Trader in TLD?! NO!

[Ravenwood]

As we know, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY will be adding TRADER. We don't know how it will be exactly yet... But I don't like it
And I hope they give as an option to disable it

Let me explain...

The Long Dark is my favorite survival game because of the atmosphere, environment, and the feelings... when you feel lost, lonely, worried, hopeless yet satisfied, and excited

Now, if they will add a robotic NPC that stands on the same place for eternity just for trading, that kind of breaks those feelings and make it silly or awkward because it doesn't suit that type of game

On other survival games, like zombie games, traders are acceptable because
1- There is no way out, and we have to adjust with the new world
2- There are communities and people to trade with

But on TLD and similar survival games (such as stranded deep, forest... etc)
There are no communities or people to trade with!
It's so silly to open a shop in an abandoned, doomed, empty world!
Also the world is still there... There is a way out... Only you who lost... So you should keep going and if you meet someone on the road they should be people like you looking to survive and find a way out not traders!

So, I hope they will give us an option to disable that 🙏 

And yes, it's wrong to judge before we know how it will be implemented in the game... but I still think it will be a robotic NPC.
I'm am the only one who makes that a big deal?
What's your opinion about this trader system?

[hozz1235]

2 hours ago, Ravenwood said:

but I still think it will be a robotic NPC.

I highly doubt this, given how "rustic" Great Bear is.  Even if it a robotic trader as you suspect, and HL doesn't let you turn it off, you can always just avoid it - "Pay no attention to the robot behind the curtain" (extra points if you know where that reference comes from!)

I am trying to withhold any judgement until I see what that word really means.  TBH, I'm just excited for anything new at this point!

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

3 hours ago, Ravenwood said:

We don't know how it will be exactly yet... But I don't like it

I guess it doesn't need further explaining how this statement is self defeating.

Maybe the Trader will be a post you can put down items, and then, 10 days later, "someone" else will have replaced them with something else.

Maybe the Trader is just a ship to explore, as mentioned earlier.

Maybe the Trader will be an aurora infused bear that got struck by lighting, raising it's IQ to 145, and is now making a profit selling canned moose to starving survivors, and finally rabbit pelts will have a use as currency (although no idea why the bear would want 4 rabbit pelts for just a can of moose.... inflation I guess).

Point is: we don't know. I really, really understand the worries people have, and I must admit that deep down inside I'm just as anxious simply because I really, really like the game, just as you do. But on a more conscious level we should give Hinterland the benefit of the doubt, especially considering they managed to do "the right thing" with very, very little and very much subjective exceptions over an incredible amount of time.

Warm yourself up some herbal tea, kick back, and .... wait for the bear. .... 4 pelts .... cutthroat. 😒

[A Lamp]

I aswell don't like much the idea of a trader, tho it is very likely HL will add a setting to disable it. (I mean after all there's custom mode for a reason no?)

Also, does anyone else feels like Methuselah will be involved with the trader, IF not being one?

[Guest jeffpeng]

17 minutes ago, Sgt Socks said:

Jeff, the Bear is jealous of our sartorial elegance in the rabbit hat and mitts. He's a large chap. No body shaming here but he certainly needs more pelts than we do to strut his stuff on the ice.

Consider me enlightened.

17 minutes ago, Sgt Socks said:

By throwing the word Trader into the mix without any further explanation is bound to cause nervous speculation; because it suggests something far removed from the TLD world we have come to trust and love.

This actually is a strong argument. Communication quickly is bound to become volatile if not sufficiently accurate. So yes, you can make the case that instead of advertising for trust clarifying at least the negatives (it isn't an NPC, it isn't micro transaction [which they did], it isn't a bear with an IQ of 145) would have had a more desirable outcome without disclosing what it actually is. Point taken.

Edited October 28, 2022 by jeffpeng

[Ghurcb]

1 hour ago, jeffpeng said:

Maybe the Trader will be a post you can put down items, and then, 10 days later, "someone" else will have replaced them with something else.

