Or perks to be combined, if they replace skills?

i would prefer it if bethesda would keep the old skill system

yup, If i can convince a nutcase to backdown, i should be able to convince a merchant to sell something for a few caps less.

No. I speak well but am not good at bartering. Rather different oratory skills.

If you can combine these, you can combine all weapons skills since "they all are combat stuff".

No, I don't want them to dumb down the game even more.

No, they svcked all the good bits of Speechcraft and Mercantile out of Skyrim, those 2 things are separate skills that benefit different characters. A gruff and unlikable Mercenary may not be a good conversationalist but he damn well knows how to get the best pay out of the job

I'd like then separate however in life they're basically the same thing when you get down to it. Persuasion (speech) and sales (batering) are cut from the same cloth. I'm thinking of Jordan Belfort.

Beeing good at bartering does not mean you have covered every social skill aspect. So i would say no.

A bazaar merchant might sell a carpet to Master for the maximum value but he wouldn't be able to talk him out of destroying humankind.

Hmm. I made this poll supporting them combining the two skills but you all are bringing up good points.

The rule of thumb - for any set of mechanics - should be to split until you find redundancy... And then split some more, because redundancy is just another word for MORE OPTIONS!

Personally, I think Barter, or at least its implementation, is incredibly stupid. It doesn't make sense that every merchant in the world charges 500% an item's value, and then suddenly becomes honest later on. Even if my character is bad at haggling, he should be able to recognize the fact that the merchant that he just sold a pistol to is now trying to sell the same item for 10X what he paid for it and call the guy out on it.

exactly, more options is always better as it adds more ways to play the game

Yeah. Maybe have multiple stats help with barter. Strength for intimidation, perception to find more flaws in things they're selling to get a lower price, charisma for charm, etc

Barter also takes into account knowledge of money and the inherent value of things, so if you character doesnt know how much that pistol you found is "really" worth then it is logical that any merchant could take advantage of you

Well, Skills or no more, so, we'll have perks instead and whatnot.

Granted...I never wasted skill points on Barter...Never seemed to be a point except to get more caps for my goods.

Oh hell no. Someone who knows barter knows how to talk to people aout money related things, he understands buisiness, he might be the worst person you can go to when you want a shoulder to cry on.
He knows how to pitch a portfolio to a potential investor but he might not know what to say to you to calm you down when someone close to you died.
The first one has high Barter, the second one has high Speech. Totally different things.

But that still doesn't explain why your character can't call a merchant on his bull when he tries to give you 5 caps for the exact same pistol that he has hanging on the wall with a 50 cap price tag. At the very least, your character should be able to pull other skill checks. An expert in gun or energy weapon repair should be able to assess the condition of a merchant's stock and compare it with his own. By the immutable laws of, 'this number is bigger', you should be able to determine an appropriate price.

Why? If you dont like the price you dont have to sell it to the Merchant, also even in RL you cant sell something for an equal price that you bought it for, that isnt how Merchants/stores work. Nobody ever "has" to budge on their prices and if the player has no skill when it comes to mercantile then there is no reason why the Merchant who IS very skilled at Bartering would cave to their demands

Mainly because, apparently, the player is the only person that makes use of merchants.......

That's just bad business. Merchants shouldn't refuse to budge on price, especially when it means they're turning down superior stock. If you only carry 3 rusty zip guns, it would be extremely unwise to bilk a supplier who can sell you assault rifles. And the price fixing is just ridiculous. If an arms merchant tries to give you a bad deal, he should reasonably fear competition from the general store across the street. There's an incentive for competition. If Bob's Boomsticks and Canned Goods starts stocking assault rifles, it would hurt the Gunbelievable Gun Emporium's business.

O course not. That was terrible in Skyrim.

If were gonna keep on merging more skills together we might as well just combine all of them and put them under the ''Stuff" skill.

i would just like the ability to add skills via mods. Skyrim really screwed up when they hardcoded the skills into the exe. If someone wants to add skills, they should be able to. goes for perks and SPECIAL as well.

definitely not.

i can be pretty persuasive at times.

and i'm in 101% of cases charged 10c more than the highest imaginable price.

it's just 2 totally different things.