Category talk:Morrowind-Merchants-by-Skill

Skill-ranking

Thinking about the skill-ranking of Morrowind merchants, I initially had it divided by Oblivion standards:

• 0-24 - Novice
• 25-49 - Apprentice
• 50-74 - Journeyman
• 75-99 - Expert
• 100 - Master

However, I quickly realized that in general, the Mercantile skill is much lower on average for Morrowind merchants than for Oblivion. So I adjusted the numbers for even distribution:

• 0-19 - Novice
• 20-39 - Apprentice
• 40-59 - Journeyman
• 60-79 - Expert
• 80-100 - Master

Now, though, I'm thinking that I should lower the standards even further. As it is, the highest Mercantile value short of the one Master Trainer is only at 59, which still puts her just shy of the Expert category. (That's the highest trainer, not sure if there are non-training merchants with higher, though so far, most merchants have been around 10 - all Novice.) If things go as they seem to be going, there will probably be NOBODY in the Expert category. I'm thinking something more like this might be approprate:

• 0-15 - Novice
• 16-29 - Apprentice
• 30-44 - Journeyman
• 45-59 - Expert
• 60-100 - Master

We still end up with only one Master, as the next-highest is still just shy of the 60 needed for that category, but unless we do something more unusual, like a logarithmic progression or something, I don't see any other more fair way of doing it. Unless we do something like:

• 0-10 - Novice
• 11-20 - Apprentice
• 21-30 - Journeyman
• 31-40 - Expert
• 41-100 - Master

Which would have a much more even distribution, but still ends up putting 4 out of 5 of the categories below 50, which seems maybe a bit unnatural? I don't know. Any opinions? --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 10:46, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

I definitely don't like that last arrangement. That's just wrong. I mean, maybe it's okay that there's only one Expert. Heck, maybe this is a dumb question, but who say there must be five categories? Why not just four? I mean, I know you're following Oblivion, but other than that...if this is entirely subjective on our part, why not follow logic? --Somercy 13:06, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

Color Choices

Moving this discussion from my talk page to more community-friendly location.

One minor problem with this is that a mid-range mercantile skill appears as yellow, which isn't easily readable on the pale cream background, at least not for me. Examples include Ancola and Agrippina Herennia.--Gaebrial 15:25, 4 October 2007 (EDT)

Hmm, I tried to overcome that by using bold, and also not Yellow, which was really bad, but Gold. Maybe something like DarkKhaki would be preferable? Or perhaps a YellowGreen? I was trying to choose colors with shorter names because it was a pain to write them out. Also not using the #00000 format because they're harder to remember. But then, since I put it into the template, I suppose we could just choose colors manually instead. Anyhow, some things I did improve. The Blue color is definitely easier to read than Cyan which was being used before. The problem is that different monitors display colors differently, so it's hard to find ones that will work for everyone. Tell you what - pick a color that works for you, and I'll go ahead and change it. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 15:34, 4 October 2007 (EDT)

Well, YellowGreen isn't bad, but what do you think to this sequence: Novice Apprentice Journeyman Expert Master. That's Blue, Green, DarkOrange, Maroon, Red. Another alternative is Sienna, but most of the other colours are either too light or too close to either orange or green.--Gaebrial 03:03, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

I don't like Maroon for Expert - looks too much like just black on my screen. Also, I think that Journeyman should be some sort of yellow-derivative, just for the full-spectrum effect. Maybe Journeyman and Expert? --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 08:23, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

That looks nearly perfect - just that on my screen, there isn't a great difference between journeyman and apprentice. Just given it a tweak upwards: Novice Apprentice Journeyman Expert Master. That's #BBAA00 rather than #888800 for journeyman. Any lighter than that, and it starts to merge with the background.--Gaebrial 12:48, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

I think you two gentlemen are on to a loser if you're trying to get a one-size-fits-all solution here. On my work monitor, I'd agree with Lurlock that Maroon looks too much like black but on my nice home monitor I'd say Gaebrial's Journeyman and Expert look too close together. The truth is that with the different colours thrown out by various monitors, combined with the various colour weaknesses/blindnesses of the human eye mean that nobody is going to be happy with ANY colour combination. FWIW I'd go with Novice Apprentice Journeyman Expert Master - but that's only on this monitor. At work on Monday I'll probably change my mind. --Rpeh^Talk 13:11, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

Well, I was wondering if I had any right to opine here...I like Novice Apprentice Journeyman Expert Master, but the one that Rpeh prefers isn't that bad. Can we take this debate elsewhere, so that the community at large can debate? Somercy 13:15, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

In my opinion it's no big deal- as long as they're readable on everyones monitor and in different colours it's OK ;)--Willyhead 14:14, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

But if anyone wants my opinion I would go for- Novice (or Novice) Apprentice Journeyman Expert Master.--Willyhead 14:23, 5 October 2007 (EDT)

I don't agree with the purple color that much - the natural progression has generally been from blue to red, cold to hot, etc. I went with Gaebrial's suggestions for the colors, and I think it works. The only place you'll ever see them next to eachother is on these category pages anyhow, so it's not extremely vital. --TheRealLurlock ^Talk 16:14, 6 October 2007 (EDT)