Why don't we make the armor in shops actually worth buying?
Val Miran could have a set slightly better than mithril. Miruvhor would have slightly better than tainted. Rheydin could have a happy medium.
It's not like the armor is hard to get. This would be newbie friendly and would help bring more worth to gold. 
EDIT: I don't think the armor should be anti-good/neut/evil - To keep with the newbie friendly trend. No one likes buying something only to find that it zaps them.
I suggested something like that once and it got shot down by the elitist/bloodthirsty/noob-eating scumbags that dwell within this place.
STFU, Reefer, I'll pk naked guys that are link dead all I want! Not against the rules! Maybe you should harden up!
But, seriously, I like the idea. Shops with decent gear will always be nice. Sure, some shops sell things that may increase cleaving, etc. But, everyone knows that they aren't the best for those skills so they get something elsewhere. So, essentially what you've got is a couple of hours worth work per city zone that no one touches, aside from the weapon shop in Rheydin when they have to do the Tamara quest.
But, maybe people should check out shopes with detect invis up.... jus' saying.
And if you're naked, and actually put a couple hundred thousand in a bank, it might be a quick start....
a-g
We have lockers.
Do some work to stock them.
Duh.
Oh yeah, that's why shop gear is worth buying. 
a-g
I agree that shop things could use a boost.
But please go easy on the DEX penalties.
No one is going to buy a piece with -2 DEX.
I would also like to see the newbie weapons boosted. The only one worth anything is a short katana.
The lvl 40 swords are worse than basic lvl 25 eq.
Let's bring some use back to the armor/weapon shops.
Goods ideas, but why not just create a store wear people can sell real eq from around the place, like an auction house and the house gets a cut on the sale. Sets up an option for a merchant clan too.
A decent idea but lets fix what we have first before we begin implementing new systems.
But won't that make things easier rather then vastly complicated like my crazy ideas.
But won't that make things easier rather then vastly complicated like my crazy ideas.
I guess you missed out on KBS then
sure whatever that is
Killer Bunny Syndrome.
It was a player who was innovative enough to create a merchant service selling rare armor and weapons. It was a sort of real time black market for goods.
KBS stood for Korthian Brokerage Services and it was eventually absorbed by the Syndicate.
The shops in nearly every city could be reworked. It almost all sucks compared to what you can get with ease elsewhere.
What do you mean almost?
I never buy eq from shops. Ever. Except the all useful short katana.
One item in the Elven Kingdom and a couple in Minoma. That was my almost.
Haha, yeah. Not even main city shops either. Miruvhor is the "port city" famous for trading. They only have 1 useful herb and 1 potion.
Yeah, shops always bugged the crap out of me. Stuff was always in stock if you had the coin. If the shoppie was broke you couldn't sell. Works one way but not the other. Also, most stuff in there is crap. Problem is, gold is so worthless. Basically, FL has a Zimbabwean inflation problem.
Possible Solutions:
Limit the total amount of gold in circulation in the MUD - This was a concept I've worked on before with some marginal success. This makes gold (like rares) worth something and lends to some pretty interesting things from a world standpoint.
Don't use the gold standard for shop keepers who peddle armor and weapons. Use the barter system. (See below)
Allow mobs to randomly pop a selection of non-rare armor or weapons from around the world after each reboot, keeping an ever-changing inventory of gear. Of course, this means the equipment level of all of the items needs to be revisted and adjusted accordingly so level 5's can't barter/buy Chasm dragon gear. This is probably the best option.
Random eq isn't a bad idea, perhaps a little more complex than what I offer but pretty cool.
I like to see different eq in different areas. To make some more special than others in different ways. Perhaps eq from certain places would appear in specific towns?
Though I think overall this is a bit much compared to the very easy fix of making the eq slightly better. Perhaps some variation of this in the future?
I like the idea of limiting the gold actually. It could create real social class within FL and give Syndi some power as loan sharks.
"You want to buy your way into nobility? Fine. I can finance that, but I'll want something from you in the future..."