Trading

The Trading skill factors into many merchant systems, adjusting resulting prices of goods.

Type	Square			Semi			Pure
Profession	Rogue	Warrior	Monk	Bard	Paladin	Ranger	Cleric	Empath	Savant	Sorcerer	Wizard
Max Ranks Per Level	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	-	2	2
Training Point Cost	0/3	0/4	0/3	0/2	0/3	0/3	0/3	0/3	-	0/3	0/3

Trading Chart

The following matrix shows the bias merchants in a given town area have towards a given race. Each entry in the matrix represents a percentage from baseline modifier.

Race	Human	Elf	Dwarf	Giantman	Halfling	Half-elf	Dark Elf	Sylvankind	Burghal Gnome	Forest Gnome	Half-krolvin	Erithian	Aelotoi
Four Wind's Isle	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wehnimer's Landing	0	0	0	0	0	0	-5	0	0	-5	-25	0	0
Icemule Trace	0	0	0	0	5	0	-5	0	-5	0	0	0	0
Pinefar	0		0	0	5		-5	0	0
Solhaven	5	0	0	0	0	-5	-25	-15	-5	0	0	0	0
River's Rest	5	-10	0	0	0	-5	-15	-5	0	0	-15	-5	-5
Kharam-Dzu	0	-15	5	0	0	-5	-25	-15	-5		-5		-5
Ta'Vaalor	-10	5	-15	-5	-5	-15	-25	0	-5	-5	-15	-5	-5
Ta'Illistim	-10	5	-15	-5	-5	-15	-25	0	-5	-5	-15	-5	-5
Sylvaraend	-10		-15	-5		-15	-25	0	-15		-15	-5
Zul Logoth	0	-15	5	0	0	-5	-15	-15	-5	0	-5	0	-5
Cysaegir	-5	0	-5	-5	-5	-5	0	0	-5	-5	-15	-5	5
Khazar's Hold			0				-25	0	0
Zhindel's Post			5				-15	-15	0		0
Northern Caravansary	0					0	-5	0	-5

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(The chart that Drumpy posted immediately after his research did not contain the listings for Cysaegir, Khazar's Hold, or Zhindel's Post; those were opened later. Refer to the chart above for the most current information.)

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RASCHEVAR
Trading - cracked. 
on 12/25/2004 8:03:59 PM
#1718

Trading Formula:

I split the formula up into a few factors for easy reading.

1. 'Skill Boost'.

Defined as: [TradingSkill + InfBonus]/12

NB1: Truncate. -0.9 is 0. 0.9 is also 0. -1.1 is -1, and 1.1 is 1. This means that the effective range of '0' is far larger (from -11 to +11, so that's 23 possibles, instead of the usual 12).

NB2: You MUST have 1+X ranks of trading, where X is your skill boost, to make it count. So if you have, say, 35 INF (maxxed INF erithi/elf), you would have 35/12 = 2.91 = 2 SkillBoost, but in order to enjoy a skillboost of 2 you need 3 (2+1) ranks of trading to make it count, or you get nothing. So, you train up to 3 ranks, which igves you a total SkillBoost of (35+15)/12 = 4.166... and yet you still get just 2% SkillBoost, because 3 ranks won't ever grant more than 2%. In practice, this whole 'minimum requirement' stuff is only important for the first 5 or 6 ranks, after that you will always meet this requirement.

So, in short, forget about big NB2 if you have about 6 or more trading ranks, and definitely forget about it if you have 0 or less INF.

SkillBoost is 1 plus or minus (the number derived above divided by 100), depending on if you're buying or selling.

Example: Barachado: 100 ranks of trading and 32 INF bonus: (200 [TradeSkill] + 32 [InfBonus])/12 = 232/12 = 19.33333, truncate it: 19.

So, barachado's skill boost is 1.19 / 0.81, depending on if he's selling (1.19) or buying (0.81). you can also read this as: He has a 19% advantage in whatever sales he makes.

2. Selling gems at a gemshop:

RawGemValue * [SkillBoost + RaceBiasFactor]

RaceBiasFactor reflects the opinion about your race by the shop owner. For example, a dwarf in the elven nations has a RaceBiasFactor of -0.15 (read: 15% penalty). Elves have a RaceBiasFactor of +0.05 (read: 5% bonus).

If barachado the elf sells a gem in the elven nations with a base value of 5000 silvers, he gets: 5000 * [1.19 + 0.05] = 5000 * 1.24 = 6200 silvers.

3. Buying things off the pawnshop table:

[RawItemValue * 2 * PawnItemClassFactor] * [SkillBoost + RaceBiasFactor].

RawItemValue depends on the item and can't always be known (well, now you can back it out!). However, for some items it's easy: The raw item value of a gem is simply that which you can easily calculate from block #2 (selling to the gemshop).

PawnItemClassFactor refers to how much the pawnshop you're at 'likes' the class of item you're trying to buy. I'm still looking into classes, but, for example, gems are different from weapons which are different from 'gem-like imbeds', the stuff you can also sell at the gemshop. Each pawnshop has it's own unique set of PawnItemClassFactors, and each item class has it's own unique PawnItemClassFactor at each pawnshop.

4. Selling things to the pawnshop.

Exactly the same as #3, but remove the 2: [RawItemValue * PawnItemClassFactor] * [SkillBoost + RaceBiasFactor].

5. Buying things at landing style shops:

As this involves haggling, it's a whole new set of research which I'm really not going to bother with.

special note: I found the formula.

purchase price = base price - (int(boost)/100 * 2 * base price * (race modifier/100))

Dimwitt

6. Buying things at auto-shops such as the types usually found at merchants:

So far I have no clue. HOWEVER, now that you have your SkillBoost number, you can check out how it works at the next merchant. It's a well kown fact one merchant cares more about trading than the next, and they may have race biases as well. As such my current suspicion is that the formula is very similar to gem selling, except of course swap the skillboost factor (0.81 instead of 1.19), and multiply the skillboost percent (19% in the uber barachado case) with some limiting factor depending on shop. We'll see at the next big merchant event.

7. Selling skins

No clue, but I will look into this.

8. Appraising items

The more ranks of trade, the better you get at it, but the RT is always 3 seconds per item, success or no. Having more than 100 skill is no guarantee of succesful scan so it's not as simple as skill + d100 > 100. My current suspicion is RANKS + d100 > 100: Every rank gives you a 1% chance of identifying. But that's very anecdotal unlike the rest of this. Research might follow later, this isn't as important I'd say.

9. Charts

There are two charts I will be releasing. RaceBiasChart This chart is 2 dimensional and compares race to locale (such as 'river's rest', 'khazar's hold', 'cysaegir', 'illistim') and gives you the factor in percent (0%, -25%, +5%).

PawnFactorChart This chart is 2 dimension and compares item class (Magic Base, Magic Pretty (gem sellable), Gem, etc) to specific pawnshops.

My current focus is on the RaceBiasChart. The PawnFactorChart is an interesting pasttime and can be figured out rather easily; I just have to figure out base value on a whole slew of items and then visit each and every pawnshop in the lands and appraise the whole set. It'll happen when I have more time.

RaceBiasChart to follow. Now that you have all the formulas, every jack, joe, or jill can fill in missing spots if they are in the right place and they are of the right race. So, please, help. Mail me (play.net works), or reply to this. thans.

Drumpy Blackfoots - Elanthia's most humble halfling.