I’m sorry if this has been asked before, can’t seem to find anything through Google search.
Will trade factions have separate leaderboards? I think if they are shared, merchants will probably win them, and since this is a forum people will argue what I typed, “not necessarily, the CoF bonuses are pretty cool” that’s great and all, but someone can just buy the gear in merchant. takes 0 skill to obtain
if the leaderboards are shared, i’m joining merchant.
I’m facing reality and admitting I don’t have a prayer against you lot on those leaderboards 
If this is really what you think, you don’t actually understand how the Merchant’s Guild works.
In any case, the leaderboards are shared and will display which faction was used by the character.
that’s good then, i’ll disregard all merchant leaderboard players, at last I can rest in peace
It’s a simplistic view, but that is how it works. Kinda like how you don’t use degree level physics to explain how stuff works to primary school children.
What they missed out, for one reason or another, is that you need to level up the faction & gain enough favour and gold to buy the gear but that doesn’t have to be done in high difficulty content.