POLL: What do you think of Mercenaries?Follow

The only people I've heard complain about mercs on my server are Clerics. And reading over this thread that seems to be most common complaint. Clerics aren't accustomed to waiting a long time for groups.

But what the Clerics need to understand is that many classes (except maybe warriors) have to wait much longer on average for a group. Mercs are a huge help to most classes. Clerics just need to adapt a little bit to these changes.

Go LFG and then send a tell to someone else LFG. 2 people with 2 mercs become a 4-person group. Almost any 2 players can start a viable group with 2 mercs. Get a 3rd LFG member and you have a full group. Tell eveyone to stay LFG and then move on if you find a normal group. Or keep scanning LFG and add a 4th person, then a 5th, then a 6th.

Then as people drop you can unsuspend your merc to fill the spot until you get another toon.

A lot of people want to sit back and have someone else form the group. But sometimes you have to start them yourself. With mercs it makes it a lot easier to start a group. The exceptions are the really tough zones. But these zones require a real cleric and tank anyway.

IMO they need to lower the initial cost of buying a merc. This would allow people to switch merc classes as needed more easily. Or allow us to pay a nominal fee to switch the mercs class.

I think the benefit of people being able to log on and acually play instead of LFG far outweighs any negatives. I play 2 accounts for the sole reason I hate sitting there doing nothing.

This may sound a bit rude and it doesn't apply to all, but for the most part clerics have had a free ride in this game. I don't know how many times I have seen groups end because the cleric gets bent out of shape over something petty and leaves. Clerics have had to much power to make or break groups and it has shown.

So clerics are having a harder time finding groups? Welcome to EQ and what the rest of us go thru. You are replaceable. I see this as bringing clerics on par with every other class who depends on groups. If you are good you will have a good reputation and get groups. If you are the type to pick up your marbles and go home, you are just a click away from being replaced.

the only complaint i would have is with the tank mercs. now im a monk and use a healer now but when they first came out my friend got the healer first so i got the tank of course they do awesome for tier 1 SOD stuff and other lower content but as it gets a little tougher they just cant hack it. they gave them pretty much 0 avoidance and no AAs and after lvl 81 it was still using bazu bellow instead of the new bazu bluster, also it goes completely haywire when there is more than one mob to fight. i would say anyone who needed healers got an awesome deal the ones who needed tanks got shafted

I would agree with this (and I play TWO clerics actively). I haven't met with the issues other folks have mentioned here. Both my clerics still get more than their fair share of group invites extended to them.

I don't have SoD for a few reasons, the main ones being the sucky xp in the expansion (according to my niece who was in beta and all of my SoD-enabled guildmates who spend their time grinding to 85 in SoF, TSS, and DoDh), the lack of need for mercs (each of the characters in my sig are on separate accounts and my 72 SK and 65 "baby boomer" wizard aren't listed due to space limitations), and overall expense of adding it to 16 accounts. I feel if the EQ Live team was a bit better staffed, they would have rolled out a more well-rounded merc lineup that might have rivaled the game they got the idea from (Guild Wars). Tank & Cleric is great, but given how integral to gameplay slow can be, I felt the exclusion of that skillset was a glaring omission.

Personally, I think mercs are the best thing to happen to EQ probably ever (the bazaar is the only other thing I can think of that had a similar impact - but that has nothing to do with day to day gameplay). Yes, it's a band-aid to cover for a dwindling playerbase. Yes, it can cause problems for "casual players" of certain classes. I've been the warrior who got turned down for groups due to low AA or AC/HP deficiencies. I've been the cleric who struggled to keep up with aggressive groups in zones I probably wasn't equipped to handle. I've also been the ranger/SK/warrior/rogue/druid/necro/magician/enchanter/wizard who spent hours LFG (which was the primary reason I split most of my characters onto new accounts, where applicable, in 07). I've seen how friends and guildies who were on the verge of quitting have found new ways to enjoy this game. Right now, it seems Wrath of the Lich King has drawn a good deal of people away from EQ (at least temporarily. Once I got my Death Knight to 62, I was bored with how easy it was) if Fennin is any indication. The presence of mercs allows those who remain to continue playing the game until the inevitable rush of returnees occurs sometime around the first of the year (if not sooner).

