There was a period where I spent 80-90% of my time making piros, but I still had a cupboard overflowing with chants.
danath wrote:I'm not saying it's impossible to trade, but it's quite harder without a fairly safe and accessible-for-all place to trade like old RoB. One of my mates had to crawl (boat to transport more items) for at least 2 hours just to make a fair trade (and the poor guy was attacked by a bear and a boar at once

). That isn't exactly something anyone would enjoy.
Seriously, the reason for my rude post above is because you seem completely determined to complain. First of all, this is a game, so there needs to be some kind of challenge. Here is my analysis of the difference between the "Vets" and the "Losers": the Vets enjoy challenges and work to overcome them. The losers see a challenge as a game flaw and complain about it.
When you say "That isn't exactly something anyone would enjoy." you are flat out wrong. This is the kind of thing older players brag about. Before there was quality, I traveled the most of the supergrid (being attacked by boars, foxes, deer, and bears) just to explore.