly care if the person buying my item plans to use it, resell it, or throw it on the bank floor? If for some bizzare reason I want to make sure a dirty reseller doesn't buy my item, why wouldn't I just sell my item for a price that doesn't encourage it? What makes you think resellers are any less likely than anyone else to find an opted-out shop?

2.) Have various areas designated "marketplaces", and allow players to "deploy" their character into like a market-stall, allowing anyone who wants to invest their logged-in-time in such a way to turn their character into a vendor (with a limited sale inventory) in a "prime location". That would allow the duality of "spend gold" (on a vendor) or "spend time" (by using your character).

Expect your "marketplace" to be dominated 24/7 by a couple of guys with 20 accounts each. Since it doesn't cost a vendor fee, expect them to use it to sell nothing but the most absolutely insanely expensive items in all of UO.

It's not a particularly harmful idea, but it seems like a lot of work for no real reason when it's just going to be owned by people who could afford a million years worth of vendor fees anyway.

Also, indexing should probably double the vendor fee, or take 5% out of every sale, or something like that... I hate gold sinks, but in a "world-y" sense, you don't get something for nothing.

You may as well just increase vendor fees across the board then, because there will be no one who isn't using this system.

 

[Picus of Napa]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

This is really the best thing that the dev team came come up with? They put out a minor feature which has little content that was nearly completed years back and now they want to add a item search to the game? Best hope that it works better then anything else in the game because I fail to see the long term value of this save for the weak attempts to stop the scripting types. Fix the YEARS old bugs before wasting resources on this. Address a classic shard without one hit weapons. Listen to the actual players, please. Do something that shows true added value.

 

[G.v.P]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

What in the world can't you all find? Lets start with what you would need one for? What is this elusive item that takes player an eternity to find?

Depends on shard. For example, on Origin, it's hard to find the basics, like repair deeds. It's as if Luna suffered a fallout.

 

[shulginist]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Depends on shard. For example, on Origin, it's hard to find the basics, like repair deeds. It's as if Luna suffered a fallout.

Very true I really didn't think about the smaller shards since I have always had large shards as my main. I remember failing to find some really basic items when I was on Drach.

 

[popps]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Are we talking here of an item search tool to find an item that one already has in possession, whether on one's own characters' backpacks, or in their bank boxes or in secures or lockdown containers in the home owned by that account ?

Or are we talking about an item search engine to find items up for sale on vendors ?

Because I think they are 2 separate things.

Can you please let us know which of the 2 Mesanna was referring to ?

The first one, though, I'd see it as a perfect candidate for a 13th year veteran Reward, claimable only by 13th year accounts but usable by all. Handy and usefull but not balance breaking. A perfect candidate for a 13t Year veteran Reward. It should work so that it searches throughout all of the account, not merely the active character.
That is, a player logs in with the account and playes character A.
Then the player needs to find that Conjurer Trinket they forgot where it is.
With character A as active, the player launches up the search tool, enters the Conjurer Trinket as the item wanted and starts the search. At this pont, the tool would search first the active character backpacks and bank box, then the account House containers and then also the characters not active for that account, both their inventories and their bank boxes and come out with a search result of where the Conjurer trinket is.

By the way, it would be nice if it could also be possible to produce a complete database in a spreadsheet format of any and all items possessed by that account across all characters, bank boxes and home containers.

That could help sorting out one's own belonging quite a bit.......

 

[Vyal]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Cmon it doesn't take a rocket scientist. Make it so it works don't spend a year doing it get it done and don't spend 5 months on stratics talking about how to do it.

Matter a fact don't even do it the websites work perfectly fine.

THINK about it these developers are brain dead.... They will spend 2 years trying to make a item search system that would be utterly flawed.

 

[popps]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I have lots of ideas about that. But honestly I think there are more impotant issues in UO that need the developers' attention.

Is it just my impression or whenever an idea comes up or there is talking about adding something to UO to improve the game there is always, inevitably, talks that there is something else more important and pressing ??

 

[jack flash uk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

i would say, ask Tim(young) you will see him on all shards walking around luna then hiding then moving onto the next venor rinse and repeat ask him how he does it lol

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I left because new stuff is added without seeming to address older issues that needed it. If development/implementation of this impacts ANY resolution to other issues, then I would say no - do not implement.

