Merchant Quests need an overhaul.

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    REMINDER: VOTE IF YOU AGREE SO THE CHANGES CAN BE MADE!

    As the title says the Merchant quests need to be rethought. With all other factions I can fill up my voyages "pouch" set sail complete them all and then hand them in, this is not the case with the Merchant Voyages which makes them extremely tedious and time consuming.

    This needs to be fixed sooner rather than later. We need to be able to see the requirements of the voyage before accepting/voting for it, then we need to be able to get as many cages as we require for all voyages in your inventory, not just the one you're currently doing.

    Personally I think the Merchant Voyages should be "passive voyages" by this I mean ones you don't need to vote for (like the messages in bottles). This will fix all the current issues with the Merchant Voyages, it's silly for them to have the same layout as the others, you're just collecting livestock, we shouldn't need to set out on a voyage to collect chickens, it can be done passively while doing other voyages.

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  • CptnCuttlefish
    Founder

    I don't know, Considering you have a time limit to turn them in anyway, as well as feeding the pigs and trying to keep them alive through storms and battles, perhaps they should be as they are. I personally haven't done them, so I can't really attest to how tedious they are, but I feel they were meant to be like that.

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @cptncuttlefish

    I don't mean this harshly but maybe you should try them before commenting. When you're trying to level up you merchant rating it becomes extremely tedious to have to be constantly island hopping; Outpost >Island > Delivery Outpost, rinse and repeat for every single voyage. If we could do more than one at a time we could, with luck, fill up all cages on one island and then go on a delivery route. They will still be the more "tedious" voyages due to the specific delivery points but at least you will make them more even to the other voyages. As it stands the Merchant Guild is the longest to level up due to the design of it.

  • Garfs
    Marauder
    Founder

    agreed mate

    Like you say they should be passive and you should be able to buy/stockpile crates - and collect the required items as you are completing other quests

  • SpasinHippo

    @kiwi1990 just a quick point, I'm pretty sure you get paid a lot more for completing merchant alliance in early game than the other trading companies

    i may be wrong, but otherwise i agree

  • slightlymadz

    @garfs

    Er you can

    You can find spare crates on the larger islands , you can catch pigs chickens when not on the quest

  • CptnCuttlefish
    Founder

    @kiwi1990 I agree, it does seem tedious, and I'm not looking forward to doing it.

    On a side note, how much rep and gold do you get for the higher ranking merchant voyages do you get?

  • CptnCuttlefish
    Founder

    @slightlymadz While you are technically right, crates are super rare to find. I have only ever found chicken crates, and only 3 of those. If they upped the spawn rates of crates, then sure, I could see it being better.

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @spasinhippo I've only found big pay-offs if they're asking for black plumed/coated stuff, its akin to cursed chest (about 1000) so it's not really more, then you consider the time it takes and treasure hunting becomes a lot more profitable.

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @cptncuttlefish It entirely depends on the requirements. If it's red speckled hens etc you're screwed, if it's x2 black plumed hens then you're in the money/XP. Not sure about higher up since I'm only level 10 because it takes so g******n long to level this faction up.

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @slightlymadz And then you hand in your current delivery, vote on the next one and you need 2 white chickens but you captured black instead because you had to guess. You see the problem?

  • CptnCuttlefish
    Founder

    @kiwi1990 Then it's kinda like the other factions as well. You don't know what you'll get till you dig up the treasure or kill the captain. I know you can constantly do these without hitting an outpost, and that doe make it faster, but I've done apprentice missions and getting foul skulls from them. It would make sense for the merchants to have their stuff listed before accepting though.

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @cptncuttlefish I accept that the requirements need to be hidden until you purchase them, or else people will only pick the higher pay offs, but once purchased you should be able to view the requirements and get the cages. It's just silly to have to capture and deliver only 2 animals at a time.

  • Avirex Idyll
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    I have to agree that the merchant guild quest seems the most annoying or hassle. I have done a few of them and yea......not fun. I just stick with farming GPBs from strongholds while doing other guild quest to level them up.

  • Its Mr Munchies

    I personally love the trading but like you've said, the fact you can't complete the voyage out at sea and continue with another is bad. It kinda feels like that's a way of making the game feel longer but all it's done it's make it far to tedious to endure. I completely agree with this. They need fixing.

  • Boxcar Squidy
    Captain
    Insider

    @cptncuttlefish I think they should have a bunch of cages lying around the outposts or sell them plus the banana/cannon ball boxes for a small fee so you can at least stock up on them. That way you could decide lets do a bunch of merchant alliance voyages, stock up on boxes and then just bang them all out one after the other. Currently, unless you're solo, what's the point when the other two factions voyages are more fun and much less of an ache in the nethers

  • CptnCuttlefish
    Founder

    @kiwi1990 I see what you're saying now. For the merchants I could see that being implemented, as it would only make sense.

  • Rager82
    Castaway

    The whole animal thing is done. Why could it not be take this rare item to the next outpost. Going around dealing with animals is stupid. Also I did like 3 and got hardly any xp for it.

    Farming forts is the only way to get good xp

  • slightlymadz

    @kiwi1990 er no just cancel the mission

    Also if your in a crew like your supposed to be and all take a merchant mission or 3 , then you will have capture red speckled hen at least 2 or 3 times. See my point?