But, I will disagree with Boomsticker on one thing. A good cleric is not replaceable with a merc. No way, no how. Mercs have no foci, they have no AA, they have no judgment, they have no situational experience or awareness, they're basic and elementary. But, here's the important bit: 90% of the time, you don't need anything more than 'basic and elementary'. There are many people, as was previously mentioned, who can't easily afford to pay for the continuous use of a merc, for whatever reason. For those folks, having a merc at their disposal for those times when they need one, is a godsend but if a real player becomes available, they're likely to jump to add them. As Reyla pointed out and I realized long ago, people who prefer to box and play solo, will continue to do that, mercs or not. Personally, I don't like running any more than two characters at once (an active and a passive) but often go with four (tank, healer, slower, dps), so I'm always willing to gate one of mine out to add a real player. Many people I've encountered who box don't do that. Plus, I've known (and still know) a lot of people like balayan mentioned, who will only accept groups in current content (yet another reason I did the account splits).

However, all that said, I think applying a band-aid to a gunshot wound is folly and that's what mercs are essentially doing. They're awesome for the short-term, don't get me wrong. But addressing the issues might have provided more than the temporary fix this seems to be. Of course, that could all be turned upside down when/if they introduce dps, support (slow/cripple/haste), and utility (a snarer) mercs. If that happens, you can have full, well-rounded groups with only 3 real players. My concern lies with the fact that mercs, by and large, represent a way for each individual player to avoid subjecting themselves to other peoples' issues (crying baby, cooking dinner, attention otherwise split in multiple directions). Part of socialization is dealing with and overcoming those things, I think. But, I do know how much fun it can be to be able to do things you ordinarily couldn't do previously. I've done Grieg's End with two clerics (one tanking/meleeing, the other healing and nuking) in a duo. I have a cleric guildie who solos....with a cleric merc for support. You'd probably never see that with real players.

I think people who complain about mercs either A) suck at their class, B) group with sucky healers or C) both. I just cannot understand why people are so threatened by them. They add an enormously helpful element to the game. I *never* have to LFG anymore. I can always duo with a merc or fire up my two box and trio. Mind you, I prefer grouping and jump at group invitations . . . but I don't have to sit around for an hour or two waiting for that to happen. Never once have I considered keeping a merc in the group when a healer from my guild was LFG. And what usually happens is a healer will want a group, then someone else will want a group, and before long the whole group is filled with all real PCs.

Just last night I was going to trio--my 85 mage with my 76 enchanter and a journeyman merc healer, but an 81 druid friend was on so I invited her into the trio instead. She outperformed the merc in every way. There is just no script programming on a dumb merc that is better than a comparable level player who knows what they're doing. All the crybabies who have been slacking off in group all the years, the jig is up. We can see your mana, we can see what spells you've landed, suck it up or go play WoW.

I feel very passionately about this. Quit your whining. Quit trashing SoE. This was a game changing improvement and I don't know any good players who think otherwise.

My 55 Druid still gets grouping opportunities.

The other day sitting in Guild Lobby I was invited to got to Old Sebilis to group with a 57 Necro, a Ranger (Necro's RL brother), and a monk. Now I had just come back from a couple hours of soloing in Old Seb with a tank merc, but I jumped at the chance to go back with a group. When we got there, we picked up a warrior. The warrior had been trying to work there with a healer tank and the lack of Snare made it too tough.

The warrior kept her healer merc up and the ranger had to go, so it ended up: Necro, Monk, Druid (me), Warrior, and Healer Merc. I didn't have to heal the whole time we were there and didn't mind it one bit. As this was a pickup group and my grouping experience with the druid has been limited to groups of 2-3 at most, it took a little while to get the feel of how I could be most useful.

These are the spells I had mem'd: snare, root, scoriae (a nuke), 1 DoT, group regen, group thorns, lesser succor, and levitation.

My role was to patch snare if the necro's DoT snare fell, add some DoTs, root for crowd control if adds were too much, be ready to evac if needed, and keep various druid buffs up. If mana was low I'd med, but if it was good I'd get a few melee hits in for kicks.

