Statistics From 100 Merchant Quests

[Tina Small]

I just recently completed doing 100 quests from Britain to various cities on one particular shard and thought it might be interesting to share some of the statistics from those quests. All the quests were completed in Trammel, using moongates, and not killing any ambusher monsters that spawned.

Total cost to buy items from NPCs: 64,320

Total gold to Britain treasury: 2,200,000

Total time spent between accepting and delivering quests: 427 minutes

Total # of times ambushers spawned: 7

Total # of SoTs received as reward: 55
Total value of SoTs received: 29.3 points of skill

Total # of orders delivered to Jhelom: 12 (12%)
Total # of orders delivered to Minoc: 10 (10%)
Total # of orders delivered to Moonglow: 13 (13%)
Total # of orders delivered to Magincia: 19 (19%)
Total # of orders delivered to Skara Brae: 11 (11%)
Total # of orders delivered to Trinsic: 7 (7%)
Total # of orders delivered to Vesper: 11 (11%)
Total # of orders delivered to Yew: 17 (17%)

Total # of orders not counted because I had to cancel before leaving Britain because RL called: 2

Here is a breakdown of the rewards that were received:

Agapite Ingots - received 1 time, 80 ingots total
Bronze Ingots - received 1 time, 60 ingots total
Dull Copper Ingots - received 1 time, 60 ingots total
Golden Ingots - received 1 time, 60 ingots total
Verite Ingots - received 2 times, 80 ingots total

Brilliant Amber - received 1 time, 4 gems total
Perfect Emeralds - received 1 time, 2 gems total
White Pearl - received 1 time, 4 gems total

Dragon Scales (black) - received 2 times, 40 scales total
Dragon Scales (gold) - received 2 times, 140 scales total
Dragon Scales (green) - received 3 times, 120 scales total
Dragon Scales (red) - received 2 times, 60 scales total
Dragon Scales (silver) - received 2 times, 120 scales total
Sea Serpent Scales - received 3 times, 120 scales total

Ash Boards - received 4 times, 200 boards total
Bloodwood Boards - received 1 time, 60 boards total
Frostwood Boards - received 2 times, 140 boards total
Heartwood Boards - received 1 time, 80 boards total

Barbed Leather - received 2 times, 100 hides total
Horned Leather - received 5 times, 260 hides total
Spined Leather - received 2 times, 60 hides total

Magical Residue - received 1 time, 2 residue total
Relic Fragments - received 3 times, 14 fragments total

Parasitic Plant - received 1 time, 4 plants total

Scrolls of Transcendence - received 55 times for a total of 29.3 points of skill, broken out as follows:
Alchemy - received 4 times (0.6 + 0.4 + 0.6 + 0.1 = 1.7)
Begging - received 1 time (0.3)
Blacksmithing - received 2 times (0.9 + 0.8 = 1.7)
Camping - received 3 times (0.5 + 0.4 + 0.7 = 1.6)
Carpentry - received 1 time (0.1)
Discordance - received 1 time (0.5)
Evaluate Intelligence - received 1 time (0.5)
Fencing - received 4 times (0.7 + 0.4 + 0.4 + 0.4 = 1.9)
Fletching - received 1 time (0.4)
Focus - received 2 times (0.2 + 0.5 = 0.7)
Forensics - received 2 times (0.3 + 0.4 = 0.7)
Healing - received 1 time (0.2)
Herding - received 1 time (0.3)
Hiding - received 1 time (1.0)
Imbuing - received 2 times (0.2 + 0.2 = 0.4)
Item Identification - received 1 time (0.1)
Lockpicking - received 1 time (0.4)
Mace Fighting - received 1 time (0.8)
Mining - received 1 time (0.8)
Musicianship - received 2 times (0.9 + 1.0 = 1.9)
Mysticism - received 2 times (1.0 + 0.9 = 1.9)
Necromancy - received 2 times (0.4 + 0.1 = 0.5)
Ninjitsu - received 2 times (0.8 + 1.0 = 1.8)
Provocation - received 3 times (0.2 + 0.6 + 0.8 = 1.6)
Resisting Spells - received 1 time (0.4)
Snooping - received 1 time (0.5)
Spellweaving - received 3 times (0.8 + 0.6 + 0.6 = 2.0)
Stealing - received 2 times (0.1 + 0.8 = 0.9)
Tactics - received 2 times (0.2 + 0.2 = 0.4)
Tinkering - received 1 time (0.3)
Tracking - received 2 times (0.8 + 1.0 = 1.8)
Wrestling - received 1 time (0.8)

