Maritime trade, and trading in general, has been reworked for the 3.5 update. This is an attempt to bring back groups working together to move packs, and a promotion of naval battle to try to get those packs.

(They wish to have more interaction among players with these changes in trading.)

Introduction to the New “Daru Trading Post”

The Daru built Habor Trading Posts on each continent. They are located in harbor areas of zones where you can sell packs overseas to get Stabilizers or Gilda Stars. (Two Crowns, Solzreed Peninsula, Cinderstone Moor, Solis Headlands, Villanelle, and Ynystere.) There is also a Trading Post in Diamond Shores, Auroria.

The Daru collect goods (trade packs) that people sell to create special trade packs, that you can purchase and resell at a higher price.

There are three tiers of specialty goods that can be produced at the Daru Trading Posts (on the Haranya and Nuia continent):

Normal Trading Post Specialties (Tier I)

Grand Trading Post Specialties (Tier II)

Ferment/Aged Trading Post Specialties (Tier III)

Making these specialties requires players to turn in a certain amount of packs, as shown in the screenshot above. Depending on the kind of specialty, different packs are needed:

Normal Trading Post Specialties are made from regular Specialty Goods (ones that do not require Gilda to craft) and Gilda packs (ones that require Gilda to craft).

are made from regular Specialty Goods (ones that do not require Gilda to craft) and Gilda packs (ones that require Gilda to craft). Grand Trading Post Specialties are made from Antiquity Goods (in zones that have a community center enabled to craft its packs), Fellowship Goods, and Tradehouse Goods.

are made from Antiquity Goods (in zones that have a community center enabled to craft its packs), Fellowship Goods, and Tradehouse Goods. Ferment/Aged Trading Post Specialties are made from larder packs.

As mentioned in the 3.5 announcement post, these kind of packs are in a “cyclic” structure, which means you need to travel between safe and unsafe zones. You can utilize the NPC boat to transport goods from harbor to harbor.

High Risk; Possibly High Reward

These Trading Post Specialties have a higher risk of being stolen due to their sell price, but successfully turning these packs in give substantial amounts of gold, giving it a “high risk, high reward” scenario.

To begin, one purchases a Trading Post specialty for an amount of gold, and a special certificate that can be obtained from the Vocation Badge store (the certificate price is unknown at the moment). These can be purchased from Trading Posts.

Do note that the number of Trading Post specialties depends on how many inland packs people turn into the Trading Post. If people only turn in enough packs for 5 Trading Post Specialty packs, then there will only be 5 packs that people can get. (It will be a first come, first serve basis.)

As seen in the screenshot above, there are multiple columns. This may seem a little confusing at first, but here is an explanation of it.

The first column, with a picture of a new trade pack, is the name/type of pack. This shows the continent of origin, and the kind of pack (Normal/Grand/Aged).

The second column shows the number of that pack in the Trading Post’s stock. It will increase or decrease depending on how many of inland packs are turned in and how many are purchased for reselling.

The third column shows the current percentage of of the pack. Like other packs, it will decrease with pack turn in and increase slowly, back to 130%.

The fourth column shows the turn in price of the specialty pack. It is unclear how to interpret, but I assume that it is the price, after adjusted by the pack percentage.

In the fourth column, you can click on the moneybag icon to purchase the pack so you can resell it. If it is grayed out, that means there are no longer any more packs of that type available, and you must wait or refresh the list to see if you can purchase it.

There are two factors that come into play when determining the turn in price of these packs. This is the freshness factor, and the stock factor.

Over time, the quality of Trading Post products degrade. There are four stages:

Mint Quality (Very Fresh)

Normal Quality (Somewhat Fresh)

Bruised Quality (Somewhat Old)

Broken/Corrupt Quality (Very Old)

Mint Quality grants the highest turn in price, while the Broken/Corrupt Quality grants the lowest.

The loss of quality happens continuously, even when one sets a pack on the ground or logs out of the game. So, if you are planning to sell these packs, make sure you have enough time and you are undisturbed, or you will miss out on profit. Although it may seem good to sell at the place closest to the trading post you are at, you must note that people may be hiding and pirate your ships as it nears another harbor.

The other factor, the stock factor, affects turn in prices. Depending the number of trading post goods already in the stock, turn in prices are heightened or lowered. So make sure you are turning them in while they are fresh, in low stock, and a high pack percentage, to maximize profit!

It is good to plan out and schedule pack runs, since there are multiple factors that will determine your profit selling these Trading Post packs.

Do not worry if you do not wish to sell these kinds of packs. Packs that do not come from Trading Posts are not affected by freshness factor.

Continental Trading Changes

Alongside the maritime trade renovation, there are a few changes to inland trading. These changes are interesting, in my opinion.

Much like right now, selling goods from inland areas to the Trading Posts will give you gold. This did not change. Distance still affects the turn in price of goods.

As a note, the goods traded into Trading Posts are separate from goods traded into a Gold Trader.

But a feature that has been added are the Inland Trading Posts. You can sell Trading Post packs here (from the other continent) for Chacoal Stabilizers! I believe they will have a higher reward if you turn it into these locations.

The Inland Trading Posts are in:

Gwenoid Forest

Aubre Cradle

Hellswamp

Falcorth Plains

Arcum Iris

Perinoor Ruins (the Daru have taken down that spiked post at the entrance in Perinoor… Shh, don’t tell anyone!)

Golden Ruins

Here is a map, showing the locations of the Harbor and Inland Trading Posts. Blue Daru icons are Harbor Trading Posts, and Yellow Daru icons are Inland Trading Posts:

*Diamond Shores is Auroria’s Harbor Trading Post and Golden Ruins is Auroria’s Inland Trading Post.

Ocean Ferries and Other Notable Changes

There will now be Ferries that cross the ocean! This is possibly good for people who wish to get their scarecrow farms.

They go from:

Solzreed Peninsula to Ynystere, and back

Two Crowns to Solis Headlands

With a fee, they can be protected from pirates and people from the opposite nation. However you can choose to save gold and have it not protected, with the risk of having it pirated.

Other Changes:

The time needed to receive payment has been changed. You can receive payment for certain packs (or all packs???) after 8 hours, but you will only get 2% interest.

The Freedich Island Gold Trader has been removed, due to these new Trading Posts. But, perhaps the gold trader will come back someday 🙂

XLGames wants to implement these changes to promote the PvP that will come with it and to promote teamwork amongst players. We will see how this will turn out!