Simple way to ease the grind on Merchant Alliance

@realstyli Some people probably would hate it. Specifically, the players who already hate Merchant Alliance voyages. So... maybe no change for those folks, but hopefully some of them would hate it a little less. :)

I really like this idea. Depending on how you fulfill the orders you might want to stock up on a lot of bananas.

I actually like this idea. Maybe make it only 1 in 5 or more so that it's not the norm. That way when you do get one, it's exciting and those who don't want to do more can just cancel and are likely to get just one again.

Or, maybe the option to buy a multiple request. One of the three offered would be a multiple and you could choose to take that one or the regular ones. Give them a different look so you pay attention to what you are getting and maybe an "are you sure?" pop up because grog (or other distractions).

I think I'd love this!

I think it would make Merchant Alliance voyages more enjoyable, and it would give you the sense of getting more done when you're on such a voyage.

This would be a good idea, but it would change some of the mechanics that go with merchant voyages. You're right about gold hoarders having multiple chests on multiple maps, but for each individual chest, you get a lot less than for merchant items. A gold snake goes for a lot more than a captains chest, probably because a gold hoarder voyage can give out 4 or more captains chests, depending on one's level, while most merchant quests ask for 3-8 items total, depending on one's level. Merchant voyages are definitely the area that needs the most change, I'm 42/48/34 for a reason lol, but just making their voyages take longer isn't a good fix. If they left item values the same, adding multiple stops would be great and we could fast track the merchant grind, but I don't see Rare making any grind easier, unfortunately.

@supriseautopsy said in Simple way to ease the grind on Merchant Alliance:

This would be a good idea, but it would change some of the mechanics that go with merchant voyages. You're right about gold hoarders having multiple chests on multiple maps, but for each individual chest, you get a lot less than for merchant items. A gold snake goes for a lot more than a captains chest, probably because a gold hoarder voyage can give out 4 or more captains chests, depending on one's level, while most merchant quests ask for 3-8 items total, depending on one's level.

Well, there's the rub with the Merchant Alliance. It's been conceived and developed as kind of an odd-man-out compared to the other two Trading Companies.

In fairness, what I am about to post below is somewhat speculative, as I don't truly know how Rare came to make the development decisions they've made, but if you think about them I believe what follows makes a lot of sense. Call it an educated analysis, if you like. It may also be somewhat stream-of-consciousness.

The Merchant Alliance is the only Trading Company to offer different rewards for the same loot, depending on whether or not said loot has specifically been requested by a quest. This may be why the "crates of goods" (i.e., Fine Sugar, Rare Tea, etc.) have been included, so that there is still Merchant Alliance loot which can be salvaged from shipwrecks, stumbled upon while exploring islands, or plundered from other crews and still have value if it isn't needed for a voyage.

I'd surmise that they'd built the Merchant Alliance voyages themselves a certain way, never intending a crew to need to deliver items to multiple outposts, and never intending the total items for a voyage to hit double digits. Personally, I've never seen more than 5 things on an order, but I don't know what the max actually is. Taking these limitations into consideration, in order to make Merchant Alliance voyages comparable to the voyages of the other two Trading Companies, the developers decided to reward more gold for Merchant Alliance loot items relative to their counterparts for the other Trading Companies. This was, in my opinion, their biggest mistake in the conception of Merchant Alliance voyages, if accurate.

The goal should not have been to make the reward in gold comparable to the other Trading Companies, but to make the fun factor of the voyages themselves comparable. If you, as a player, want more gold - keep playing the game! But to continue playing should be fun above all else. You should want to go on more voyages!

A big step toward increasing the feeling of fun and consequently decreasing the feeling of grinding would be to have more elaborate voyages. To not have to finish one voyage and start a new one turning in no more items than I'd need one hand to count at a time. To not have to revisit an island you were just on for a second voyage, not knowing you'd be right back for a second Golden Pig five minutes later.

If they feel that in order to keep things balanced with bigger Merchant Alliance voyages, they'd need to tweak the value of loot items or the prices of customizations, I'd be okay with that. As I said above, if the voyages are more fun, you'll want to keep playing, and the gold will come.

@tv-junkie making the merchant voyages more fun is a great idea, but again I don't see how adding multiple stops, which just makes the voyage take longer, making it any more fun. The entire merchant alliance idea needs an overhaul, or at least some other way to earn rep than what's available. Same could be said of the other companies, but with cursed sails I assume we'll have a new way to get OoS rep soon and most people don't focus complaints on the gold hoarders. Others have in other threads floated ideas for new things to do in merchants, we'll just have to wait and see what Rare does.

@supriseautopsy It may not add anything "new" into the process to make it more fun per se, but being able to get more done on a trip and collect a greater variety of items per voyage would be a step toward reducing that grindy feeling, which dulls the sense of fun. I suppose, in all reality, all they'd really need to do is increase the lengths of the shopping lists more substantially as you rise through the ranks if they don't want to send you to multiple outposts. But if you needed to go to multiple outposts and even at different times, it would add the element of needing to form a strategy and plan one's route more time-effectively.

EDIT: I won't pretend to think that everyone plays this game the same way my friends and I do, but I like to stay out in the world for a good amount of time, amassing loot as I go. Maybe doing multiple Gold Hoarders or Order of Souls voyages if time permits, then turning a lot of loot in all at once. It is my opinion, and one that I can't imagine I am alone in, that THIS is where the Merchant Alliance suffers most. Because every time you've rounded up what you need to fulfill your order, you have to pump the brakes on your adventure to turn in your loot before you can start a new voyage, even if it's for a different Trading Company.

@xcalypt0x Go for it.