Cost for most expensive order to fill: 4000 gold
Heaviest order to carry: 155 stones (still doing just 4 line orders, though)

 

[Vor]

Total # of times ambushers spawned: 7

Seriously? I've had them attack as many as 6 times on one single run!

 

[Riyana]

Seriously? I've had them attack as many as 6 times on one single run!

She said she used the moongates every time. Using the moongates is so fast you often don't get an ambush spawn.

 

[Obsidian]

Thanks, Tina. I appreciate the stats. I see you did different cities. Any reason why? I plan to only do them in Tram for my city of citizenship and then fence a whole bunch in Felucca for a city I have no alignment.

 

[The Old Man]

Sounds about right...I've done 70 something orders and had 4 spawns, Same as Tina - using moongates, but all starting at Minoc

 

[Tina Small]

Below are the various types of items that had to be purchased for those 100 quests and how many times each item popped up. Keep in mind all 100 of the quests started in Britain and all items were obtained in Britain. I'm sure if you were starting from a different town each time (e.g., New Magincia), your list of items would probably be quite different.

Agility Potions (1)
Agility Spell (1)
Amber (2)
Apples (1)
Arrows (2)
Axles (1)
Baked Pies (1)
Bales of Cotton (2)
Bat Wings (1)
Beads (1)
Bedrolls (1)
Black Pearl (2)
Black Staffs (1)
Bladed Staff (1)
Bless Spell (1)
Blood Moss (3)
Bolts of Cloth (1)
Books (1)
Bows (2)
Bread Loaves (3)
Bronze Shields (2)
Butcher Knives (1)
Cakes (1)
Candles (1)
Caps (1)
Chainmail Tunics (1)
Chicken Legs (1)
Citrines (1)
Cloaks (5)
Clumsy Spell (2)
Cooked Bird (1)
Copper Key (1)
Crooks (1)
Crossbow Bolts (4)
Cure Spell (2)
Cut Cloth (3)
Cuts of Raw Ribs (1)
Daemon Blood (2)
Diamonds (1)
Doublets (2)
Dye Tubs (1)
Earrings (2)
Empty Bottles (2)
Fancy Dresses (1)
Feathers (1)
Feathered Hats (1)
Female Plate (1)
Fireball Spell (1)
Fletcher's Tools (2)
Floppy Hat (2)
French Bread (1)
Fresh Ginger (3)
Garlic (3)
Gears (1)
Ginseng (2)
Gnarled Staffs (1)
Gold Key (1)
Grave Dust (1)
Hair Dyes (2)
Half Apron (1)
Harm Spell (1)
Heating Stands (1)
Heavy Crossbow (1)
Helmets (2)
Honey (2)
Jester Suits (2)
Kilts (2)
Leather Bustiers (1)
Leather Caps (7)
Leather Gloves (1)
Leather Leggings (1)
Leather Skirt (1)
Leather Sleeves (1)
Leather Tunics (2)
Lesser Cure Potions (3)
Lesser Explosion Potions (3)
Lockpicks (1)
Long Pants (2)
Magic Untrap Spell (1)
Magical Wizard Hats (1)
Mandrake Root (5)
Metal Shields (1)
Mortar and Pestle (1)
Necklaces (5)
Night Sight Potions (2)
Norse Helms (1)
Pans of Cookies (1)
Pears (1)
Pig Iron (1)
Plain Dresses (1)
Plant Bowls (1)
Plate Helms (1)
Platemail Arms (1)
Poison Spell (1)
Quarter Staff (1)
Raw Chicken (1)
Raw Chicken Legs (1)
Recall Runes (1)
Refresh Potions (1)
Ringmail Gloves (1)
Ringmail Leggings (1)
Ringmail Sleeves (1)
Ringmail Tunics (1)
Robes (2)
Sacks of Flour (3)
Sausages (3)
Scepters (2)
Scissors (3)
Sewing Kits (1)
Sextants (3)
Short Spear (2)
Skinning Knives (1)
Skirts (1)
Skullcaps (1)
Sledge Hammers (1)
Spears (1)
Spider's Silk (3)
Spools of Thread (4)
Straw Hats (2)
Strength Potions (1)
Strength Spell (1)
Studded Armor (1)
Studded Bustiers (2)
Studded Gloves (2)
Studded Leggings (1)
Studded Tunics (1)
Sulphurous Ash (2)
Tall Straw Hat (1)
Telekinesis Spell (1)
Tourmaline (3)
Tricorne Hat (2)
Tunic (1)
Unlock Spell (1)
War Hammers (1)
Wizard's Hats (1)

