I bought my first player vendor in the crown store sale and it seems I had a very different view on what I could do with him. My idea was that over time I would put some NPC´s on my lot and would give them some text, orders to move etc. Which seems only to be possible with Conversationalists but not the Player Vendor. I can only put that in one place, give it orders to buy or sell something and decide if those orders go up into the zone vendor listing... As a roleplayer, can´t I order my Player Vendor to take a stroll along the lot border once in a while to move his feet? To go to sleep at night? To sit down for an hour when no orders are left to do or to take care of his workplace and sweep the floor using the emote?
Apply a pattern to make them look like a cash register, and use a conversationalist as the 'merchant'? That way you could still use the merchant to buy and sell, but have a suitably RP appearance with the conversationalist taking and acting like a merchant.
That is actually a very cool idea! It will unfortunately use up both NPC slots we are allowed on a Row Lot....
Which is why I need a sale that includes reduced upgrade costs for deeds... From an appearance point of view the solution looks good - however even when I can then program the Conversationalist to go for a schedule, the Player Vendor turned to a cash register will still be there and be open for business 24/7 instead of the "merchant" closing the shop when going to bed. Unless the Conversationalist has the ability to close down the cash register...? Is there no recipe for that? 100 coal, 1 Commisionfree Player Vendor, 1 Conversationalist used at the smelting station merge to a Player Vendor that can be programmed just like a Conversationalist when in addition burning Ravalox unused bed in a circle of black candles?
I think it very unlikely there is enough of a market for 'scheduled' vendors outside a minority of the RP world, and thus it seems very unlikely designing and testing such a thing is a sensible option to work on. In any mmo, you have to work around what's there, of course asking for changes is good but sometimes you just need to compromise. Much as I prefer the almost infinite variety of reactions and events you can get in a tabletop RPG, when I play computer games they are (and I think always will be despite AI) far, far short of that. Tying a conversationalist to the goods on your vendor sounds like a programming nightmare, different functionality of the two might work, perhaps, if you make 'schizophrenic' NPCs where the transaction of data on the server going to be through the conversationalist side of the NPC taking your money, buying from the vendor NPC, then returning the bought item to the purchaser. As tech stands, having one NPC than can both converse and buy/sell is just not there and is surely way, way down the list of the things many people need.
If a conversationalist can´t be a vendor and can´t shut down a vendor, is it perhaps possible that a conversationalist can lock a door to prevent access to a vendor?
Currently conversationalists can use Ink Script that has the ability to write very complex dialogue (but is rather simple to use). And we have access to 17 in game specific variables (like a players name for example). That is all they can currently do as of 05/17/2023. Until they possibly have further in game functions added, now is a very good time to get the basics down on Ink Script. That's what I've been doing, until I currently got distracted by something...
Believe me there is lists on what we want for player npc abilities. (nav points, agression change, loot options/ rewards, scheduled events) and more if you dig enough on it. but its all high fruit for most of that so could be a long way... never know though.
