When asking about an artifact called the Merchant's Ledger, that would let you see wares at any comm store in the game from anywhere, I was told it wasn't going to happen, but it might be better off as a city/commune/manse room, if there was a demand for it.

I imagine this as a room next to comm stores (or a miniature) that you can walk into and do wares delport, or wares celest (or another command word). This would let people know the prices of all other places without walking all over the world (and sometimes, into enemy territory). It makes sense, because the comm prices are public knowledge, and this would just let you see it more easilly. It would also allow for more competetive comm prices, and would let people get a general idea of what things are going for.

Comments? Love for the idea man?

Aye, a room that lets you check on other places' comm prices would be neat...

Why not simply make that possible in the commodity shop itself? You'd ask the invisible person who runs it. (Maybe leave room for them giving slightly biased information maybe? Like if you ask about a village not under your city's influence.. hehe)


I always thought it'd be neat if you had some sort of mobile standing in all those shops so there's someone physical whom you trade with. Right now it's like grabbing stuff and dropping money on the counter. *smirk*

That'd open up some serious opportunities to sabotage your competitors... kill off their shop attendants so the shop can't be used for... 15 minutes? Meh, shop attendants are cheap...

If you look at the messages when you WARES, you'll notice that there is actually a shop attendant, it's just not an NPC in the room

EDIT: wait a second, that's only if the shopowner has raised or lowered prices for one of your organizations.

Yes, that's why I think it'd be neat to have a shop attendant mob, seeing as apparently there is one in the shop anyway.

You know... how about letting shop owners hire an attendant mob? He could charge a salary from the shop owner's bankaccount, maybe an annual sum... He'd keep track of things for you, like sales, and provide you with numbers when asked. Provided he is alive, and he'd only record sales he was alive to see happen.

I'm thinking not.

Each challenge you take away from conducting commerce with top efficiency levels the playing field. And with your whole character concept revolving around being a world-class merchant, every time you make it easier for Joe Worldslasher to be a merchant without taking time out from his precious rush to level, you're cheapening your own claim to fame.

Like the movie says, making everyone special is the same as making no one special.

My brother Murphy is good at combat, so he submits combat ideas. He tries to make combat better.

I'm good at being a merchant, so I submit trade-related ideas. I try to make trade better.

And I'm not sure what this cheapening of my fame is, because I didn't think I was famous at all.

I like the idea of a trade room. Yes, I can see the merit of actually doing the work yourself in order to be an informed merchant, and I really don't mind going around to various shops right now to check prices or buy comms. I can't go to half of 'em anyway.

But I do think it would be perfectly justifiable to have a means to check prices all around from the city/commune. Even if it's only the comm prices reported by the villages under the city's influence at that time.

"Claim to fame" is an idiomatic expression, meaning 'that which makes you stand out'.

Making part of a game easier is not the same thing as making it better. Two entirely different concepts that often go in entirely different directions.

The only thing your proposal offers is convenience in the economic aspects of the game... and inconveniencing people is the only way to create an in-game economy.

Some people spend endless hours bashing to pay you gold for the credits you come by much more easily than most. Who'd do all that gold gathering for you if credits came just as easily to everyone? Where would Deep Night be now without people being inconvenienced for you? And how many cartels do you think you'd have?

But they are inconvenienced, and so they come to you. You get something that's not quite so precious to them, they get something that's not quite so precious to you, everybody wins, and viola, you have an economy.

Making it easier to comparison shop just works against the whole purpose of putting up seperate markets around the game.