That is exactly how it works... You just can't negotiate with NPCs.

When it says that you "can't offer a contract" it means that you have no leverage. NPC will offer a certain deal for whatever it is you desire to be done and offer a price, which you either agree to or you don't.

PS - This is how I understood it...

Posted By LukeSpyro at 5:34 PM - Wed Jul 19 2017

NPC will offer a certain deal for whatever it is you desire to be done and offer a price, which you either agree to or you don't.

PS - This is how I understood it...

Yeah Luke I understood that I suppose I interpreted it as NPC's will come up to me and say "Hey I will give you x wood for y gold" and I was wondering if there would be a system in place where I as the player can be more proactive and go to the NPC and ask them if they had a proposal and they could either decline or propose a contract.

LukeSpyro, you are exactly correct. As it stands now there will be no negotiations with any NPCs and that this is why the contract must be initiated by them. It should be basically a flat fee for service, take it or leave it. I'll do 'this' for 'that' amount of money. However they never said that it is be a fixed rate. Perhaps the carpenter down the street will do it cheaper, or perhaps they will come down on their prices in the future, or even offer cheaper services in certain times of the year. The pricing could also be effected by the skill of the NPC (which is another can of worms we will open on another day), so you can hire a less experienced carpenter cheaper than you can hire a Master if he can do the work.

I imagine price would be set by reputation (with said npc) x skill style system

I'm just wondering if I can have a request for tender mechanic.

LOL I like how no one answered his question: "can we ask NPC's if they are looking for a contract to be filled, or must we wait for them to approach us first?"

So far I don't think there is any info on whether or not we will have the option to ask NPC's if they have a contract looking to be filled, although I hope they do plan to add it. At least when you have nothing to do in game you can go around town and ask, it would promote conversation and would make questing more of an active task. Rather than always being approached you can feel free to ask using a specific mechanic. Also, if they add that mechanic in OPC scripts can use it as well which would reduce the need for players to spam in chat they have a contract needing to be filled. Players could post an offer on the message board saying they have a contract and then sit in the tavern while offline where players can freely find and ask them for the contract.

Sounds like a wonderful future expansion. "Brand New: Negotiate Contracts with NPC's".

I'm pretty certain you can ask. For example, if you go to the npc lumberjack, and ask if he has wood for sale, he'll offer you a contract to buy wood (possibly price modified according to your relationship/charisma/rank/ect) at a given price. You will be able to take or leave it, but not negotiate, or offer a contract carefully worded to require infinite wood on small daily installments for a large upfront sum, or a small amount of wood for a huge price, delivered to a non-existent location, with the lumberjacks land turned over to you as a forfeit should he fail to deliver on time.