Mercs are too weak

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Axxius, Dec 20, 2018.

  1. FawnTemplar Augur

    I can tell you, because I've known him for quite a long time, he does play with other real people when he can.
    Whulfgar likes this.
  2. Tarvas Redwall of Coirnav, now Drinal

    Five people directly quoted my post....hmm, that a group right there :p
    Lakeland, Elyssanda and Whulfgar like this.
  3. Nifty Slacker Augur

    Yup. People love feeding trolls. :p
  4. Bigstomp Augur


    A raid geared caster buffed, that doesn't seem to be out of line.
  5. Tarvas Redwall of Coirnav, now Drinal


    If only I was trolling. I am not someone who believes that mercs should function even close to real toons in current content. The zones are small enough for people to group together. All the excuses about why someone cannot group with real people are just that, excuses. I box 99% of the time and I do not expect mercs to carry me into new content because I understand this is a group game, not a Diablo type one. Should mercs be adequate in ROS, barely. In TBL, not at all.

    That just my 2 cents. /shrug
  6. shruggz Elder

    @ Tarvas, you are certainly entitled to have and voice your opinion same as me or anyone else
    however your statement "
    All the excuses about why someone cannot group with real people are just that, excuses."
    incredibly closed minded.

    there are many people. myself included, that if the only way to get anything done is to deal with the lfg thing again will take our money and our time elsewhere.

    I did that for a lot of years before I started boxing. if I am put in a position where forced grouping is mandatory then I will be gone.

    I don't ever expect to finish an expansion while its current while boxing and using mercs, but there should be room in the game for many different playstyles. and it wouldn't take any additional cost to tune t1 in an expansion to be more casual friendly than it does to make it hardcore exclusive.

    and where is the harm to the game in that? How does that negatively impact anyone? like I said in a previous post the hardcore folks burn through tier 1 no matter how hard they tune it. so why not throw
    us casuals a bone and give us a reason to stick around and keep giving DBG our money.

    think about it. when the only people in the game are the people who play your way and your way only
    there aren't going to be enough people left to provide you the content you want.

    more subs means more resources for DBG equals greater possibilities for future expansions and the
    lifetime of the game.
  7. So Happy Augur

    @Shruggz

    Heck I asked for merc power increases ages ago. The same time that they buffed/then nerfed the CotF HA's. I had been subbing on 2 accounts simultaneous and a 3rd part-time for over two years. The request, of course, fell on deaf ears so I stopped giving DB the sub fees and moved over to test. Not a lot of money they missed out on but every little bit counts. Should test start being a pay server I would walk away because w/o functional mercenaries this game is no longer worth paying for to me.
    Lakeland likes this.
  8. Zamiam Augur

    Technically your not paying now , unless your buying micro transactions in the marketplace or buying expansions .. which you could be doing .. but on test its free.. so no subs

    I have nothing against Test Server ..
    So Happy likes this.
  9. Filthy casual Journeyman

    Mercenaries have two tiers if you've completed the quest from SoD or the one from HoT expansions to make them Journeyman.

    You have two tiers, Apprentice and Journeyman and 5 ranks for each.

    I think it's about time to add a quest to obtain the "Expert" tier if we're following the tradeskill ranking system of Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Master, Grandmaster.

    But I generally agree with all that has been posted, this aspect of EQ has gone ignored due to limited resources and it hurts the group game most.
    Yinla and Elyssanda like this.
  10. Zamiam Augur

    I agree with Filthy , should add more Tiers to mercs where Apprentice thru master are for casual groupers and GM would be a quest (Raid drop) and be a super merc with equivalent raid gear and a few more options in the AA category for each different class of merc ..

    I'm not a raider so I would not be able to get the GM merc , but I figure i'd throw the raiders a bone :p
  11. Spellfire Augur

    Interesting idea, but groupers need beefed up mercs, raiders not so much.
  12. Alekzandre Augur

    Same mistakes over and over, year after year. It is quite obvious that the decisions made are in error. Einstein stated that doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

    The same group (or their descendants) that made the decisions, that have lowered the player base throughout the years, have decided that Mercs are not going to be increased in strength relative to content.

    Mercenary strength does not relate to how many people play certain classes, it does not effect how people group, it does make people leave the game. It does make people use 3rd party software to box Tanks and Clerics, that they do not ever intend to group with people or raid with.

    The amount of money made on the additional accounts for people to box real tanks and healers, does not come close to the amount of accounts lost from people who did not stay, or decided to not go all access, due to Mercs being useless at higher levels.

