I don’t know. I’m a universal shopper. Shop looks matter absolutely zero to me. It could be fancy and chiseled and leds guiding me or it could be an open air mall with nothing but stands and baskets. I don’t care about the looks. If I see the item I want to buy or sale I inspect it myself. People can have it well advertised on a plaque in front of the item and I’ll still inspect it. Natural distrust of everything I guess lol. I just want the transaction done with.
That’s what makes me think it’s not shop design. But that’s just proof of how differently you and I and everyone in between plays the game so differently.
Which to me seems like just being able to find the shop to begin with is what the answer is.
And thats all part of the user experience too… on top of the other stuff that people may or may not care about… there is of course “can i get to it? does it have what i need in the amount i want? can i get back here easily?”
If the answer is no to any of those, or if its an effort in any other way… you lose the repeat customer.
I wonder if we did add a map of shops etc… how would people react when they got there and there was 5 of an item on the stand but they wanted to buy 50?
Would we need current pricing and stock levels too? And how easy would that be to search through 1000s of records?
I think the more info the better, without spoiling the user experience of traveling and discovering places of course. I guess it depends upon how much data the devs can or want to put on the list/device/etc. I would imagine if they put too much, it would slow things down or be too cumbersome.
I’m with you, but I still disagree on design being the primary issue. I think you said it earlier in this conversation about being casual.
You need to play this game pretty actively to keep a shop open, or get to a point where you have the capitol to keep your stocks rolling. You’re 100% right if the basket/stand isn’t stocked you have a high risk to lose the repeat customer.
But you need that customer to play long enough to have that coin to start buying with in the first place. So design is definitely a factor I agree, but the game needs need to get the player to that point naturally to begin with. Somewhere in between the player quits the game. If those players dont quit then they almost always get involved, at least 50% hand trade according to the PS4 goes.
When I first played I did everything myself. And i learned everything myself. I would Google everything in hope to find info. Back then there was no jivita or of ovis videos. I think this game couldn’t get any easier for learners…it was hard back a year ago even…everyone new started off the SAME EVERYONE is equal. No one has any advantage over anyone else…just do what most successful players did…they went and slogged it out…I used one shot hammers for months. Then chisel the walls so i can look for diamonds…Yea players playing for a year do have the advantage of knowledge…so go play for a year and learn like everybody else…I don’t want this game just hand over everything that it’s so easy…it would become boring in a month… newbies have awesome advantages of knowledge out there.even spreadsheet… man its just so easy…It’s all there if you want it… also if making money is easy. Doesn’tthat also mean people are active…It’s not dead… New players are involved already…I don’t get this topic at all
Then you find a group where players like to do what you do not and you do what they do not and you just trade between the group. Works really well but requires that you have been in game long enough to know other players. So it does not work for a new player.
I do not think finding a shop is the only reason to explore so changes to how players buy and sell do not eliminate exploring in game. Reasons to explore:
1 - You are looking for ground items to gather
2 - You are looking for resources to mine
3 - You are checking out an exo to figure out what might be available as far as resources
4 - You want to construct and atlas and get the xp for exploring an entire planet.
5 - You are looking for a spot to build your workshop, mall, shop, slide, home, or Fortress Of Solitude
6 - You WANT to look at player builds
Still plenty of reasons to explore even if (and it is a big if) they eliminated it from buying and selling.
edit: Sorry left out hunting as a reason to explore, especially if hunting road runners.
This is a big thing for me. I like to explore. For me, it’s the most rewarding part of boundless (when balanced with a view of effort required vs enjoyment).
When I want to buy or sell something, then buying/selling is what I want to be doing, not exploring.
I feel like you are saying the game is being asked to be made easier. Is that what you think this topic is aimed at? That’s not it. It needs to be more refined so we keep more players. New people are coming in at the same rate people are quitting. The people I have played with cited making being able to find stuff and then having money to buy the stuff.
You used the term ‘slogged it out’. That does not sound like fun. Maybe that’s a reason people don’t stick with the game.
The tools to success are already in the game, they just simply need to be explained better in an updated tutorial experience.
This… though I love mining/collecting and spend much of my time with that (very relaxing), the exploration aspect is the most rewarding - finding gorgeous landscapes and mind-blowing builds. Though I sometimes do combine them, like if I go to Ultima for shopping for example, I might pick a random portal to go through afterwards and just start wandering. Though my collecting is mostly in places I know well now, I’ll also sometimes go on expeditions to new areas for it… and of course, all the exos are fresh exploration and collecting territory.
