[MagicNumbers]

I was in Veskals exchange last night doing diplomacy quests, specifically the quest line from the crafting guy who wants items from 2 different people. I was able to get the items from the first person but the second one I can't talk to. For some reason he needs Merchant Presence, but I don't have anything like that listed on my diplo sheet. Is this something left over from beta, or is merchant presence something I can "learn" how to get?

[Fozzik]

Nope, not a holdover from beta... it really is another set of presence that you will need to raise.

The only problem with that is that at the moment, there are (as far as I know) no merchants you can do civic diplomacy with. So...no way to raise your natural merchant presence.

I've got a lot of gripes about the current UI for diplomacy, and one of the big ones is the way presence is displayed. The UI will not show you the bar for Merchant presence unless you have at least 1 merchant presence. Right now, to get the 25 presence you need to complete that quest, you are going to have to get it from gear.

The only way to get gear is to grind some civic diplomacy and turn in the info, or else buy gear from the exchange (other players).

What server are you on?

[MagicNumbers]

Originally Posted by Fozzik

Nope, not a holdover from beta... it really is another set of presence that you will need to raise.

The only problem with that is that at the moment, there are (as far as I know) no merchants you can do civic diplomacy with. So...no way to raise your natural merchant presence.

I've got a lot of gripes about the current UI for diplomacy, and one of the big ones is the way presence is displayed. The UI will not show you the bar for Merchant presence unless you have at least 1 merchant presence. Right now, to get the 25 presence you need to complete that quest, you are going to have to get it from gear.

The only way to get gear is to grind some civic diplomacy and turn in the info, or else buy gear from the exchange (other players).

What server are you on?

Thanks for the info . I'm on Shidreth server. I have to be honest I'm only skill level 126 but of all the information I've turned in I've never seen merchant presence before heheh. I'll take a look at the exchange and keep on grinding civics though.

Thanks again.

[Naia]

I'm stuck on the same quest. I only have +19 to merchant presence through clothing.

[Absalon]

Originally Posted by MagicNumbers

Thanks for the info . I'm on Shidreth server. I have to be honest I'm only skill level 126 but of all the information I've turned in I've never seen merchant presence before heheh. I'll take a look at the exchange and keep on grinding civics though.

Thanks again.

Merchant gear is about as common as any other presence type at tier 1 and 2. I'm surprised you haven't seen any. What type of info have you been turning in? You can get a 66 merchant shirt from T2 evidence of arcana. That alone should be enough to cover you for most of the existing content.

There is also a quest in Khal called Improper Opinions. This quest gives you the choice of killing the Political Dissodent or parleying with him. If you parley with him, you will get another quest that will give you +18 merchant shoes (I think they are +18 now...was +8 when I did the quest). There may be other quests that give merchant gear as rewards, but I can't recall any atm.

[Kueren Goldenblade]

Originally Posted by Absalon

Merchant gear is about as common as any other presence type at tier 1 and 2. I'm surprised you haven't seen any. What type of info have you been turning in? You can get a 66 merchant shirt from T2 evidence of arcana. That alone should be enough to cover you for most of the existing content.

I don't believe you... I am 146 skill now, and I have been grinding civil since about 50ish skill. I have never received a merchant presence item. Maybe I'm just really unlucky?

[Absalon]

Originally Posted by Kueren Goldenblade

I don't believe you... I am 146 skill now, and I have been grinding civil since about 50ish skill. I have never received a merchant presence item. Maybe I'm just really unlucky?

Maybe. Or maybe the loot tables have changed since I got my merchant gear. I haven't seen any merchant gear from tier 3, so maybe they took merchant out of tiers 1 and 2 when they put in tier 3. I've got a several items with merchant presence though. Last time I counted, I think I had 116 merchant presence.

At the least, there is still the merchant boots from the quest. I doubt they changed that.

[Xxooo]

From what I learned, the only way to get merchant presence is by 2 clothing item (pants, of which there are a couple with +9), and the boots, which have +18. The pants can be bought (I found for 3s). The boots come from a quest in Khal (Improperly prisoned). Its a 2part quest, but doesnt take too long. There is a npc in Port Authority that asks you to kill the Political Dissident. Find him upstairs of the tavern. Now you have the choice to parley with him. Doing so will open a new quest to go down to the where the prisoners are and parley with 4 guards to release a prisoner. Completing that will obtain the boots.

[Jaade]

There is also a shirt, chic muslin shirt, but I have not seen one for sale on my server in a while. Someone let me borrow theirs to complete the quest.

When I asked in chat, I was *told* that merchant presence is no longer really available, but I cannot verify the information. I did manage to buy the pants with +9 merchant presence and a pair of gloves with 4 merchant/4 noble presence.

[Xxooo]

While sifting through my bank this morning, I found +18 Merchant Presence pants (will provide name later).... I can only assume it was from turning in hearsays (etc) to the informants. They were Common (green) item.

[Marty]

Originally Posted by Jaade

When I asked in chat, I was *told* that merchant presence is no longer really available, but I cannot verify the information. I did manage to buy the pants with +9 merchant presence and a pair of gloves with 4 merchant/4 noble presence.

This can't be right. I noticed yesterday that the barkeeper in the inn in Khal has a parlay available to him (called something like Ho there barkeep ) and it requires 50 merchant presence to attempt. NO idea what you get for it, but I'm intrigued enough to try to get the merchant presence necessary.

[Absalon]

Originally Posted by Marty

This can't be right. I noticed yesterday that the barkeeper in the inn in Khal has a parlay available to him (called something like Ho there barkeep ) and it requires 50 merchant presence to attempt. NO idea what you get for it, but I'm intrigued enough to try to get the merchant presence necessary.

The bartenders with merchant presence will be changed to domestic. You can read about the rewards here:

http://www.vgtact.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3685

[Marty]

Originally Posted by Absalon

The bartenders with merchant presence will be changed to domestic.

Is that right? So little point looking for merchant gear then - or is this in the very far future?

[Absalon]

Originally Posted by Marty

Is that right? So little point looking for merchant gear then - or is this in the very far future?

I would imagine that they will be changed in the next patch, but there are other bartenders that you can parley with in the meantime:

Originally Posted by doomcookie

Since the bartenders are only on Qalia right now, here's a head's up about where to go. You'll have to find the NPC's on Thestra and Kojan yourself, but there are a ton of them on Thestra.

Priya in Lomshir, 50 skill. tier 1 rewards. (domestic presence)
Jalal in Khal, 75 skill. tier 1 rewards. (merchant presence)
Gigramia in Khal, 125 skill. tier 2 rewards. (domestic presence)
Reza in Khal, 150 skill. tier 2 rewards. (merchant presence)
Brenlon Sandourn in Dark Horse Downs, 250 skill. (domestic presnece)
One Eyed Amin in Ahgram, 350 skill. tier 4 rewards. (domestic presence)
Tender Leily in Ahgram, 400 skill. tier 4 rewards. (domestic presence)
Tender Hansaniva in Ahgram, 450 skill. tier 5 rewards. (domestic presence)

I think Gigramia may be merchant presence as well. The rest should be right. I know One Eyed Amin is domestic.

Doomcookie has also said that the following changes are going to be implemented:

Originally Posted by doomcookie

Some changes you will see on these in the next patch:

There will be one parley option that deals specifically with the riftways from which you can earn only riftshards, bringing the totally number of parleys you can do with any bartender to 2.

Instead of spreading the bartenders around by skill, you will instead be able to go to any bartender and receive a parley within your skill range.

And of course, parleys on all continents, though that's technically already in, just not on live.