Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Merchants and Gameplay
I originally made this post a looooong time ago, and since there are so many new players in the community now, I figured it might be fun to discuss again (and rather than necro'ing the old thread! Based on the info we have now, we might be able to make some better educated guesses as well...
One of the coolest things about player-driven virtual worlds is the potential that lies in economic gameplay!
For the most part, though, that's typically been relegated to "gathering", "crafting" and the "auction house" - but there is the potential for so much more (as I know the AoC devs are ware! :) Some of these ideas may (hope?) reflect some of the design thinking of the team... this is just me spitballing ideas I've had over the years.
While crafting and gathering are key components in the economic loop, I feel two others deserve their own spot on the stage: the Merchant and the Trader.
<strong>Merchant</strong>
In my mind, this the fantasy of owning a storefront of some kind. That general store on the corner everyone relies on, or maybe that herb shop that always has rare, hard to find seeds in stock. Or a restaurant -- but that deserves it's very own post, because it ties in so nicely with a cooking system I've been dreaming about ;)
A merchant may also be a craftsman - say, a baker with a storefront (or that restauranteur above). But they don't have to be, instead a purveyor of goods acquired through other sources. A retail establishment, if you will.
Gameplay for the merchant lies in the procurement of goods and finding a market price allowing him/her to make a profit. They should always have the goods in stock that their customers are looking for. It also could involve marketing their store, drawing more customers.
I was very excited to see these two screenshots, where we can see signage indicating a bakery and a tavern - and I wonder if these can be player-run? How will players acquire the right to run a bakery in a given node, for example?
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/LhEZxF0.jpg" alt="Bakery" />
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/2Wjhgn1.jpg" alt="Tavern" />
<strong>Trader</strong>
To me, a trader playstyle involves transporting goods from point a to point b, dealing with all of the dynamics that happen in-between. They have to worry about transportation costs, logistics, security and more. He is interested in supplying his customers with the things they need, when they need them, based on their order.
It is the trader that facilitates rare goods traveling safely across long distances... in the case of food, for example, the reason we can have genuine dwarven ale all the way in the elven high peaks :) And have it still be fresh! (Note: I am hoping perishability of goods is a mechanic, as it adds tons of logistics for a trader and value to the economy!)
<strong>Wholesaler</strong>
There's a hybrid of a merchant/trader as well... I call the "wholesaler".
The wholesaler works with farmers, fisherman or other raw materials or finished goods suppliers, buying from them in quantity, and offering a place where local merchants and craftsman can come to buy some of their needed goods.
AS an example, let's think of a fish market... I might go down to the docks in the morning, buy several hundred pounds of bass from fisherman A, and a few hundred points of mahi-mahi from fisherman B... This saves the fisherman from having to deal directly with retailers, and a guaranteed easy way to sell their catch each day. I have a wholesale market set up near the docks, where local merchants and restauranteurs come early in the morning to pick their fresh catch of the day.
Ok, I'm getting rambly again. Obviously at this point, we don't know much about any of the economic systems in the game, so this is pure discussion at this point. But given the kind of world AoC aims to be, I hope to see some real economic gameplay come about!
One of the coolest things about player-driven virtual worlds is the potential that lies in economic gameplay!
For the most part, though, that's typically been relegated to "gathering", "crafting" and the "auction house" - but there is the potential for so much more (as I know the AoC devs are ware! :) Some of these ideas may (hope?) reflect some of the design thinking of the team... this is just me spitballing ideas I've had over the years.
While crafting and gathering are key components in the economic loop, I feel two others deserve their own spot on the stage: the Merchant and the Trader.
<strong>Merchant</strong>
In my mind, this the fantasy of owning a storefront of some kind. That general store on the corner everyone relies on, or maybe that herb shop that always has rare, hard to find seeds in stock. Or a restaurant -- but that deserves it's very own post, because it ties in so nicely with a cooking system I've been dreaming about ;)
A merchant may also be a craftsman - say, a baker with a storefront (or that restauranteur above). But they don't have to be, instead a purveyor of goods acquired through other sources. A retail establishment, if you will.
Gameplay for the merchant lies in the procurement of goods and finding a market price allowing him/her to make a profit. They should always have the goods in stock that their customers are looking for. It also could involve marketing their store, drawing more customers.
I was very excited to see these two screenshots, where we can see signage indicating a bakery and a tavern - and I wonder if these can be player-run? How will players acquire the right to run a bakery in a given node, for example?
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/LhEZxF0.jpg" alt="Bakery" />
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/2Wjhgn1.jpg" alt="Tavern" />
<strong>Trader</strong>
To me, a trader playstyle involves transporting goods from point a to point b, dealing with all of the dynamics that happen in-between. They have to worry about transportation costs, logistics, security and more. He is interested in supplying his customers with the things they need, when they need them, based on their order.
It is the trader that facilitates rare goods traveling safely across long distances... in the case of food, for example, the reason we can have genuine dwarven ale all the way in the elven high peaks :) And have it still be fresh! (Note: I am hoping perishability of goods is a mechanic, as it adds tons of logistics for a trader and value to the economy!)
<strong>Wholesaler</strong>
There's a hybrid of a merchant/trader as well... I call the "wholesaler".
The wholesaler works with farmers, fisherman or other raw materials or finished goods suppliers, buying from them in quantity, and offering a place where local merchants and craftsman can come to buy some of their needed goods.
AS an example, let's think of a fish market... I might go down to the docks in the morning, buy several hundred pounds of bass from fisherman A, and a few hundred points of mahi-mahi from fisherman B... This saves the fisherman from having to deal directly with retailers, and a guaranteed easy way to sell their catch each day. I have a wholesale market set up near the docks, where local merchants and restauranteurs come early in the morning to pick their fresh catch of the day.
Ok, I'm getting rambly again. Obviously at this point, we don't know much about any of the economic systems in the game, so this is pure discussion at this point. But given the kind of world AoC aims to be, I hope to see some real economic gameplay come about!
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