Ideas for Merc Mechanic Going Core

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Piousqd#0073 wrote:

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Pizzarugi#6258 wrote:

I disagree. If you're already farming/buying normal gear for mercs, buying merc-exclusive gear is hardly any different. And it keeps GGG from dropping a nerf nuke on the entire game to account for how busted they are.

The other option is just prevent you from gearing them at all. If you want mercs with good gear, you need to find them out in the wild and recruit. Mercs with default equipment are hardly as strong as ones you properly upgrade.

I liked someone's suggestion about just putting caps on the merc's stats. Such as limiting resistance to -100, etc

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Piousqd#0073 wrote:

I was thinking of an interview with Devs where they talked about how players had been asking for them since the beginning and how they have always wanted to implement them, but just hadnt figured out how to do it

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

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Piousqd#0073 wrote:

I was thinking of an interview with Devs where they talked about how players had been asking for them since the beginning and how they have always wanted to implement them, but just hadnt figured out how to do it

Didn't see that...but clearly they still haven't figured out how to do it hehe.

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Chrom#5652 wrote:

You know, the Heist NPCs should have been our mercs.

So, probably add them w/ a but of cookie-cutter stuff skills. Then for gear, use the "heist gear" slots they already have. Create unique items for the slots and expand on the affix list for them. That'll solve stuff like Doryani.

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Piousqd#0073 wrote:

and the mercs will be stored in the Rogue Harbor, with everyones mercs all hanging out together, creating a lovely lag party.

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Pizzarugi#6258 wrote:

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Piousqd#0073 wrote:

2. Remove the Doryani's interaction somehow
Probably a change to doryani's itself, as we want mercs to be able to continue providing meaningful support from their equipped item effects

Given how much of an OP power creep it would be to have them in the core game, assuming they actually go core at all which I hope doesn't happen, I'd rather a complete rework of their equipment system to only accept merc exclusive gear. It would be similar to Heist, and GGG would have complete control over how strong it is.

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I don't hate the general concept of mercs in core, but they would have to be so significantly different from their current incarnation that I would honestly prefer if they didn't.

Here's what changes Mercenaries need, at an absolute bare minimum, to go into core:

1 - They can't use player equipment. There's just no way around balancing this one; you could give them a 100% less damage modifier and they're still insanely overpowered as an aura/buff/MF mule.

2 - TAKE OFF WHATEVER MAGICAL SOURCE OF LESS DAMAGE TAKEN THEY HAVE FOR GODS' SAKE. This is something I genuinely can't believe didn't happen hours into the league; high level mercs just can't die, to anything. They can tank Maven memory game slams and searing exarch nukes and who knows what else, even when their stats indicate that they definitely shouldn't be able to survive. They've got some magical plot armor defense going on which seems to scale with their level, and it needs to go away.

3 - There needs to be some kind of opportunity cost for every time you use a mercenary. I don't care what it is, there are so many different options here, but it needs to exist. Right now, you would never not take a mercenary into a map with you. You would never consider not using one on any build. That sucks: it's boring and it's bad game design.