 

[Tina Small]

Thanks, Tina. I appreciate the stats. I see you did different cities. Any reason why? I plan to only do them in Tram for my city of citizenship and then fence a whole bunch in Felucca for a city I have no alignment.

For this particular character, all 100 of her completed quests started in Britain because she is a citizen of Britain. She had no control over where the quests needed to be delivered or the gains in loyalty in those cities. She is currently at Adored in Britain; Respected in Jhelom, Minoc, Moonglow, Magincia, Skara Brae, Vesper and Yew; and Commended in Trinsic. She was a brand new citizen of Britain when she started and had never before done anything to build up loyalty in any city.

 

[popps]

Just a curiosity question....

If you have been using public Moongates to move around, why did you pick Britain as the originating Town ?

The public Moongate is far away from Town....

Wouldn't it have been handier to pick Skare Brae or Jhelom or Moonglow which have the public Moongates much closer to Town ?

 

[Tina Small]

She said she used the moongates every time. Using the moongates is so fast you often don't get an ambush spawn.

Yeah, and of those 7 spawns, 2 happened on one run because I was yacking with someone on ICQ at the same time and dilly dallying getting to Yew. So if I threw at least one of those out because I usually just run, run, run and don't stop, then the number would have been even less.

 

[Tina Small]

Just a curiosity question....

If you have been using public Moongates to move around, why did you pick Britain as the originating Town ?

The public Moongate is far away from Town....

Wouldn't it have been handier to pick Skare Brae or Jhelom or Moonglow which have the public Moongates much closer to Town ?

There were a couple of reasons why I picked Britain for that particular character:

(1) I've got a character selected on several different shards to eventually run the quests from each of the different cities. This character just happened to be the one who got stuck with Britain.

(2) I would like to eventually buy some banners because I haven't done it yet anywhere. Have been putzing around with trying to build up loyalty in Jhelom and Trinsic on a few shards by turning in BODs, but loyalty gains have been pathetically slow. It will be nice to finally have enough loyalty built up to buy a banner and not have to do it by dropping resources and gold I cannot afford into the trade minister's box.

(3) On that particular shard, which is a very deserted one most of the time, it's probably the city most likely of all of them to ever have a governor who might stay active long enough to set a trade deal buff. I've never used the trade buffs anywhere, as I've never felt right about taking advantage of them when I rarely have what I would consider "extra gold" to spare to dump in a city treasury. So now maybe I will actually use the trade buffs on that shard and that city, assuming a governor is ever elected for Britain there and sticks around to set up a trade deal buff!

(4) As Britain seems to be rather centrally located, I was curious about which cities would come up most often as destinations. As I mentioned above, I'm slowly getting started with doing the quests on other shards using other cities as the base. Just wanted a good comparison for which cities might be paired most frequently with specific cities for this quest. In this case, it looks like Magincia and Yew are rather popular destinations, but of course more quests would have to be run to see if that is true over the long haul.