That... doesn't sound like a good implementation. And I honestly can't see it working.

1 hour ago, jeffpeng said:

Maybe the Trader is just a ship to explore, as mentioned earlier.

And this ship will be SO AWESOME you won't dare question why it was mentioned in the announcement.

1 hour ago, jeffpeng said:

Maybe the Trader will be an aurora infused bear that got struck by lighting, raising it's IQ to 145, and is now making a profit selling canned moose to starving survivors, and finally rabbit pelts will have a use as currency (although no idea why the bear would want 4 rabbit pelts for just a can of moose.... inflation I guess).

Hinterland, WRITE THAT DOWN! Discard the ship, it's not worth it. THIS is the future of gaming. I've got a new ship and I'm shipping Mackenzie and Trader-Bear.

[JackTrysGames]

14 hours ago, hozz1235 said:

I highly doubt this, given how "rustic" Great Bear is.  Even if it a robotic trader as you suspect, and HL doesn't let you turn it off, you can always just avoid it - "Pay no attention to the robot behind the curtain" (extra points if you know where that reference comes from!)

I am trying to withhold any judgement until I see what that word really means.  TBH, I'm just excited for anything new at this point!

 

I'm hoping it's a vending machine or similar.

Functional only during the Aurora, requiring the Cash that nobody picks up nowadays to dispense drinks and occasionally food.

Maybe one of the no-glass-window vending machines to show why it wasn't just smashed open.

[RossBondReturns]

I predict that the Trader will be like...or possibly will actually be a Forest Talker...that you will only talk with over the radio but never see.

He will give you options of a trade offer...and if you accept it will be hidden in a cache at a drop point discussed over the radio. The radio is only active during an aurora.

You can choose to use the radio or not.

Simple.

[Leeanda]

1 hour ago, GeneralJConnor said:

I predict that the Trader will be like...or possibly will actually be a Forest Talker...that you will only talk with over the radio but never see.

He will give you options of a trade offer...and if you accept it will be hidden in a cache at a drop point discussed over the radio. The radio is only active during an aurora.

You can choose to use the radio or not.

Simple.

I like that idea... It'd certainly fit the game.

[yollarbenibekler]

Please allow us to kill the trader so if anyone wants to trade, then there it is. If you want to be alone, a bullet is enough. Especially in Survival Mode, I want to be left alone.

Edit: If the trader is really someone who we don't see, but can reach by a radio, then it's ok. Just drop the radio in an inaccesable place and we're good to go.

Edited October 30, 2022 by yollarbenibekler
Addition

[Ravenwood]

On 10/28/2022 at 5:06 PM, jeffpeng said:

 

Maybe the Trader will be an aurora infused bear that got struck by lighting...

I like your ideas 😆

Thanks for sharing... I will wait the update while I'm collecting the rabbit pelts😆

Yes lets wait and see 🙂

[Ravenwood]

On 10/29/2022 at 10:24 AM, GeneralJConnor said:

I predict that the Trader will be like...or possibly will actually be a Forest Talker...that you will only talk with over the radio but never see.

He will give you options of a trade offer...and if you accept it will be hidden in a cache at a drop point discussed over the radio. The radio is only active during an aurora.

You can choose to use the radio or not.

Simple.

Thats so interesting!

And it will be fine to meet someone on campfire instead of just the cache .... and I will definitely choose to use it because its brilliant idea! 🙂

[Ravenwood]

3 hours ago, yollarbenibekler said:

Please allow us to kill the trader so if anyone wants to trade, then there it is. If you want to be alone, a bullet is enough. Especially in Survival Mode, I want to be left alone.

Edit: If the trader is really someone who we don't see, but can reach by a radio, then it's ok. Just drop the radio in an inaccesable place and we're good to go.

No don't do a crime!😐

Actually if the trader will stand still there forever I guess you can do it... its fine 🤐

[Ghurcb]

3 hours ago, yollarbenibekler said:

Please allow us to kill the trader so if anyone wants to trade, then there it is. If you want to be alone, a bullet is enough. Especially in Survival Mode, I want to be left alone.

