"Regional Merchants" Needs To Go!

In a game where usually half the zones aren't 'owned' every week and some aren't owned for weeks on end (eg. the Northlands and Malvopolos) anyone trying to level Cooking is in for a world of pain when critical ingredients for leveling simply aren't available.

This mechanic was fine when the game had enough players on every server that few if any zones went un-owned, but now it's simply a road-block to progress that should be consigned to history!

Convert Regional Merchants into Standard Merchants.

Just want to bump this. It's -really- irritating to need items that can only be obtained from these merchants.

Bountiful Bazaar is helpful, but when it's not up, well it's useless. Regional conquest changes are helpful as well. But takes a full week to take effect.

I don't feel like this is a real big problem.... IDK, even on Shiva which is far quieter than Asura, there's only a few areas under beastmen control at worst (Maybe influence scales by population? IDK)

I'm not saying I'm a super fan of the conquest system in general (mostly since it just isn't really meaningful other than getting conquest points and crystals) but it did make the world feel more alive to have the status of various things like this periodically changing.

It's an outdated system. it doesn't work anymore.

Since I doubt they are going to be able to untie everything from the Conquest system, there is a simple solution to this issue that would make it much easier for players to gain and retain control of Conquest zones.. Just make exp gained via Voidwatch and/or UNM systems count towards control. UNM would probably be easier to implement, but VW would be nice to include if possible. I've heard that even Too Weak mobs count towards Conquest Tally, but I've actually tried to take a region before and saw zero changes in influence after killing several hundred Too Weak mobs.. Rather than try to "fix" the system itself, just make it simpler for high level players to participate and allow at least a portion of the exp gained from killing UNM and/or VW targets to apply to regional control.

Can you donate gear to the outpost you need? I'm not sure how feasible it is for a single person or small group to do donate enough to get control, but... should be possible. Maybe that's what they could adust if anything, make gear donations count for much more so people can get control if needed, even if there is a week delay.