Why warriors are always better than mercs and pets

Honestly I do not understand why people do not group with randoms.
I always try to get a full group of people over mercs.
Yes yes, alot of them are lacking and some spend more time afk,
but you can teach those lacking and know not ever to group with the afkers.

I mean besides working on your 10th alt or raiding, if your main is not max aa wtf else
are you doing besides working on some random quest that doesnt mean crap
in the end. Damn anti-social people. I mean occasionally you do find some smart people
that you try to always have in group.

(fyi on main topic, warriors are still trash over mercs/sk/pally when it comes to multiple mobs
but that is the way it has been since what omens?? so as far as the grind goes warriors
suck still, depending on cc classes to do what is needed, which bring them down to par
with pets if there are no melee and a cc class, warriors are the best single mob class,
but the grind game (grouping) which is multiple mobs, they are still tied with pets at best
in the ability to keep a high kill pace)

We are actually the second best multiple mob tank based on tools only. Survive ability while tanking multiple npc is something we do lack unless we use all defensive tools like were tanking named. The problem also comes in when we are in a group of players that do not understand our class completely and spread out where our ae tools do not have an effect so we have to spread out our single target abilities over the whole group of npc or get the group to understand piling up (so when multiple npc attack they bunch up) while with a warrior is one of the best ways to stay alive.

Why my pet is a better tank then a warrior...

I don't have a warrior...

Whatever new generation of returnees or new players is trickling in is going to have to find their own way based upon interacting with those who are in the same situation as they are. That goes for all classes. Not just tanks. Veteran players should not be relied upon for grouping or information. The reasons are numerous. Some people are comfortable with only certain people. Some just like the solitude and efficiency of boxing. Some are elitist jerks who find anyone not at their skill level or in their guild offensive. For the most part, people just don't have time to roll the dice on people they don't know nor the time to commit to teaching when most assume that the game is easy or that everyone already knows how to play.

People will not be comfortable with grouping until a new game emerges and everyone is forced to interact at the ground floor with each other. Even then, guilds and cliques will carry over from other games. People will box. The usual walls will get built. It is what it is and such is our times. What have you done for me lately? Nothing? Away with you then. I am not sure how that applies to tanks, but as a rogue I would agree that a real tank is better than a merc and definitely better than a pet.

Also a well AAed and still group geared real warrior does alot better job than a merc .

True. Most mercs have the worst jokes.

Try this experiment, please:

1. Group with a level 100 J5 merc tank and do something challenging, but that the merc can handle reasonably easily.
2. Give a good tank friend for yours a free-to-play version of their level 100 character.
2a. No Prestige gear
2b. Not more than 250 AAs
2c. Rk. I spells/abilities
3. Go to the same spot you went in Step 1 with the free-to-play character replacing the tank merc, but otherwise the same group.
4. Discuss the results.
5. If it ends up as poorly as I expect it to, repeat with healer, and other mercs to ensure that they are all properly balanced.

I expect you'll find that free-to-play is not actually able to play for free (+RoF) since mercs are overpowered (which I suppose is OK for low levels to get caught up to the modern, high-level game, but not healthy for encouraging player interaction at high levels.)

The free to play plan in EQ is wildly more permissive than in any other game I've bothered to load up. The fact they let you level to 100 is likely a mistake, and perhaps it should be limited to 15 levels below the current max.

I think of free to play as just a way to give people a feel for how the game plays. If you want to play near the end game, gold is the only way to go.

And comparing a J5 tank to a FtP player tank isn't even close to anything logical. Free to Play only has access to them apprentice mercs, so the comparison should only be between the Free to Play player and the Free to Play merc.

They let you level to 90 for free, you need RoF to get to 100, but if you're FTP, you get ads for RoF, so the point of my suggested experiment is that the FTP player buys RoF and then finds that they can't function in that content. Let's then say the FTP player buys a $15 SC card and goes silver, and maybe buys Rk. II spell access, they've now spent $55 and still can't function.

Imagine you're that newbie. I think they'd quit rather than go Gold at that point.

What are you the King of Id?

Whether mercs are overpowered or not, it has nothing to do with the ability of a free or silver account functioning in current content. SOE could remove mercs from the game entirely and a free or silver player would still not be able to function in current content.

The difference in spell ranks is not significant except for a few odd cases. It is gear and AA's that prevents F2P and silver from being anything more than a detriment to a group in current content. The tank classes are affected the most, but all classes are too weak for current content unless they have access to prestige gear and a bucket load of AA's.

