How did I lose favor with the Order (Ch2 Spoilers)?
 

Ok, at the beginning of Chapter 2 I teamed up with Sigfried to kill the monster in the sewers. I was then able to buy from the Armorer of the Eternal Flame Order & his assistant because Sigfried vouched for me.

So now I've played a bit further in Chapter 2 and returned from an ass-kicking in the swamp hoping to buy that better armor from the Order guy. But now when I talk to him he says that he only sells to friends of the order. Its like he's forgotten all about me?

I am wondering what I might have done to lose favor or if this is a bug. I have solved quite a few quests in the interim -- did one of them affect the relationship I have with the order?

Did I screw up by declining Sigfried's offer to join the order? I mean, the dialogue doesn't really give you a choice. If it did I would have joined, but I guess its against the character of the The Witcher. Did I screw things up by even taking that Dialog choice?

Damn! Is there anywhere else I can get better armor besides the order because those plants in the swamp are kicking my ass.

You can buy probably the same armor from dwarf blacksmith who lives in the nonhuman part of Temple Quarter (he's marked on the map).

I didn't buy a new armor until act 3, in the trade quarter, but I never got access to either of the act 2 smiths, despite letting Sigfried help me.

Buying an armor. Envy guys that have money. :)

I didn't get enough money for the armor (5000 oren) until the end of act 3 in any case - too many books to buy.

I'd say it's bug. I did exactly the same choices as you and didn't have any problems.
I don't think it's possible to join the order. Geralt says no in the end whatever you do.
I did all sidequests I could find and still remained friendly with the Order.
Those plants really are tough. I bought a book and found out they're actually insects. I think you need insectoid oil to kill them. I just run away from them at the moment though.

I've been buying every book I see and I'm currently worth well over 10k. Haven't quite finished Act 3. Got it mostly through side-quests, poker, and selling loot.

I also just got a much badder-ass armor than the one you can buy.

Some of the quests you do do affect your relationship with the Order. A choice you made earlier on affects your relationship with the dwarven smith. IOW, you just may be SOL there. Consider it a nice bit of added challenge: it won't be too long until you get to meet new smiths.

I saw that too. I think its because Sigfried leaves by then to go to the swamp. Maybe if you agree to help him there, you'll be able to use those merchants again. I decided to ignore that conflict as that's what Gerlat would do in the books, so I don't know.

Actually I don't have the money yet. I've got 2500 orens and was going to try to earn
the rest by playing poker and doing whatever I could around the city. I just don't wanna go back into that swamp without better armor.

EDIT: Also, I can't use the dwarven smith either because I took Haren Brogg's side against the Sco'Otel in Chapter One. However, I *did* decide to bail Vilvaldi out of jail so maybe my relationship with the dwarves chaged. I'll have to check that out.

Man, I'm glad I already made a Meteorite Sword with the Order merchant when I could. I would have been really pissed if I had held off on doing it until now.

Happened to me too - the smith has the same stuff as the dwarf one, so it doesn't really mean much, but it's still relatively odd. "I only deal with Friends of the order" is what he told me.

I think it have something to do with accepting the Elf first quest in the swamp. Before I actually finishing that quest, I got the "friend of the Order only" message upon my return to Vizima.

I killed the Order soldiers too, that might've been it.

I didn't kill any Order soldiers, haven't accepted any elf quest in the swamp(or been there yet) and Seigfried is standing by the gate, but I get the same line--"I only deal with friends of the Order"--I even tried showing him the Rev's Ring of Eternal Fire--nope. (I also am glad I forged that sword ;) )

I did exactly the same quest with bailing Vivaldi out of jail and I am not a friend of Order anymore. Well, it seems reasonable after all and I think this is not a bug. You helped non-human so the Order is not happy with your choice.
As for the dwarven smith, it seems you have to get a recommendation from Zoltan after you get to Wyzima if you want to trade with the smith.

I got the line long before I bailed Vivaldi out of jail. (And the reason he's put in jail is because Geralt refused to help the Sco'iatell on the riverbank, which should mean you haven't transgressed against the humans, at that point anyway) IMHO, it's either a bug, or an intended function of the game from some factor we haven't spotted yet.
Either way, just have to suck it up I guess. :)

I think it's when you accuse so I think it happens to everyone, until and if you

I'm just into Ch2 in my second play-through, and

You might,if you haven't worked around it yet

Yup, that's more or less what happened. Got my armor, and am in fact almost through Act 2.