Hunting Pirates Quest - but I can't find any pirates...

[Macdallan]

So, I grabbed a hunt pirates quest to see what that's all about. I found out. It's all about sailing around and finding no pirates anywhere.

The quest claims that the pirate problem is an issue, there are apparently too many of them causing too much trouble so you're given a task to go take one out. If they're such an issue why can't I find them? I did get some gossip telling me what settlement they're near, so I went there and sailed every bit of ocean I'd consider even remotely close to that settlement. No pirates. I expanded my search radius. Still no pirates. Went farther out, then came back and searched the seas near the settlement again.

No. Pirates.

I'm guessing they move around a bit, but I'm about ready to drop the quest because I'm just burning food and wasting time. I don't mind a bit of a hunt, but should it take hours to find if it's enough of a problem that you have to be sent out to cull the pirate fleet? Is there something I'm missing or not doing?

[Echtel]

Go to a capitol city and find an information broker (look for an eye icon outside a building), you can ask them for news on fleet movements. For 300 gold they will allow to see the entire fleet of a faction in the world for 30 days

[Rad Codex]

The pirate hunting quest doesn't spawn pirates and isn't based on where pirates are currently, so unfortunately it can be a real hassle if they aren't in the area.

While you have a pirate quest, you can Gossip at cafes and there is an increased likelihood of gossip about where the nearest pirate is.

[Macdallan]

Thanks for the replies.

I did hear several bits of gossip about pirate locations but the only time I found a pirate ship in the entire 25+ hours I've played was AFTER I dropped the quest. I'm loving the game, but if the pirates are such an issue that you're being hired to eliminate one then shouldn't they maybe have a slightly increased number and be slightly easier to find while the quest is active? I'm not saying that they necessarily need to be spawned right where you are or that they should be found in just a minute or two but hours of real time (weeks of game time) spent scouring the seas for pirates that are such a huge problem and not seeing a single one seems like they're exaggerating the problem a bit.

I didn't think to try the info broker, I'll do that the next time I get a quest to track down pirates.

[LawrenceLeoLionheart]

I always seem to find Pirates NE of their town. Whenever I have to do the Pirate Quest I always sail around the Pirate town area in the NE and I usually can spot a Pirate ship. Sometimes I have to sail back to the Pirate town then go NE again. 9/10 I find Pirates near their own town NE of it.