You have a F2P warrior and you want to go group in Plane of Shadows? Here is what you need to do. You need to get the equivalent of T4 VoA group gear. You need to get Tank augs (AC and Avoidance are big). And you are going to need somewhere around 7000 AA's. How you go about doing that is your business but the cheapest way is to go Gold. And whether the group has JT5 mercs in it or no mercs, you are still going to have to gear and AA up to go play in current content.

I don't know how F2P players got into this discussion.

F2P in EQ serves one purpose and one purpose only for SOE. And that is to get people to buy Gold Membership.

Sure, there are other benefits and such, and SOE will lightly point out other reasons. But even they know better than to protest too much that it isn't there for that reason.

The purpose of F2P is to get people hooked on EQ so they realize they need to go Gold to be a serious player. And there is nothing wrong with that. The Devs need to eat and have a roof over their heads. SOE is a business, not a charity.

To compare mercs or pets to F2P tanks is a waste of time and off topic and not even a valid subject. It's apples to oranges. The only purpose of F2P characters is to see if you like the game. They can also be buff bots or CoH bots or similar purposes for those with creative ideas. They are not designed or expected to fill a player role in current content.

As for how the F2P plan is structured with upgrading, that is an entirely different thread.

I think by the time someone gets up to level 90 they gotta have some idea what they are doing, I hope. If not, well, maybe it's harsh of me to say, but it might be better if they did quit.

If a FtP account buys the latest expansion, they can go to 100, but they are still FtP? It's my understanding they are, but I don't know any FtP players. I think SOE should limit FtP to some low level where 1000 AA and poor augs makes them at least group viable players. I think that's somewhere in the 80 to 85 range. For a tank, maybe no more than 80 because of the augs.

Anyways, I haven't heard about any Free to Play players, running on silver accounts with their main character, bothering to buy any of the unlockers. I do see the occasional post by peeps who are playing silver accounts with a box, and trying how to use that to best advantage.

I would imagine not too many warriors or other tanks are f2p to begin with. Current content is designed for gold members. The whole point of f2p is so people could try the game out and then go gold if they like it. Or it is a way for boxers to have multiple accounts at once but only have to pay for the main account.

It has nothing to do with j5 mercs though because you cannot even use those without a gold account. So it is comparing a paying class vs a non- paying lower classes of toon. What should be compared is j5 tank mercs vs the average warrior or other tank. I would take the average warrior just so cc can be used with no mezz break or tanks running all over like tank mercs do.

I think it took that left turn when some people try to claim mercs and pets are too good because some guy trying to play a tank on a silver account can't be as good as the mercs and pets gold account people have.

The important thing whenever comparing this versus that, I think, is leave out any discussion about the silver account characters.

The human element of someone actually playing the tank will always be better. It > AI

i tried to have my tank pick up an add. After 3 times and a healer merc dying i sent my pet in to the add.
Seems that IT fails when it comes to stupid people. Hence why i dont trust others when playing... i even tried /tank attack. the tank didnt respond

You wasted time making a list.
F2P can't use J5 Mercs.
Apples and Oranges

You miss my point. FTP shouldn't get Journeyman mercs.

My point is that the majority of the player base has J5 mercs and is, to a much too great extent, better off using their J5 mercs than inviting anyone without a Gold subscription to their group, especially tanks.

The game is supposed to be free to play, and the ads give the impression that, if only they bought RoF, a FTP player could attain level 100 and play with the majority of players in RoF, which is not the reality.

To be fair, being gold doesn't exactly get you a free ticket to join any group you want. You also need the right class, gear, AA, social skills, patience, and a near endless well of uninterrupted free time. And as a tank you need more of those things than any other class. But obviously, yeah, the FTP option isn't much of an option if you want to actually tank things. That's okay, there are plenty of other classes and even a paladin can apply dps. (oops.. dps mercs. They were probably a mistake)

Mercs being nerfed or removed wouldn't change that a bit. It would only make the situation worse for those coming up. An undergeared tank unable to handle the content will still be useless and unwanted. Only now that tank won't have the option of using a tank merc to help himself get the gear he needs to surpass that merc, so you've shot yourself in the foot and made it even harder on yourself.

And again, crippling the mercs won't change that. A level 100 F2P or Silver player will not be able to function in current content. It doesn't matter if the mercs are under powered, over powered or totally non-existent. Merc power has nothing to do with player power. F2P and Silver players are too underpowered to play in current content.

SOE can't power up F2P and Silver players to a point where F2P and Silver players can function in current content without removing the incentive to purchase a gold subscription or renew a gold subscription.
SOE can't retune content to a point where F2P and Silver players can function in current content without removing the incentive to purchase a gold subscription or renew a gold subscription.