• Dear forum reader,

    To actively participate on the forum by joining discussions or starting your own threads or topics, you need a game account and to REGISTER HERE!

Trader [Trader] A truly dynamic wholesaler

Are you in favor of this idea?


  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .

SoggyShorts

Well-Known Member
Note: There are 3 parts to the wholesaler, the exchange column, the coins, and the supplies.
This idea focuses only on the exchange area, no changes to the coins/supplies dumping sections.


Summary:
Replace the left columns in the wholesaler with dynamic sales.

Description:
Every 24 hours the leftmost columns will have a random item you can purchase with your boosted goods.
These can include
  • other goods, (just like now)
  • relics, (rare and a very low limit like 1,2 or maybe 3 if the price was higher)
  • spells,
  • troops,
  • runes (super rare)
  • broken shards (again rare compared to the other possibilities, and very limited)
  • guest race goods
  • mana
For example
one day you may have the option to buy a marble relic for your boosted tier 1 goods, and
the next day you could buy sword dancers/barbarians for your boosted Tier 2 goods.

29fyxja.png


Motivation:
My goal is to get players to actually want to use the wholesaler tab, while not replacing trading in any way. I've gone months without opening the wholesaler tab, and it seems a shame to have a feature that is only a last resort.

The old wholesaler had a prohibitive ratio of 5:1, and very rarely made sense to use it instead of the trader. Now with the limited amounts you can exchange, and the increasing cost per click you can easily be trading at 10:1 for a very small number of goods. Instead of this a player can just post a 4:1 trade, and even in a bad neighborhood it will get picked up very fast. Players generally only used the wholesaler as a last resort, and even then the exchange columns were the least used, so why not make it interesting?

Possible downsides:
Might make it too easy to obtain exactly the items the player is looking for and therefore disrupt game balance or lead to less activity. Should be well thought about when balancing this feature.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

DeletedUser1596

Guest
While *I* am 100% awake and feel the urge to look smart, I have decided to throw some dirt on your sexy :)

Runes, units and other uncommon stuff in wholesaler.. as long as you would be able to buy 1 rune/week, or a relic/day, it would be fine. But as you progress through the game, your production increases and those 750 planks will soon become 7500 and more to maintain it's effect. But what now? Will you still get 1 relic for 7500 while your neighbour gets the same for 10x less? That would be unfair. Getting more relics seems logical, but that's what I fear will not happen. Relics and runes are that kind of resource that should be a bit harder to get. That's why I thing the devs wouldn't like the idea of just buying them.

I like this idea, but I thing that you will also have to make it a bit sexier for the dev-team.

(another example just came to my mind: that wonder which gives you rune shards/week.. Now imagine how OPed a wholesaler would be if you could buy a handful of runes just for some common resource)
 

DeletedUser1767

Guest
While *I* am 100% awake and feel the urge to look smart, I have decided to throw some dirt on your sexy :)

Runes, units and other uncommon stuff in wholesaler.. as long as you would be able to buy 1 rune/week, or a relic/day, it would be fine. But as you progress through the game, your production increases and those 750 planks will soon become 7500 and more to maintain it's effect. But what now? Will you still get 1 relic for 7500 while your neighbour gets the same for 10x less? That would be unfair. Getting more relics seems logical, but that's what I fear will not happen. Relics and runes are that kind of resource that should be a bit harder to get. That's why I thing the devs wouldn't like the idea of just buying them.

I like this idea, but I thing that you will also have to make it a bit sexier for the dev-team.

(another example just came to my mind: that wonder which gives you rune shards/week.. Now imagine how OPed a wholesaler would be if you could buy a handful of runes just for some common resource)
Being now like 80% awake, I still really like this idea, but I also think @Urvalsandal is right. It would probably work best if runes and relics weren't among the things you could buy, or if they were, were available only very rarely. Troop types or guest race goods (including orcs and mana) would probably be easier to balance, assuming that it was scaled to the chapter the player was in (rather than the main hall).
 

DeletedUser283

Guest
I am afraid we already tried randomness in the wholesaler, and it was ugly, so thanks, but no, thanks :)
 

sunrae

Well-Known Member
The wholesaler was there as a last resort. It was expensive but last resorts are. I don't like this idea. I think the original wholesaler made far more sense. You buy from it when you are in real need. Bring back the original wholesaler please. Why mess with something that isn't broken? None of us need a further incentive to trade, we all trade, its a city building game based on trade!! This is a waste of the devs time and expertise. They surely would be better off working on the next item on the tech tree?
 