"Oh, I can't believe this! It's been so long since I last saw another person around here. Honestly, I thought I'm the last one left on this island... Wait... What are you doing?.. Please put down your gun... Sir? I CAN HELP YOU! WE'RE MORE LIKELY TO SURVIVE TOGETHER! DON'T DO IT! I CAN BE USEF--"

 

BTW, all throughout this exchange the survivor doesn't say a word, looking like this. Terrifying stuff if you really imagine it.

Edited October 30, 2022 by Ghurcb

[Ravenwood]

Thanks everyone for sharing your opinion!

Again, I'm wrong to judge something unknown just because of my own speculations... So forgive me for that, but I'm so excited to shut up 😅 I just wanted to share and relief 

I would like to say that I'm not against the trading idea itself... It's just that specific one when you have a static NPC standing all day in one place, like many other games.

However, good ideas that fit the game style will be a great addition, for example:

What if the traders are passersby that shows from time to time and set a campfire on roads and other places (and they randomized each time so you can always have a new fresh meeting)
And you can find them by radio, campfire smoke, flares, notes, or any other idea
Something close to this idea is already implemented in the game as Methuselah and the survivers from the plane in the story mode

Hinterland always does things right so far... For example, I don't like supernatural stuff, especially in realistic games... But they made the aurora event so interesting and fascinating that i really liked it
So I hope they are going to make the trader idea interesting and fit the game so well.🙏

[A Lamp]

44 minutes ago, Ghurcb said:

BTW, all throughout this exchange the survivor doesn't say a word, looking like this. Terrifying stuff if you really imagine it.

Boogeyman From The Far Territory.

[Karl Grylls]

On 10/29/2022 at 9:24 AM, GeneralJConnor said:

I predict that the Trader will be like...or possibly will actually be a Forest Talker...that you will only talk with over the radio but never see.
 

I think this will be most likely the case. It would make sense with the walkie talkie also. There is no one else you could talk to otherwise.

In April Dev Diary HL posted a picture of a trader. This picture is cool, and i hope the Trader will be exactly like that. With his own waggon At the same time, the picture is just showing a possibility, not the final result. So my guess is, that we have to call the trader with the transponder and then find him several days after in a region that was announced.

Following the picture, the trader is bound to tracks. If this will be the case, he can only appear where intact tracks are present. Quick think of it, it must be one of the new regions, probably the hub.

Edited October 30, 2022 by Karl Grylls

[Ravenwood]

On 10/28/2022 at 5:54 PM, A Lamp said:

I aswell don't like much the idea of a trader, tho it is very likely HL will add a setting to disable it. (I mean after all there's custom mode for a reason no?)

Also, does anyone else feels like Methuselah will be involved with the trader, IF not being one?

Yes that's also right!

When I heard a trader Methuselah the first one came to my mind! Not as trader but because its the only NPC that encountered you couple of times on your way and you can chilling with him in his campfire 😁

[Glacia]

While im certaintly against any kind of a Trader on this game, we should not be concerned before more official info be released.

A trader can mean a lot of things actually; there are several survival games with a trader system and no one use the same concept.

Forest talkers seems to fit incredible well because we already have some experiencies with this group in Wintermute, and we have never see one directly (Just talking to a door). I can imagine a kind of note in some place, 'Give me X items in X place at X day', then comeback the next day to get my reward.

For a example:

- After you stay several days in your base in mystery lake or other region, you wake up and notice a note on your door.

- You read the note, it says 'I need medical suplies, i have munition or another resources for you if you can help me'. 'Leave the supplies in the cave near the lake'.

- You leave the medical supplies and comeback the next day; the forest talker already take the supplies and leave behind some valuable resources for you'.

- While you are still an strange and possible enemy for the forest talkers, you periodically gain reputation with them; Then you can get trading notes more frenquently in some kind of 'Quest' style, just like wintermute.