(5) On this particular shard, as on many other shards, Britain happens to have an outbound-only moongate. I know this isn't true everywhere, however, and perhaps if people feel strongly enough about it, they can ask their EM to petition to have one put there. Or they can pick a different city that has a close-in moongate, like Jhelom or Skara Brae or Moonglow, for running their quests.

 

[Parnoc]

This sure seems to confirm that you don't get the rare drops if you use the moongates, at least I didn't see Tina list any. I have only done around 50 orders from Skara and I have 2 books and 1 sign. I do cheat on the Moonglow, Magincia and Jhelom ones and take the moongates when I get one of those orders. Oh, and as far as luck does, my character has only 140.

 

[Tina Small]

This sure seems to confirm that you don't get the rare drops if you use the moongates, at least I didn't see Tina list any. I have only done around 50 orders from Skara and I have 2 books and 1 sign. I do cheat on the Moonglow, Magincia and Jhelom ones and take the moongates when I get one of those orders. Oh, and as far as luck does, my character has only 140.

I am going to try to keep going with this character until she hits 250 quests (I think that's the max for getting the top title, isn't it?), or maybe just 150 just to see if anything rare pops up. She has 0 luck in her suit, but I don't know if luck is a factor at all with getting the rewards.

 

[cazador]

Sounds like a lot of work :/ how about you just get the rewards and I'll buy them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Obsidian]

I am going to try to keep going with this character until she hits 250 quests (I think that's the max for getting the top title, isn't it?), or maybe just 150 just to see if anything rare pops up. She has 0 luck in her suit, but I don't know if luck is a factor at all with getting the rewards.

I thought Kyronix posted you are ineligible for rare items if you use any moongates on the quest.

 

[The Zog historian]

I thought Kyronix posted you are ineligible for rare items if you use any moongates on the quest.

So with the Skara ferry...

 

[Tina Small]

I thought Kyronix posted you are ineligible for rare items if you use any moongates on the quest.

I'll have to look for that because I don't remember seeing it. Thanks!

 

[Piotr]

Publish 86 Notes

• Upon accepting a trade order players will not be able to magically teleport except for using public moongates. Using public moongates will forfeit any distance bonus and rare chance at rewards.

 

[Obsidian]

Here it is:

Some very good points with regard to public moongates were brought up. Here's what we decided,

You may use public moongates while doing the quest, however if you do...

You will not be eligible for any of the "rare" rewards, and you do not receive any distance bonus that would otherwise be applied.

 

[Tina Small]

Thank you both!

 

[MissEcho]

Well that has put me off even bothering with doing any trader quests. Lots of mucking around for absolutely crap items. Well done to you tho for persevering for such paltry rewards. Unless you are the governor of the town and want the $$ generated I see bugger all to aim for there.

 

[Cetric]

I really want that damned 1 faster casting mempo

 

[Eärendil]

Here my statistics for the Smuggler-tour to Slim the Fence:

Done 100 times:

32 SoTs
23 Skeleton Keys
44 Magical Items (all trash)
1 Rare: Voucher for the Casino

I love it! Such an easy way to get SoTs!

 

[Herman]

I just got to 4 line quest and got 4 books and 3 signs but looks like i get far less sots than you I do all my quests from skara and never use moongate

 

[Frarc]

A few Facts.

If you use moongates to go to the towns and don't fight at all the base gold and resources are the same.

Tier 1 gold : 10K (Treasury) + 20 resources
Tier 2 gold : 20K (Treasury) + 40 resources
Tier 3 gold : 30K (Treasury) + 60 resources

All distance bonus and fight bonus are gone. And chance for rare items, very very low! (Maybe even Zero)

 

[Parnoc]

So with the Skara ferry...

You can't use the ferry on an order, won't let you.

 

[Parnoc]

A few Facts.

If you use moongates to go to the towns and don't fight at all the base gold and resources are the same.

