<<There's a reason why usually MMs and WMs win the TF newbie battles>>
the very first one I won as a barbarian.
Rawr!
As for the number of TDPs, what oolan said is pretty much how it works out. with my trader, i tend to spend time in the gemshop or on the routes, and circle for circle, doesn't even compare with say, for instance my cleric- who has survival tert, but has all those Magic ranks plus weapon secondary. The positioning of the skill set is a factor as well, though - having weapons as a tert, plus magic other than devices unlearnable except thru classes makes a huge difference when it comes to tdps.
The old take-away of magic as non-teachable by NMUs and runestone non-usable hit my trader in the long run far more than my thief, who has survival set primary plus weapons secondary.
when the mech split happens we'll have to wait and see if traders can catch up a bit with more lore skills to work with. Although it will be a matter of the guild "counting" them as well - as most traders do train the various music skills for tdps, but that's all they're worth, because for circle the trader guild doesn't care if you could fiddle like Itzhak Perlman, they don't count it. Plus, going out on the road, you have to keep the weather in mind if you're going to play an instrument. Unlike hotdog stands, too bad caravans don't come with umbrellas.
