Why [artisan] NPCs Need a "Going Out of Business" Sale

Back in the (as some people no doubt think of it) "golden age" before traders, after the (again, according to some people) "dark ages" before armor crafters, people had a problem when it came time to get that Droknar's Forge Armor, or, Grenth forbid, 15k armor: where to get the rare crafting materials required? Sure the common materials were pretty easy to get your hands on, and you never needed that many of the odder common materials (feathers, scales, etc.), and even if you didn't have enough, it wasn't exactly expensive to buy some from another player. Rare crafting materials, on the other hand, were mighty hard to come by. Sure you might have picked up a couple on your journeys, but the kind you needed, in large enough quantity to make your armor? Pretty unlikely. This left you with trying to either farm them in huge quantities, a time-consuming process, or buy tons of them from other players, an expensive and time-consuming process. Thankfully for us, ANet wisely included [artisan] NPCs, who would make these difficult-to-find rare materials for us, if only we'd supply the basic stuff (easy to come by), and a little extra to cover labor.

Then ANet introduced [trader] NPCs, to keep prices under control. Suddenly, instead of having to hike out to the wilderness to have some crazy hermit produce rare materials for you, they could be bought for a very reasonable price at any fashionable shopping center (face it people, Bergen Hot Springs never has been and never will be the cultural or economic center of Kryta, even if it is a lovely vacation spot). Unfortunately for the hard-working but old-fashioned [artisan] NPCs, the [trader] NPCs deal in such large quantities that, like a Tyrian Wal-Mart, they can easily underprice the honest [artisan] NPCs' mom & pop operations, though the traders sometimes take advantage of the remoteness of the artisans to price-gouge the populace, particularly on ever-popular parchment. The Industrial Revolution (a great name for a band, incidentally) strikes again.

While the socioeconomic status of these country yokels doesn't particularly concern me (I'm a heartless bastard when it comes to fictional people lacking both personalities and backstories), the sight of them holding up their pitiful "will craft for food" signs every time I run past is becoming tiresome. Thus, I propose that the Tyrian government (ANet, in the vernacular) step in and either subsidize these poor souls so that they can reduce their prices, or provide some sort of retirment package for them and get them off the streets.

================================================== ===

OOC explanation of petition:
Prices for the same rare material vary wildly between [artisan] NPCs and [rare material trader] NPCs. To make up for the difficulty of getting to them (and it should be somewhat difficult; Artisan Daved should be relocated), [artisan] NPCs should offer a 10% discount off the [rare material trader] price for the same item (they should assume you bought your common materials from the [material trader]). Since trader prices are dynamicly based on player trading, [artisan] prices should be too. If ANet can't do that (I'm not sure about the mechanics behind trader prices), then maybe trader prices should be artificially adjusted and the [artisan] NPCs should be eliminated entirely.

Materials (trader price | artisan price*): trader % discount/mark-up
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bolt of Linen (190gp| 250gp = 200gp + 5 plant fibers): 24% discount
Bolt of Damask (400gp | 300gp = 200gp + 5 plant fibers + 5 dust): 33% mark-up
Steel Ingot (190gp | 620gp = 200gp + 10 iron + 1 charcoal): ~70.5% discount
Deldrimor Steel Ingot (750gp | 570gp = 200gp + 10 iron + 5 dust + 1 charcoal): ~31.5% mark-up
Lump of Charcoal (230gp | 350gp = 200gp + 10 wood): ~34% discount
Leather Square (180gp | 150gp = 50gp + 5 hides): 20% mark-up
Elonian Leather Square (220gp | 200gp = 50gp + 5 hides + 5 dust): 10% mark-up
Roll of Parchment (170gp | 95gp = 20gp + 5 wood): ~79% mark-up
Roll of Vellum (200gp | 145gp = 20gp + 5 wood + 5 dust): ~38% mark-up
Spiritwood Plank (100gp | 275gp = 100gp + 5 wood + 10 dust): ~64% discount

*artisan prices courtesy of GuildWiki

artisan prices are calculated assuming you bought common materials from a trader, free-market prices generally ~75% of trader prices

I don't really mind

Sounds good to me, I generally dont bother with materials any more, I got my droks armor and I know i can never afford the 15k so im done. But ido like the suggestion, it makes those artisans worthwhile to get to.

Mmm, Damask and Deldrimor steel is worth seeing the artisan for, but things like charcoal and linen are way too expensive to make yourself - I'd agree that their prices need looking at!

Speaking of Material prices, has anyone else noticed Wood Planks price plummeting?

It's not even worth salvaging anymore, as it costs more to slavage it (4 gold to salvage with reg.) + you lose the price of the item! (Example, Charr Carving, worth 3 gold!)

That's 7 Gold essentially spent. Last time I checked, Wood Planks were worth 5 gold each.

Materials are becoming a Gold Sink!!!

There seems to a be a large descrepancy between the average materials and the ability to acquire them. I've have to start out saving them up if I want to use them at a later time. Infact, thats the majority of what my save box is being used for.

It also seems to be useless to sell a large part of the goods as well.

/signed.