 

[Wenchkin]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I wish I could read one of these threads without getting a headache.



Why in the bloody blue blazes of hell would anyone anywhere ever for any reason opt out? If I'm trying to sell an item, why would I ever possibly care if the person buying my item plans to use it, resell it, or throw it on the bank floor? If for some bizzare reason I want to make sure a dirty reseller doesn't buy my item, why wouldn't I just sell my item for a price that doesn't encourage it? What makes you think resellers are any less likely than anyone else to find an opted-out shop?

You might not want to opt out, but I certainly would. Regular customers shouldn't have to pay well over the odds just because a Luna reseller has decided to camp the shop. Which is exactly what tends to happen. Not to mention the time it takes to restock enough to cover the resellers and normal customer demands. If I want to sell only to local players or those I advertise to, that's my decision and I'd like to make it if we're lumbered with an unnecessary search site.

There are other obvious reasons why any shop might want to pop out of search even just short term. For example, going on holiday, not having time to keep vendors restocked etc etc. Or if you run a Fel shop and the local red decides to camp waiting for shoppers, it would be responsible to opt out and save players the hassle.

Wenchy

 

[Merion]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Ok, how I want it, if it were to be implemented?

Chance to quote myself again

At the town hall meeting it has been said (by Derek I think) that a global vendor search, like some websites are offering for the luna region, is interesting but need some careful consideration as not to lessen the worth of certain real estate.

So I have been thinking: how about some central search point ingame, that allows you to search globally for an item. The results are then listed by vendor name and price. You pick one and a map is dropped into your backpack that shows the area of the vendor and a pin, where the vendor is located.

You would still have to find the region and think about how to get there, so vendor houses in town or near towns or moongates would still have a higher value than a house far off in the woods. But the ones in the woods would still have the possibility to lure customers to their shop by discounts.

With the addition of the new randomized treasure map system, there's obviously some code that allows to generate a partial map of any area of the overall map. All you (read: the devs) have to do, is to feed that routine with the vendor coordinates instead of randomly generated t-map coordinates.

Apart from that, the devs "only" need to implement the search, which would only be a database query in a perfect world and some parsing algorythm in a less perfect world. If an "on-the-fly" approach is to slow, the items could be index during maintance. This would mean the search results could be as old as 23 hours, but I think we could live with that. The search could be accessed by a bulletin board or a map at a certain point ingame or at the banks. Even cooler imho, would be some NPC at the merchants guild like 'Ted the Archivar' who lets you browse his documents and maps for a small fee (50gp?) and the hands you the appropriate vendor map. But that's details...

To summarize: I think that using t-map like vendor maps as a result of a global search should address all major concerns about a global search while posing a manageable amount of coding for the devs.

 

[Obsidian]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I would like a vendor search to be:

- Shard wide (not just Luna and select locales)
- Provide Item and mods (like you moused over the actual item)
- Provide price
- Provide location (sextant coords) with vendor name
- Accessable in game only

It should not:
- Enable you to buy the item without visiting the vendor
- Only have Luna (this is creating a big disparity between those that have Luna homes and those that do not)

My 2 cents. I think this would be fantastic. Most of us do shopping research in real life. I'd like to do the same shard wide in UO.

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Is it just my impression or whenever an idea comes up or there is talking about adding something to UO to improve the game there is always, inevitably, talks that there is something else more important and pressing ??

Kindof, yes. Because the most important thing is to get new players to play UO again, and neither a vendor search engine nor better fishing rewards are going to accomplish that.

To my opinion, if you want UO to survive or even prosper again, you have to pull ALL resources off from what they're currently doing and make the game attractive for all new gamers out there who are not veteran UO freaks like us.

 

[HD2300]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Kindof, yes. Because the most important thing is to get new players to play UO again, and neither a vendor search engine nor better fishing rewards are going to accomplish that.

To my opinion, if you want UO to survive or even prosper again, you have to pull ALL resources off from what they're currently doing and make the game attractive for all new gamers out there who are not veteran UO freaks like us.

A global vendor search helps new players. They can more easily sell things at market value and not get ripped off by resellers. In fact a global vendor search would allow ALL players to more easily sell things at market value.

Anything that make things easier for new players and most vets is a good thing, and it has been confirmed by many posters here that a global vendor search would be very easy to develop and would not take very long to do.