On a different note, related to @superman101’s post earlier, yeah, if you totally wiped me down to a totem, give me half a day and I could still have a good bit of coin from collecting, particularly from smashing Desert Swords just on T1s and selling the Spicy Beans to baskets, but from other stuff on them as well.
It’s impossible to unlearn what we already know. We all can do that same experience. What I think would be an interesting community event is to pay for the game for a friend and get them to play. Don’t offer them any help unless they ask for it. Let them play the game out organically unless they ask for help.
I think it would show a fresh perspective on weak areas of the game, it has for me. Some have continued to play but they are far fewer than those who continued to play.
That weekend during the free weekend was great when we had over 1000 players active in the game. We lost a ridiculous majority of them who didn’t want to commit to buying the game. There was a host of reasons for that. Some of those are still reasons today based on those I recently bought the game for and they quit playing after a bit. Finding where things are was one of the biggest complaints.
Anyways, I’m definitely repeating myself so going to exit the topic now as I’ve discussed my concerns and hopes. Thank you for the discussion. Cant wait for the day we see hundreds of planets in the sky.
From the screenshots you posted they still require effort on some level (meaning time played) and from what I can tell are not a result of “logging in.” So while it might appear they are the same, they are in fact different from what I understand. The requirement to receive the 100 coin is playing the game not existing in (or as I said “logging into”) the game.
A Universal Basic Income in Boundless would be that each day or month a Human Player has an Alt account they would have money delivered to that Alt. No other activity would be required.
Now there are different forms of Universal Basic Income but the above statement basically is how it would relate in Boundless. For reference since some maybe don’t understand what is referenced in my quote:
Thanks for sharing some of the thoughts from the PM. I never gave exact examples in the PM, but felt I should here since people seem to be questioning the point I was making.
Warping to a planet without the use of a portal network
Warping to an Exo without a friend or someone to help you get there
Guild Buffs
For point 1 you cannot in any way play the game and get to another planet without coin. In the beginning part of the game you get dailies, but those become harder and coin requirements for warping scale pretty severely. So there is more friction to play by using personal warps. You are forced into a MMO requirement up until the Chryso existed. Now it is just more grind to support warping instead of changing personal Warps to use “resources.”
For point 2 it is basically the same above minus the more set cost. I’ve never done the research to find out exactly the amount of Chryso effort that is needed to sustain a consistent Exo travel schedule. Either way it is still a more friction based activity than Warps being supported via “resources.”
For point 3, obviously things become easier unless you are a small guild. It is just a my own view that guild buffs should be more of a “recipe” to create them than a simple coin sink. It makes no sense in game play. We have a recipe for buffs on Food and Potions. Why would we even entertain “coin” usage for Guild buffs instead of linking them to the same crafting type setup we have for the rest of the game.
i would say its still the case the Chryso is something you would be able to build at mid-late game unless you know it exists before hand and put effort into getting it as soon as possible
and you cant really say “well just buy it form someone” cuz thats a literal chicken egg thing how do you get the enough coin to buy the thing that helps you get coin(maybe they already spent it on tools,food whatever) again unless you are clairvoyant or spent time reading the forums before playing the game
expanding on what i mean with the Chryso its a book in a huge #@! wall of books the player would need to do something like this in the picture try and find the white x i made on one of the books…
once they find it they then got to read the description and not just glance over it in order to know they can make coin form the machine
there is nothing highlighting the fact the machine exists outside of a player going out of there way to look at all the things they can build at each step that they unlock a new crafting tier
Well read it …It’s excactly what i am saying… I believe suggestions made will make the game easier…Yes might not be the attention. Anyway it’s only my opinion and at the end of the day these changes will never happen anyway… but I really enjoyed seeing peoples involvement… please also remember i mean no negative energy… I really enjoy seeing other people’s views.
Though I sometimes do combine them, like if I go to Ultima for shopping for example, I might pick a random portal to go through afterwards and just start wandering. Though my collecting is mostly in places I know well now, I’ll also sometimes go on expeditions to new areas for it… and of course, all the exos are fresh exploration and collecting territory. 
