I realize that this isn't a bug - it's intentional. Quoting from here.

I'm pretty bummed that this feature is being removed, and even more bummed that it wasn't communicated clearly. Maybe it's just because I restock fairly often when I am on subeta, but it seems to me like it would have been a good time to use the siteupdate ping. But beyond that, I also don't remember it ever being presented as temporary in the first place. It's possible it was, but in my search through old forum topics and news posts I didn't see any indication that it wouldn't be permanent. (If that is an error on my part, please someone link me to your source!)

Gripes about communication aside, why isn't this feature permanent? I for one really enjoyed haggling as much as I could, and when that featurewas removed, I appreciated the buff as a measure to reliably spend less sP as well. And it's not small savings, either - I have saved over 50m sP with my 20% discount card - that means that with haggling/and or the buff, I have saved over 37.5m sP.

why should it be permanent? it would be just like everything in the shops being 15% cheaper.

staff wants to draw sP out of the economy, not create larger savings for the users. if you're restocking something from a shop, it's because it's cheaper or you're going to profit from it anyway.

created a thread that was supposed to get a siteupdate ping on it about how the buff not showing up as frequently now is not a bug but the ping never happened.

I think it is perfectly acceptable to remove it.

I will miss it quite a bit, but honestly it will probably be just as fine without it.

This has always seemed like an overly generous feature because of these very expensive items.

I definitely think that having every user get it after 2 or 3 restocks was a bit ridiculous, and essentially the same as a blanket 15% off on shops. But I think that awarding the buff after 20 or 30 restocks or so might be more reasonable. It would reduce the amount of sP in the economy compared to before (though obviously not as drastically as removing it altogether would) because people casually questing would be unlikely to get the buff. But people actually intent on restocking could actually enjoy restocking a bit more knowing that they are saving some.

On a different note, and I admit to having an incredibly elementary understanding of how the economy works, but wouldn't something that encourages users to buy from the main shops such as the buff be good for the economy because that takes sP out of the system? Without the buff my intuition says that people will buy more from user shops, which will just shuffle sP around rather than removing it.

I sorta doubt that most users will do the math on which is cheaper, (npc shop price - 15%) or user shop price. It's hard to say if it really promoted more spending though, as I can only take a guess. may actually know because he does collect a lot of data. I still think the users who will get the buff after 20-30 rses are still going to rs, the buff will only make things cheaper for them.

I wouldn't mind making it more rare (more like it has been as of late, I believe. I've been neglecting my quests so I don't actually know for sure how often people get it. I've just been hearing a lot of complaining). But yeah, it kind of sucks to get rid of it completely.

Though I have a 20% discount so while this is kind of rough, I'm still benefitting somewhat anyway.

i did like that buff, but it seemed to me like it was triggering way too frequently. so while i'd be sad to see it go permanently, i'm glad that the occurance rate is at least scaling back

Although I realize why the buff was taken away, I hate that I had to find out about it on the forums, with someone else's help linking me to threads in obscure locations to me. I do wish there was a place where site updates could be announced, even if it isn't the Site Updates ping group.

I do! (Not down to the exact points, but just generally rounding.) You're probably right that most people wouldn't bother for the ones that are close, though.

Anyway, I'll miss the buff if/when it goes away permanently, and I'll probably end up buying more from user shops while I'm questing, but I'll get used to it.

I didn't know that the buff was temporary either. I understand why, just wish that had been made clear in the initial news post, not in a forum somewhere.

It would have been nicer to have some official word on this, rather than having to dig out an explanation on the bugs forum. I get that most people on restock casually or only for quests, but enough people use the NPC shops for this to be a worthwhile update.

As for the gradual removal of the buff... it's only inevitable, really. It was fair enough to bring it in as a transition after haggling was removed, but now we're getting 15% off just because. While it's nice, it makes no economic sense.

i honestly wont be surprised if main shop item prices move up.

Given the shop prices of late, I'm not surprised. A bit bummed, yes, but not surprised. Does that mean that the discount cards are on their way out too or...?

I have a 30% discount card and would be -not happy- if that was altered in any way. The buff was put in place because users could no longer haggle... so is there another fix for that if the buff is leaving?

I can't imagine they'd get rid of discount cards. They're pretty pricey, so at least the discount was earned by the user, rather than getting 15% off for just turning up. If anything, removing the buff might provide an incentive for more users to buy discount cards, so that'll be worthwhile sink of sp/csc.

My Discount Card was a gift from a dear friend who passed away 1.5 years ago and I would be real sad if staff would delete or change it so I hope they will just leave it as it is.

A "discount card" is literally worthless if it does not give users a discount when they make a purchase.

That said, with the way staff has been making changes as of late, anything is possible