Regional Bazaars: Yes or No?

[Sighter Tnailog]

Here's a question that we've been throwing around the mod forum and among continent writers for a while now, and it's high time we threw it to the Althanas public to see what you all think.

If a highly organized Regional Bazaar system was to go in place, would you use it?

What this means is this: "The Bazaar" would stop selling a lot of the specialized unique materials it currently sells, and these materials would start being sold only through continental Bazaars. Anyone would be able to buy things at continental Bazaars, but those who roleplay in the continent would get significant discounts.

What do you all think? Sure, you couldn't buy that Dehlar Mace just anywhere anymore, but the Dwarves of Kachuck might give it to you for a cut rate if you impress them. That's sort of giving you the pros and cons, in a nutshell.

Debate, discuss...and VOTE.

[Cyrus the virus]

YES HOLY CRAP YES

Believe me people, I've seen the metals and the system ideas, and it's good. Regional bazaars make sense, provide a lot of different options for weapons besides "dar, mythril is harder than steel!" and are just awesome for people who RP in a specific region, as it gives them a chance to get good discounts on otherwise $109,000,001 weapons.

It's good. Vote yes plz.

[Daggertail]

yeah I've been waiting for the materials for awhile but I'm not too sure of the regional bazaar thing, when we had it, no one used it and it was just for abuse by people who knew that something would be way cheaper there than here. I want to RP p;aces because they would provide a good place to RP and not because I need a mythril weapon.

[Cyrus the virus]

That's when you choose a different material! Not one that is exactly what your character needs to substitute for a weakness (for that, you'd at least have a reason to rp in a region just for the item), but one that represents your character's time in a region. I want Izvilvin to get something nice in Fallien before he leaves, and I imagine him having that in Alerar will remind him of his times in the desert. It's wicked sweet.

Plus, even if you want a specific item, with the different properties each metal has, you can find something interesting in any region I'm sure. I think it's exciting.

[Sighter Tnailog]

One of the features of this system is going to be that you don't HAVE to roleplay in the region to get the item. You can still buy that mythril sword you want in Raiaera, for instance, but you can get cheaper rates if you've roleplayed in the region. Don't think of roleplaying in a region as a way to simply get cheap things; think of cheaper things as a reward for roleplaying in the region.

By the way, version 1.0 of the new materials list is now posted. You may view it here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=2577).

[Cyrus the virus]

Man... It beats the balls right out of the tier system.

And I'm way too excited now O_O

[Zerith]

I'm with Cryus here, I definitely voted yes for this.

I've liked the idea back when he had it with less detail. Now the amount of work put into it only makes me want it more.

[AdventWings]

Stick the generic "Bazaar" in Corone and add a unique bazaar to all the rest of the major regions. Like the Sword and the Song for Raiaera. Another possible suggestion is to have Region-Specific "Junk" that would be meaningless for your run-of-the-mill merchant or something like that. Hmm... example... example... Umm... Oh, right! Like the golem armor specifically only in Haidia or the Arctic Beast Fur in Salvar.

Huh, I think I've stated the obvious or something. ^_^;

Either way, I am keeping my eyes out for the way things are developing. Plus, I second the idea of having to complete an RP (or engaged in one) within that region to have access to the regional bazaar. Could be short, could be long. Doesn't really matter as long as there's an IC reason to be there.

BTW, Sighter, the material descriptions ownz.

[Krugor]

Yep.

I think it would make much more sense to go to a bazaar in a specific region, for specific things, than to go to one giant bazaar that serves the entire world. It would add much more dept to purchasing a product.

And of course, what Cyrus said. The whole buying a souvernir from a region you just visted thingy is awesome too. Maybe I could even start buying stuff at one region and selling them at another for massive GP ;)

[INDK]

As long as the whole thing is completed before implemented, I give it a thumbs up. The problem with the previous attempt at this was that was not the case.

[Makira]

I say it looks like a good idea, and I would enjoy, after I spend some time in Salvar with MetalDrago, and the Tular Plains with Makira, to see what would happen with the Regional Bazaars once set up.

[Damion Shargath]

Sounds nice, I'd like to see it happen - I just wouldn't know how often I'd use this. But a Salvar situated and based one would be nice to see :D

[Ashiakin]

Sounds nice, I'd like to see it happen - I just wouldn't know how often I'd use this. But a Salvar situated and based one would be nice to see :D

It's in the works. Mostly done, actually.

