- Justification
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Merchant is a mostly passive skill/class that once the crafter has established their storeront has no further bearing on the character aside from how many items can be stored. Unlike Image Designer, which is an active skill set but is still getting its skill point costs reduced, Merchant is entirely passive.
- Motivation
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Merchant is not even really an active skill. It's literally just determining your vendors available to choose from, whether you can dress them or not, how many you can have, and how much each can store. It should be able to be mastered along with 2 advanced classes like Armorsmith/Weaponsmith without sacrificing any Artisan skills
- Proposal
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To reduce Skill Point costs for Merchant in line with costs for Image Designer allowing a dedicated crafter with 2 master professions to still master Merchant without having to sacrifice any of their Artisan points
Skill point requirements for merchant should be reduced to fall in line with the changes being made to Image Designer that allow it to be mastered without sacrificing any Entertainer skills.
Merchant is not an active skill. It's literally just determining your vendors and shop. Merchant allows you more options for selling your stuff. Anyone can sell on the bazaar. A merchant can have a shop and a lot more vendors. They can choose from more types of vendors. They can change what a vendor is wearing. They can put a lot more on a vendor. But is that really worth the same skill points as a crafting skill takes?
Once you've placed a shop and set up your vendors, most crafters never really use those skills again. They're totally passive. Sure, your vendors can hold a LOT more than a non-merchant, and you have a wide variety of vendors to choose from, and you can change their clothes, but once you've done that, then what good are the skills past that? The only merchant skills you use after setting up your shop, placing all the vendors you're allowed and dressing them, is the vendor item limit increase. That's it.
And that should cost the same amount of skill points as mastering Weaponsmith, that you will constantly use those skills every day? Or Armorsmith? Or DE? Or SW? Arch? And so on.
ID is being changed so you can have it mastered along with Dancer, Musician and Ent and ID is a more active profession/skill set than Merchant is. Merchant should be treated the same way as far as Skill Points goes.
Merchant is not an active skill. It's literally just determining your vendors and shop. Merchant allows you more options for selling your stuff. Anyone can sell on the bazaar. A merchant can have a shop and a lot more vendors. They can choose from more types of vendors. They can change what a vendor is wearing. They can put a lot more on a vendor. But is that really worth the same skill points as a crafting skill takes?
Once you've placed a shop and set up your vendors, most crafters never really use those skills again. They're totally passive. Sure, your vendors can hold a LOT more than a non-merchant, and you have a wide variety of vendors to choose from, and you can change their clothes, but once you've done that, then what good are the skills past that? The only merchant skills you use after setting up your shop, placing all the vendors you're allowed and dressing them, is the vendor item limit increase. That's it.
And that should cost the same amount of skill points as mastering Weaponsmith, that you will constantly use those skills every day? Or Armorsmith? Or DE? Or SW? Arch? And so on.
ID is being changed so you can have it mastered along with Dancer, Musician and Ent and ID is a more active profession/skill set than Merchant is. Merchant should be treated the same way as far as Skill Points goes.