Tip.it Times: 19 July 2009

[Racheya]

People who don't the the first article continues to fail in merch clans.

 

 

 

I'm open to constructive criticism, but have no idea what this means.

 

Good job only replying to a thought that wasn't well formed. If you want criticism go to the first page, you'll find plenty there,but instead you decided to mock someone for a mix up,well done.

 

A mix up? =/ It makes no sense.

 

 

 

Also I didn't feel as though he was mocking, he was just saying that he didn't know what it means.

[stormveritas]

 

Good job only replying to a thought that wasn't well formed. If you want criticism go to the first page, you'll find plenty there,but instead you decided to mock someone for a mix up,well done.

 

 

 

:thumbdown:

 

Troll much?

 

 

 

There were a few comments on there not being much "new" or ground-breaking regarding merchanting, but there isn't much to build on there. If you're already well versed in merchanting or don't think it's an issue, there's no counter that would make you enjoy such an article. I'd consider that perspective for future articles when deciding upon topics (far and away the toughest part of the process).

 

 

 

Additionally, there was some word that it was a complaint piece, but that wasn't the point at all.

 

 

 

Conversely, I could have just as easily acknowledged some pleasant compliments, but chances are you wouldn't have received that well either.

 

 

 

As a writer, you have to go in understanding that not everyone is going to like ANY article, but you should still read the feedback to understand how well you're connecting. It's really not so complicated.

[spacheco]

People who don't the the first article continues to fail in merch clans.

 

 

 

I'm open to constructive criticism, but have no idea what this means.

 

 

 

It means that they fail at writing out complete thoughts. I can't figure it out either.

 

 

 

 

 

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Maulmachine]

 

Good job only replying to a thought that wasn't well formed. If you want criticism go to the first page, you'll find plenty there,but instead you decided to mock someone for a mix up,well done.

 

 

 

:thumbdown:

 

Troll much?

 

 

 

There were a few comments on there not being much "new" or ground-breaking regarding merchanting, but there isn't much to build on there. If you're already well versed in merchanting or don't think it's an issue, there's no counter that would make you enjoy such an article. I'd consider that perspective for future articles when deciding upon topics (far and away the toughest part of the process).

 

 

 

Additionally, there was some word that it was a complaint piece, but that wasn't the point at all.

 

 

 

Conversely, I could have just as easily acknowledged some pleasant compliments, but chances are you wouldn't have received that well either.

 

 

 

As a writer, you have to go in understanding that not everyone is going to like ANY article, but you should still read the feedback to understand how well you're connecting. It's really not so complicated.

 

Excuse me? If you think that I'm a troll, or that my message came across as trolling I am sorry. However, when authors only address the criticism that doesn't require much to answer I get annoyed. It might have been better to address the criticism on the first page so that a discussion could be formed about the article. By pointing out the lack of content in the above poster's comment no discussion can really be formed, nor can ideas be discussed.

[Big_Stingman]

Did that say something about a MS song? What song?

 

 

 

Btw nice read! As usual.

[Racheya]

Did that say something about a MS song? What song?

 

 

 

Btw nice read! As usual.

 

[yt]3Be6YE5hy9A[/yt]

 

 

 

It's pretty hot :)

[Serpent Eye]

The first article was interesting! :thumbup:

 

 

 

I just recently found out about the DYK for this week a few days ago, so it's nice that it was chosen; I think a surprising number of players have no idea that there's a teleport lever in Edge.

 

 

 

A large amount of people know a great deal about RuneScape, but not everyone notices small details like a lever tucked into a dark corner of an abandoned building. :thumbup:

[Sy_Accursed]

The first article was interesting! :thumbup:

 

 

 

I just recently found out about the DYK for this week a few days ago, so it's nice that it was chosen; I think a surprising number of players have no idea that there's a teleport lever in Edge.

 

 

 

A large amount of people know a great deal about RuneScape, but not everyone notices small details like a lever tucked into a dark corner of an abandoned building. :thumbup:

 

 

 

I agree that its a small detail that may not be noticed.

 

 

 

but I think given that it was in the news only a month ago its still too new to truely warrant the DYK status, as unless you're lazy and don't read the news its right there to be read.

[quelmotz]

Decent articles as usual.

 

 

 

The price manipulation was just a fluffed up "Price manipulation is wrong and bad, and Jagex has to do something against it to stop it ruining the other players' gameplay." But the fluff was very good, I'll have to admit. Coming up with a reasonably long article from that core sentence is something few writers can do.

