>>pulls thread to the side<<
honestly the lack of offline selling though annoying is something I can easily live with...
what annoys me is that you must be online and *inside your house and nowhere else* that is the real killer...
simply remove the "in your room" part of the equation and that would solve a BIG bulk of the problems with the current system... afterall every quote from any dev is saying that the purpose for no offline sales is to prevent economic collapse... but think about it...
firstly I honestly have no idea what online status and in-game economy have to do with the other..
secondly, offline selling or AFK selling... what's the difference???!!!
but if they are going to slavisly delude themselvs into thinking offline selling is the bane of game economy, at the very least kill the "must be in your room" part of that equation...
<<neatly straightens out the thread again>>
as for the interdependencies thing, I've been thinking about this more as I played my predator this weekend.. I don't think it'll make anything easier, but it's going to certainly kill a LOT of the "cash cow" that people have currently.. the lack of offline sales limits your sub-component buying options to whomever is currently online, not AFK, and willing to make it for you.. if you're lucky someone afk is selling what you want, course how often does that happen?
With no way to search possible crafters and leave them a message making a request, the situation creates a staggering monopoly for the person you find willing to make your sub-components and considering the fact that people are inherently greedy, when given this chance to bend you over a barrel odds are they will, and will do so gladly, so I really do hope you enjoy the feel of rough hewn wood.
so now this new system is in the works which really all we have is educated speculation on but it seems to me as though if you choose to make all items yourself, you can do so.. just at a loss of money OR you can work with other players.. from the sound of things the old system isn't going anywhere unless you want it to... Choice is a good thing IMO. ^_^
This patch, if it goes live, could very well quickly level the playing field, people are less likely to overcharge when the person they're charging can quite easily make the item themselves at the cost of a little time, copper, and some fuel.. a modest upcharge for going through the trouble for someone is fine and acceptable but charging 5 to 10 times the value (or more) is a little excessive.. This will bring that practice to a screeching halt. Afterall if you're getting charged THAT much for sub-components, heck.. may as well make it yourself, take the hit on cashflow since it's less than "person X" was going to charge you by leaps and bounds, and at least get a little XP for putting forth the extra effort.
My taller half was wanting to make a carpenter.. but wasn't thrilled about it. There's effectively no market for a lot of the items so most of what you make is at a loss, that bugged her a bit but add to that someone ripping you to pieces on sub-components and it's just not fun.. Now however, I see her making the carpenter because it's something she wanted to do for fun, she couldn't care less about the loss of money on sub-components as long as she can progress and have fun without the restrictions of needing X item from Y person and praying they're online and in the mood to charge a fair price.. I thought jewler would be a lot of fun, but wasn't looking forward to having to hunt the crafter classes for sub-items, I was willing to deal with it but suffice to say I didn't work on my artisan much because every level brought me closer to forced interdependence.
I heard a lot of my friends choosing artisan classes based on: which one has the lowest dependencies and which one makes the most money. So needless to say, almost everyone I personally know is either a provisioneer or alchemist.
Edited, Mon Feb 14 12:01:19 2005 by Iaini