[Damion Shargath]

Very nice.

[Nobody]

I am somewhat confused about this. Would all of the common materials be available in ALL of the bazaars and you just got better prices for being in the bazaar where it was made, or would you have to be in a specific bazaar to get specific materials? I don't like the idea of requiring you to rp in a region in order to use that region's bazaar, though I do like the idea of having rped in that region getting you better prices. Another thing I like, is that in Salvar joining one of the factions and achieving a certain rank gets you a permanent 15% discount to Salvar's bazaar. I think something similar should be put into effect in all the other regions as well.

[Saxon]

I'm rather confused on how this bazaar business is being handled :( . Is it optional? Some folks make their gear and the like through quests while completely avoiding the player on player oriented shops. Like the whole issue with gold and things of that nature.

Maybe its the anti-gun crusades by a lot of players and moderators. Perhaps its just because a handful of us are lazy, but I think its trying to expand on something broken without fixing it first. Maybe it'd be better to smooth out the rules a little bit on this foggy area before trying to make this problem any bigger.

I might be making a mountain out of a mole hill. Probably even way off base, even in another ballpark altogether. But, I figured someone needs to play devil's advocate. :rolleyes:

[Cyrus the virus]

Saxon, I, uh... Don't understand your post. You can still make your own equipment, but it'll probably make more sense if you get the materials to do so in a certain region. That's how it'd work with a person in real life who made their own equipment. Even still, you could find an NPC dealing in Mythril and then make your own sword (if you have a blacksmithing skill). Where you got the impression that you couldn't do that anymore, I have no idea whatsoever.

Anti-gun crusades? Wha? You can still buy guns O_o In fact, you could probably get one for cheaper if you go to an Alerar bazaar, since Alerar specializes in that sort of thing. YOU CONFUSE ME.

The Bazaar wasn't broken to begin with, it was just boring and made little sense. Now, we have something that makes a lot more sense, with the tier system effectively replaced with something much better, and I can't see what you're talking about.

This Bazaar stuff > Candy.

[Saxon]

I meant whether or not using the bazaar was optional. If you were to need something for a quest or storyline do you pick it up at the merchant pad or just make it and totally disregard the gold system? Its not that big of a deal, I just wanted to clear something up that was rather foggy to me.


Is that less puzzling? :confused:

[Cyrus the virus]

Ah!

Well, you could make your own equipment in a quest and ignore the bazaar as long as you have a blacksmithing skill, or have an NPC do it. But a strong weapon, or a gun, or some mythril armor might not be approved. It all depends on how strong the equipment is in relevance to your level and what the score of the thread is, really. It's not like you could just make a gun and have it go unnoticed or something :p

[Alberdyne_Cormyr]

We tried this before and it failed.

[Cyrus the virus]

No, we tried some stupid crap that sucked. Thanks for your contribution.

[Alberdyne_Cormyr]

No, we tried some stupid crap that sucked. Thanks for your contribution.

No Matt don't even start this.

We HAD a regional bazzar system before headed up by Madison, Tony and a few others. I am pointing out the fact that it failed for reasons stated earlier in the thread which I won't even begin to get into. I was against a mutli regional bazzar back then and I'm against it now. It doesn't help things to have a complicated Item Shop system when the current one STILL problems that need to be ironed out.

I personally don't use the Bazaar I tried to support the RP system that was implemented before and ended up getting burned for it OH WELL. Stuff happens, I know that the new system will be put into place regardless of what myself and other naye sayers think anyway. I think that if you don't want to use the Bazaar to get your Items that's perfectly your choice.

Quest for them, that's what I do anyway. The higher your score, the higher the chance is that you are going to get the Item from a mod anyway. If you don't want to use the Bazaar you don't have to. Save your hard earned Gold to do something big in a Quest.

[Run]

I've seen the work applied to the new system, and it has been vastly improved on the last version. I vote yes.

[Cyrus the virus]

Read around, yo. This bazaar is madly superior to the last regional bazaar we tried to impliment. You don't need to explain to me why it failed, I was here for that too, and I watched the whole thing.

For this bazaar to succeed, all we need are active, hard-working regional moderators (or bazaar moderators, whatever we use), and people who want to use the system. I already know of like a dozen people who love the idea, so we have that.

[Sighter Tnailog]

No Matt don't even start this.