[mara_planter]

The harm from price-fixing I am most concerned about is the effect on low- and mid-level players. It makes the game very frustrating for them. As a high-level skiller, I try to circumvent it by selling items to them at the "stable" price, the price before the clan started its manipulation, but the trade limits make that difficult.

 

 

 

In particular, the increase in price of prayer potions since last year (which I don't think is due to merching) has affected their play. As a high-level player who is owed a favor by My Arm, I benefit greatly from this increase, but I don't think it benefits the game. Last summer when the price was around 4K, I helped several friends get through difficult quests with a handful of free/reduced price pots. This summer prayer pots are over 12K, and that's if they're even available on the G.E.. I am able to sell to my friends directly to solve the supply problem, but can't give them much of a discount because of the trade limits.

 

 

 

I think there are a couple of things Jagex could do to discourage clan manipulation of prices. There are often players in the G.E. openly advertising the clans. Their contingent of player mods could be collecting those names (although sometimes I wonder if this is being done on hacked accounts), and they could monitor those clans. If this is a broken rule, they could at least ban the players doing it openly. The other is to monitor prices on the G.E. for unexplained [bleep]es, and tweak the game to temporarily increase the supply of targetted items.

 

 

 

I do think merchants play a useful role in Runescape, but one guiding principle of an MMORPG has to be that your fun doesn't come at the expense of others. Let's ALL go home happy.

 

 

 

~Mara

[stormveritas]

 

Excuse me? If you think that I'm a troll, or that my message came across as trolling I am sorry.

 

 

 

Fair enough; no worries.

 

 

 

However, when authors only address the criticism that doesn't require much to answer I get annoyed. It might have been better to address the criticism on the first page so that a discussion could be formed about the article. By pointing out the lack of content in the above poster's comment no discussion can really be formed, nor can ideas be discussed.

 

 

 

I actually agree in principle to what you're saying here. I try to listen to what people say (of course, with a grain of salt, for my own sanity), but in this case was looking for criticism that could be expanded upon.

 

 

 

The first page complaints weren't unfounded; the topic itself isn't extremely polarizing and there aren't too many championing the cause of merch guilds. Were I to have written the article on Thursday (and not Tuesday), the changes to PKing would have been much more controversial.

 

 

 

It looked like the poster in the original thing I quoted had something to say and badly typo'd his central claim; I was simply trying to see if there was some new perspective (good or bad) on the article that I could use.

[lordkafei]

I didn't like the first article. It basically was: "price manipulation is bad, Jagex should do something against it." I thought everyone knew and agreed on that already.

 

 

 

Not everyone thinks the G.E. should behave like some huge fixed-price flea market. But as this is the umpteenth "merchants are bad, Jagex must save us from them" topic, I see no point in re-hashing the arguments for / against.

[jedisquire]

I loved the merchanting article Because I recently witnessed that happen with Pirate's hats I got one from a clue and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had raised 120% in the last week! I promptly sold it and after this weekend I see that the prices are starting to drop. I wondered what could have caused this rise and drop and now I know! But I have already found out the did you know 2 days before sadly, I might add that you cant go from ardougne to edgeville that way.

[platinum1004]

views on merchanting need to be more balanced

 

 

 

manipulation is bad - although you can make a short term less greedy profit on it. to avoid the harm dont except items it trade that are obviously merched up

 

 

 

maybe an article on step by step how to spot a merched item

 

 

 

now merchanting is good as it actually creates a stable price, as items fall (as they will do) it is merchanter that step in and buys up the excess thus creating stability for many items

[chettyharish]

On regards of Honey penny can u guys tell me where Jagex stated "Jagex has stated for the record that actions made to intentionally skew prices are against the rules" I would like to know this where is it on forums

[rainbowbody]

Price manipulation and the merchant clans:

 

 

 

One advantage the clans have is that they can watch for the moment of price changes on selected items better than ordinary players and take advantage of the change timing by selling at the moment the change happens before most correct their offers that have gone out of range. You only need one to watch and then trigger the behavior that triggers the manipulation while keeping it mostly between clan members for the ramp up for a sell off at peak.

 

 

 

This part of it could be mostly eliminated if Jagex would implement something I have asked for ever since the GE came out. There should be a way to make offers that stay current because they are relative offers pinned to the actual minimum, market and maximum prices plus an offset calculation in the mx + b form, mb giving a percentage offset and b giving a constant offset. Such offers would keep their place in the offer queue. It has always seemed obvious to me that not doing that creates special manipulation conditions that need not be there. But Jagex has never shown any interest in closing this one.

