With the introduction of new assistants in Tamriel, there has been several posts on the subject on the official forums. The latest asks, “The Banker or The Merchant… Only 1.. Go!”. Before spending your 5000 crowns, you need to know that these assistants are variants of those in the Outlaw Refuges
- Merchants only buy and sell but don’t repair
- Bankers only provide access to your personal bank not guild banks or guild stores
- Assistants not available in Cryodil
A vocal group advocates that players boycott these items because the high price tag and little return. If you aren’t into heavy crafting, not an ESO+ member, or don’t have a lot of spare crowns, this is a good perspective.
If you spend a lot of time harvesting / crafting and are sitting on a lot of crowns from your ESO+ subscription, I’d recommend the banker. Personally, I opted for the banker albeit begrudgingly given the high price. The benefit I receive from the banker is time.
The banker saves time in a few ways. When adventuring or fishing, I dump looted items destined for the deconstruction table into the bank. This allows for me to only need one “destruction character” with maxed out passives. Once destructed, poof the items will be moved to the crafting bag. Next, produce batches of Consumable Writ items (Alchemical potions, Enchanting glyphs, and Provisioning food and drink. Then I can park my “Writ Mules” near the consumable writ board, grab the items from the bank, and run for turn in. Having the banker has reduced my time spent doing crafting writs by about 50%. If a character is at their favorite grinding spot (outside of Cryodil), you can make next level gear and place in the bank in advance: Swap out when you hit the next crafting tier. No need to fast travel to town and head to the bank. Finally, several people now park their “mule characters” at the stables to make it easier to do their mount training daily.
Hopefully, this article will help you decide what’s best for you.