So there's currently somewhat of an issue that for a lot of things in the game, Reapers is the most viable emissary as it gets the bonus on all loot, not just specific faction loot. This means that if you're doing a FoTD as a Merchant, you'd only get the boost on the Bone Dust, Mega Kegs, and Mermaid Gems, but a Reaper gets all boosted. This means that for the majority of world events, you need to be Reaper to get the most value out of it. This ends up creating the 'PvE Reaper' that is only Reaper for the bonus money, rather than the concept of Reapers, being to hunt down other Emissaries.
What if there was a way to Raise an Emissary to Represent a Region (Wilds, Ancient Isles, Shores of Plenty, Devils Roar) or even to represent a specific Outpost.
When Representing a Region, at Grade 5 you receive a boost of +75% (1.75x) to all loot sold in that Region, So if you represent the Ancient Isles, you get this boost selling to Ancient Spire Outpost, Plunder Outpost, Stephen Spoils, and The Finest Trading Post.
When Representing a specific Outpost, at Grade 5 you receive a boost of 100% (2.00x) to all loot sold at that Outpost. This would mean you get the most out of it, but means other players know exactly where you plan on selling (similar to Reapers) and mean there's a risk and reward to it. You'll get more money, but it opens up more counterplay from other players as they know exactly where you're going with it, and as such can plan an assault with it in mind.
This means you can do world events and gain more money for all loot items rather than dedicating to a single loot item. This would also mean you don't have to worry about the trade off for Money or Rep. Going Reapers means more money, but you don't get any rep for the other factions, however this would mean you still get some extra money, but you also are able to rep up the regular factions. I don't believe it would be too strong and stomp the other Emissaries, as for voyages you'd definitely be better of committing to a company as the majority of the loot you'll find on your journey will be that factions, as such you'll benefit more from the +150% (2.5x) from the Faction Emissary.
What would the Emissary Voyage be Like?
This could go two different ways;
- First you could have it so that you receive quests within your Represented Region, or within close proximity to your represented Outpost. These quests would give you a variety of different loot types to complement the concept of being able to sell to different factions within emissary.
- Alternatively, you could make it more challenging by having players leave their Represented Region or outpost to quest further away for Stronger loot. This means that they are going to get more money from doing it, but requires them stray further from home base, as such making it riskier, as if they get in a fight, they're a long ways from home.
What this would improve:
- Improve the viability of World Events, maybe mean you see more people doing them.
- Provide opportunity for risk and reward, get more money/rep but give enemies a better chance at counterplay.
- Get more Emissaries on the server, as there would hopefully be less PvE Reapers that end up scaring people to server hop as they don't want to play Emissary with a Reaper on the map.
- Reduce the amount of 'PvE Reapers' and encourage those playstyles to play in alternative ways
Alongside this, it could be a good time to implement that thing everyone's been asking for, making it so that you can only sell Stolen Loot to Reapers (with the Exception of Reapers Chests or any future Reaper-specific treasure they introduce).
