Specialist System in 3.0

[Gillionaire]

snip

Oh definitely, if you're level headed enough to identify the strategy for what it is.. I'm sure you wouldn't be one of the people falling into those traps..

But sometimes when I'm at a price war against somebody, it does make me worry about how deep their pockets go
Once again, if MB isn't your game, you probably wouldn't be as concerned about that as myself, which is a healthy way to go about it.. But this is MMO and we're not exactly the most reasonable bunch of the gaming World and knowing the few no-lifers that are into the MB even more so than myself, it does make me wonder what effect specialization will bring about.


P.S. and Yes, Jenova definitely needs more people, I think we're the second lowest pop in the entire NA data center and most of my scenarios do have exacerbated consequences from the lack of supply we suffer from.

[Aeyis]

Same here with Zodiark, but for the EU datacenter. On my server market dominance tends to last longer, because of the low supply.

Now do tell, why I should I wage a trade war with someone? I haven't needed to, nor will I, because again, (and I presume for most) dominating the MB is not my game.

I guess it depends a lot on the server. If someone is dominating a market here it can be hard to get even one sale in, or at a reasonable price.
The effects of specialization will no doubt also vary from server to server.

[Thrustie]

That's actually a very dangerous trap.. I've driven a few people out of market for doing exactly that.
When I sell about 50% above cost, they would try to buy out, and hike the price.. but the problem is.. To a very hardcore crafter like myself.. I craft about 10+ hrs a day because my work affords me the option to just click a macro every minute.. and yet I can't really do much else since I'm working.. so I'm sorta forced to craft and chat.. I can actually handle the entire server's demand.. Maybe 80% on weekends. In fact, because of continuing competition, price will eventually drop down to the point you bought the items at anyway.. So if you want to resell things, it has to be done FAST.. Especially right after an expansion.


So if you try to buy me out, I'll keep feeding you overstock and while my price point remains the same, your price point will get bloated.. Unless you wise up and sell at a loss to get rid of your overstock, you're never gonna get out of the market..

and that's how most people maintain their grip on MB..

While all this is happening, if you happen to be locked into a specific market because of specialization.. It'll be very difficult for you..

See to me you kinda reinforce what SE is trying to accomplish. Market board Moguls like you already control the market today. I've competed with guys like you and it's not very fun. I'm specialized in LTW/WVR and while I enjoy the MB, I don't really love camping out at the summoning bell. I still make a tidy profit by undercutting at an opportune time like when the moguls are taking a dump or maybe a 30 minute power nap. Or when a customer is actually shockingly astute enough to recognize that my Kirikimu Brais in the city they're currently in is actually cheaper than buying the pair listed 100 Gil cheaper in a different city.

With specializations, what changes? Well maybe a few moguls are deterred and either hang it up or focus one or two markets. And maybe a few moguls level 7 alts and do what they did before. What changes for me? I gear a couple specializations and do what I did before. But MAYBE there's a few less moguls undercutting my stuff. And for the ones who are still around, maybe it buys me some extra time to make a couple sales while they're pooping, power napping AND jumping alts and checking retainers!

[Gillionaire]

snip

Well, to be fair, there's no reason people like me would stop competing on the MB.. Only thing specialization will bring about is lock you into the competition for however long the delay is in switching your specialization instead of just being able to change your market and move on.
That same limitation will be imposed on many of us, not ALL omnicrafters are going to be running 8 characters.. So the way I see it, GSM/WVR/LTW will see some very stiff competition among many people, but the market will be controlled by only a few (i.e. most people will be one of those three specializations but won't make any money off of it). Everything else will have an inflated price over all because of their lack of supply..

Well maybe a few moguls are deterred and either hang it up or focus one or two markets.

That part is what I think will be most detrimental.. It'll make the competition more fierce than currently is because the pool gets smaller.



P.S. Btw, the scenario I described regarding my undercutting tactic doesn't occur all around the MB. At least not on Jenova. That kind of competition ONLY exists in highly specialized markets. I am already a specialist if you consider that I only sell 2-3 items on the MB.. That's why that kind of competition exists, so in terms of my earning potential, specialization will probably do little to faze me once I figure out what market I'll be in. But, it WILL get rid of the generalists that compete a little here and a little there which I think is a healthy way to go about creating competition. i.e. 4 star gear right now is pretty stable because each person makes a few of this and a few of that.. If people were to specialize though, that could all change.


P.P.S. Can you imagine making your own off hands for crafting? Depending on the "delay" if it's in the order of a day or more, you may have to stick with BSM until you finish getting all 6 of your off hands.. While you're doing that, you probably aren't making any money and that also forces you into a progression path that is not very flexible to you because time will be yet another factor that need not exist.. It's already plenty difficult to gear yourself up from scratch, but at least right now you can choose which one to get first.. I suppose you can with specialization also, it'll just take longer because of the imposed delay.

[Ranzan]

But I thought our new tools and equipment will be tome items? How it sounds that's the direction they are going with crafts.

[Gillionaire]

But I thought our new tools and equipment will be tome items? How it sounds that's the direction they are going with crafts.

I think they're referring to the gear specialists can use, like the token items we have right now.. Since they wouldn't be able to make gear unless they're WVR/LTW etc.
So it's a way to provide a non gear crafting class to get one's respective crafting gear.

[Aeyis]

I've competed with guys like you and it's not very fun

What you are competing with right now is others (like yourself) that have specialized in those markets.
That's not going to change..but right now you can change markets at will; as long as you have other crafters leveled and geared.
You mention having LTW/WVR as ''specialization'' keep in mind that there's more specializations then just 3*/4*, or whatever your highest craftable level is.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

I've said it before, a few days (and many pages) ago .. forcing specialization upon people is NOT a good thing.

Many of the posts here are, thankfully, elaborating on why it is a bad thing.

Oh, to the person who asked if we should have to level all of our DoM/DoW classes to 50 before raiding ... I ask you why shouldn't we? Knowing how each class plays, what they need and expect out of your class and what they can offer your class, can only make for more competent play, at all levels.

[chidarake]

I have two alts,, neither are crafters or even very well levelled but if specialization works how people are predicting then I may consider levelling them up quickly.

that's assuming I don't just stop crafting, I don't mind the grinds too much but being locked out of crafting stuff would be really annoying.

As already stated we don't and cant craft all products and keep them selling anyways so we have to limit ourselves to what we would like to sell, ive been doing that for ages im like a supermarket selling the same crap each week with the occasional new item like the head of the dreadwyrm...<< still hasn't sold cus its grossly expensive but meh.


as for the people saying why jump to conclusions..? well your right we shouldn't but by voicing our concerns of how we wouldn't want to see it that gives SE feedback and maybe makes them reassess if they were intending to do exactly what people fear.

[Thrustie]

What you are competing with right now is others (like yourself) that have specialized in those markets.
That's not going to change..but right now you can change markets at will; as long as you have other crafters leveled and geared.
You mention having LTW/WVR as ''specialization'' keep in mind that there's more specializations then just 3*/4*, or whatever your highest craftable level is.

I can say quite assuredly that generally the ones who give me the most pain are nothing like me. The ones who are the worst are the ones who have 4 retainers full of goods from every market and literally have undercut my undercut 5 minutes after. They have every 4 star gear piece posted on the MB in every craft and the second they sell one, they have another posted.

Crafters like me check the MB once or twice a day to undercut and put up a few goods when there's low supply here and there.