    Having adequately useable Mercs does not decrease the numbers of people available to group, it in fact, increases the number available in my experience. Having Mercs that can perform as they were designed to do, does increase the player base available to group, and the health of the game. Properly tuned Mercs will create more revenue from players that do not quit, but remain playing, and paying, and grouping with others when they can. Most people I knew who played and used their Mercs, did this when they could not group and had to play in small periods due to Real Life. These people preferred to group, These people lost the ability to do that, and stay current, they left the game.

    You can not force people to raid or group. You can provide means for people to play the way they want to. It has been proven over and over throughout the years that this works. Other games are proof of this.

    No, this does not mean you have to dumb down EQ.

    Work smarter not harder DBG.
    So Happy and Tatanka like this.
  13. Tanols Augur

    Let us put an end to this BS right here and now. THE ONLY CLASSES where the difference in gear, and power that comes with it, between groupers and raiders that matters worth a dang is Tanks. That extra AC HP can make a huge difference between getting one rounded or not. Even more so is the knowledge and ability to use Discs and AA to maximum benefit.
    I am so sick of people whining about how content is tuned to raiders and groupers are left sucking hind . I play a full RoS raid geared Berserker with maxxed stats AA etc. and a group geared mage/necro can plow through content that chews me up and spits me out.
    The differences in raid geared vs group geared are marginal for almost any class as far as performing the primary role in a group with exception of a tank. The biggest difference is not based on gear, it is based on skilled play. Over the years (20) I have seen exceptionally skilled, group geared players that know their class inside out and backwards out perform average players in full raid gear for just about every class in game.
    A full group of 6 real players, played with skill, will ALWAYS out perform any other group composition. A group without any mercs will always outperform a group using them, especially in an Oh crap! moment. It is all but impossible to program an AI that has same reactions as a human.
    Beefier mercs will benefit everyone that plays EQ. Raiders might not rely on them as much as groupers is all.
    Just for the record, I box a group geared (RoS t2) warrior with less than 14K assigned AA and I would say I am average to below average at playing him. Reason I created him ... Merc tank at best is nothing but a speed bump unless I spam heals from box shaman and am johnny on the spot with emergency heals while using healer mercs. Even a highly skilled AAed Geared cleric can have issues keeping a merc tank alive. Boxed tank ... content that used to be challenging if not impossible is managable.
    Alekzandre likes this.
  14. Spellfire Augur

    That's pretty much what I meant. Personally, I have no problem if everyone gets a mercenary that is usable in current content.
  15. So Happy Augur

    You are correct I know longer pay a sub but I was playing on live and carrying two all access accounts for over two years. I actually had been playing a lot longer than that on live but had a 3 month break and came back that is why the accounts were only ongoing for 2 years. Even on Test I bought Ros 2x while it was on sale.

    The cash DB missed out on was the monthly sub fees from the HA nerf to present.
  16. Lakeland Lorekeeper

    Exactly what he said. Their was a time forced grouping with every group needing the holy trinity was fine, back when they had several hundred thousand subs. That time has long gone. Forced grouping is a thing of the last for this game because not enough players but honestly overall it’s dead. People want solo options, gone are the days of sitting around for hours in /OOC posting you are LFG. No one will do that anymore and to expect it simply isn’t realistic.
  17. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    I agree with all you say here except the raid merc, this is not needed, mercs cannot be used in raids and therefore there shouldn't be a higher tier of merc for raiders. :)

    I can think of no situation where a raider would need a higher tier merc over a group player, and this comes from a raider. :)
    Filthy casual likes this.
  18. Lakeland Lorekeeper

    Different servers
  19. Lakeland Lorekeeper

    Your point is Mercs aren’t good to anyone (Groupers, moloers or raiders) that’s fine, but to even suggest raid geared players don’t hold a significant advantage over group geared is crazy. If this was the case they can take raid gear away? Yeah I didn’t think so. As far back as Fear and Hate raids gear mattered and while I don’t raid now (and haven’t for a LONG TOME) their is zero chance you can tell me or anyone else that raid gear only helps tanks.
  20. Zamiam Augur

    I only mentioned a Raid tier merc so that raiders wouldnt feel left out :p .. I know mercs cant be used for Raids , However you cant tell me that if there were a Raid tier GM merc that raiders would not obtain and use one if one was available , also they would be slightly better than the Group master merc which means of course they could/would be able to plow through group content sort of like what raiders do already ..
    Shanarias likes this.