PLEASE scrap the mercenaries plan, it will kill EQ2

Raknid wrote:

Irrelevant. And I'll tell you why.
One, mercenaries are coming. They will be here. This is a fact we know isn't going to change. It is simply the way of things. I doubt anyone is going to argue this point, so I'll move on.
Two, this feature will likely attract more people than it ultimately drives away. This is a business decision by SOE, and there's not a lot of gamble in instituting it. Whether it's 'fair' or not is up to an individual's own perceptions. It is, however, something that SOE has decided will be a financial plus, and like it or not, that's Smokejumper's job - coming up with new and inventive ways to milk us for as much as he can. SOE has pulled a lot of idiot, brain-dead maneuvers in its day (and still does, on a regular basis), but I don't see this as being one of them.
Three, while I personally don't care about mercenaries one way or the other, I have my suspicions that this is one of those features that will ultimately prove more of a help than hindrance. Will it kill grouping? No, because people don't group now, anyways, at least not with people who aren't friends or guildies. PUGs are a joke. Beyond helping someone who issues a desperate plea for help in an open channel, most folks go their own way in Norrath as a matter of course. And as stated before, it will assist people in getting through content that may be just a bit too difficult, which is something the devs would like to see, as it gives them the ability to point to these otherwise-unused features and crow about what a fine part of Norrath it is.
And lastly, what is with the word 'deserve'? This is strictly done out of a need to squeeze cash out of the player base. No one 'deserves' or 'does not deserve' anything. That is wholly irrelevant. It is a feature that SOE thinks will be financially beneficial, so we're getting the feature, the end.

WeatherMan wrote:

To this i 1000% agree! It annoys me to great end when this whole 'deserve' thing comes into play. Their way is not the only way. And ultimately SOE being a company who rightfully wishes to make as much money as possible, will have to come up with as many ways to appeal to as many as possible.
The people i see crying most is these raiders who think raiding should be the end all be all to the game and are afraid Mercs are a sign of them losing their strangle hold on the game. I for one hope this is a sign of SOE moving more away from raiders and more focus on personal achievements not those of you and 20+ other people at the exact same time.
As such i will make full use of the mercs in everything i can. It will be a great boost to my soloing/2 boxing life.

bheam wrote:

Actually seeing as the game is now already a solo grind up to cap I don't see how mercs will have any affect of the game. They will be irrelevent at cap and anything that keeps a few more players playing the game up to that point then what's the problem?

Remember that one of the things asked what you would like to see in EQ II, in your "why are you leaving" poll when you unsubscribe, has been mercs. This poll has been there for a while, so anyone selecting that has contributed to SoE's decision, in addition to /feedback sent.

I think mercs would be good for the game, I mainly solo or group with my bf and guildies at times. So it would great to have extra help with some of the content.

Trenshero@Antonia Bayle wrote:

I won't speak for everyone, but I'll tell you my game time goes.
I used to raid 6 nights a week, then only 3, then pretty much everybody quit because of TSO raiding, so it's just been me for a long time.
I have a lot of toons at 90 with 300 AA's. All my toons but one are 90 crafters also. At this point I have every class and tradeskill (that interests me) covered.

• I decorate a little, but not much.
  
• I used to log in regularly for daily AA related stuff, but I figured out how to top that off quickly, so that's all done.
• Since I dont raid or even group, PQ gear works for me, so that's all done.
• I'm currently doing the adorning dailies, but I'm just about done with that too. That's the only thing I'm currently doing, so I log in for 10 minutes a day tops, and the occasional master spell training adjustment (forgot what the term for that is).

So at this point, for actual gameplay, I pretty much only log in for Live events like City Festival and Frostfell, etc. Until something new comes out. Yeah, BL, but I'll just be running em throught the same old content, mechanically. I dont know if that really qualifies as gametime. More like work until I get the toon topped off and can give him a real test run. I am interested in the mercs, thats good for a solo'er (presumably).
I have a friend who logs in 10 hrs a day to decorate. I would rather bang my head against a wall, but he enjoys it. This new thing is not an expansion, but a featurepack. Not even a new armor set to go for (was hoping for new PQ armor at least). I have a feeling I'm going to get bored real fast. Anyway, 2 quid worth.