(Mercs going core confirmed!)Mercenaries need to go core!
" Whether you’re chasing meta builds or experimenting off-meta, getting a solid character up and running often isn’t nearly as expensive as people like to claim. The real challenge isn’t the price, it’s taking the time to learn the game’s systems, engage with what it offers, and genuinely improve your understanding. That’s how you get better, not by endlessly complaining about costs or difficulty. It’s misleading, almost disingenuous to say that decent items or builds that perform exceptionally well are “too expensive,” especially when many effective setups cost less than 20–30 Divines and can tackle all the game’s content without problems, no questions asked. What’s more ironic is when players make this claim while dumping plenty of currency into challenge rewards or other things that don’t actually help their build’s performance. At this stage, insisting things are “too expensive” often feels less like a valid complaint and more like an excuse to hold onto a build that hasn’t aged well, or a refusal to admit the current setup has clear holes and untapped potential for both cheap and costly upgrades. Sure, you can do a dedicated Uber farmer only for speed farming Ubers and literally one-shot them, or a speed mapper only for mapping, with speed mapping meaning in and out, not a 10–20 minute run per map, but you can also create a build that excels at everything, good enough to be an all-rounder without lacking the ability to do something well. That’s what defines a good build. If a build can’t excel extremely well at something or perform overall as a competent all-rounder, that’s just an indicator that something’s wrong, whether it’s poor gear choices, flawed mechanics, or underinvestment. This is also where the addition of mercenaries is going to come in handy soon. It’ll be quite refreshing to have an additional layer of ways to customize and optimize builds, adding even more depth to an already complex system. Windows 11, 9950X3D, RTX 4090, 96GB DDR5, 14,100 MB/s SSD, 15,360x2160p @240Hz Ultra 4K Gaming & Workspace Powerhouse
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" I don't need to improve anything, because I'm perfectly satisfied with the build I play, and I'll continue to ctrl+c ctrl+v it league after league. Cuz its fun. And I can do all of the things I need to do, exactly when I need to do them. Yes meta builds are absolutely too expensive for the average player, which is a category I fall into. Crafting is too unintuitive and gated behind expensive currencies. So I'd have to just buy the finished items from players, which are way too expensive. You know what game has a real crafting system? Last Epoch. Its simple,readable and even a new player like me was able to enjoy it and upgrade my gear ALL the time from campaign to endgame. That's what real deterministic crafting looks like. I click up-arrow button on a mod, and it upgrades. And I can just add any mod I want to an item. Its simple and it works. The last good crafting system PoE had was original Harvest. Maybe if they give us catchup mechanics for leveling alts I would try more builds, or a campaign skip. And mercenaries will be severely nerfed, if they are even able to balance them at all. All that is confirmed right now is that mercs aren't going core at the moment. They also wanted to hold back the equippable character Relics from Sanctum League until they can re-balance and add them to the game, and those have been forgotten lol, and that's just a funny magic item with 2 stats. Mercenaries are that but x1000 It really doesn't matter what happens with mercs to me, because I can just keep carrying on playing the exact same build and ignoring them while completely unaffected. I don't need their rarity bonus, and I certainly don't need them buffing all the hp of enemies in my maps by 50% lol why would I ever use a merc when all it does is buff the enemies? Makes no sense. Last edited by Toforto#2372 on Oct 16, 2025, 9:39:36 PM
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i kinda like how the thread started with elite players saying stuff like "NO! we dont need more merc else player get too much power!"
saying shit like "omg you people are full of cope/out of touch" "it will never happen" only for GGG to officially announce that they intend to bring it to core. i havent played this game in a while but i ll probably come back to STD when the mercs come to core. i see 2 issues that most people bring up "more player power" counterpoint - back in the day getting to red tier maps were some what aspirational. getting to 100 was a big deal. later players were EXPECTED to reach t14-16. then players were expected to be able to clear shaper. then players were expected to clear red tier shaper + red tier elders. now a lot of uniques are gated behind ubers. so whats wrong with players getting more power? 30% extra dps for a player killing ubers in 3 seconds make them kill the uber in 2 seconds. but for weaker players that takes 3 minutes, it brings it down to 2 minutes. more player power allows players more build flexibility instead of being hyper optimized all the time "mercs are OP" counterpoint - GGG's job to balance them which one could say "GGG doesnt do a good job at balancing". which i would say is a fair take. then again. some builds are simply better than others too. since when is poe a balanced game? other points that i saw brought up "merc meta will happen" counterpoint? i actually agree. but lets be real. we already have 1001 meta builds in the game. it doesnt really matter does it? theres always people who argue against giving players more power. for me i ll say it as it is. you guys are worried that by players having more power, your achievements are cheapened. my build was shit for most of my poe "career" but once ggg buffed melee significantly suddenly i could clear so many things. i had tons of fun and i stuck around more. but you guys would be the ones who would say melee is fine and dont want any additional player power. you guys are selfish. thats all. you dont want others to enjoy the game and be able to clear more content. but i will agree with this point halfway. i will disagree on giving players more power IF it means GGG gets an excuse to make things harder. but other than that, its about time players get more sources of power. i m always looking for a reason to come back to poe, even if its for a short while. and having mercs really could entice me to come back to standard. [Removed by Support]
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" Time to add Crucible and all the other lost mechanics in as well, in the end it's just more content for everyone. Balance wise they sure find a way to compensate the growth of player power. Flames and madness. I'm so glad I didn't miss the fun.