When the necro had to go, I added another DoT spell to the mem'd list and dropped levitation (just switching to it when I needed to refresh).

Frankly this is the best group experience I've had. The presence of the healer merc really allowed me to have fun.

Thanks for thinking I'm a magician =)

Actually when I started back in 2001 (Shadow of Luclin release so may have date incorrect) I tried Wizzy, Druid, and Cleric (High Elf, Wood Elf, and High Elf) and seeings that Leather Armour was really easy to get and the fact I could solo better on Druid led me to play on Druid (Plus all the cool druids buffing you at Orc lift turning you into wolves with Regen, Skin, and Spikes was just plain awsome =) I played my druid to level 70 (Max level at the time) but it became painfully obviouse that the class was being ignored by the developers. I looked around on class forums and here and was actually already experimenting around with other classes and soon switched mains from a Druid to Beastlord. Even today I feel great pains looking at my Druid, now 71 (Yeah I can reverse charm kite!) but she is only good in groups where Singles and/or the Tank can handle the content. I've grouped with her in cutting end content (At the time) and either the tank or I went splat way too often and I felt it wasn't fair too the tank that he kept dieing becuase my best heal was 2k (think that was the lvl 68 Heal w/focus) took 3 Sec's to cast, and if I was lucky would crit for 7'kish when he had 12 k'is HP's (really forgot what tanks had back then). Long story short I switched mains even though everyone I grouped with said I was one of the best druids they grouped with (which scared the bejeezes out of me if I considered my self inferior compared to clerics).

Fast forward to today. Cleric Merc's still out heal me and are more efficient (Level 70 Apprentice) and yes I still play my druid! The only time a Cleric merc gets dropped in any group I'm in is when the final spot is filled. Yes that means in groups I play in there is a PC cleric and a NPC cleric and occasionally their is the overkill of 1 NPC cleirc, 1 PC cleric, and me a druid. Like I said, the only time I see Cleric Merc's get pocketed is to fill the 6th spot (In my experience). There is a post somewhere, mabye on the Shaman boards (can't remember) but the healing order is now Cleric, Merc, Shaman, and Druid. Some argue that the healling efficiency of the Shaman places it lower and Druid is #3. I fall in the argument of the Druid is #4 in healing, mainly because (A) Shaman have Canni and (B) Slow means diddly vs. SoD non-named mobs (And almost every other expansion now with the hightened HP's on gear). Tanks in our guild (Non-raiding, family guild) can tank content with out slow as long as they have one healer and DPS to burn the mob down. I.E. Tank, Healer, and 4 DPS is currently the best set up they have found for all current content vs. non-named! Can they always find this set up? NO, but they can get very close 90% of the time as more people gravitate towards those classes.

Thats why the Merc's need to go. They truely are ruining the game although mabye its just hastening the end. Someone posted that its like adding a band-aid to a gushing wound. I would have to agree but something is better than nothing and many people have found new love for the game with merc's so it can't be too horrible. But as long as Merc's are equal or better than a PC in any shape, they need to be removed or improve the existing classes. Shaman have really been regulated to Buff's and DPS and Druid's to Buff's and Debuffing but neither compare to another DPS class. Heck I play a Beast as main, I can slow just as well as a Shaman (65% vs. 70% slow and not as reliable) but the way mitigation has gone, even if it doesn't land the mob usually is 50% or more dead by time I can recast and the Cleric only has to cast 1 extra heal, mabye. Did I mention I'm on my Beast and can out DPS a Shaman as long as the mob dies before a Shaman's DoT's run their full course? Take the Druid, he has to use the same amount of heals 2-3, and if he doesn't get a crit (rare but happens when the RNG isn't being nice to you) he'll still has to cast 1-2 more times cause most tanks are in the 20-30k Range for HP's. Those extra casts increase agro AND makes it more likely that the Druid goes splat if more than one enters camp (Doesn't mean the Druid will die but it sure does increase). Granted on my Beast I can't back up heal worth crap compared to a Druid or any else but I can beat him in DPS if thats the roll he's put in group for.

