Role discussion/review: The Collector

The Collector is the last of the original three Frontier Pursuits roles that I picked up. I have a strange relationship with this role. I largely think it is boring and tedious, yet much of that is our own fault as the player base for not playing the role as the designers intended. It is also the one that collectively we probably spend most of our time on because it is so useful as a source of income that it's hard not to. Persistent rumors, fed by comments from Rockstar developers, suggest changes to the role that will "nerf" it, and yet which ironically should have been in place from the beginning.

The Colonial; using a slight modification to a trader outfit to create a Daniel Boone type early Colonial frontiersman look. 

The collector is started when you find Madam Nazar, a curiously exotic Gypsy woman with a traveling wagon who spends her time dancing to music from a gramophone next to a little wagon and handing out hundreds if not thousands of dollars to treasure hunters who bring her stuff. She moves her wagon every 24 hours and you don't see it on your map until you find it by coming close enough to it, but the first time you find her, if you spend your 15 gold to buy a collector bag, you become one of her treasure hunting agents. These treasures come in various categories: rare wildflowers, antique alcohol bottles, rare old coins, lost jewelry, etc.

What you are supposed to do is buy her collector maps which show you where three items from one of these collections are, go find them, and then buy another map. You get a higher payout for selling her a full collection than just isolated pieces of a collection, but it would be very time consuming and expensive to find everything using these maps. You probably weren't actually expected to sell full collections very often, and if you did, the cost of the maps would seriously eat into the profit of doing so. But, of course, players discovered fairly quickly that all of the items' locations were in repeating cycles, so they documented them and players were easily able to find entire collections without buying any maps or spending more than a couple of hours running around collecting them. This effectively broke the role by making it too good and easy as a source of income as well as removing most of the fun of a challenging treasure hunting experience by turning it into a lucrative grocery shopping trip.

The first tier collector outfit and collector camp theme. Of all of the four roles so far, the collector provides the best looking outfits across the entire spectrum. I really like the explorer vibe, and I think that they all look really good. 

Rockstar reacted by doubling the number of cycles for each collection from three to six and randomizing the order in which they would appear, but all this did was take a few weeks for players to crack the patterns and document them all over again so anyone can easily find the treasures again. Like I said, it is commonly believed that among the updates expected is a nerfing of this role, possibly by truly randomizing not the cycles but the locations so that no pattern exists to be exploited and people will have to buy the collector maps like they were probably always intended. If this is indeed the way that they will go, I expect most likely that other than people attempting to still max out the role that haven't, it will not get much use anymore. Like Thermidorian Reaction, the pendulum will swing from one broken situation to a likely overly nerfed one that players who have maxed out the role will see little further use for. The collector maps at their current cost are too expensive to be worth it, and if we get to the point that you need them to do the collector role, I doubt most people will spend any time on it anymore.

All that said, the role as our exists now is kind of devoid of the spirit of fun that it likely was probably meant to have, but not entirely. I do enjoy that it sometimes takes us into interesting little corners of the map that we otherwise wouldn't see, and I've found lots of interesting little scenic details while looking for collector pieces. But like I said, mostly I'm always doing collector stuff because in an hour and a half to two hours I can get well over $500 in game just by running around the map picking stuff up and then taking it to sell. The most time I ever spent at one time was between three and four hours,  but I got a full coin collection, the three most lucrative lost jewelry collections and a few other items that serve as moonshine ingredients or daily challenge things to find. As well as clearing a gang hideout or two, and fighting off at least three wolf pack attacks. I got almost $1,700 in that one run. Like I said, it wasn't super fun. It was kind of tedious and occasionally frustrating, certainly time consuming, and it kept me from doing something else that I probably would have enjoyed more. On the other hand... almost $1,700.

The tier two outfit as well as a pretty good look into the tent. While I really like the details of this tent (it even has that weird fortune telling machine that Marston can find in the crashed circus wagons near Beecher's Hope) the gauzy material of the tent itself makes it look more like mosquito netting than actual tent material. Everything inside must  be soaked all of the time given how much it rains in game. 

A few other notes before I dive into the level unlocks. As I noted in the picture captions, the collector probably has the best outfits. I love the look of most of them, not just the hats. They have this great explorer vibe, with pouches, pockets, and a kind of Golden Age of Exploration vibe to them. This vibe is strengthened by some of the extras you can get: a pith helmet, leather rimmed goggles, a compass to hang from your gun belt, a role saddle covered with bags and boxes, etc. They spent plenty of time getting the aesthetics of the role right. It's a shame that the gameplay has been broken for it, and that the likely solution will be to break it in the other direction.

Anyway, let's begin.

