How to Revamp NPC Merchants

Sentinel · March 2016

So we've all seen the NPC merchants. You know the ones- the ones who sell rather crappy blue quality arms and armor for prices that next to nobody is willing to pay (700gold for a blue low level curiass?).

So, what if instead of selling vanilla goods, these merchants held a random assortment of item set items for their zone level?

Hear me out.

Merchant NPCs of all types contain goods that, in many ways, are an attempt at an artificial market, with values that cannot possibly ever reflect the in game economy. The actual goods themselves are so easily made worthless through simple item drops, crafting, and trading that there are few reasons to ever actually buy anything from a merchant, save lockpicks (and of course, repairing ones armor). In essence, the functionality that these merchants have, that of being merchants, is rendered completely useless. One might say to themselves, 'the merchants really aren't thaat bad, I mean they've at least got stuff I can use if nothing else', but does anyone really ever use any items from the NPC merchants? When was the last time you bought a full set of gear from an armorer NPC, or bought those coffers that spit up items that drop from mobs?

So, there's a problem. Is it massive? No. Is it necessary to solve? No. Should we discuss how to solve it? Why not?

Item set items in NPC Merchants!

What if, instead of finding full sets of vanilla gear at prices nobody would ever buy them at, when you click on an NPC blacksmith, you find an assortment of randomized item set pieces fit to your level, in limited stock and variety. The majority of the pieces are in white quality, but interspersed are pieces in higher qualities and much higher prices as well. You notice a set that you would love to build into your character, but it requires more pieces than the blacksmith is selling, so you check another shop. Then you check another town, and at the end of the day, you have found all the pieces of an item set, but not through piles of dead harpies or bandits, but instead through traveling across the map to find merchants to buy from. You could live without the set, but its just so easily within reach, that you feel compelled to search for merchants to buy from.

But what does this actually mean?

Every item that is plain that is sold by an NPC would be replaced by a set piece item in the local levels.
The traits and quality would be randomized, but the price would be dependent on both.
There would be limited varieties and randomized assortments of each type of item set piece that is unique to each vendor; i.e. an armorer will sell items such as metalwork, but the pieces would be random.
Any rewards from coffers that cost gold (like those "unidentified heavy armor" boxes...) would instead hold a randomized set piece, these coffers also being limited in quantity and variety.
Some shops will have an RNG whose equation makes their goods of higher value more often, so some shops will have more usable items than others, but buying from a low quality shop would still have its usefulness
Merchants for weapons and armors would now have a larger purpose in the leveling aspect of the game, which at the moment, is no longer of much importance to ZOS or most players.
All set pieces would be BIP, as the market would flood with resold items if not, and the entire purpose of the system would be undercut.

How this can be done:

Assign each merchant some specific qualities that would be able to fit into an equation, such as shop type (armorer=metal weapons and armor, leatherworker=medium armor, etc), shop quality (low-mostly white quality, medium-some green & blue, and high- some purple), and shop quantity (how many items that will be generated each day) and shop level (the level range that the randomly generated items would fall in)
Select a wide assortment of dropped item sets that are particular to the local level, such as level 32 would often have red mountain as the medium armor set. Link the ranges these sets occur to corresponding merchants that occur in each zone.
Create an equation that can be applied to every merchant in order for their goods to be generated each day.
Coffee break.

What are the benefits?

While leveling, a player can now find a full set of an item set to build into their character in a meaningful way that does not involve grinding.
Merchants play a greater role.
More immersion.

Some drawbacks?

Many of these items that have previously been sold in minor guild stores for minuscule prices may now have to compete with an NPC market to sell these set items to low level players. Half-solution: Overprice NPC shop goods, let the items still be sold cheaper by players. (Player demand will lower as the supply will rise, but tbh, there is little demand at all for the majority of these sets).

So, what do you think? This was a spur of the moment idea, but if anyone would like to refine it, go ahead. Please keep any discussion civil- Not asking for ZOS to do something like this immediately if at all. Just wanted some consideration and a healthy discussion

spoqster · March 2016

I see the problem and I like the idea - certainly better than what we currently have.

I can offer another solution to the same problem, that I already posted about a few times back in the day: Let players sell their wares via the npc merchants.

It would work commission based, just like the guild stores. You post an item, it costs a listing fee, it has a listing period, you have a number of slots and when it sells the merchant takes a cut.
The ware and level categories are kept as they currently are with these npc merchants. That means if a player wants to sell a lvl 20 sword, he needs to put it up at a weapons dealer of appropriate level range (stores for all factions are merged). That way, if you are looking to buy a specific item, such as a lvl 20 set piece sword, you can go to one specific weapons dealer and there you will find the corresponding listings of all players of ESO on your server.

This way the set items would stay rare, but it would be much easier for players to get a full set together and actually use that set while they are leveling.