AoM Contested Name AFK merc problem needs fixed

How is code that makes your merc do nothing an improvement? Let that code bug out (see my example of the Public Raids above) and watch your merc stand around picking his nose when you really need him/her. SOMETHING THEY SOMETIMES DO ANYWAY WITHOUT HAVING A CODE THAT MAKES THEM DO IT ON PURPOSE!

How is code for a slight issue an improvement over how they work now?

How is it an improvement? Seriously how? Explain it to me. What makes it such a good idea on top of all the other sledgehammer instead of a scalpel fixes already implemented and planned for this one small problem? Why do we need 4 different codes to solve one small problem when the the only code that really was needed was the non-agro one?

That and if SOE finally cracked down on people who get reported we wouldn't need any code at all.

And all of that doesn't change the fact that there really wasn't a huge issue to begin with, the 3 named needed per zone for the quest were incredibly easy to do with in a weeks time if you made an effort regardless of campers or not.

Players complain, knees in San Diego jerk, our game gets another restriction to game play. It is only thing that has been constant about EQ2 since 2004.

Amen.

Talk about opening a Pandora ' s box. Seeing the devs are actually making changes based on the post.... No need to mess with mercs unless you remove the ability to SLR (nuke the real plat farming business) combine the servers (solve the population issues which drive the need for mercs), incentives grouping a.k.a make the drops relevant to the group (drive the need to farm content for days on end). I thought mmos where suppose to be multiplayer, yet all I see is incentives to play solo.

Correct, and I've seen someone with a merc let it kill a named, the chest sat there ~3 minutes then they opened it and proceeded to SLR the Gem over channels. They then did it again when the named spawned again.

Overall just making them nonaggro would have fixed the AFK-Campers and replaced them with AK-Campers (At Keyboard) which is fine, that is standard MMO Competition. This whole slew of fixes seems more like draping so much red-protective-tape over every named that it's crazy. The Etyma system in ToV worked. The only gem that was "odd" was the Mystical Purple Gem requiring 3 Reds which required you to kill Epic-Contested-Bosses, note.... the only Dropping Gems were from RAID content.

If SOE wants to incentive Overland Named for non-raiders then they should be Heroic Encounters. Making them Solo makes it too easy to compete/deny content (some use the terms synonymously). Move a Gem Reward to the Solo Quests and remove them from the named. Heck if there was a Daily-Quest for 1 Blue Gem with a RARE chance at a Green Gem I bet people would stop complaining.

(disclaimer, YES im oldschool)
so .. let me start by saying i have NO intend on farming these mobs, havent farmed them, nor will i farm them.

That being said, isn't camping a core part of the Everequest Legacy? Both named and otherwise ?
And isnt the fact that its doable with a merc just putting everyone on an even playing field (if you HAVE mercs at least) since before the only people would could/would afk camp/farm etc was pet classes?

Im just stomped on the whole furor this have created, so far i personally - and i love on AB exclusively - have yet to have any issues AT ALL killing my 3 named per zone/week/toon for the quest...

Just blows my mind.. Damned thing is contested, setup camp on his bloody face!

Oh I remember those good old days. Wait did I say good old days? I meant horrible dark times.

Camping in my opinion, living through it since UO, needs to die a slow, painful, and torturous death that would get me in trouble for describing on the forums. I want to do something. I don't want to be sitting there for an hour doing nothing and unable to do something in hopes something spawns.

I state all this upfront as a disclaimer.

The problem, even for me, wasn't camping. Sure. Fine. Whatever. It's a time honored tradition as you pointed out. I can slip in during non peak times and complete the quest if I want to or ask folks to join up with them. Many people were willing to invite me into group or vica versa just to get the update. This works out pretty well. I'm not after the loot. The gems would be nice, of course, but I'm willing to give up the chance of a gem for finishing the quest.

The problem:
AFK camping where people would log in and stay in one spot for weeks at a time letting the merc kill the name constantly. You have no chance of them inviting you to group for an update. They don't leave the camp. There is never a chance for any one to swoop in. They aren't actually there. They aren't actually playing.

Combine that with the mobs dropping items way out of whack for the difficulty and you have a problem.

I don't think the solutions happening are actual good fixes, but I have no actual solutions of my own. I see that SOE was trying to be nice to solo players and give folks stuff to do when they tried to get a group. The problem is they made it too rewarding and grouping too scary.

This always seems to apply:

I appreciate that but we need mor changes like this, much more changes to the Mercs itself, but at this time i thank you for the changes

To me that just seems silly since it's easy to get a blue gem for very little plat cost and a few ferrin. I've gotten 3 green gems just by spending ferrin for some yellow gems, some yellow gem conversion thingies, and some blue gem conversion thingies. It just takes a little effort and a little time.

It's actually less ferrin to buy the green gem outright then to upgrade all the way.

That's good to know. However, I do it slowly over time, as I obtain yellow gem gear and blue gem gear to use. I'm not able to group much because of situations at home, so most of my game play is solo/molo (except for raid nights) and I always have yellow gear to use to make blue gems. I hold on to those until I'm able to group and get some more blue gear for the gems, and turn those in to greens. I don't buy blue gems at all. Just the conversion thingies.