[meili]

On the Mechscape article:

 

 

 

It is inevitable that Mechscape will "cannibalize" players from Rs if MS becomes successful. Most people would not have the time to play two MMORPGs and a lot of RS players so people will be leaving RS for Mechscape.

 

 

 

The one thing I hope and trust Jagex has done is to make this new game RWT-proof. It can be done. :P

[armybuilder]

Tbh i wouldnt be too worried about Mechscape coming out okay there may be a loss of players in runescape to go to mechscape but maybe there just trying it out. Would someoen who's spent so long at one game just give it up? I dont think so.

 

Also theres the fact that its two different groups of people its aimed at. Sci-fi vs Fantasy two very different things. Dont know much about mechscape but there you go +)

 

 

 

As for the merching article we know its a problem. But at the moment in time its going to be hard unless jagex bucks tehre idea's up to do anything.

[Ravenkana]

On the Mechscape article:

 

 

 

It is inevitable that Mechscape will "cannibalize" players from Rs if MS becomes successful. Most people would not have the time to play two MMORPGs and a lot of RS players so people will be leaving RS for Mechscape.

 

 

 

The one thing I hope and trust Jagex has done is to make this new game RWT-proof. It can be done. :P

I'm more concerned that Mechscape will be a flop. If it fails, Jagex could take quite a loss and would be forced to cut staff from both Runescape and Funorb.

[Tritous]

Price manipulation and the merchant clans:

 

 

 

This part of it could be mostly eliminated if Jagex would implement something I have asked for ever since the GE came out. There should be a way to make offers that stay current because they are relative offers pinned to the actual minimum, market and maximum prices plus an offset calculation in the mx + b form, mb giving a percentage offset and b giving a constant offset. Such offers would keep their place in the offer queue. It has always seemed obvious to me that not doing that creates special manipulation conditions that need not be there. But Jagex has never shown any interest in closing this one.

 

 

 

certainly one of the more interesting ge improvement ideas i've seen. I'm sure there are plenty of people (younger players in particularly) who wouldn't understand that, but it's still a good one.

 

 

 

TBH...merchant clans...did that article say anything we didn't already know? no. But it was about time someone opened the lid on the topic and brought the awaited argument to a head. Merchant clans are ruining things for a lot of people, and something needs doing about it.

 

 

 

Maybe the worst is the fact that merchant clans are nothing but outright scammers. Consider this: they profit: that profit comes from someone else's loss. Now you could argue like in the past that if someone is willing to pay their prices that's all well said and done (not my view, but some hold it), but they are also scamming other independent merchants in a cartel like way. Those not part of the clans get demolished: They try to ride the rising price but when the clan starts to dump it's too late. Their standing offers end up as the destination of all those goods, and as the price crashes they make huge losses while the clans just grin. Even within clans it's a well known problem of people dumping early, even leaders dumping first before telling the clan to, ensuring their own profit at the expensive of their own so called partners.

 

 

 

Since it's dishonest scamming it should of course be opposed. I found it interesting that the article said "Similarly, Jagex has stated for the record that actions made to intentionally skew prices are against the rules". Well that was certainly the old rule, but has there been a new jagex stance on dealing with merchant clans now? If they know the chatroom of these clans, why haven't they got their act together? I've never been one of these people who complains about jagex or rants on forums, but this is one of a couple of areas where i think their lack of active resolve is a little frustrating and is leading to the continued escalation of a problem.

[Earth_Poet]

Tbh i wouldnt be too worried about Mechscape coming out okay there may be a loss of players in runescape to go to mechscape but maybe there just trying it out. Would someoen who's spent so long at one game just give it up? I dont think so.

 

Also theres the fact that its two different groups of people its aimed at. Sci-fi vs Fantasy two very different things. Dont know much about mechscape but there you go +)

 

 

 

My theory is this: Some will leave Runescape to play Mechscape exclusively. Some will try Mechscape, not like it, and return to Runescape exclusively. Some will straddle both games. It's also hopeful that Mechscape will draw new players because, as you put it, they are aimed at two different groups.

 

 

 

It's almost impossible to tell what the exact numbers will be until we see what Mechscape is all about. If the game were a complete failure, then it would be a serious black eye for Jagex, but if the game were a mega success, then it could potentially dwarf Runescape. It'll most likely fall somewhere in between these two extremes though. The article was intended to address some of the concerns already out there with Mechscape, not create more concern. No, I don't think Runescape will be shutting down any time soon, because it's already proven to generate millions of dollars. But yes, we are paying for this new game's development, at least indirectly.