Why The Merchant Alliance is the Worst Faction and How It Should Be Changed

  • MysticDragon297
    Master
    Insider

    we are going to compare the three factions first.

    for the gold horders, most voyages are multiple chests on a single island or chests on different islands, and sometimes both. unless you have a riddle, your going to know exactly where to go. the reward is random.

    the Order of Souls works the same way. you have multiple skeletons bosses on either multiple islands or on the same island, or both. you know where they are and the reward is also random.

    for the merchant alliance, you have to consistently island hop and scout islands until you find the animal you need. you have a general sense of the reward upon receiving the contract, in which it would be unfortunate if your contract does not require a golden chicken. so, the reward is still random, you just get to know weather or not it is rewarding upon receiving the contract, not when you catch the animal. you cant really find a rare chicken and catch it either; you have to find an abandoned chicken trap first, which is just as rare as finding a random chest.

    with these in mind, i have these concepts and suggestions.

    the animals needed for the contracts should not be specific:

    rather, a simple chicken, snake, or pig is needed. not one of a specific color pattern. as they are already right now, the reward entirely depends on the animals skin/feather color, which means good fortune if you are able to catch a golden chicken just like digging up a captains chest.

    referring to concept one, animals should behave differently based on their appearance/rarity.

    for example, a golden chicken will run faster than a white chicken and consistently make noises once it is captured and will never calm down. the rarest snakes will never calm down to music either, and the rarest pig will need to be fed more often.

    give us the option to release animals from their cages

    i know this prevents griefing in some cases, but killing them is entirely possible already, which would also be griefing if done to simply annoy crew-members.

    random cages should not be as rare as random chests

    i believe that the player/crew should be able to buy an extra one of each type of cage from the NPC. cages tied to voyages will still be free and obtained normally.

    reputation gained and the gold earned is way too low for animals

    refering to what i said about the rarity of finding a cage, or the rarity of having a rare animal needed for your contract, this is ridiculous. most animals give players as low as 20G and very low reputation gain, despite the extra steps to take. they are only rewarding if you they are tied to your contract, but even so, your reputation reward for turning them is roughly the same. the actual reputation reward is for completing the contracts. if we can find random chests and receive a decent amount of gold and reputation for turning them in, why cant we do so with random animals and gain the same amount of rewards?

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  • RedDevilSativa
    Seafarer

    I hate these quests as i find it so hard to find the specific animal and it seem like its only when doing these it happens. I always see pink and black pigs around but today when i needed one i couldn't find one anywhere. That of my ship gets sunk and i cant find the right crates on islands to replace the ones lost

  • Saladoff
    Seafarer

    Why does everyone think they are a game dev? go make your own game and see how well it goes..

  • DaRealPastrami
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @personalc0ffee He is talking about extra animals for more loot. Yes, they are free but only for voyages. He is talking about capturing them for fun/extra gold.

  • DaRealPastrami
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @personalc0ffee I was just answering your question lol

  • Padd
    Castaway
    Founder

    @mysticdragon297 I like Merchant quests because it reminds me of Eurotruck Sim, but on the water, plus you actually have to do stuff instead of "dig here" and "kill this guy".

  • Lord Sphinktus

    I really like how the merchants are set up. I kinda wish there was more to the gold hoarders.

  • QuixoticFolly
    Captain
    Founder

    I've been running only merchant quests and skull forts. It's the only way to keep them all leveled evenly. I've memorized every efficient island to get the critters on the way to the specified destination. It's a brutal grind and zero fun. Unlike randomly found chests and skulls, critters are worthless unless requested for a mission. Snakes are a pain 'cuz they damage you and pigs are a pain 'cuz they die if not fed. You can also just forfeit and queue new merchant quests until you get one with gold critters for maximum rewards. It's the most broken and irritating faction by far.

  • Capt Baguette

    @saladoff

    You heard about feedback ? If you don't like his feedback, at least formulate something decent and critical.

    I think that some of his ideas are actually pretty good.

    Yar.

  • Saladoff
    Seafarer

    @capt-baguette said in Why The Merchant Alliance is the Worst Faction and How It Should Be Changed:

    @saladoff

    You heard about feedback ? If you don't like his feedback, at least formulate something decent and critical.

    I think that some of his ideas are actually pretty good.

    Yar.

    feedback is saying like I don't enjoy something..or this is bugging out. not writing a giant post about how to fix/improve a system... this guy has no idea how hard or easy it would be to code and implement these systems.

    I do understand that people have ideas and share them with rare. but telling them that something sucks and this is how you fix it is being abit self entitled.

  • Capt Baguette

    @saladoff

    @MysticDragon297's post is clean and took a while to write, he/she put some effort into it, and it offered interesting solutions.
    Your answer was a one-liner bashing attempt. Who is self-entitled here ?

    You just reacted poorly, I guess you did not even read his/her post.

    Take it easy,

  • Saladoff
    Seafarer

    Why the Merchant Alliance is the Worst faction and How It Should Be Changed...

    they did present their ideas well. I think their idea is awful down to the last one. but what I'm saying is he is presenting it like he knows better and this is how it should be.

    if Im getting you triggered I wouldn't know why.

