--- Oziman <
oziman@...> wrote:
> It seems to me that characters should be able to
> make a "Living" off trade skills. Consider this: If
(snip comments about making profit from trades)
If from all of this you refer to people being able to
use the trade to make a profit from other PCs, then I
agree wholeheartedly. It'd be nice if all the trades
were PC desirable as far as produced product is
concerned.
If, however, you refer to people being able to profit
from the NPCs, I must resoundingly disagree.
Everquest is different from UO in that macros and such
aren't usable in EQ; but the potential for abuse still
exists. To be able to take an evening (3-6 hours) to
crank out ten or twenty plat an hour of profit off the
NPCs has far too much potential for abuse.
Prices in the game, both vendor and player, are
generally set to encourage certain 'level ranges' of
buyers; a first level character shouldn't be able to
afford to buy a Polished Granite Tomahawk, or a pair
of Dusty Bloodstained Gloves.
NPC profit is abuseable because you can, literally,
stand there and crank out a vast quantity of product
to sell to the poor vendor; in real life the guy would
eventually tell you he really did have all the pie
tins (or whatever) that he needed for now (and the
next three years). NPCs in a computer game will keep
taking. If they implemented a 'volume based reaction'
to the vendor prices, people would scream bloody
murder.
> If that were the case, you'd have only a small
> amount of people really taking advantage of it,
No, reference the insanse amount of screaming done
over the recent Verant fix to Brewing (removing the
twinkable profit level from it). Small, no.
> My argument is really about making money.
> Adventuring is what this game is all about, but
> killing things shouldn't be the only way. It'd be
> great for my situation, because of the limited hours
> I can play it's hard to form a group and go
> adventuring, so I have to solo a lot. But right now
> I have 4 characters at 5th level, and it's hard
> getting to the next step without a group. If I could
You will typically solo until you hit double digits
(10+), and even after that will still only group some
of the time. Most people hanging out in the 'outdoor
areas' (Commonlands, GFaydark, Butcherblock, Ro
Desert) won't group up (for whatever reason). When
you get to the midteens and start visiting dungeons
(Befallen, Runnyeye, etc...), you'll be able to group
consistently and constantly. DO NOT judge the game,
the economy, or the grouping situation; do not judge
*anything* about Everquest based on what you see at
any level below at least 15, and probably 20. The
game is different for newbies and youngsters than it
is after you put some levels on your character.
Including the money. At 15th, visiting dungeons, I
began to make *good* money with my character; it all
changes at that point.
> spend a few days making some money to better equip
> myself, it would be a lot easier.
This is the abuseable part I describe above. 5th
level characters shouldn't be able to afford to outfit
themselves with full banded or a combine weapon or whatever.
===
:D
Dave's World
-No matter where you go, there you are-
"People will believe a lie either because they want to
believe it's true, or because they fear it is." Wizard's
First Rule, Sword of Truth, Terry Goodkind