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[Baja] Moonglow Trade Quests

Amber Witch

Babbling Loonie
Governor
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A month ago Moonglow Baja had less that 275 trade deliveries delivered since the beginning of the program and the city was struggling financially. Today it hit the 900 mark! This is an incredible gift to the city and apparently some worked so hard to achieve this. In less than a month over 700 trade deliveries were done. I will not take credit for this as I've done maybe 75 since I've taken on the Governorship a month ago and I only do trade quests for cities that have Governors who have ongoing trade deals.

A few of us on Baja, a small shard, typically will call out in GC something about the quest we're on and make a comment questioning why a certain Governor needs leather skirts or explosion pots, all in good fun and what they rewarded us with. And then it's not uncommon for someone to ask what we're doing and how. So we teach and now the Governors have help and people know they're helping.

Things I've noticed as well as others remarking upon.... It's now not uncommon for people on the roads traveling from city to city to see others on the road or running from shop to shop buying the needed items. There are boats on the water passing each other, with people in them. People you don't know, haven't met, didn't take the time etc, are now acknowledging each other and opening up. I'm starting to see more players on the shard.

So now that things have simmered down and I've eased into what it is rather than wishing for what I 'think' it should be or what I want it to be, I'm trying to go with the flow of what happens and just enjoy it for what it is.

The reward is something greater than pixel crack(in my book anyways), it's building a community.

Just an observation from my own perspective on something that interests me.

Kind regards,

AW
 

Basara

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I know that at least 2, if not all 3, of the active governors on Lake Austin do runs for their cities, and we constantly try to encourage people to do them.

We actually don't get believed by some, when we point out that we are getting stuff like 180 valorite stone or ingots from the quests.

Part of the struggle is that too many see the low payouts of low-end material, at start-up, and can't grasp that the quantity and quality of the rewards get MUCH better once you get 50 or trade orders in - or at 100+, where I'm at. I try to do at least 20 trade orders a week from Britain (where I'm governor), with the moongate only used for New Mag and Moonglow deliveries.

Hell, before ML, I used to get 5+ rescues simultaneously from brigands on Trinsic Barrier Island (before escorts became part of the ML quest system), and take them overland to Britain, Cove, Minoc and Vesper - so long overland trips are not strange to me at all.

When you get down to it, the 5-10 minutes per trip is incredibly cheap for most of the resources in terms of cost/benefit, even at the low level. And, that's before you count that about half the rewards are pinks.
 

Cinderella

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I did about 30 trade quests on Saturday and 25 of those were pinks
The ones that weren't pinks, are ones that pulled up Ambushers

I always use the moongates
 

Basara

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If you're concentrating on getting pinks, using the moongate every time probably increases the chance for them by eliminating the rares. It just lowers the chance of larger amounts of the non-pink rewards (as it appears that the quantity is driven by a combination of distance, gate use, and number of ambushers you fight along the way).

I get pinks all the time from ones that bring up ambushers on longer trips, so ambushers don't guarantee a non-pink drop - it probably just increases the chance for one. And it wouldn't surprise me if there's a ticker for a non-pink reward like there is for dungeon artifacts, to where the chance goes up as the point value goes up.
 

Dot_Warner

Grand Inquisitor
Governor
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Stratics Legend
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I've achieved "Magnate" on two characters and "Smuggler" on both of my thieves. I also have two complete sets of the books and a few of Slim's rares (though not the veil).

The market has fallen dramatically on the signs.

The resources are somewhat on the meh side of things... Nobody cares about wood except for the top 3 and nobody cares at all about the leather (its way too easy to get), ingots are more of a mixed bag. The stone is nice, mainly because I loathe mining. Pinks are always nice. The imbuing resources are too few and are more often then not the ones too easily acquired.

Personally, I think the rewards need to either be changed or added to. Such as:
  • Trim down the resources to ones people actually want.
  • Add city-specific pieces of deco as rewards.
  • Add Virtue dye (some snazzy hues based on the Virtue colors)
  • Add a moderate gain in the city's associated Virtue.
  • Add ML resources.
  • etc.
Things need to be kept somewhat fresh, or at least doling out desired rewards, to stay relevant.