 

[Athens]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I would like to see a Event like the Spring Clean up happen prior to the release of this search engine to maybe level out some pricing, clean up the shards and hopefully help with any lag that this new mod may produce for the players still not on the best connections like DSL or Cable.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

The point is, this game is about exploration. Its a game.


What your asking for is convenience. Your not lazy but it a lazy man's tool.

For the pure fact no one can tell me or really identify why it is needed but "I wouldnt have to look." Its a bad idea.

Competition blah. You don't look around Luna. I can find stuff there cheaper then the other guy on the other corner of Luna. Just shop.

Illegal Search exists so give it to us all. My God. Just go to their site if it bothers you so much.

What exactly would you do with a vendor and what would it do for you:

HMMM lets see.

I can go a look and see the value of all items and price accordingly. LAZY.

I can now price my item based on being lazy and not playing the game or learning. (Worth repeating)

I dont need to know what this Robe of Merchant is... I can just see it sells for 2 million and copy.

I dont need to recall to vendors, I can just search.

I dont need to set up a really cool looking vendor house now, I can just shove all my vendor on the roof and people can search without coming by.

Im to lazy to walk around luna for 20 minutes and see the new SOS items for 30k each now. What - is that scalping? Is luna over priced? Should those oars be 10k and not 50k? How about the Ruined driftwood bow for 30k?

See above: The Myth of Luna's inflated price's doesn't hold stock anymore. Just look around. Yeah some vendors have inflated prices so what. Dont buy from them.

Aside from you convenience to price and compare items... What do you need this for?

What - you cant set up a vendor house and drop runes? Is that to much work.

Why dont people want to play this game anymore. Its a game of exploration. Vendors are part of it. GEEZ.


And finally, what items are you talking about no one can find?

No one has posted anything about what they can't find.

 

[Tjalle]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I´m one of the NO-guys but if they DO choose to implement one, this is a feature I´d like to see:

Come to think of it, wouldn't it be great if you could choose to put a "Not for resale" property on an item when it goes up on the market, preventing it from ever again being placed on a vendor/market?

That way the chance for an average player to find what they need at a fair price increases.

Sure, some can buy the items to sell on their websites and/or sell them in General chat but it would deal with resellers that would just buy it, put on their vendor +50% and be on their way.

Not all vendor owners are all about making as much gold as possible. Some actually wants to provide a service (good stuff at reasonable prices) to their fellow players. And any way to improve that (read: deal with greedy hoarders) would be welcome...

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

A global vendor search helps new players. They can more easily sell things at market value and not get ripped off by resellers. In fact a global vendor search would allow ALL players to more easily sell things at market value.

Anything that make things easier for new players and most vets is a good thing, and it has been confirmed by many posters here that a global vendor search would be very easy to develop and would not take very long to do.

Dont give me that sappy it helps new players.

Its a game. They can learn by walking around it viewing prices.

You dont get ripped off by resellers... you set items for prices you want.

Give me an example of how you get ripped off.

Did some newbie put their scrolls or recall out fo 25 gold each. OUCH.

Wait this new player was able to max up and get some rare item and they put it on their vendor for 5k?

Give me a break. New players are smart and can talk and learn.

Interact with players, explore, and learn.

As for resale... I would love this vendor search just for that. I would buy up everything that is hot and mark it up 20%. Its a no brainer, that players with billions will buy up the items and resell or take them to their sites and sell them for cash. Sure you can find 2,000 entries for recall scrolls and potions and 5,000 peices of furniture. Maybe 22,000 gorgets too.


Oh sure a search function would be perfect. BLAH

Have vision people.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Now since this is just my opinion. GOLD SINK.


I would add if a vendor search does come, it should be a gold sink.
The merchant pays to have their items listed. 100 gold per item. You can designate vendors as search or no search.

Players have choice (like above) to turn search on or off. Some players don't mind having to drop runes and have you come see their place.

I would also add to maybe have a place to list vendor malls vs. pure search. Then a player can find out where they are and go visit. Free advertisment.

The vendor search is a government run system so everyone pays a tax for service. The buyer gives up 5% to the abyss and the seller gives up 7% to the abyss. Tax on sale price.


