Is bartering ever useful?

[Mordy]

The skill, i mean.

It seems somewhat plentiful in gear and stacking few levels of it would add up quite nicely indeed when selling stolen things/excess loot to merchants.

But is gold that useful, outside of buying skills or the rare purple item from one merchant or another?

So on one hand, sorta useful, on another, not really all that much.

[Reeno]

Not really
http://divinity.wikia.com/wiki/Bartering_(DOS_EE)

Keep your rep high and do your shopping with a character that has charisma+bartering trait and bartering gear. I have yet to play an RPG where the merchant skill is useful. Youd think after decades they'd get it right but nope. Its strange.

[Mordy]

Originally posted by fox:

Not really
http://divinity.wikia.com/wiki/Bartering_(DOS_EE)

Keep your rep high and do your shopping with a character that has charisma+bartering trait and bartering gear. I have yet to play an RPG where the merchant skill is useful. Youd think after decades they'd get it right but nope. Its strange.

Yeah.

Kinda figured it'd be waste of points, but thought i'd ask anyways since reckon fine forum folks here knew more about it!

EDIT:

Thanks for the reply, will make my high charisma character the one who'll haul the lewts and sells stuff.

[Jason Wang Dang ✅]

I just keep gears with barter in my backpack and switch to them if I need to buy or sell. Gold is very useful though, so much good items to buy. And those secret maps cost alot to b

[rn_archl0rd]

Gold is not much of a problem as you have far more than you can spend in later parts of the game. You can use Jahan (comes with +1 in bartering) and gear to up the level early on.

[Mordy]

Originally posted by Jason Wang Dang:

I just keep gears with barter in my backpack and switch to them if I need to buy or sell. Gold is very useful though, so much good items to buy. And those secret maps cost alot to b

Secret maps?

Do you mean the treasure maps sold on the Cyseal marketplace?

Originally posted by rn_archl0rd:

Gold is not much of a problem as you have far more than you can spend in later parts of the game. You can use Jahan (comes with +1 in bartering) and gear to up the level early on.

I did not know that so thanks, good to know!

[rn_archl0rd]

Think he means the maps sold in the Hall of Secrets in the homestead. You can find most of that stuff with decent perception.

[MaximumEffort]

Bartering is ♥♥♥♥. Just do the trading with your 'conversation' character

[Mordy]

Originally posted by rn_archl0rd:

Think he means the maps sold in the Hall of Secrets in the homestead. You can find most of that stuff with decent perception.

Ah, okay.

Haven't gotten that far yet, since my coop partners have a tendency to vanish periodically, meaning progress been slow.

Good to know some interesting stuff coming though!

[Salty Nobody]

Playing the Epic Encounters mod where later in the game I need to occasionally spend 150k on gear just to not have my party get wiped in one turn by a boss yes, anything that gets me even slightly more gold is essential...

[Mordy]

Originally posted by Tactician:

Playing the Epic Encounters mod where later in the game I need to occasionally spend 150k on gear just to not have my party get wiped in one turn by a boss yes, anything that gets me even slightly more gold is essential...

Not using mods and though the gold is starting to stack up, sorta worried since gear is also starting to get expensive.

But to spend 150k on regular basis on gear, like.. hell do you get that kind of gold!?

EDIT: Is it also a mod thing?

[Salty Nobody]

It is partly a mod thing, but Crafting, high reputation, gifting to the merchants I use and barter helps too. Getting around 100k selling stuff when my inventories get full at the point I am at. However at this point I have also given up trying to save and so if I see something nice I buy it.

[rn_archl0rd]

Craft weapons and armor to sell. Turn low level weapons into bars and then recraft them into weapons at your level to sell. Sharpen crafted weapons to increase their price and attach metal pieces to leather and scale and plate to metal armor or pearls to armor to increase value before selling.

[Mordy]

Originally posted by rn_archl0rd:

Craft weapons and armor to sell. Turn low level weapons into bars and then recraft them into weapons at your level to sell. Sharpen crafted weapons to increase their price and attach metal pieces to leather and scale and plate to metal armor or pearls to armor to increase value before selling.

Interesting.

Never thought crafting to be that useful since the little i've tinkered with it have produced utter trash.

Will give that a shot, so thanks!

[FunGodFather]

Barter is actually a great part to the game, I actually use it a lot. It is the gift that keeps on giving. It reduces the price of items for that character, and also increases the sell price of items you have. Each level of barter is 5 percent cheaper to buy, and 4.5 percent more value to sell, for about a 9.5 percent improvement on exchanges, each Barter point. That makes a huge difference. You will achieve a breaking point where fights get significantly harder, and having the best gear for your level will make a huge difference. Tip to get this high is to try to become Egotistical (+1 barter), use equipment buffs for barter (should be +1 on feet and +1 on necklace), and put as many points in it as you possible for an easier play through. I do that, plus I also craft and pickpocket (Although I find pickpocket to be the most boring, but an essential part of all crpg games. I don't do pickpocketing with too much joy) , to get the most money value possible at all times. But that game cater to many different playstyles. ps: I play on Tactifican.

[Guts]

Barter isn't nearly as useful as pickpocket. You could buy everything. That requires a lot of planning and bartering and gold gathering. But stealing things right off someone makes the game 10 times easier. Any skillbook you want is yours.