  • slightlymadz

    @boxcar-squidy You do realise you can keep taking the cages off the merchant so can your buddies.

    Cages can also be found randomly on islands sometimes 2-3 per large island

    Never had a problem with nana barrels or balls , when we get to an island I give the crew orders to "stock up" as you can manually add a bout 20 balls per red barrel , same with planks nanas etc

    This game really is not difficult please don't get it dumbed down by complains , were all new but seriously I cant see anything broken your just playing it wrong

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @slightlymadz Why would you be arguing against this? I honestly don't understand your logic.

  • Boxcar Squidy
    Captain
    Insider

    @slightlymadz really? I've only ever done them solo and I'm pretty sure after the second cage they wouldn't give me more. Anyway I'm not complaining, that's you reading that into what I wrote. I don't find the merchants quests as enjoyable as the other two, unless I'm solo, when I mostly do merchant stuff plus bottles, but that's my opinion. Don't see any harm in discussing how the game might be improved, we don't even need to agree that's the best sort of discussion tbh

  • Sshteeve
    Captain
    Insider
    Boatswain

    I like the ones with the golden chickens - 1000gold each - nice!
    I agree with you OP. I hate having to get the quest - go to my ship - set the voyage - go to the dock and pick up a chest - take it to the ship - repeat x times for number of livestock to find

    At which point you get to set off aimlessly for an island in the hope it has said chickens and not pigs or snakes!

  • slightlymadz

    @kiwi1990 dumbing down a game making it easier =

    faster cash
    faster progression
    lower sense of achievement
    Bored player base quicker

    Game really is incredibly easy as it is , I have no problems sailing solo , questing solo , merchant missions take a bit longer but you only need to get to rank 5 to unlock the thing in the bar so you relaly don't need to touch them again.

    As a group which is how the game is intended you can all take 2 crates or find more on pretty much 60% of the islands , you can then store pigs , chickens to your hearts content as long as you all have 1 blue mission then turn them in as you go on.

    Seriously multi task man , every skelly quest has chickens and pigs there , whilst doing skelly quests grab the livestock it really is not rocket science , you don't lose anything if someone takes a chicken

  • Cryptic Ophion

    Gives you a lot more money from my experience. I'm rep 20 with every company and Merchant Alliance has been much more lucrative than the others, though it's hard to tell how much since I've sold Stronghold chests/skulls which make those companies seem better than they should. It makes Merchant Alliance a little harder, and I like it. It's my favourite company actually, not so much about shooting everything.

  • Boxcar Squidy
    Captain
    Insider

    @slightlymadz yeah I do that already with random found crates.

    Also, I hate to break it to you, but once you reach level 5 in all three he just tells you to come back at 10, then 15, then 20 etc.

  • slightlymadz

    @boxcar-squidy ha ha that's awesome tnx for the heads up

  • BiggishBike1891
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @kiwi1990 I haven't read al the answers to this post so I don't know what is said already .
    I think how they are made right now you go to an island get the stuff go to outpost get new quest and so on. I don't like that you buy the quest, go to the ship and vote, and then go back to collect your crates. This could be changed by it being passive as you said. You buy a merchant quest. It gets activated there and you get the crates (so you don't need to go to the ship to vote). And we should be able to do some gold horders or order of souls while doing the merchant quest.

  • Boxcar Squidy
    Captain
    Insider

    @slightlymadz yeah I reckon its the pirate legend thing, so once you get 50 in all three then he gets interesting.

    I don't want to see the game dumbed down, just the MA quests made a bit more fun. I can see your point about some of my suggestions: like if they gave out the banana/cannon ball crates what would stop people from just running around the outpost to stock them and sell them + rinse + repeat = instant max rep and infinite gold.

  • Capn Moza
    Legend
    Insider

    @kiwi1990 I think what would help to make the merchant voyages seem more tempting to do is if you'd get more XP and more gold for one mission of it, where it would take say 2 gold hoarders to do/get

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @cryptic-ophion The hard part about the merchant voyages is finding the right variation of animal, it's not sailing between outposts, that's just tedious not hard. The difficulty will stay the same except now you can do more than one delivery in one run.

  • Goblobsters

    I do find the merchant missions to be the most difficult of the three, but I think that may be a good thing?

  • Uberkull
    Master
    Insider

    @kiwi1990 As I do completely agree, I would suggest one thing since I don’t see Rare adjusting this anytime soon since we suggested a complete change in open beta on this ridiculous and disjointed Merchant quest.

    My suggestion is to do the Skull Fort. The rep you receive for the spices is worth it and you dont have to deal woth chickens, pigs, or snakes. Need help with them? Hit me up on Twitch.tv/uberkull. Let me know in chat you want to do a run or two. I can two man them efficiently in about a hour each if your willing to follow my lead.

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @slightlymadz What in the world are you on about? Level 5? No that's not right. Dumbing it down? How? How do you even come to that conclusion? Making it Easier? No, all Im asking for is that it's more efficient. Please inform yourself before commenting, you're actively and blindly going against something you obviously have little experience with.

  • kiwi1990
    Founder

    @goblobsters The difficulty from the merchant mission comes form finding the animals required, not sailing to and from outposts, that's just tedious. The level of difficulty will stay the same, the level of tediousness will drop drastically. If you don't agree then go and try to level up you merchant rank, lets see how much time you waste sailing to and from outposts with only 2 animals onbaord.

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