No it isn't. 4 yellows convert to one blue for 18 ferrins x 4 = 72 ferrins for 4 blues which convert to a green for 40 ferrins. Total conversion cost is 112 ferrins for a green which is considerably less than 200 for buying one.

That's if you use 'dropped' yellow and blue gems. If you actually buy the yellows and blues, it's more expesnsive then just buying the green

I don't think the merc code should be messed further with either but....

You should remember though that the code already exists in that if mercs are used against really tough mobs, they have a chance to 'cower' with the 'in over their head' debuff and they were programmed right from the word go to take random 'ninja AFK's' in an attempt to replicate (bad) player behaviour. This is nothing new and has been announced and explained by red names over and again here on the fora.

knine's idea above was the best so far (apart from just making them non-aggro) in that gems need to go away from these mobs and the ToV approach with crafter recipes for all colours of gem needs to be introduced.

Additionally, the biggest AoM anomaly is the lack of overland and zone drops. If they fixed that instead of hiding behind the 'working as intended' banner, then the problem goes further away. No drops to mute and no aa11 books = no superior adorns anywhere so everyone really has to max out their gemmed gear.

Knine is absolutely right. SOE, please...
1) Don't mess around with mercenary coding (although some improvements to their healing and/or dps would be nice)
2) Remove gem drops from contested overland named mobs. It has created a bigger headache for people trying to complete their weekly ferrin kill quest due to the farming of the mobs. Gem drops should of been added to Advanced Solo / Heroic zones instead.
3) Reduce the price of green gems. 200 per gem is ridiculous.
4) Add tradeskill recipes for each of the gem types with a reduced ferrin cost, like in ToV.

Thank you.

.

I thought I'd try and get my weekly updates.. there was literally a person stood at the spawn for EVERY SINGLE overland name in both TS and PS on Splitpaw. The only exception was the Primeval Ooze so I checked to see if the ring event was live.. and un-surprisingly it wasn't. Of course this is probably exacerbated by it being a new weekly today but it's the only time I wished I was playing on a PVP server, it would at least introduce some fun to it besides trying to 'snipe' a contested name before the camper spots its spawned.

I don't have a problem with camping or contested zones but the change to only allow 1 person to kill the same name every 2 hours (in my opinion) just promotes camping as it hurts the people who are actively trying to get their updates.. for each name they kill there's now 1 less chance for another update for 2 hours. I can already hear the cries of "it's named weekly for a reason!" but I fail to see the fun in logging in a toon and running around 2 zones in the hopes of finding an overland name up that isn't being camped... and then camping one yourself for 0-30minutes (depending on luck). Camping wasn't fun when I killed place-holders for Weavemaster Esh'Rax in RoV for 4 hours back in the day and it's not fun now.

Personally, I'd like to see..
1) Add more overland names! I mean why not?! That island in PS in the top-left that no-one bothers with unless they're on the sig-quest or feel like doing the daily ferrin quest there? What about the tiny islands to the east of Kithicor? How about a name that pops when you kill all the mimics on the beach in TS etc (am I the only person that tried that?) How about an a named Hawk or flying roaming NPC considering there's at least 4 in the sea?
2) Un-related to the weekly quest but why not actually have an overland heroic here and there too? (the PS ring event doesn't count)
3) Remove the 2 hour limit.. like I said above I don't think it does anything except stop someone from AFK killing the same name for hours on end.. would be better served adding an auto-logoff if there's no movement/activity over 30mins. Sure people can bypass that too but it stops the easy-mode AFK killers.
4) Make them non-aggro (already coming soon) AND ACTIVELY clamp down on ANYONE using automation tools to be AFK but still get kills.
5) If the merc code is going to to be touched at all.. it should be to make them more reliable, not to add yet more potential for the merc to ninja-afk and be 'uninspired'. I understand the thought process behind it but RL players have RL responsbilities which is why they need a ninja-afk.. I payed not just for the ability to use Mercs but I'M PAYING THE ACTUAL MERC with in-game currency to assist me!.. if i'm paying him.. he should be doing what he's told and doing it well. I'd make a horrible boss eh.

That might mean something if they're salary was anything other than a pittance.

Their cost is so nominal, its hard to say its even noticed.

Overland mercs have only further trivialized content that has been over trivialized since about LU13. Not that I expect them to change anything about these, but it sure would be nice if Mercs were useful in the content they are needed in (filling group slots) rather than only mildly useful in content they are far from needed in (overland solo).

As someone posted above, this is what needs to be done...

didnt say i liked it LOL

And yeah, but see.. the problem isnt really that cuz belive me that have happend before, it happend in ToV as well for other reasons than the loot as such, BUT the problem here is the bloody loot on the mobs and not the legendaries those are fine, its the gems.

Here is what SOE should do, remove the gems from the drop and add a random chance of getting gems from turning in the weekly quest. Ie. 3 random chances at 3 gems with the same percentage as each chest being a E chest.

Hell have the quest have a 48hour cycle time... thereby giving your more chance at gems whatever.