You're supposed to be able to easily kill a large chunk of competition? I don't care if profits are driven down and people are trying to get customers, but this would be like a door-to-door salesman trying to compete with the department store down the street. There's only so much you can offer. You can't make your potions better in any real way, so there's not as much room to compete to begin with.

Then cut your prices. If you can't provide an equal or better service, then you should receive no business.

It's really not feasible for Alchemists to cut their prices considering that a lot of herbs are needed to create some potions. I'm not even sure how Alchemists make a profit sometimes except in huge orders.

Heck if it's only 10 credits just make it a portable artifact. That would still provide a lot of convenience for non shop owners.

Actually, if it's that cheap it would have to be restricted to shops only.

Compare to artifact vials.

Omygod! That's like, so not like real life, ya know?

*roll*

This starts getting into a "destroy large corporations because they hurt the little guy" argument. Get over it. I like shopping at the mall, instead of having door to door salesmen.

I'd say 1 keg can only store 300 sips, and costs 10 credits, if not portable. (that's - oh, probably 120-150 gold profit (12-15 gold per credit profit) per keg fill.

1 keg = 1 item in a shop.
10 Health kegs can be stacked (allowing 3000 sips for 100 credits).

I do like this idea, but compare it to Artist's paintbrush (wherein you need to sell 1000+ palettes to -break even-. Price shouldn't be -too- high (really, a 300 sips keg is not that bad. Maybe a 3000 sip keg for 100 instead, or some such - maybe the minimum would be a 10,000 keg for 400).

Edit:

Don't even touch realism when it comes to this. I play a game to have fun, not to deal with harsh economics. The trades in Lusternia aren't nearly fleshed out enough to apply much more than simple supply and demand laws to them. And do you really think the Gods want alchemy to be limited to those who have shops and artifacts?

Economics is a fact of life. It does and will dictate how trade skills function in real life or any game. You're the one wanting to make a profit. If you just wanted to have fun, why are you complaining about prices?


The kegs won't spontaneously produce elixirs. I think the 400cr/crapload of sips idea is the best, since it would prevent a shopowner from selling every possible refill without a major investment. Maybe something like 100cr, 600 sips.

I just want to make a profit? I'm only up to master in alchemy, and have never in my life done a refill for anyone besides myself.

Economics hasn't nearly as much effect here as it does IRL. The only variables here are price and convenience. If you want to make any sort of profit (if you don't, then you won't care about competition), alchemy is already a small enough margin that the main factor is going to be convenience. Who you know, how well you advertise, and in general, how much work people have to do to get your product. If you can just sit a keg in a shop, all they ever have to do is go there and fill themselves, making it hugely convenient, meaning they'll tolerate higher prices for that product. If you also undercut competitors, they have little to no means of getting business away from you.

No matter how expensive, even a few of these floating around is going to have effects like this. And seriously, 600 sips is 10 fills, that's nothing, and would make this worthless. Unless you stood around filling the keg all day, one or two people would get to use it, and it'd be empty. I'm arguing against -useful- kegs, not worthless ones.

OTOH: I don't make potions to sell. I make them so I don't have to bother with finding someone to do it for me. Profit is of no concern for me, so this all theoretical. I'd love to have kegs I could fill from, that'd be wonderful. I'm just trying to point out the drawback to them.

If a shop is providing a better service, no kidding it's going to get more customers. It's no different than anything else. Wonder about what happens 'if it undercuts you...' is absurd. Your price isn't set in stone, if other people can afford to sell for less then you can afford to as well. Kegs aren't some mystical price lowering voodoo magical ALCHEMIST SMITER of doom. It's just another way to sell the same thing.

The farthest you can lower your price and still have it be worth anything to sell at all is a 1 gold profit. If both you and a keg are selling at a 1 gold profit, people will buy from what is easier (the keg). If you lower your price so you're making no profit (or even taking a loss), then you could beat the keg, perhaps, if it's enough of a difference. But if you're taking a loss, why the hell are you selling?

EDIT: Changed the insulting tone. This is as close as I want to get to flaming/being flamed.

say your selling for 1 gold profit.. and say someone stocks a shop with prices at a 1 gold profit .. people are still going to buy from the shop

Shops are always going to be more convenient and get more customers than a single person this is why people pay big money to own a shop

This is life, deal with it

Who the hell would buy potions from a shop if they could get refills? You forget to factor in the prices of vials. A 1 gold profit on vial + potion is a much greater price than a 1 gold profit on just the potion.

I never buy from shops, I find I can get better deals from individuals.