@Kyronix
 
Last edited:

MalagAste

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I've achieved "Magnate" on two characters and "Smuggler" on both of my thieves. I also have two complete sets of the books and a few of Slim's rares (though not the veil).

The market has fallen dramatically on the signs.

The resources are somewhat on the meh side of things... Nobody cares about wood except for the top 3 and nobody cares at all about the leather (its way too easy to get), ingots are more of a mixed bag. The stone is nice, mainly because I loathe mining. Pinks are always nice. The imbuing resources are too few and are more often then not the ones too easily acquired.

Personally, I think the rewards need to either be changed or added to. Such as:
  • Trim down the resources to ones people actually want.
  • Add city-specific pieces of deco as rewards.
  • Add Virtue dye (some snazzy hues based on the Virtue colors)
  • Add a moderate gain in the city's associated Virtue.
  • Add ML resources.
  • etc.
Things need to be kept somewhat fresh, or at least doling out desired rewards, to stay relevant.

@Kyronix
Adding ML resources would be a huge boon. I'd like to see some city based Recipes for things like new tapestries and such... paintings...
 

Laura_Gold

Certifiable
Governor
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2M per week to maintain the town bonus is a bit much to ask of the lower population shards (in my opinion). I wish Mr. B. would surreptitiously decrease it to 200K.
 

Amber Witch

Babbling Loonie
Governor
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I've achieved "Magnate" on two characters and "Smuggler" on both of my thieves. I also have two complete sets of the books and a few of Slim's rares (though not the veil).

The market has fallen dramatically on the signs.

The resources are somewhat on the meh side of things... Nobody cares about wood except for the top 3 and nobody cares at all about the leather (its way too easy to get), ingots are more of a mixed bag. The stone is nice, mainly because I loathe mining. Pinks are always nice. The imbuing resources are too few and are more often then not the ones too easily acquired.

Personally, I think the rewards need to either be changed or added to. Such as:
  • Trim down the resources to ones people actually want.
  • Add city-specific pieces of deco as rewards.
  • Add Virtue dye (some snazzy hues based on the Virtue colors)
  • Add a moderate gain in the city's associated Virtue.
  • Add ML resources.
  • etc.
Things need to be kept somewhat fresh, or at least doling out desired rewards, to stay relevant.
I think your suggestions for city specific rewards are great and would actually stimulate people's interest in doing the quests. But once they got those they would need something else to hold their attention and your other ideas do exactly that.

Another idea is to have a board, similar to the board for the void pool where you could see who are the top 10 trade runners for that city. For little Baja, during the last 4 months Moonglow has seen 1500 trade deals done where previously there were 275 done since the beginning. For Governors it would be really nice to be able to recognize who all is doing the trade deals for their city.

City based recipes is something I've been thinking about as well as artwork. All good stuff!
 

Dot_Warner

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A leaderboard for those running the trade deals is a great idea. Could be a fun way for people to be competitive without a lot of the usual drama.
 

Amber Witch

Babbling Loonie
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Yeah, I was thinking about each being city specific, not all cities combined. Personally I see already too much strife between some Governors being competitive in a not so nice way. There are those that thrive on drama and I don't want to promote that type of behavior.
 

Alex"Drake Iron Heart"CS

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
I am ashamed to say I am a Gov that has never and will never do a Trade quest.... If only they were made to be fun but the current state is just way to time consuming and not enjoyable for my liking.
Rather they said go kill X number of such thing or something along them lines, but having to take an NPC or order from one town to another, not my cup of tea
 

Basara

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I've achieved "Magnate" on two characters and "Smuggler" on both of my thieves. I also have two complete sets of the books and a few of Slim's rares (though not the veil).

The market has fallen dramatically on the signs.

The resources are somewhat on the meh side of things... Nobody cares about wood except for the top 3 and nobody cares at all about the leather (its way too easy to get), ingots are more of a mixed bag. The stone is nice, mainly because I loathe mining. Pinks are always nice. The imbuing resources are too few and are more often then not the ones too easily acquired.