SoggyShorts

Well-Known Member
as long as you would be able to buy 1 rune/week
Easy fix, since there are 12(soon 15) troop types, 4 spells, 9 relics, 6 non boosted goods, and 12 runes, they can just make the runes very rare. (or make it a broken rune shard)
. But what now? Will you still get 1 relic for 7500 while your neighbour gets the same for 10x less?
This I'm not 100% sure on. if the costs are based on your MH, does it matter that your costs are higher than a low level player since you are richer? I'm not sure...what would you suggest?
It would probably work best if runes and relics weren't among the things you could buy, or if they were, were available only very rarely.
Exactly, there's no reason why everything would have to come up with the same frequency. Runes, or even just a single broken rune shard could be once a week or 5% chance, however the "randomness" is done.

I am afraid we already tried randomness in the wholesaler, and it was ugly, so thanks, but no, thanks :)
Actually, the randomness then was bad because players could not buy the goods of their choice using coins and supplies- no one ever liked trading 5:1 for planks:steel, that part was always bad, and now is even worse. Even in the worst FS in the worst neighborhood you can find people to take your 5:1 trades fast enough that the left columns are redundant at best.
As stated at the very top, this idea does not in any way change the coins or supplies options.

I don't like this idea. I think the original wholesaler made far more sense. You buy from it when you are in real need. Bring back the original wholesaler please.
Good luck getting the developers to reverse an idea that they already took back and tweaked, that ship has sailed. The best we could hope for would be to dazzle them with an improvement.
 
Last edited:

DeletedUser1596

Guest
As I see it, buying for goods is unnecessary, since there is no storage limit. If there ever will be something that you need to get rid of asap, it will be your primary resource (gold/hammer). Unlike Phil, I don't mind some randomness, which means I would gladly gamble for some surprise. I just don't know what for.
 

SoggyShorts

Well-Known Member
As I see it, buying for goods is unnecessary, since there is no storage limit.If there ever will be something that you need to get rid of asap, it will be your primary resource (gold/hammer).
Yes, the middle and right columns are already there for dumping your excess coins and supplies.
The left column, as is, serves virtually no purpose, and the items I'm suggesting there should be an expensive and limited trade off (more so for the "better" things)

My goal is to get players to actually want to use the wholesaler tab, while not replacing trading in any way. I've gone months without opening the wholesaler tab, and it seems a shame to have a feature that is only a last resort.
 

DeletedUser1767

Guest
Yes, the middle and right columns are already there for dumping your excess coins and supplies.
The left column, as is, serves virtually no purpose, and the items I'm suggesting there should be an expensive and limited trade off (more so for the "better" things)

My goal is to get players to actually want to use the wholesaler tab, while not replacing trading in any way. I've gone months without opening the wholesaler tab, and it seems a shame to have a feature that is only a last resort.
We already have the ability to buy KP with boosted goods, so I think I see this idea as a sort of exclusive, get-it-while-it's-here variation on that. It doesn't need to be something that someone would use daily to be worthwhile. I like the idea of it being to your advantage to check it daily for that one deal that is definitely worth your while, even if most days nothing you want is there.

So like me, for example, I don't fight, so I have no reason to buy troops (except for the odd quest), but if there were sometimes current-chapter guest race goods, mana, or the odd broken shard? I'd be all over that, and I wouldn't mind the days when nothing I wanted was there if the payoff was an occasional bit of luck. As it is, I don't think I've ever used the left column in any of my cities, and I am the sort of player who routinely uses the other two columns to get rid of excess coins and supplies.
 

SoggyShorts

Well-Known Member
@Midnightsidhe

Exactly, you totally get it. Sure, sometimes, or even often, something would come up that you don't buy, but like you said checking the wholesaler and seeing that today you have a chance to buy some granite might be a sweet find. I added mana and guest race stuff to the list , thank you.
 

sunrae

Well-Known Member
My goal is to get players to actually want to use the wholesaler tab, while not replacing trading in any way. I've gone months without opening the wholesaler tab, and it seems a shame to have a feature that is only a last resort.

I have re-read and do understand what you are suggesting for the wholesaler. I very rarely use the wholesaler as is and so my first reaction was - another unnecessary change which is detracting from the bigger picture. So tired of back stepping down the tech tree - so tired of more battle characters, and fog? really?
My real objection to this change was that it seemed Inno assumed players used the wholesaler instead of trading,(clearly not the case at all!) otherwise why make something which is already very expensive even more costly if not to put players off using it.
I would welcome some granite occasionally or copper, (who wouldn't?:)) or a treant or even, dare I say it, a broken rune o_O so revising my opinion on this I would give my support. I do think it needs much consideration to make it usable for early level players as much as bigger cities. Fair play you have given this a lot of thought I look forward to seeing it developed.
 

Wowwie

Well-Known Member
The wholesaler was there as a last resort. It was expensive but last resorts are. I don't like this idea. I think the original wholesaler made far more sense. You buy from it when you are in real need. Bring back the original wholesaler please. Why mess with something that isn't broken? None of us need a further incentive to trade, we all trade, its a city building game based on trade!! This is a waste of the devs time and expertise. They surely would be better off working on the next item on the tech tree?
Totally agrees :)
 
Top