I can go into more depth, but in the end, they need to go or they need to improve the other 2 healers (i.e. use stitching and not a band-aid). Does that mean that they should only improve the heals on a druid and shaman? Mabye not, some want a DPS increase so a compromise w/Sony and the classes is in order, but adding merc's to the game wasn't the way to solve it, not in the long run. And seeings the next expansion is a year off and they seem intent on copy and pasting spells we have to hope the AA dev can mabye solve the issue...

I have to say that the Mercs are probably the best thing to happen to EQ. I have been playing EQ for about 2 1/2 years and my wife has been playing since we got married in March 08. She tends to prefer the priest classes and has multiple toons in the 50 - 60 range. Before the mercs, we had two toons who could handle areas like Nadox, PoI, Kedge Keep, Grieg's End, etc. Those were my 63 wizard and her 64 druid. Her cleric and paladin, both in their low 50s, couldn't really handle the things we liked to do, until my wizard got his cleric merc. Now, using my merc as the healer, we have done chain pulls in Nadox, duo'd the mobs around where Phini spawns, done laps in Greig's End, all with her pally as main tank. We suspend the merc the moment we get a cleric in the group and unsuspend them when either (1) the cleric is lom and we are being swarmed by respawns or (2) the cleric leaves the group. With the cleric getting a tank merc, we can take on the mobs on the second floor of Greig's End while we have two clerics covering heals and a wizard nuking. The best part is that we have Virtue on tap, even before my wife got her cleric to 62 and got it, to buff our lower level toons. It has made our game time even better, especially in the hour or so I have in the mornings before going to work & school. Instead of standing around for half an hour trying to get a group, get the group out to where we want to fight, and start fighting, we just log in, group up, get out there, and start fighting.

As for the financial aspect, the biggest problem is getting the initial purchase price of the mercs, after that, just fight in areas where you can get plat and experience and you will usually come out ahead. When we go out, each of us who has a merc grabs 250 pp from the bank. 99% of the time, when we are done and return to the GL to split, we each usually have the 250 pp and then some back, before selling and splitting the proceeds from the vendor trash.

LOVE my healer merc whin playing my war or zerker & love my tank merc whin i play my necro & healer toons

I love the mercs, hearing about them made me come back to the game.

Great idea!!! Unfortunately I can't use them even tho I own the expansion. A long time ago I got tired of being LFG and took up boxing. Since mercs count as a player they don't fit in my 6-box. Yeah I am crazy. I will play with guildies when available but with my long crazy work schedule I won't wait 2 hrs lfg or spend all of my plat running around begging for buffs. Make the mercs a pet and I will use them. This a great aid for those who can't box. If they had come out years ago I probably would only have one account lol. My only complaint is they probably get better spells and buffs than my clr and the players that use them didn't have to hand out mega plat to get those spells

For those complaining about their tank merc misbehaving (attacking too soon, too far out, etc) that's what the passive button is for. Also, if you get jumped before you get back from a pull, and the tank stops to fight, click the passive button and (unlike a pet) he will follow you back. Then click aggressive, and the fun begins. Another situation, a mob runs away, and the tank still has other mobs beating on him, he gets to far away from the camp chasing the thing, when you see the 'group experience' message, push passive, and he will bring them all back to you. Then aggressive and you are on your way.

Same thing with the healer merc, sometimes they will get aggro by healing too quick. Push passive before the pull, let everyone get the aggro, THEN push balanced and he will start healing with no aggro. When I am three boxing I have one healer, one tank. I make both passive, go out to pull half the zone, bring them all back. As soon as the mobs clot catches up to me, I activate the tank, and take a step back. If something follows me, I target it, and the tank immediately gets its aggro. Then another step back to see what else follows. repeat until all are on the tank. Then push balanced on the healer and he does his thing without getting aggro.

The mercs are controllable up to a point in that simple pulling scenario. I only mention it all, cuz in the whole thread I didnt see anything about using the passive/aggessive/balanced buttons, sorry if i missed it. Hope I gave someone some ideas....

Good hunting

I like the mercs. As a casual, and usually solo player, it offers me opportunities to play many other classes I would have never tried.

I guess it's time to start the Warrior I have always wanted to play..

Edited, Dec 19th 2008 10:21pm by fuzzard