DEVBLOG: THE ALIOTH EXCHANGE - discussion thread

[NQ-Wanderer]

Dear Noveans, we hope you're as excited as us by the introduction of the Alioth Exchange in upcoming update Mercury.

Let us know your thoughts in the thread below!

[Shredder]

Love the concept, will be interesting to see exactly how it’s been designed. Looks quite small at the moment, I hope the design is able to scale well

Edited June 14, 2022 by Shredder

[m0rrty]

I am a bit confused...

Did we build our own Showrooms, where we can sell constructs bigger than XS, and did we have a marker on map to invite players to visit our shops, didn't we?
 

It looks like with the Alioth Exchange we will have to abandon our showrooms and stick to this one, as this one will be surely visited by a huge number of players...

Why do you want us to stop using our own showrooms, or I understand this concept incorrectly?

 

Best regards

[Knight-Sevy]

You are not afraid that the concept is not real future proof in terms of workload for NQ?

From what I see it is not automated, and requires direct intervention from NQ.

Given the size of the current community, 16 elected seems ok. But I'm afraid that also corresponds to the current number of potential buyers.

But let's project ourselves into the future and the release with many more players and potential buyers. This will give really important exposure to those lucky enough to be selected.
This will also require a lot of work for NQ to regularly select new sellers...

16 booth, 32? 64? How are you going to manage these if the number of requests explodes? Why isn't there an automated perk system to relieve NQ.

[Nayropux]

Will slots be regularly reassigned to people who don't make the initial cut, or new shop owners come along?

 

Edit: This was mentioned in the support post for the Exchange, so I guess my question is: how often is the exchange refreshed?

Edited June 14, 2022 by Nayropux

[Msoul]

Looks great. I do have a couple quick questions:

1. Is the exterior parking at the exchange also subject to the mentioned parking rules?
2. You mention that store lots are currently first come first serve but can we still submit applications after the first 16 are already filled or do we need to wait for the next round?
3. Will store owners be permitted additional storage space for their merchandise or are they limited to whatever they can fit on their XS core?

[FatRillos]

Really? I could fill that joint up by myself. 

 

Thanks but no thanks. You're going to have to do better considering your showroom would be like a small shed compared to the actual showrooms we already have. 

 

But thanks for giving us something no one asked for as opposed to making those elements you said you didn't have time to make.

[W1zard]

For me it's sounds a bit strage how is the first words in this devblog is:
 

Quote

Dual Universe is home to a vibrant player-driven economy

In the devblog about NQ-driven solution.

For me NQ-driven and player-driven is quite opposite terms, and I don't see how this concept supports it.

Also 16 slots seems like way too little, do you think that at release, if there will be 10k+ active players 16 slots will be enough to promoting player-made content?
How much of these exchanges will be needed at release to satisfy all the players who want promote something?
Is this concept even scalable to reasonable amount?

Why not just integrate a player-driven shop system for constructs BPs and scripts ingame, the one that would replicate DU-Creators, but actually inside the game, with the ability to purchase a BP from there directly?

What if some players use this exchange for promoting their org, and there are much more orgs that would like to promote themselves, than just 16.
Would that mean that these NQ-selected 16 orgs would be dominant in player-counts, because NQ desided so? How is that a player-driven?

[CousinSal]

So much for player driven. Is this what NQ spends their time on? Something inferior to that players have already created years ago?

[Yoarii]

No no no no. This is all backwards. DU is supposed to be PLAYER-driven, not NQ-driven.

[NQ-Nyota]

38 minutes ago, W1zard said:

Also 16 slots seems like way too little, do you think that at release, if there will be 10k+ active players 16 slots will be enough to promoting player-made content?

 

Just to clarify, there are 16 lots per hall, and there are four halls in the Exchange, which is a total of 64 lots for the building.  I hope that helps!

[W1zard]

24 minutes ago, NQ-Nyota said:

 

Just to clarify, there are 16 lots per hall, and there are four halls in the Exchange, which is a total of 64 lots for the building.  I hope that helps!

Oh.. right... so 64 slots would be enough if there will be 10k+ active players at release? 😅

[Zarcata]

I miss information about character creation. The pure coloring of the equipment and the male/female selection as the only characteristic I feel for a mmo with such great ambitions as very daring.
So should this stay like this or are we still getting a proper character editor in DualUniverse? (I mean at release, not "sometime maybe later").

[Zarcata]

5 minutes ago, W1zard said:

Oh.. right... so 64 slots would be enough if there will be 10k+ active players at release? 😅

i understood that there are these 64 slots per market. accordingly, there would be much more than the total quantity. 64 x how many markets = ?

[space_man]

Are there any element limits besides the 16 lights, or just use our best judgement?

 

Can we have dispensers, if so how many? Can we have containers then too?

[space_man]

Will the shops have any sort of way to teleport or VR to a specific base?

 

Can the program boards do stuff like log the players that visit, set a destination, etc?

