Dark Market Open! Good Deal, You Buy Now

[Darkmalice 242]

Only kidding.

We have a lot of markets now though don't we?

[Cally 96]

Garis and I were talking about how there are a lot of little local neighborhood markets instead of one big central one, and how it was kind of nice. For my tastes, AP is a little far, so it's good to have the others close.

[Aniceset 506]

There is never enough places to shop imo

[Lancelot 765]

If Dark is banging this post I back it. Top bloke all round.

[darthryan 588]

Makes me laugh.... all markets but FM completely failed back when we only had Inde, and it's 4x the size and had 4x the players. Now smaller markets thrive on small servers.

[Raykow 39]

I was going to say something about that too, seems like every 2-3 days a new market is opened and every one expects it to be filled with merchants. IMO I really do think we have enough, AP is all I need and I'm not gonna go wandering around to every market just to find something.

[Darkmalice 242]

If Dark is banging this post I back it.

My fiance might object to being called a post.

[tenderwolf13 3]

lol

[Garis 210]

You buy now!!

I almost spit coffee through my nose when I read this.

One of the things that always ALWAYS bothered me about life on the Grande Steppe in Indy was how long of a trip it was to get to FM, and when I got there, I had to dig through dozens of nearly identical selections and couldn't find the one tool I'd gone there to buy. 20 stands later, and I might finally find a good quality file or rake or whatever.

Two things could mitigate this and improve the market experience, in my mind. The first would be to set up a market with exactly one vendor for high quality items in the each of the following categories:

1. Tools
   
2. Weapons
   
3. Armor
   
4. Shields
   
5. Wainwright (wheels, axles, unfinished carts and catapults)
   
6. Shipwright (sails, anchors, rigs)
   
7. Settlement (unfinished BSBs, FSBs, finished mine doors, floor boards, HQ lamps)
   
8. Farrier (horse shoes, barding, saddles)
   
9. Outfitter (compasses, backpacks, tool belts)
   

(Other categories and subcategories are possible, this list is illustrative, not exhaustive)

Going to such a market, you'd see ~9 stalls. Each would be clearly labeled. You'd know that there were only q50 (or 70/90, depending on the market) items of THAT TYPE only at that merchant. No muss, no fuss. Show up, buy what you're looking for, go home. No time wasted sifting through stall after stall of low quality bow strings, moss, fish hooks to find the random q80 clay tool you're looking for.

We probably will never see this sort of market unless some kind of hyper-organized trade alliance or cartel arises, because people want to have their individual merchant stall selling their goods only, and almost nobody has the time and skill to keep 8 merchants well stocked with high quality goods, as well as the coin to pay for 8-10 merchants.

The 2nd way to mitigate the headache of going to market is just to make them closer to home, have them be stocked by locals from your neighborhood, encourage local economies, and foster more dynamic commerce between neighbors. Then at least when you are sifting through vendor stands you know all of the people represented there, and you know you're buying from your friends, and keeping it "in the family", so to speak.

[Alyeska 2,621]

Going to such a market, you'd see ~9 stalls. Each would be clearly labeled. You'd know that there were only q50 (or 70/90, depending on the market) items of THAT TYPE only at that merchant. No muss, no fuss. Show up, buy what you're looking for, go home. No time wasted sifting through stall after stall of low quality bow strings, moss, fish hooks to find the random q80 clay tool you're looking for.

This is the exact setup my deed's little market area has - but it is proving hard to be able to find people stocking a merchant with just one profession. Exactly 9 stalls with pretty much exactly the list you made, but only 4 or 5 stalls are filled up and half of those I supply with stuff myself. For example, finding a very high skill chainsmith on celebration - preferably someone local - who is willing to place, stock, and keep supplying a merchant.. I haven't suceeded at it yet

[Zeroaus 0]

This is the exact setup my deed's little market area has - but it is proving hard to be able to find people stocking a merchant with just one profession. Exactly 9 stalls with pretty much exactly the list you made, but only 4 or 5 stalls are filled up and half of those I supply with stuff myself. For example, finding a very high skill chainsmith on celebration - preferably someone local - who is willing to place, stock, and keep supplying a merchant.. I haven't suceeded at it yet

[Pixer 4]

There is a market for chain armour on celebration?

[Darkmalice 242]

*hides his master chainsmith title*

Yeah. Those fiends.

[Ayes 3,715]

Player run markets in Wurm will always cause this fragmentation, frustration and wasted travel time when seeking some specific item or items. Going to any of these places for the exclusive objective of purchasing an item/items by *browsing* through the merchants will usually end in not finding what you want. Until Wurm comes out of the stone age and institutes some in game trading system, I see little hope for any of these *marketplaces* as being any more than pipe dreams of their creators in their quest to be a *local* supplier of needed goods. I have seen too many of these *local marketplaces* fade into the dominant decay of Wurm's clutches when their initially enthusiastic owner looses interest and moves on to other places, in game or out.

To have to depend upon players to run any long term efficient distribution channel for the marketing of goods is folly at best. The game should provide this type of a system for it to be a draw to others as a positive aspect of the game that contributes to their hard earned crafting skills and makes their items easily accessable for purchase to the rest of the playerbase who desires these wares.

=Ayes=

[Niclamus 17]

You couldn't have just 1 vendor for tools as not all tools are under the same skill. Hence how you end up with 12 vendors with tools, most of which are 40ql, and still cant find a dang file with WOA/COC on it.

[uian 3]

It takes so freakin long to up skills in Wurm and its almost impossible to focus on just one skill at the beginning that higher level craftsmen are not very common. I would say probably a majority quit wurm before they even get skilled enough to create anything people want to buy.