  • MysticDragon297
    Master
    Insider

    @saladoff said in Why The Merchant Alliance is the Worst Faction and How It Should Be Changed:

    Why the Merchant Alliance is the Worst faction and How It Should Be Changed...

    they did present their ideas well. I think their idea is awful down to the last one. but what I'm saying is he is presenting it like he knows better and this is how it should be.

    if Im getting you triggered I wouldn't know why.

    just posting a comment saying that you dont like something is not healthy IMO, and is more like toxic ranting than providing feedback. it contributes nothing for the developers to work with or get a general idea of where to start.

    for example, your first post is technically ranting about how you dont like people creating concepts. so you dont like most of what people suggest for this game, even if a majority of the community agrees. ive made a fishing concept a while ago, and it is still being supported, because i've actually offered something to this game rather than complaining on the lack of content.

  • MysticDragon297
    Master
    Insider

    @personalc0ffee said in Why The Merchant Alliance is the Worst Faction and How It Should Be Changed:

    You uh do realize you can just get the crates from the merchant, right? You don't have to find them?

    only when you are on a voyage for the merchants, and you are forced to capture a specific animal rather than a random one, or one that you want to capture (such as a golden chicken). ive already mentioned this in the topic.

  • Snappy 270

    @saladoff fair enough but why is it bad give reasons

    I like the idea. Makes it more of a challenge.

    Instead of island hopping for a specific animal that won't give any reward due to bad rng.

    You would be questing for a rare and difficult animal that would give the best reward. Or you get an easy one for a quicker reward.

    Also being able to release snakes onto your ship to defend yourself sounds funny. Or even better sneak snakes onto other peoples ships

  • TheRealDestian
    Ship Mate

    Merchant quests are the least enjoyable, IMO.

    At the very least, the turn-ins should be far more lucrative than they currently are because it can take far too long to find the right animal(s) in comparison to the reward you receive for doing so.

  • Capt Baguette

    @saladoff

    I'm not triggered at all. All ou had to say was I disagree, and possibly add why. Ad hominem arguments don't bring in anything, feedback does.

  • Zyrkal
    Captain
    Insider

    The problem is not the Merchant Alliance, it's the 2 others. They are too similar, not enough difference in the gameplay.

    I prefer doing Merchant most of the time because it bring something "new".
    You start at an outpost, finish to an other one and you need to explore island for specific animals.

    Souls, and gold are too much similar IMO, you use a sword or a shovel, but both you know there to go and you can bring the stuff to any outpost at full price and you can do multiple voyage before going to an outpost.

  • LONEGOATKNIFER
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    @mysticdragon297 @Snappy-270 You don't need to island hop. All the animals always spawn on the same islands. If you know where animals are, the merchant alliance can be the fastest way to get gold. All you need to do is pick the island with most of, if not all, the animals you need between you and the outpost. One of my level 20 voyages asked me to get 2 gold chickens, 2 black chickens, and 1 red speckled. That would be over 4k gold from one island stop.

  • Snappy 270

    @lonegoatknifer I was asked to find 3 pink and black spotted pigs. Several times most islands only have 2 of a type of pig. So you do need to island hop. Only if you are asked for a snake, chicken and pigs there a few islands that have all 3 and even fewer with them in big numbers. I know cause I have mapped which island has what to make those voyages better

  • LONEGOATKNIFER
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    @snappy-270 If you get those kinds of voyages you should go to the largest islands. I had a similar voyage to get 3 black spotted pigs and got all three in one stop at Cannon Cove. Can it be hard to find the 3rd sometimes? Yes, but if you see multiples of the other kinds, there's a good chance, if not guaranteed, you will find just as many of the one you need.

  • RadjinWolf

    @mysticdragon297 Like all the ideas, especially making animals non-specific but rather have their appearance determine how much you get for them when you turn them in.

    The most boring part of the merchant alliance quests is trying to find the animals, and then search for the specific color that's requested. Unlinking those two aspects would be fantastic, as would giving different rarity animals different behavior characteristics.

  • Snappy 270

    @lonegoatknifer I have done many of those voyages and I immediately went to large islands to find them. It takes forever. It was quicker to go to another island and get another pig

  • LONEGOATKNIFER
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    @snappy-270 It might be, but you're not forced to do that. And it wouldn't always be faster to go to another island.

  • Saladoff
    Seafarer

    @mysticdragon297 incorrect I think suggest content is awesome from the community... but saying this is bad and THIS is how you fix it is wrong.

  • Saladoff
    Seafarer

    @snappy-270 you can keep snakes on your boat to guard treasure but in the end you do need to turn them in.

    like I said suggesting content isn't the problem I think everyone should bounce ideas around. but when you say it's stupid or boring and my way is how it gets fixed.. that's not how we do it boys.

  • Snappy 270

    @saladoff saying something is boring compared to the other content is a valid critism. Suggesting ways to improve would be bad for other games, but this is a game that can change alot in the coming months.

    Also he never said it was stupid, he said it was the worst compared to the other factions (which will happen there can only be 1 best/worst faction) and gave reasons for it.

  • Saladoff
    Seafarer

    didnt see the post lol. you snap off or something?

  • LuNgFoOl
    Marauder
    Founder

    I just farm golden snakes and chickens, and don't even finish the voyages. I just keep buying missions until I hit a golden chicken or snake one. Be sure to take all the extra coops, and baskets from missions that are not golden before you cancel them. Once you have a surplus of crates and you hit a golden mission, use this map http://maps.seaofthieves.rarethief.com, to find the closest islands with chicken, and snakes. Then just catch golden animals until you fill all your coops, and baskets. Once your full deliver the animal to the correct outpost, then farm for another golden animal mission, do this until your out of animals. I'm almost level 40 in the merchant alliance just by doing that. And rich you get tons of gold in return aswell. Oh I almost forgot if the merchant runs out of missions to buy you just need to sail to another outpost or sail away for a few minutes to get more.

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