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" i actually wouldnt mind that. one of my guildies was so salty for not playing during crucible. he was absolutely sure that the crucible weapons would not make it to standard. and when it did, the prices skyrocketed to mirrors. i m pretty sure some of my old friends would return to poe if that happened. tho i do say that. i say that with a huge caveat. if they rebalance the game and make it harder as a result. then yeah i ll be on the "leave player power alone" train. and if thats the case then theres little reason for me to return or my friends. in any case ggg already took our money years ago. they already won lol [Removed by Support]
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Crucible was absolutely outside 'normie's reach' - it was UNHOLY grind to get what you wanted (correct tree on a correct item) and if you wanted to buy that - it was outrageously expensive IF it existed at all
it was fun once you got your Emperors Vigilance with shield throw tree, obscene armour and ES. yeah, people remember that. but getting there was not fun as with mercs and power - it is a) stupid loot multiplier, so it is unskippable. you CAN skip it, but it is objectively stupid thing to do. any mechanic like that is design-wise - shit. b) mercs were mostly shit at combat, their only use was stacking auras, aura effect, rarity and unique effects - aka stat sticks. it is boring as f... People claim it is 'fun' but it is because being stronger is fun, but other than power it brings nothing new c) the merc that actually was capable warrior (kineticist) was just one, single, case. building around it did not differ much from minion build/aura stacker - so again, nothing new cases like Doryiani, Rallying Cry or everyone and their dog using the same corrupts on very limited sub-set of items will take months to solve. if they skip it we will AGAIN have a game where you have 3 elements, but everyone plays lightning because it is 300% more damage than other 2. and sure, you can ignore that, pretend it does not exist - but the game will get balanced around you using it and thus - again - it is use or fail GGG clearly has priority on POE2, POE1 is on life support, to avoid repeat of PR disaster and riots that might damage POE2. chances of that balance pass happening in 'nearby' future are slim and to be honest - POE, despite being in the best state ever, enters its EOL phase and most likely wont last long enough for mercs or TOTA to be integrated |
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" a) this is a problem caused by the existence of MF on gear. to me MF on gear is a problem to begin with. but if ggg chooses to balance mercs by having them provide no MF, then i guess its a good balancing choice. b) i agree, if mercs exist just as pure stat sticks it definitely would be boring. but i would say if they took a page from how diablo 3 did companions it could be interesting where we do have limited aura buffs and the companions do provide utility such as debuffing enemies and inflicting CC c) yeah that is a balancing issue. and if i m being honest, a huge part of it lies with the exponential power creep that players are expected to have in poe. you can easily blast stuff in t14-t16. or maybe you'd struggle in t16. but from t16 to t17 the jump feels huge. it definitely will be a challenge to make the mercs balanced around content they can do. and lets be real. if they did do that then some weaker players would actually rely on their mercs to carry them thru harder content. its not an easy problem to solve [Removed by Support]
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" More like re balance and adjust the league mechanic itself. On paper it's a great mechanic but the gamble and beast spam behind it, and having to chance orb items to get a unique with desired passive points. I guess the unique item issue is sort of fixed with Omen of Fortune but the overall progress to get 4 or 5 desired passives could be done a lot better. It holds a lot of power so they would have to compensate for that a bit cause power creep would be even more out of control as it already is. Easiest solution would be a simple flat change the same way they did in expedition league, and lower overall player power by a bit. Or they could re introduce the crucible trees only for unique items. At least this would make some uniques more intresting again, or worth using over a crafted rare wep. Flames and madness. I'm so glad I didn't miss the fun.
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" yeah i would rather they give player power and rebalance it so its not too OP rather than to give player power and then make shit harder. we got that with harvest. it did give players indirect power, similarly synthesis. both still are present in the game but despite being neutered are still powerful. [Removed by Support]
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