Trade development update - Introducing merchants guild and circle of fortune factions

Developer Blog
28

This is a pretty interesting and innovative approach. I really hope it works out.

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29

I am shocked. I had no idea how you guys would do this, but you did it. This sounds amazing and I look forward to trying it out as soon as possible! :purple_heart:

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30

Fine details like these are not completely set in stone and could evolve slightly. The current intent is that it is double the chance to have any LP. Also we mention that this is not part of 0.9 in the closing paragraph.

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31

First: Massive cudos to the team for their innovative direction. It looks like you made a system that can balance both main groups of the trade division.

I do have a question though that I’m confused about. In the details you state that “You can have different characters… in different factions”, but then state “Faction repurtaion is shared account-wide.” The question is for clarification; On my account, will I be able to have some characters in the Guild and others in the COF? And then switch between them for my differing needs/wants?

Thanks again for the great work!

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32

Thanks a lot for the answer! And my bad for the “not in 0.9” mention, my ADHD brain must have zoned out on that part, my apologies. ^^

33

This is really the best of both worlds. I’m impressed! Woohoo!

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34

Yes, you can have multiple characters simultaneously in both factions. You can switch back and forth between them as you please.

Progress in each faction is shared so you can level up your MG rank in one and your CoF in another and then switch back and forth if you want and both characters have access to the ranks in both factions.

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35

Thank you for listening to the community and it’s obvious you have been working seriously on this.
There is a lot of things I love about this update, but I think the most important one is the great amount of freedom this implies.

I don’t particularly like how strong the merchant faction seems to be, but I guess it’s a matter of balancing it as we go along, which is way better than just doing nothing because trade is ultimately unbalanced. Some things I would change right now is not being able to trade crafted items or craft them afterwards and I would put a gold tax.

I also love the resonance and the idea of the Circle of Fortune in general.

I was looking forward to 0.9 but now I can’t wait for whenever the Faction patch drops!

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36

That’s a little funny in that you say “how strong the merchant faction seems to be” as I had the same feeling about the Circle of Friends faction. :laughing:

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37

Hey Mike, can you confirm CoF won’t have anything helping faster gold farming? As far as I understood, gold will still be shared.

38

Awesome!!! Can’t wait!

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39

There currently are no plans to give any direct gold farming bonuses to CoF. They technically have a slight boost to finding gold through adventuring because they will find more gear but with sale prices so low compared to just finding gold from the monolith and that you can make more gold through selling items at the Bazaar, it will not be advantageous to farm gold on CoF to use as MG.

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40

#CoF lets go!

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41

CoF CoF CoF !

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42

Mind blown. I came here expecting a compromise that still would leave half the player base dissatisfied, but this is … wow!

It will be interesting to see if there will be a clear preference over time for one faction.

Two questions remain:

  1. If you have great friends in the MG, you can still play CoF and they buy and gift you items via resonance, correct?
  2. What happens with items that we acquire now in 0.9? Will they automatically have the CoF requirement? Otherwise it would be a golden opportunity to farm MG gear with CoF drop rates.
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43

Cheers team. Resonances solves the major issue I had as we move into the Cycle development phase of the game. While trading isn’t necessarily my primary interest (and especially playing some more D2R this recent ladder reset I’m growing to detest it), I’m happy with what MG and CoF are offering here. And also glad the team is interested in exploring the bazaar again.

I see the best of all worlds with this design.

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44

Merchant’s scales with the work of other people, but the Circle scales with your own farming.
To me Circle’s increased drops seem like a way to not have reduced drop chances in Merchant’s Guild.

But yeah we still don’t know enough to tell how balanced these things will be when they release, so it’s only natural the look too strong right now.

45

Well I am happy with this solution not only because it has my preferred option but also it means I can actually play different factions and experience something different. So it is a bonus overall.

Also kudos for having some gameplay/lore behind it and not just a switch.

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46
  1. Yes, however, as it states in the FAQ, the item will still have the MG requirement so you would have to switch to the MG and rank up before being able to use it.
  2. We will do something to make sure the integrity of the market is functional when Item Factions launch.
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47

CoF will certainly be a powerful and enjoyable way to play… but buzzing around different Bazaar stalls in a group of online players is something that I haven’t seen before and think wlll feel quite magical . Leaning #teamMG myself! :smile:

There’s a healthy amount of people in the studio leaning to both sides though!

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