A new opinion on no_selling

[Pete Mack]

Yeah, Gwarl could do it. The other possible place is the android app, but that would indeed require telemetry, and in any case it isn't quite suitable for new players.

[DavidMedley]

More interesting questions, in my mind:

1) Should no_sell be the default? (sorry not trying to harp on this)

2) Is no_sell fairly balanced?

3) Should there be more or less useful things to buy with money?

#3 is a matter of taste, #2 is a matter of judgement (I think "yes"), and #1 is a matter of priorities.

[Pete Mack]

No_sell leads to somewhat less gold than selling enabled (depending on how aggressive you are about lugging loot.) Later in the game it could be significant advantage not to waste inventory space on junk, but it doesn't actually matter, because no one really needs gold anyway at that point.

[DavidMedley]

With selling on a player should also be disciplined enough to not lug around junk once money has little to no value.

I agree you can get more money with selling but is it worth it? I say it's a close call, which is good.

[whartung]

Selling is tedious and drags the game. Inventory space is so limited, have to drag stuff up to sell simply exacerbates it. At some point, you just don't. Rather than diving and killing monsters, you ?Recall to sell the two item you have room for in your bag.

In the end, it doesn't offer much value to gameplay IMHO, it's simply an annoying mechanic. It doesn't offer much choice "Do I take this back and sell it, or take that back and sell it" isn't super compelling in the long term.

This is also related to the value of the stores in the end. I can say that gold (with no selling) is not a real limitation save the very early game. I won't say I've never seen an item I wanted that I can't afford, I would say that it's rare, and certainly wasn't game breaking. And I'm not in that state for very long.

But, of course, as things move along the value of the store decrease. My primary purchases are food and arrows.

[Jay]

A couple thoughts:

- I like selling. As someone pointed out, it makes the early game more interesting because it gives you another avenue of making cash to improve your kit. Killing stuff and diving is great but selling provides another sub-plot to the game.

- I strongly prefer selling "on" if I'm playing a priest. It sucks to find some great weapon that I can't use because it's not blessed by the gods — being able to sell it means I can benefit from finding it even if I can't use it.

- It occurs to me that it might be possible to add a new element to the game that either complements selling or replaces it. For whatever reason, I've always had the idea that artifacts, even if useless to me, should be returned to town. (I mean, I've rediscovered a legendary item! It just seems wrong to leave it in the dungeon.) So, one way to add another element of interest to the game would be to create a ninth building in town, the museum. They only buy and never sell, but it would give you a place to take artifacts you don't need. (I realize this may not appeal to many — you can always see a list of all the artifacts you've found using "display artifact knowledge" — but I thought I'd throw it out there.)

[Voovus]

What would happen if money got scrapped altogether?

(For instance, replace it with a Charisma stat, which lets @ get stuff for free from the townsfolk. Higher Cha makes more valuable stuff available. Yes, there will be issues.)

[fph]

Originally Posted by Voovus

What would happen if money got scrapped altogether?

Even without reintroducing charisma, a version in which shops simply offer their ware for free would be playable, or at least playtestable.
The limiting rate to ensure that players do not get too many resources would be the stock refill rate (something like: !CCW start showing up at CL10, and they refill at a rate of one every 1000 turns).
The black market would restock veeery slowly, or even disappear completely (at that point, it could functionally be replaced by a slight increase in drop quality).

After all, Ironman has no shops, and the game still works.

(Inb4 "communist angband" jokes)

[tangar]

Charisma... Dream of all half-trolls in Middle-Earth.. I would love to see it even with no_selling ON

[sffp]

I love the no-sell option because the packrat in me previously would refuse to leave a high-value item in the dungeon no matter how heavy it was. I would constantly carry too much stuff with me (I do that already).

Now at least, I can look at the boots of speed +2 and say - I already have boots of speed +5 - I'll just leave those there (No extra trip topside to sell...)