Personally, I think the rewards need to either be changed or added to. Such as:
  • Trim down the resources to ones people actually want.
  • Add city-specific pieces of deco as rewards.
  • Add Virtue dye (some snazzy hues based on the Virtue colors)
  • Add a moderate gain in the city's associated Virtue.
  • Add ML resources.
  • etc.
Things need to be kept somewhat fresh, or at least doling out desired rewards, to stay relevant.

@Kyronix
I'd add...
  • Increasing the number of imbuing ingredients by 3x-5x (heck, 10x would be even better, but that would sound greedy). Everything else crafting-wise that drops gives you materials to craft 5 or more weapons or armor, or multiple deco items (unless you're making one of the resource hog carpenter add-ons, or swampy barding). With the imbuing ingredients, you don't even get enough of them to imbue a property 100% ONE TIME.
  • Power Scrolls would also be a good addition to encourage people to do the deliveries more. However, it would be best to have 105-120s possible at the Magnate level, the next level down capping at 115s, then 110 below that, etc. Using a moongate would reduce the reward level by 1 step. The Fence would only be able to give 105s at his first level, 110s at his second level. After all, since "city reputation" is already gained at champ spawns, does it not mean that the PS are technically rewards for fighting monsters in the name of the city?
  • You could also include recipes for new items, that use Ilshenar & ML Minor artifacts, 10th anniversary virtue dungeon drops, and Treasures of Tokuno (minors and majors) as ingredients. Almost all of these have been relegated as deco at this point, and all but the ToT still drop (and you can still find where people hoarded minor ToTs hoping for better rewards down the line).
 

Basara

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I am ashamed to say I am a Gov that has never and will never do a Trade quest.... If only they were made to be fun but the current state is just way to time consuming and not enjoyable for my liking.
Rather they said go kill X number of such thing or something along them lines, but having to take an NPC or order from one town to another, not my cup of tea
Whereas I see YOUR suggestion as "too time consuming" by a factor of several magnitudes. How you can even think that having to go find a specific creature to fight and kill a certain number would be shorter than a trip between cities (especially if you use the gates for the lessened reward), when such quests would almost certainly be in out-of-the-way areas and things where you might have to deal with respawn times, let alone hundreds (if not thousands) of HP? Are you assuming that EVERYTHING has to be be delivered by SHIP ONLY? The only time I use boats are a Rowboat to cross at the Skara ferry, and a rowboat or ship to cross to Jhelom from the beach south of Honor. (about 60-90 seconds by rowboat, less than 30 seconds by ship).

I've timed it - the longest mounted/flying non-Jhelom overland run (Minoc or Vesper to Trinsic) clocks in at under 7 minutes, Minister to Minister. Even continuing down to the coast south of honor and boating to the north coast of central Jhelom would only add another 2-3 minutes or so. The quickest runs are between Vesper & Minoc, Britain & Trinsic, or Britain & Skara (land, plus rowboat, for the latter).
Using moongates, the longest trip would be between Vesper and Britain, which would be about 90 seconds.The only people that should be even remotely tempted to try the sea routes for rare stuff are citizens of Moonglow and New Magincia (and I'd make another character a citizen of a mainland city for those).
The only real slowdowns are buying the items (I keep looted gems and regs specifically for quests in my bank box) and (if you choose) stopping to fight the spawn.

My experience with quests to "kill X" critters typically means several minutes of travel time (especially if in Ilshenar, or Tokuno dungeons, but you aren't going to be carrying around books for every spawn in every facet anyway), and 10-30 minutes of monster fighting - provided you don't have to hunt down kill mobile things like the serpents and kraken (see: Zipactriotl Quest Chain), or things where other hostile creatures will distract you or your pets/summons (consider: "Go kill 20 Ronin in Isamu-Jima" or "kill 20 succubi in Blood Dungeon"). Or, are you expecting all the targets to be things like mongbats or hinds?
 
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