We HAD a regional bazzar system before headed up by Madison, Tony and a few others. I am pointing out the fact that it failed for reasons stated earlier in the thread which I won't even begin to get into. I was against a mutli regional bazzar back then and I'm against it now. It doesn't help things to have a complicated Item Shop system when the current one STILL problems that need to be ironed out.

Just a correction...

I had nothing to do with the first regional Bazaar system. I came back to find it had been instituted by Tony. If I had anything to do with it, it was bringing up the idea at least six months before as a musing.

The problem with the first was a lack of planning, a problem this system will not have. Furthermore, the problems with the current system will be ironed out and corrected as the regions bazaar system goes into affect.

Speaking of that system, look for movement on this front within a week.

[Daggertail]

hey would it be possible for players to suggest new materials, the ones there are good but there's a lot of redundency like those that resist magic and those that enchant easily, so far Plynte seems the coolest because it's the most unique. I think letting players make a few of the materials will help the system be more unique.

[Ashiakin]

Yeah... I suggested having an official materials submissions thread a while back, run kind of like Ithy's Thayne stuff, but nothing ever got done about it. It'd be a good thing to consider, though, I think.

[Sighter Tnailog]

Redundancy? Hardly. They do opposite things, that's roughly the antithesis of redundant.

[Lian Vas'Garth]

I think letting players come up with materials and then having admins decide whether or not to implement them would be a good thing, but if every material some one made up got added it would just be too confusing with hundreds of materials.

I didn't see the old regional bazaar system, but I like the way this one is shaping up. I especially like the idea of the craftmenship levels.

I've seen this somewhere, can't remember now though, but you can also pay for enchantments to be put on stuff. I was wondering if certain regions would specialize in certain types of enchantments as well.

[Alberdyne_Cormyr]

My fault Madison you're right Tony was one of the Head Administrators at the time.

[Daggertail]

yeah that's what I was thinking, having a thread where new materia;s are submitted and a bazaar mod can go through and pick the most interesting and balanced ideas. just something to add flavor and variety.

[Ashiakin]

I think letting players come up with materials and then having admins decide whether or not to implement them would be a good thing, but if every material some one made up got added it would just be too confusing with hundreds of materials.

Yeah, at the time I suggested it I was aiming for most everything being accepted, but now I think you're right. Since we have a pretty awesome setup now with a lot of neat materials, having a ton of new ones would just make it confusing. So if it happens, the approvals process should be pretty stringent. For instance, this would not get approved:

Darkshadow Dragonshards: A shadowy black metal made from the fangs of dark dragons, embued with black magic and dipped in the blood of vampires at the bottom of a very dark, shadowy well filled with ancient evil magic of darkness.

And if someone submitted something that was too much like something we already had or too crazy to be sensical, it probably wouldn't get approved either. Although I think we need to see how our current system works out before we think about adding a submissions system.

[Sighter Tnailog]

I've added the submissions thread, but I don't expect anything will be added for a while.

BTW, Lian Vas'Garth, Raiaera does enchanting, as do the Haidian weaponsmiths.

[Alberdyne_Cormyr]

I think that completely original materials should be considered.

[Sighter Tnailog]

They will be, and you can continue to pretty much have whatever you'd like if you find it on your own time.

The submissions policy relates to materials sold, basically. If you're not willing for your material to be sold at possibly cheap rates, therefore risking the possibility of the equipment your character uses becoming commonplace and therefore no longer a unique aspect of his or her character, then don't submit a material.

Unlike the Thayne, the materials list is not really just a list of materials you can consider using. It's a list of what is sold in Althanas. If the material isn't easily incorporated into the regional bazaar system, then it will probably not be submitted.

I'm considering creating an RPC thread, though, where I'll move special things like Adamantine, Root Walker Husk, etc. That thread actually COULD involve the submission of materials that are not salable. What do you think about that?

[Falcon Darkflight]

I'm up for this for two reasons:

a) I believe this will give the various continents even more individuality. This is a good thing, and if used correctly will have a pull effect on some members towards different continents they might not have originally thought of roleplaying on.

b) Original items galore!

However, I would be interested in finding out more of what these Bazaars would have to offer.

[Cyrus the virus]

Uh.. A lot of them are already up. Check the new stuff in Salvar, Raiaera, Corone and Fallien. The regional bazaars are tied directly with the new reputation system. Basically, if you gain a 'high' reputation, your character is well known enough in the area to get benefits and discounts. It's really pretty awesome.