You never interact with an NPC or the game breaks the loneliness feeling; even if you know 'Hey, something is alive', you still play 100% of the game alone and without human interaction than a rare note.

 

Just an example of how TLD can have a trader without actually breaking the game economy or feeling, of course there are a lot of viable options. So, just be patience and wait for more official info 😎

[Jarulf]

There were going to be some sort of side stories, weren't there? Perhaps the Trader is connected to or unlocked through one of them.

That way we could easily choose whether to have them in our games or not 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Jarulf

[hozz1235]

I like where this is going with the Forest Talkers.  Taking this further, perhaps the visors and caches will be the method for exchanging?  Then again, I still want to be able to just find hidden caches without trading if I don't want to.  Maybe only certain cars will be "drop boxes" for exchange notes...

[UpUpAway95]

I'm anticipating (just guessing, of course) that the DLC will activate a Methuselah-like character (i.e. just reskinning his model) and his campfires in Survival Mode, giving him an inventory instead of his story-mode dialogues.  Having a custom option to disable him seems likely, given that I'm thinking that people who don't actually purchase the DLC will not see it become active at all in their games.  I suspect the same will hold for other DLC-specific additions.  The other possibility, of course, is that the trader and other DLC-specific items will only be present and usable in the DLC portion of the map (but this seems less likely since that would probably frustrate people who purchase the DLC in anticipation of using the items in all areas of the current survival map rather than being restricted to a specific DLC map).

[Bearimpaler101]

On 10/28/2022 at 5:41 AM, Ravenwood said:

As we know, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY will be adding TRADER. We don't know how it will be exactly yet... But I don't like it
And I hope they give as an option to disable it

Let me explain...

The Long Dark is my favorite survival game because of the atmosphere, environment, and the feelings... when you feel lost, lonely, worried, hopeless yet satisfied, and excited

Now, if they will add a robotic NPC that stands on the same place for eternity just for trading, that kind of breaks those feelings and make it silly or awkward because it doesn't suit that type of game

On other survival games, like zombie games, traders are acceptable because
1- There is no way out, and we have to adjust with the new world
2- There are communities and people to trade with

But on TLD and similar survival games (such as stranded deep, forest... etc)
There are no communities or people to trade with!
It's so silly to open a shop in an abandoned, doomed, empty world!
Also the world is still there... There is a way out... Only you who lost... So you should keep going and if you meet someone on the road they should be people like you looking to survive and find a way out not traders!

So, I hope they will give us an option to disable that 🙏 

And yes, it's wrong to judge before we know how it will be implemented in the game... but I still think it will be a robotic NPC.
I'm am the only one who makes that a big deal?
What's your opinion about this trader system?

I play stranded deep and your marooned at sea what are you gonna trade with crabs? But in the long dark there is. (Or was) people and civilization. you could trade with them whereas stranded deep is iin the middle of the ocean.

[Bimbobjoejr.]

On 10/29/2022 at 2:24 AM, GeneralJConnor said:

I predict that the Trader will be like...or possibly will actually be a Forest Talker...that you will only talk with over the radio but never see.

He will give you options of a trade offer...and if you accept it will be hidden in a cache at a drop point discussed over the radio. The radio is only active during an aurora.

You can choose to use the radio or not.

Simple.

I like this idea best so far. It could give an insight to what the radio is used for, and if you communicate to the trader via the radio only, you can technically go through your game still being alone. Plus it's nice that if it's like that, it could be entirely optional, but it would help if you get in a pinch. I'm still going to wait and see but I have high hopes that it won't be too game breaking and immersion wrecking

[hozz1235]

On 11/8/2022 at 2:26 PM, Bearimpaler101 said:

I play stranded deep and your marooned at sea what are you gonna trade with crabs?  you could trade with them whereas stranded deep is iin the middle of the ocean.

What if there were other marooned people as well?  You could trade with them.