If you enjoy using pet shops, then please let the developers know. Because they seem to be under the impression that they're not very popular with the western audience (which I find very odd since I don't remember the western audience ever being polled on this topic).

But first, let's get a few things out of the way straight off the bat. As a player you either like using player shops or you don't. If you don't like using them, then there's an option in your UI to disable them. When you disable them, they no longer render on your client. Thus, all concerns about hits to your frame rate, visual clutter on your screen, and so on all go out the window.


Player shops enabled under the UI option for players that enjoy using them.



Same area. Player shops disabled under the UI option for players that don't like them.


It's one of those rare win-win scenarios where development foresight gets everyone what they want, and because of this nobody should be forcing their personal preference down the throats of anyone else.

Second, concerns have been raised regarding the usage of player shop signs to advertise gold selling sites. I question how this is any different from gold selling sites being advertised in chat, and I would expect either method to result in the banning of the responsible account. And since you have to be level 11 just to leave the Island of Dawn and purchase a player shop, one could argue that it is much simpler for gold sellers to use the chat channels as an advertising tool instead. I would also argue that chat messages also tend to reach a larger audience than a player shop positioned even in the busiest of areas.

Third, some people are under the mistaken impression that player shops and auction houses can not coexist, that one makes the other pointless. Other MMOs have proven that this is simply not true. FFXI Online, for examples, offers both of these tools and each has always done extremely well. Just like individual stores can exist in the same world as super malls, these are tools that ultimately benefit both the buyer and seller by offering more options to do your business.

Auction houses offer a one-stop-shop convenience that player shops can't compete with. Likewise, player shops offer the convenience of mobile accessibility that an auction house system can't. When used well (like any tool) player shops can be very beneficial to everyone. A clever player might, for example, set up a convenient potion selling shop in a popular BAM hunting area. This benefits the sellers who use player shops smartly, as well as benefiting those players in the area who are in need of convenient potions.

There has been so much work put into player shops already. They are so much more polished in Tera than they are in many other games, and I feel that it is a huge shame to be throwing out completed content that works, works well, is optional to use, and is highly appreciated by those players that opt to use them. And they add an extra layer of depth to a market system that would otherwise be fairly generic without it, regardless of how robust the auction house tools are made.

Please, please, please, EME, reconsider the decision to remove player shops. And if you're a player that likes player shops, let the developers know you want them in the game. If you're a player who doesn't like player shops, then simply disable them in your UI and never use them. There is really no need to insist they be removed from the game. This is feature that is already completed and working, and thus not stealing any additional development time away from other features that may be important to you.

I like player shops but I don't like the way they are done. They need to make a shop like area for them not just a field of player npcs scattered about. It would also be nice if they looked like actual merchants rather than a child's stuffed animal.

Agree, if needed limit the naming of the pets and/or where you can place them.

I was a little disappointed that they chose to remove them, but if they are going to improve the broker to allow you to buy like you could on your pet, then I don't mind too much.

Regarding your point about location of pet shops and placing it near BAM's. I thought there were only certain locations you were allowed to place your shops, I thought it was limited to towns, but I haven't tried to set it out in the world near monsters.

Quote: Antalicus on 03/14/2012, 09:42 AM - view

Quote: Zheom on 03/14/2012, 09:43 AM

I agree that steps with naming restrictions can and probably should be taken. The amount of text a player can squeeze into these boxes seems a bit on the side of overkill. I think that perhaps shop owners should be forced to create much shorter sale signs, with the option of having more in-depth text displayed once the player is actually interacting with the shop.

I know, for example, that some people like to use shops to campaign. And so the trick would be to catch a voters eye with a fairly short slogan, hopefully encouraging them to interact with the pet and read the larger speeches we're seeing now.

I would also not mind seeing a limit on where these shops can be placed. I'm not talking about disallowing them from whole sections of the city. Rather.. for example, that picture above showing the plaza. If player shops were only allowed in that white bordered area in the center I think it would leave the plaza looking like it had a much cleaner flow. At the same time, I would also think about forcing players to dismount horses in those same designated areas to reduce crowding.

Of course, these designated areas would have to be all over the place, because one of the strengths of player shops is that they can be placed more strategically and conveniently than the auction house. The layouts of these designated spaces could take any shape (strips along the edges of narrower roads in the city, clusters of small squares, larger areas like the image above, etc).

I'm not sure how well it would work, but it might be interesting to see. Obviously this is something players can do themselves without the developers having to invest time in it, but good luck making that happen.

As for the complaint about the "stuffed animal" look, I would normally find it odd, but we're running around alongside beaver/rabbit/dog/cat/teddy-bear player characters, so.. they don't really seem too out of place to me. Maybe this just comes down to the seller strategy. A seller who chooses a player shop that looks like a hat-wearing-cat might lose your potential business on silly-factor alone, where as that same silly-factor might attract a customer over a shop that uses one of the female shop avatars.

Like the guy above, I won't mind too much if the broker now has a "buy list" option. That was the best reason to use the pets; a lot of people didn't know that the crap in their inventory could be sold to other players instead of NPC-ed.

The pet shop is similar to FFXI Bazaar so I like it. I wish those ppls setup thier shop somewhere like Velika outkirst instead in main City...Imagine over hundred of pet shops gather in a little spot >.< in Velika when Tera hit live.

I would really like buy listing option on broker if pet shops are removed. It's a lot easier to round up resources with a buy shop/listing than waiting for people to put up a few resources at a time on broker (if they even bother to at all).

I like the the pet shops and I even like the way they look. I would be sad to see them go.

Put back player shops but restrict them to a dedicated area! They were useful and many of us liked them.