[blazemonger]

How is forcing players into a few places going to help the game? Does NQ really want sellers to give up their own shops and move here? Seeing how NW has had plenty of trouble with performance, lag and more at markets, how will this be mitigated here?

 

I really wonder how NQ is going to manage and control these.

 

A wipe is coming and NQ seems to be setting up basic infrastructure to bypass the empty world with this. And no doubt some will try and exploit the idea by trying to get some gear they will need on day 0 and gain an instant advantage.. Talking warpdrives and scanners here. I do hope that once approved, it will not be possible to just pack up the "stall" and take what you displayed to go and cheat hte system after a wipe, much like what happened with wrecks and the pre beta early start for backers..

Very much hope NQ learned a lesson from their mistakes in that regard.. 

 

 

[Haunty]

Maybe it would be handy for new players, but it's pretty exclusive for vendors/service providers.

[CptLoRes]

No so much into selling and markets, but what I did find interesting was some of the tips in the "rules and guidelines" document on how to maintain frame rate performance.

And what they are telling us here, is that the voxel engine does not do proper occlusion culling. Something that is essential for performance in any kind of 3D engine. And this would also explain why the game struggled so much (performance wise) with having leftover mining tunnels everywhere, and why there is so much market lag in general since the game has to render both the outside and the inside of all constructs all the time.

 

 

 

[DecoyGoatBomb]

2 hours ago, CousinSal said:

So much for player driven. Is this what NQ spends their time on? Something inferior to that players have already created years ago?

 

It seems the wipe is actually so NQ can destroy all the player made stuff that does this exact function and put in their own. But for real 1000s of hours making this type of content for the game and NQ makes their own version of it rather than keep our stuff around. NQ, maybe instead of wiping the content people spent years building for your game you could keep that content around and give us better tools to make our own "exchange" have more functionality. The game has player made content that has so much purpose and variety we just need players around to use it and better backend functionality. No one cares about these bs additions until you say if you are going to wipe or not. 

[Quaideluz]

Another turnkey service set up by NQ which goes against the freedom of players to be able to offer these services to other players.
 

Do you want players to only do fastfood activities like fetch ore, build a small ship to walk around in safe area?
 

For my part, I expect NQ to put in place a gameplay that will revive the economy. To reroll, there is only one way, it requires voxel and element breakage.
 

But for now, the only thing that interests you is to limit server loads by replacing the services offered by dozens of players.

[FatRillos]

33 minutes ago, CptLoRes said:

No so much into selling and markets, but what I did find interesting was some of the tips in the "rules and guidelines" document on how to maintain frame rate performance.

And what they are telling us here, is that the voxel engine does not do proper occlusion culling. Something that is essential for performance in any kind of 3D engine. And this would also explain why the game struggled so much (performance wise) with having leftover mining tunnels everywhere, and why there is so much market lag in general since the game has to render both the outside and the inside of all constructs all the time.

 

 

 

So basically they listed all the things they should be working on instead of wasting time on this. But yeah we're almost ready for release they say. 

[Briggenti]

I thought this was just going to be a place for displays and ads, but actually feels like another chip away at player-built markets.

The advantage of Aphelia over player markets continues to build: Space Markets have no tax (hello, infinite free storage exploit!), and these Exchanges have direct teleporters from the Districts. (Not to mention the convenience of remote buying with Aphelia)

By the time NQ might get around to implementing player-owned market kiosks, there will be more Space Markets and Exchanges around the system.

At that point will there be any need for player-owned market kiosks?

[NQ-Nicodemus]

Greetings!
The goal of the Exchange is to provide a showcase for players to have the opportunity to sell or advertise their goods/services in DU. The directory and community information screens will be a place not just to find a local shop in the Exchange itself- but have further information available for players to connect with the lot holders, directing players to the other showrooms and attractions the community has to offer. The Exchange does not replace the player market system which was recently discussed in episode four of Ask Aphelia. The idea is to create a community hub to assist players, to enhance their exposure and outreach to the overall Dual Universe community.

[Celestis]

This sounds terrible.

I do not sell stuff so I'm not commenting from that side of things but I do currently visit other players huge warehouses and showrooms to have a look around and occasionally to buy.

 

If your 16 slot tiny complex were to have a large noticeboard on which the people who have built their large warehouses and showrooms could give their location and a brief description of what they have then perhaps that might make this small trading centre useful.

 

How do we get there?

Where do we park?

 

In the real world there are many capital cities, you are proposing just one Village for the whole DU planetary system.

We already have settlements beginning to form, created by groups of players, some with large warehouses and showrooms, and these work well so why are you trying to create your artificial centre when really NQ should be asking the current warehouse and showroom people what they need in order to connect with the existing Marketplaces and Districts better.

 

How about asking the players how many existing large warehouses and showrooms there are because I am sure there are way more than 16.

 

Besides which, it is fun flying or VRing to these warehouses and showrooms scattered throughout Alioth and other planets and visiting player-built communities and player-built warehouses and showrooms, all of them individual and interesting.