Now lets hear all of you say taxes are unfair, it doesn't help the newb who doesnt have gold. BLAH BLAH BLAH. Well that newb is pretty skilled if they found stuff to sell.

Like I said this is a convenience thing and need, not a game need.

Set it up with significant gold sink properties and that in itself wins me over. Ill just use it to my benefit.

 

[Sevin0oo0]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

If every item from every vendor was in a db, then that db could also be trended giving Cal more sheets to 'look over' for exploiters.rofl. I currently use the online ones(one in particular), very functionable, easy to use.

What ideas did Mesanna have?

 

[TheLetterQ]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

That's the dumbest thing I've heard in years! cheapen the price of real-estate. That shouldn't even be a consideration in the equation. The fact the some people spent RL cash to buy a Luna plot to hold it over peoples heads and take their gold is just stupid to the extreme.

I really liked someone's idea of being able to buy a recall rune to the house location of the vendor - maybe 1-10k gold per rune. That would be a cool option and really level the vendor playing field.

Thanks,
Q

Ok, how I want it, if it were to be implemented?

Chance to quote myself again

At the town hall meeting it has been said (by Derek I think) that a global vendor search, like some websites are offering for the luna region, is interesting but need some careful consideration as not to lessen the worth of certain real estate.

So I have been thinking: how about some central search point ingame, that allows you to search globally for an item. The results are then listed by vendor name and price. You pick one and a map is dropped into your backpack that shows the area of the vendor and a pin, where the vendor is located.

You would still have to find the region and think about how to get there, so vendor houses in town or near towns or moongates would still have a higher value than a house far off in the woods. But the ones in the woods would still have the possibility to lure customers to their shop by discounts.

With the addition of the new randomized treasure map system, there's obviously some code that allows to generate a partial map of any area of the overall map. All you (read: the devs) have to do, is to feed that routine with the vendor coordinates instead of randomly generated t-map coordinates.

Apart from that, the devs "only" need to implement the search, which would only be a database query in a perfect world and some parsing algorythm in a less perfect world. If an "on-the-fly" approach is to slow, the items could be index during maintance. This would mean the search results could be as old as 23 hours, but I think we could live with that. The search could be accessed by a bulletin board or a map at a certain point ingame or at the banks. Even cooler imho, would be some NPC at the merchants guild like 'Ted the Archivar' who lets you browse his documents and maps for a small fee (50gp?) and the hands you the appropriate vendor map. But that's details...

To summarize: I think that using t-map like vendor maps as a result of a global search should address all major concerns about a global search while posing a manageable amount of coding for the devs.

 

[Babble]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Just a list with the name of the vendor and sextant coordiantions would be fine.

 

[shulginist]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

The point is, this game is about exploration. Its a game.


What your asking for is convenience. Your not lazy but it a lazy man's tool.

For the pure fact no one can tell me or really identify why it is needed but "I wouldnt have to look." Its a bad idea.

Competition blah. You don't look around Luna. I can find stuff there cheaper then the other guy on the other corner of Luna. Just shop.

Illegal Search exists so give it to us all. My God. Just go to their site if it bothers you so much.

What exactly would you do with a vendor and what would it do for you:

HMMM lets see.

I can go a look and see the value of all items and price accordingly. LAZY.

I can now price my item based on being lazy and not playing the game or learning. (Worth repeating)

I dont need to know what this Robe of Merchant is... I can just see it sells for 2 million and copy.

I dont need to recall to vendors, I can just search.

I dont need to set up a really cool looking vendor house now, I can just shove all my vendor on the roof and people can search without coming by.

Im to lazy to walk around luna for 20 minutes and see the new SOS items for 30k each now. What - is that scalping? Is luna over priced? Should those oars be 10k and not 50k? How about the Ruined driftwood bow for 30k?

See above: The Myth of Luna's inflated price's doesn't hold stock anymore. Just look around. Yeah some vendors have inflated prices so what. Dont buy from them.

Aside from you convenience to price and compare items... What do you need this for?

What - you cant set up a vendor house and drop runes? Is that to much work.

Why dont people want to play this game anymore. Its a game of exploration. Vendors are part of it. GEEZ.


And finally, what items are you talking about no one can find?

No one has posted anything about what they can't find.

