Merchants: Uncharmable Merchants

[Jimjam]

A popular enchanter tactic is the charming of merchants... but is it classic?

Please post evidence for and against here, obviously in era evidence preferred!

For:

???

Against:

"Restored "charmability" of most NPCs (merchants will remain uncharmable) in Kael due to fix of combat AI bug listed bellow under ** Miscellaneous Changes **."
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/story.html?story=208 15 Aug 2001

"Alas, merchants can't be charmed,"
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/n...03245247053258 Sep 19 2002 (note slightly post-classic)

"She can't be charmed...neither can the other level 45 Merchant [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]"
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/n...04751307117566 Mar 12 2003 (also post classic)

I'm sure more definitive evidence can be dug up to prove whether this was a kael and post luclin only thing or applied more widely to all merchants in the game.

Note: while researching this I discovered early PoP era Rolandal in WL was charmable and enchanters (or perhaps just an enchanter) were using him to solo Woushi! Kinda interesting!

[Caiu]

Charmbility was disabled in Kael due to a bug that caused mobs to execlusively focus on pets. You can see how this can be exploited hence that patch. It was a kael exclusive patch and merchants elsewhere were always charmable albeit no xp from them.

[Jimjam]

"Merchant could not be charmed." anther uncharmable merchant very close to velious era (this time in SolB).
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/i...02973909769155 Aug 19 2002

"I know as an enchanter you can't charm vendor NPC"
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/i...05886580282145 Jul 22 2003

Finding quite a few different sources claiming merchants uncharmable all very close to classic era. Still to find an in era / non Kael specific quote. Is there a patch note anywhere in the Luclin era that shows vendors become uncharmable? I have found nothing to suggest the charmability of vendors was something that got disabled; it seems to have always been impossible so far.

[Jimjam]

Caiu, you are missing my point on the Kael patch, btw.

The timeline in Kael can be read:

Most NPCS except merchants charmable => everything uncharmable => Most NPCs except merchants charmable.

Why were the merchants kept (and previously implied to be) uncharmable? Because all merchants in eq should be uncharmable.

[Jimjam]

I am struggling to find any stories at all of 'I charmed this merchant/vendor', but plenty of stories of all vendors being uncharmable close to era...

[Jimjam]

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

So far all we have is Kael Merchants should be uncharmable and from 2002 (if not earlier) all merchants are uncharmable.

There are no comments pre 2002 confirming a merchant had been charmed or was immune to charm.


It would be great if we could find an in era quote saying "I charmed this merchant" or a patch message post 2001 saying "merchants are now all uncharmable.

At the moment there is no evidence that merchants were charmable and little evidence that merchants were uncharmable.

[Triiz]

Originally Posted by Jimjam [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Caiu, you are missing my point on the Kael patch, btw.

The timeline in Kael can be read:

Most NPCS except merchants charmable => everything uncharmable => Most NPCs except merchants charmable.

Why were the merchants kept (and previously implied to be) uncharmable? Because all merchants in eq should be uncharmable.

You are reading that differently than I am. It's pretty subjective.


"restored charmability to most npc's" implying, to me, that some NPC's who were previously charmable are no longer charmable (merchants). Otherwise why not say "Restored charmability to all NPC's previously charmable". If every merchant in the game was uncharmable, why specifically mention merchants being uncharmable in Kael in the patch notes as if it was an exception, not the rule?

[Jimjam]

I've been looking on Allakhazam for comments on the merchants which are popular to charm in p99 (so the ones in oasis for fighting Cazel, the one in OOT for killing cyclops), but I have not been able to find any comments along the lines of "hey this merchant is a great NPC to charm for killing suchandsuch".

I did find a bunch more post 2001 comments saying many merchants were uncharmable. Either there was a stealth nerf in 2002 that made merchants uncharmable (cant find anything in patch messages), or they were never charmable.

[Izmael]

I never heard anything about merchants being uncharmable back then.

[Jimjam]

Aye, and I never heard anything about merchants being uncharmable after 2001, yet apparently they were.

Anecdotally, I don't recall seeing anyone charming merchants in period. Probably in part due to the fact that many people were terrified to use charm. It certainly wasn't as popular then as it was now.

I've been trying to find any references to someone charming a merchant. I found a few people on Allakhazam asking the question "Have you tried charming this merchant" (for quest hand ins, or to move the merchant to a more convenient position), but unfortunately no one ever answered those questions positively or negatively.

I did find a single post with evidence of merchants being charmable! However, it was in 2016, and it was complaining that charming merchants in one particular instance was very buggy and their charmed pet refused to do any fighting.

I will continue searching for an in era evidence of a merchant being charmed or flagged uncharmable or a patch note related to the issue. It would be great to have conclusive evidence one way or another.