Tier 1 gold : 10K (Treasury) + 20 resources
Tier 2 gold : 20K (Treasury) + 40 resources

All distance bonus and fight bonus are gone. And chance for rare items, very very low! (Maybe even Zero)

I don't believe the fight bonus is gone, it's always given it to me if ambushers jump me on the way to the moongate or after leaving the moongate at destination.

 

[Poo]

ive hit 50 quests and ive only used moongates on places id have to boat too (so new mag and moonglow)
and i kill any spawn that ambushed me for the first 40, last 10 ive just been straight running.

so far ive gotten 1 book and 2 signs.
running max luck and also in fel (but it was mentioned to me straight from the 'man' that there is no fel side bonus for the merchant quest for the rare drop items).

i find these quests enjoyable when i want to grind.
some times ya just wanna grind and forget RL, am i right?
or if im on the phone or something.
its just that right amount of fun and grind vs reward.

 

[TheChocolits]

so far ive gotten 1 book and 2 signs.
running max luck and also in fel (but it was mentioned to me straight from the 'man' that there is no fel side bonus for the merchant quest for the rare drop items).

So Luck has a play in these quests?

 

[Piotr]

So Luck has a play in these quests?

I'm almost certain, that the answer is: No.

 

[Eärendil]

One thing I dont understand...

Last char that finished 50 Slim-Quests got these results:

1: MI
2: MI
3: MI
4: MI
5: SoT
6: SK
7: SoT
8: SoT
9: MI
10: SoT
11: MI
12: MI
13: SoT
14: SoT
15: MI
16: SoT
17: MI
18: MI
19: MI
20: SK
21: MI
22: SoT
23: SoT
24: MI
25: SoT
26: MI
27: MI
28: MI
29: Rare
30: SK
31: SoT
32: MI
33: SK
34: MI
35: MI
36: SK
37: MI
38: SK
39: MI
40: MI
41: SoT
42: SoT
43: SK
44: MI
45: SK
46: MI
47: SoT
48: SK
49: SoT
50: SK

Quite good, 1 rare and ALOT of SoTs.

Then I canged the char and got these results so far:

1: SK
2: SoT
3: MI
4: SK
5: SoT
6: MI
7: SK
8: MI
9: MI
10: SK
11: SK
12: SK
13: SK
14: SK
15: SoT
16: SK
17: MI
18: SK
19: SK
20: SK
21: SK
22: SK
23: SoT
24: MI
25: MI
26: SK
27: MI
28: MI
29: MI
30: SK
31: SK
31: MI
32: MI
33: MI
34: MI
35: MI

Absolutely awful, worst results so far.

Did they nerf anything between yesterday and today? Or does the result depend on certain qualities of the chars - I dont know... Suggestions?

Or is it just bad luck with the RNG?

 

[Capt. Lucky]

I got a rare sign (Mages Guild) on a long haul from Trinsic to Vesper (trammel) where I fought more ambushers than usual. Like 4 or 5 ambushes. It was my 2nd 2 item delivery. Don't know if this means anything or just luck of the draw.

 

[Piotr]

Did they nerf anything between yesterday and today? Or does the result depend on certain qualities of the chars - I dont know... Suggestions?

Or is it just bad luck with the RNG?

I think it's bad luck with the RNG.

I got 3 signs and 3 books on my first 100 runs but only 1 sign on the next 50.

 

[Vor]

I've only done 20 slim runs, but each has been a magic item

I'd so at least 70% of my tram runs have been SoTs though, with one book and one sign. The rest resources so bad I chucked them as soon as I got them.

 

[Yadd of Legends]

What character template are you finding most helpful for these quests?

 

[Vor]

I'm only doing them on a Bushido Chiv warrior which has no problems at all on land. My only issue at sea is I lag during sea combat since the publish.

Soon to change the temp back to a Mystic Dexxer so I'll see how that goes.

 

[Eärendil]

Stealth-Mystic. As always... Lazy ;-)

 

[Tina Small]

Going to switch to a character on another shard who already has 16 run/sail-only and kill-every-ambusher quests done from Britain and try to compile statistics for 100 runs with her as well for comparison purpose. Will report back in a few days, as I know this is going to take much, much longer to do! LOL

 

[Zuckuss]

I have delivered to Slim somewhere around 150 times...