I already asked once for you not to derail the thread yet you persist on giving your two cents. If this bothers you so much feel free to make your own thread addressing that issue. You have made it known at least 5 times on these threads that you don't want this feature. Ok great move on. Hopefully if this is implemented you don't become a complete hypocrite and use it.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

That's the dumbest thing I've heard in years! cheapen the price of real-estate. That shouldn't even be a consideration in the equation. The fact the some people spent RL cash to buy a Luna plot to hold it over peoples heads and take their gold is just stupid to the extreme.

I really liked someone's idea of being able to buy a recall rune to the house location of the vendor - maybe 1-10k gold per rune. That would be a cool option and really level the vendor playing field.

Thanks,
Q

That is a brilliant idea. To me vendor search is BS. But giving players an easier way to go to your house/merchants AND LOOK is cool.

I would add to make it a gold sink. Cost the player merchant 5k a day to have his rune available to buy via a NPC merchant. Hell for 25k you can create an advertisment.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Just a list with the name of the vendor and sextant coordiantions would be fine.

Yep exactly.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I already asked once for you not to derail the thread yet you persist on giving your two cents. If this bothers you so much feel free to make your own thread addressing that issue. You have made it known at least 5 times on these threads that you don't want this feature. Ok great move on. Hopefully if this is implemented you don't become a complete hypocrite and use it.

Im not moving on.
And yes I would use anything in game. And a vendor search would be fully exploited to no end. By me and others.

I agree with the people that say list the house and coordinates and or drop a rune or sell a rune.

It is simple and brilliant on their part of a solution.

This thread is no different then the others. You questions and intent are the same. As is my response to them.

 

[shulginist]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

I agree with the people that say list the house and coordinates and or drop a rune or sell a rune.

It is simple and brilliant on their part of a solution.

Then you really weren't paying attention in the first thread (My post on 11/26) and yesterday in this one where I said that Mesanna talked about getting a rune to the vendor that has the item you want. Sometimes people would rather whine then take in what is around them. Maybe now you can step down from the soapbox.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

With Mesanna talking to some of us the other day about having an in-game vendor item search what would you like to see included if it does come to fruition? This thread is not about whether you want to have it or not you can take that to the other thread.

This is about tossing ideas around to make it the best it can possibly be. As far as I know it is just in the talking stages now so maybe if there are some interesting ideas tossed around early they would think about implementing some of them.

I guess to keep to your theme.

To make it the best it can be. Make it gold sink for the seller and buyer. Its bad enough they are so lazy. Make them pay for laziness. If you were going to list prices etc.

To make it the best it can be. Don't list a damn price. NO PRICES NO PRICES NO PRICES. AH NO PRICES. Make it a list of what is available and the players would still need to go and visit the merchants and see what is going on.

It seems people say they cant find BLAH BLAH BLAH. So fine create a way you pay to find the item. The price is not relevant. Go and look once found. MAYBE MAYBE even haggle with the owner.

Sitting at one location and comparitively shopping a "magical game realm" is stupid. This is a game of exploration. Not Johnny solo.

To make it the best it can be. Simply list the vendor houses on shards and allow a rune to be purchased from the NPC. The player would need to interact with the NPC to pay to have his rune available. More or less gold could be spent based on how your advertise. GOLD SINK. (credit the two that mentioned this: Simple and brilliant)

To make it better. Scratch the vendor search idea and create a player ITEM WANTED SYSTEM. Wow create interaction. Merchants could go and find a request for items, made by players and sell it that way.

Even make it so the player requesting the item has already prepaid. The first merchant to see PLAYER A wants the CLOAK of Gizzards for 2 million... just clicks the button. A window opens, the cloak is put in the window, a button is pushed, and the gold is deposited check form in the sellers pack. The buyer can return and click his request and the items is put in his pack.

Come on people be creative and stop this mindless dribble for mega item search just because the illegal sites have it and if we implement one, we will stop newbies from being ripped off, and destroy luna prices and and and...

The end for now.

 

[RavenWinterHawk]

Re: Official In-Game Item Search

Then you really weren't paying attention in the first thread (My post on 11/26) and yesterday in this one where I said that Mesanna talked about getting a rune to the vendor that has the item you want. Sometimes people would rather whine then take in what is around them. Maybe now you can step down from the soapbox.

So lets stop there and get a rune.

PS
Let me put all your entries on my read list so I dont miss them.