Tier 1: Novice
Level 1: Two role unlock tokens.
Level 2: Two role unlock tokens.
Level 3: Divination skill page, which allows you to sense certain collectibles when you're near. Mainly this means that as you're walking around town, your controller will vibrate if a family heirloom, tarot card, antique alcohol or other non-buried collectible is around. This also applies to rare flowers as you're running around the landscape. And two role unlock tokens.
Level 4: Collector free roam events are unlocked. Plus, two role unlock tokens.
Level 5: Two role unlock tokens.
Tier 1 unlocks:

• Pennington Field Shovel ($350) One of the most important purchases you can get as a Collector, as it allows you to pick up buried loot like coins and arrowheads and jewelry. You can start using immediately with some of the maps and the divination skill, but you need to pair it with the metal detector to really get the full benefit.
• The Wentworth outfit ($250) All of the collector outfits are actually quite good looking. I also used the hat from this outfit for my early ivory colored outfits. But regardless of the hat, the outfit itself is attractive.
• McKinney Saddle ($525) One of the most distinctive and good-looking of the saddles in the game. But, not a Nacogdoches saddle, of course.
• Criollo horse - dun and blue roan overo coats ($150) The tier 1 Criollo horse. I won't beat the dead horse anymore of what I wish they would do with different coat and tiers with horses, but again, not many will buy tier 1 horses, I don't think, unless they so love the color that they don't care about performance. To be fair, I sometimes think that horse performance is over-rated. I spent a lot of the early game with the horse that they gave me for free in one of those early missions, and I don't know that it really was all that much worse than my really expensive top tier horses. And in single player, I loved my tier 2 Dutch Warmbloods for a time. But if you can have a top tier horse, I'm sure most people would prefer to.
• Webster gun belt ($100) One of my favorite gun belts. It has loads of pouches, pockets and other functional appearing decorations, while the belt and holsters themselves are lacking in other garnishes. It's one of the most tasteful and attractive belts in the game, certainly so for the role weapon equipment.
• Voyager buckle (4 gold) If you like this kind of thing, it's fine. In my opinion, it's a little plain. The Viper buckle from the bounty hunter is the most attractive of the role buckles, but as I was doing these roles, I was also doing Outlaw Pass 2, and it gave me several buckles that I thought were more attractive than this one anyway. I haven't gotten around to picking this up, even though it's relatively cheap, because it's just too plain for me to care about.
• Lancaster repeater variant ($350) One of my favorite alternate weapons. It's got an interesting color scheme that isn't obvious and just plain leather, or whatever, but which is still attractive and looks good with almost everything I could imagine wearing in game.

The tier three outfit. For very few outfits do I have more than one color variation, and often the color I like best isn't the default one, so you'll see different colors on most of my images. 

Tier 2: Promising
Level 6: Upgrade to the provisions satchel and two role unlock tokens.
Level 7: Potential skill page; learn to detect certain collectibles that are buried when they are nearby. Works best for lost jewelry and arrowheads; I've never seen this give me a coin. You can see the disturbed earth as a little pile of dirt, but mostly it gives you controller vibration and those gold motes in Eagle Eye.
Level 8: Two role unlock tokens
Level 9: Intuition skill page, which "narrows your search area" and makes it easier to detect collectibles on the map. Plus two role unlock tokens.
Level 10: Two role unlock tokens.
Tier 2 unlocks:

• Collector saddle bag ($125) A special improved saddle bag that improves on the normal improved saddle bag. Sadly, it only comes in one color, and while it looks good with most saddles, it doesn't look good with any of the Nacogdoches saddles. It's a dark brown leather with extra pockets and pouches.
• Witford Compass (4 gold) A gun belt decoration that hangs down just to the right of your buckle. I really like the look of this, I bought it fairly early, and I haven't really ever replaced it with anything else on all of my gun belts.
• The Wallingford ($348.25) Again, a pretty good looking outfit. Although I recommend not getting the strange pale green default color. When I bought it I was more interested in hat color but I do actually quite like the color scheme of my copy of this outfit. 
• Refined binoculars ($450) Generally considered a waste of money, this will allow you to use Eagle Eye through the binoculars at great distance. Depending on the changes that are made to the collector role and how you find stuff, this may become more useful in the future, though. I haven't bought it yet.
• Aguila machete (6 gold) I bought this when it was discounted to 2 or 3 gold. It's pretty cool looking, but honestly--how often do you use a machete anyway?
• Metal detector ($700) Along with the shovel, this item is the key to getting the most money out of the role. The coin collection, for example, is the most lucrative to gather, earning $545 a day if you spend the time (except when that one cycle comes up that has one coin twice and therefore is missing one of the coins). Those two items, especially if you're using data offline that shows where stuff is, pay for themselves in just a day or two.
• Collector camp theme ($700) A cosmetic change to your camp, especially your tent. There is a collector Cripps outfit that can complete the collector look at camp; he has a green sweater not unlike that of your outfits, balloonist goggles and a pith helmet. I'll attach an image of the Cripps outfits next time, but see most of the images here for the camp theme look

And the tier four outfit. Unless I forgot which was which and got the order wrong between three and four, which is certainly possible. (Update: I didn't. This is correct.)

