Master bandits

If you're really ridiculously strong, master bandits aren't that big of a deal. My best guess is that the total buy price and distance from original trade post determines the type of bandits spawned. Another plausible theory would be the total sell price at the nearest trade post determines the type of bandits spawned.

Also, for what it's worth, I think the buy price is the same across all servers, assuming players are at the same merchant rating. A higher merchant rating does give a 1~3% discount on the buy price.

The number of people who can fight Master Bandits like that are few and far between, and based on the fact that they got away, Sath is not one of them.

I lack any characters on other servers to test it, but a while back I kept track of all the people buying Lovely Potions. I came to the conclusion that each server had its own supply based on my success there.

Everyone who can do Outlaw hunting/pursuit, with certain ease, can handle Masters. Which isn't that small a number, you're underestimating the server as a whole.

Outlaw hunting doesn't cut your damage in half and prevent the use of pets.

with certain ease

Keywords.

I can handle Master bandits easily if it's not during commerce. It still takes me almost the entire time allowed to take down the Master Bandit bosses.

The number of people who are capable of handling them during commerce without any real risk isn't my point, regardless. My point is that Sath, the person who encountered them, isn't one of those people.

I personally wouldn't do as dangerous a route if there's such a risk of losing goods. Hence why I originally thought they were doing a shorter route and didn't need to worry about Master bandits (which lead to my question).