Still no rares.

 

[Obsidian]

I have delivered to Slim somewhere around 150 times...


Still no rares.

Are you using moongates?

 

[Eärendil]

It is a horrible grind ;-) Thank god, you get SoTs and alot of cleanup-points.... These rares are quite rare. And in the rares-forum people want to tell me, they arent, hehe ;-)

*sarcasm off*

Just kiddin...

 

[Zuckuss]

Are you using moongates?

Not a single time.

 

[S_S]

I'm going to disagree and say these are not that bad of a grind to say the wanted items are that "rare" enough to be sold on the rares forum. After 3 days, 217 quests to slim the fencer I had 1 expired voucher and slim's book. Each quest took me maybe 3-4 mins or less without using any moongate. I bet by now there are at least 15+ of each rare out there for slim and gosh knows how many books and signs for doing cities. And we've only had this for a week or so?

 

[Lorddog]

few questions
what is distance bonus? I was using nm to ocollo and the run is short. should I be sailing to serpents hold?
do you only get rares from slim the fencer?

does the ambusher bonus towards a rare or just increase the gold?

I looked at my loyalty for nm and I am disgruntled or something like that. is that counting against me?

 

[Lorddog]

also, is distance the actual distance between start and destination or the distance you travel? can you run around the world a few times to increase this bonus?

 

[Eärendil]

Here are the worst 50 out of 150 Quests to Slim the Fence...

1: SK
2: SoT
3: MI
4: SK
5: SoT
6: MI
7: SK
8: MI
9: MI
10: SK
11: SK
12: SK
13: SK
14: SK
15: SoT
16: SK
17: MI
18: SK
19: SK
20: SK
21: SK
22: SK
23: SoT
24: MI
25: MI
26: SK
27: MI
28: MI
29: MI
30: SK
31: SK
31: MI
32: MI
33: MI
34: MI
35: MI
36: MI
37: SK
38: MI
39: SoT
40: SK
41: SK
42: MI
43: MI
44: SK
45: MI
46: MI
47: SK
48: MI
49: SK
50: SoT

Horrible result. 6 trashy SoTs, tons of crappy magical items, no rare. Only some clean-up points. 150 quests so far and it begins to be annoying...

Think I will do something more reasonable with my time...

 

[Frarc]

A few Facts.

If you use moongates to go to the towns and don't fight at all the base gold and resources are the same.

Tier 1 gold : 10K (Treasury) + 20 resources
Tier 2 gold : 20K (Treasury) + 40 resources
Tier 3 gold : 30K (Treasury) + 60 resources

All distance bonus and fight bonus are gone. And chance for rare items, very very low! (Maybe even Zero)

I discovered the Bonus for killing the monsters is 2500 gold for the treasury with each monster you kill!

1 X I killed 2 monsters and it was 5000 gold + Base gold from the Tier
3 X I Killed 3 monsters and it was 7500 gold + Base gold from the Tier

 

[Tina Small]

These are the gold amounts that went to the city of Britain on trips where the moongate was not used and there was absolutely no spawn of ambushers and the quest only requested 1 item:

Britain to Magincia: 33,000
Britain to Minoc: 21,000
Britain to Skara Brae: 18,000
Britain to Yew: 18,000

Had a couple of each of the above happen and the amount stayed the same each time, so I'm fairly certain the above are "base" amounts for those trips, at least with 1-item quests and no use of a moongate.

Will update this post later if I get more trips with no use of moongate and no ambusher spawn on the trip.

 

[Lord Lew]

Echo, since she was jumping moongates, it invalidated the rare rewards.. I admit it's a grind and mist rewards suck, but if you pull a rare, it's cool

 

[Tina Small]

Yeah, I'm up to 56 quests done from Britain on a different shard, not using moongates and killing all the spawn. So far have received 3 different books and one guild sign. But it's taken over 8 hours of running, running, sailing, running, killing to do it. LOL