It feels like someone forgot to properly scale down the salaries of the AoM mercs. Here's an example: Yadeht Fohctac salary at level twelve - 2 silver for 30 min. Daeron Ashenwing salary at level twelve - 2 silver for 30 min. AoM Mercs at level three - 5 gold for 30 minutes. Also 5 gold for 30 min on level ten characters. While the inquisitor is very very good, and almost worth that much at level 10, other mercs are no more powerful than the basic ones. Some are actually quite weak, like Zelbie. (Zelbie needs some serious tweaking anyway. She has terrible health and stats for an AoM merc, especially one that is mainly melee.)
I haven't noticed that. If I had an empty char slot I'd make a newbie and test it out... Do you have any idea how Quaar the Feral is? My main is an inq and up to this point the 10-year vet SK merc is by far the best for me. I'm curious how Quaar stacks up though.
Kind of squishy from what I have heard. My son got him recently on a level 29, hasn't used him much. But we looked at his skills and they seem good. No non-encounter AoEs, which can be a very good thing sometimes.
Oh poop. I have Zelbie (that's the pygmy isn't it?) on my warden, and she rocks. My warden is in her 80's though. Does she not hold up in the 90's?
I love Zelbie, she is adorable. Have her with a few of my lower level hobbits. I think the main issues with her are in advanced solos and such. I guess some of the new instance content can be hard on some mercs. That's why I like to get the unique and cool mercs for characters at lower levels to start. I can have lots of fun doing all the game content with them. Love the troubador BTW, she acts like a sulking teenager. Good for classes like Paladins.
Same. She's been really great in the 80's. I've been able to complete most of my fave instances at and above level, with no problems at all. I guess it's not until heavy scripting comes into play that they're less than .... good. I truly hated the pygmies until I got her, now I just love them. The grimlings ... they're another story. I've got the 'old' Dolsie Spellsomething troub as one of my necs mercs, she's not bad either. I still think Kenny is > than all though.
Just got my low level with Zelbie to level 12. Salary is 10 gold per half hour now! 10 GOLD! Something is definitely wrong with this. This compared to a level 12 with Yadeht, and that salary is 2 silver every half hour. Just checked a character that is level 21, and Zelbie is 15 gold per half hour, so it seems to be going up 5 gold per 10 levels. Are elite mercs like Kenny that much? And how much is the Mystic merc from the new CE? -------------------------------------------------------------
I am really missing something here. I thought the only way you could get those mercs was to get a drop of a token from a high level raid named or something similarly impossible for me. I checked the broker, to see if the tokens were available, and the cheapest is around 500 plat on my server. If a low level char can somehow come up with 500 plat to buy the token what's the worry about salary?
If they can be brokered, they are not heirloom, but I assume that multiple runs of the dungeons, gives surplus tokens which can then be passed on to alts. But I agree that running multiple AoM dungeons and/or buying them off the broker for 500p, means the hire fee shouldn't be a problem for these players.
The basic ones are located in a merc area of the starting cities. The dungeon ones that people are discussing drop in instances and can be sold on the broker. If you buy one of the tokens on the broker you then have to go to the spot where the merc lives out in Norrath and recruit them. http://eq2.zam.com/wiki/Mercenaries_(EQ2)
Please note that the CoE mercs are expensive to buy at the broker as well. And those are NOT 5 gold per half hour. And for many, it may be worth saving up the plat to buy a token for one of them, but might be budget breaking to actually use them before a high enough level to be worth the salary. I won't get these mercs for any more low levels unless I can afford the SC to buy some merc slot unlockers. As there is only one server I have characters on that can earn enough plat to support the mercs on lower levels. ---------------------------- Another thing to consider. With the exception of the inquisitor, these mercs aren't any better than the basic ones at very low level. Zelbie takes as long to defeat a level 12 mob as one of the basic ones takes. So why should she cost so much more to pay?
This is merely conjecture on my part, but perhaps they weren't expecting those mercs to be used at levels lower than the content in which they were available - thus acting as a semi-efficient currency sink. (Although, given the way our player base tends to seek the easiest route for things* - in the same manner that water and electricity seek the path of least resistance - maybe they should have anticipated that the players would do so.) * E.G. Dungeon Maker, PR, SS runs (while considerably higher than the level that is required for entrance), etc.
Best bang for your buck at lower levels is ratfink, raffik, something ... the pirate rat anywho. But, you need to be a level 100 crafter to use him. At lower levels any old merc will do if you're wearing more than ... nothing in your armor slots, and are running adept or higher spells/ca's. A lot of players have alts. A lot of players don't need a dozen mercs on one toon, so, hand me downs. A lot of players have a crap tonne of plat so they buy mercs from the broker. My warden has Zelbie, she's 91. Why did I get her? Purely because she looks cool tbh. Turns out she's pretty good and I don't particularly care how much gold she is every 30 minutes. The way I look at it, if you think the 'salary' for the merc is too much, don't use it.