Tier 3: Established
Level 11: Two role unlock tokens
Level 12: Equine assistance skill page and two role unlock tokens. This skill allows your horse to pick plants for you without you dismounting. As useful as this often is, I also find that it's trickier to get your horse lined up so that you can pick it than it is on foot, so it doesn't always save time like it seems it should.
Level 13: Two role unlock tokens.
Level 14: Two role unlock tokens.
Level 15: Two role unlock tokens.
Tier 3 unlocks

• The Gladewater ($446.75) The tier three outfit. Again, I like it, although curiously in this case I like the outfit much better than the hat, and when I use it, I swap the hat out for a different one.
• Lantern ($350) An attachment for your saddle that turns on like automatic headlights when it gets dark. I tend to forget that this is a collector unlock, because I use one for every saddle I have, regardless of what kind of horse or saddle it is. I think it's an essential, if pricey, accoutrement to your saddles to enable you to see better at night. I have heard at least one or two people complain that you can't see well with this in foggy conditions at night, but then again, you can't see well without it either. That's the point of the foggy conditions; to make it harder to see.
• Balloonist goggles (9 gold) Look for a sale, because this is expensive, but they are pretty good looking. For the most part, the differences in color are minor, so there's no need to buy all of them, even if you want to make them a routine part of your outfits. I have a dark leather one and a light gray or whitish leather one, and I doubt I'd ever care for another.
• Knotted bandana and the pioneer (2 gold) The collector haircut and beard. The haircut is a bit of a misnomer; it actually means covering your hair with a bandana. There is, however a small fringe at the back and the temples so you can see your hair color. The "beard" is actually a sweet up-curved mustache and some bushy big sideburns.
• Webster holster ($75) As typical, if you're going to get the gun belt, you probably need the second holster too, unless you refuse to dual wield.
• Volcanic pistol variant ($500) Very expensive, and while I love the look of it, honestly, I don't have any volcanic pistols. Oh, well.
• Criollo horse sorrell overo and bay brindle coats ($550) Same routine as with all of the role horses. I'll discuss how the top tier Criollo is, at least, in the top tier when I get there.

Because I've already posted plenty of pictures of my Criollo, I'll finish up my images for this post with a recent outfit. Although it doesn't look particular warm, not even sporting a coat, I actually couldn't even use my lightest gloves without bumping it into cold territory. The turtle-necked Donegal sweater paired with an Ortega vest is a warm combo. And the pants and boots aren't the lightest either. While I like this as it is, I also like that clearly even a light jacket will make this cold, giving me better options for good looking cold weather clothes without having to always turn to big hairy coats and chaps. 

Tier 4: Distinguished
Level 16: Valuables satchel upgrade and two role unlock tokens.
Level 17: Two role unlock tokens.
Level 18: Two role unlock tokens.
Level 19: Two role unlock tokens.
Level 20: Two role unlock tokens.
Tier 4 unlocks:

• Look to Distance ($200) An emote that... I'm not quite sure what you'd use this for. Although it does certainly have that explorer vibe going, when would you ever do this to another character or player? The only thing I can imagine that you'd care to use this for is to pose for a picture that some other player took of you to send to you, which, honestly, I've never tried to do (if I had a persistent posse of friends, maybe.) I tend to not think the emotes are all that useful or entertaining to own to begin with, but this one may well look cool, or at least coolish, but I still can't imagine where or why you'd do anything with it.
• The Londonderry ($545) A curiously somewhat plain outfit for a top tier outfit. Again, I tend to like all of the collector role outfits; I think they are all surprisingly good looking. Surprising, because so few of any other role outfits look even half as good as most of these do.
• Criollo bay frame overo and marble sabino coats ($950) The top tier horse. The bay frame overo is an interesting look; white and dark brown big patches and pale blue eyes. That's the one I have, which you will have seen in other pictures I've posted in the past. The Criollo is almost exactly the same, statwise, as the Missouri Foxtrotter, which was largely considered to be among the best, if not the best, horse in the game prior to the launch of the role specific horses. Curiously, though, nobody seems to really love the Criollo; probably because they are the same as the Missouri Foxtrotter, and most people already had one, the Criollo doesn't appear terribly popular. I didn't have a Foxtrotter yet, because I was a late starter, so I basically see this as an opportunity to have a couple of different colors with the same (basically) stats, but the amber champagne Foxtrotter is still the best looking of the four options, in my opinion. As with all top tier role horses, you actually need to be level 20 to unlock this.
• Expedition hat (6 gold) Despite the name, this is a pith helmet. Not one of those really tall ones with a badge or trinket on it, but a basic one that looks exactly like your typical safari guy during the Golden Age of Exploration would wear. I have three of them and will probably buy at least one more. I really like this hat. I did buy most of them at a discount, though. I had one, but when the collector clothing discount came out I ran to Madam Nazar and bought two more. I should have bought at least even one more, because I don't have the basic color one, which is the most iconic coloration, and would match some of my outfits quite well. Need to be all the way to level 20 to unlock this.