Mercenaries saved casual players.

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Aldora_the_Summoner#4021 wrote:

Aside from a handful of rather broken item interactions (which GG could address in a variety of ways), I really don't understand how people are claiming that Mercs are a balance problem? What's the difference between a Merc and partying with another player?

To me it simply feels like an opportunity for solo players to step a little into the group play world and access the benefits that provides. That's really not a bad thing.

Because 1% hate casual players.

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Aldora_the_Summoner#4021 wrote:

To me it simply feels like an opportunity for solo players to step a little into the group play world and access the benefits that provides. That's really not a bad thing.

Wrote about this a few pages ago (or maybe another mercenary thread), won't rehash. Tons of crucial differences between "party play" and "mercenary play" but the main ones are simply that its much much harder to pull off than empy and co make it look in videos. It's also significantly more expensive to build, run, and maintain a team of REAL players versus bots.

There's also the fact that, and I think I might have said this in this thread too, the power is NOT just for solo players......because party play ALSO gets the mercs. This does nothing to bring the two "closer together", which is frankly what should happen across this game. Instead it brings them further apart, with parties now able to also have each of their own mercs and actually getting FAR MORE benefit from mercenaries than a solo player, exacerbating all the regular complaints that exist from party play.

To math it out:
Solo player gets merc and ends up being equivalent to sort of 1.5 players

Group players EACH get a merc, gaining +3 players for a total of 9 players. The group that ALREADY benefits from additional players have also received 6x the benefit from the mechanic vs. solo players.

I'd still be against them even if they were restricted to be only usable while you weren't partied....but that would be an excellent restriction put on them should they attempt to make them core.




If you think its only a "few" broken interactions....you simply haven't done enough research. There certainly are a few POPULAR broken interactions, but there are tons and tons of broken interactions with mercenaries across many archetypes of builds, and power creep through the freaking roof across the board.

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Chavolatra#3732 wrote:

Because 1% hate casual players.

has absolutely nothing to do with hating casual players....and everything to do with actually understanding the scope of the game damage they bring to the table.

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

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Chavolatra#3732 wrote:

Because 1% hate casual players.

has absolutely nothing to do with hating casual players....and everything to do with actually understanding the scope of the game damage they bring to the table.

Let's feign there hasn't been a war between 1% and casual players on this forum since forever.

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Chavolatra#3732 wrote:

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

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Chavolatra#3732 wrote:

Because 1% hate casual players.

has absolutely nothing to do with hating casual players....and everything to do with actually understanding the scope of the game damage they bring to the table.

Let's feign there hasn't been a war between 1% and casual players on this forum since forever.

There wasnt one. 1% couldnt care less

You are projecting, thats all

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moerutora#4751 wrote:

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KingExodusGG#1474 wrote:

I also think merc should go core and I believe it fits well with the narrative of Kingsmarch, the lore, etc. As well as the progression of the game. Also let's not forget. D2 had a merc system and it really seems like POE was trying to bring this feature into life, If I had money to bet, I would bet it is going core.

For those who complain "they are OP" - well duh they are OP, every new league mechanic is OP when it comes out, or it's crap and then becomes OP, obviously it wouldn't be ported into STD without being "toned down". Hello

Hello. It would be literally impossible to 'balance' a Merc. The only way I could see them coming to the Core Game is if you encounter them in a map and only for that map. I could also see them being Hired for 3 Maps Total and then they disappear but you cant improve or remove gear from the Merc.

They could have improved items and Currency to take and you cant improve the base chance of them spawning through any of the atlas passives. IMO theyre too OP and hard to balance for the entire game.

GGG cant even balance the current game and adding another element would be awful - potentially a game-ender for some Exiles (Like Me as I loathe the mechanic).

Tbh it sounds like you're just salty about the merc mechanic. Quite frankly you can balance anything with enough time and effort if we're being realistic and staying within the confines of reality.

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Orbaal#0435 wrote:

There wasnt one. 1% couldnt care less

You are projecting, thats all

This....exactly.

Sure, there are some people that like and want the game to be harder and harder. But they are actually very few and far between, and mostly don't think about anyone else. There is no concentrated effort of people trying to keep 99% of the playerbase from playing the game and enjoying themselves lol.

Mercenaries is the first league where I actually play PoE seriously, and I haven't used mercs themselves at all after the first (or second) act.

But they tend to contain really well-rolled stuff that helped me tremendously with the campaign, in addition to also giving me 2 divines in Act 6 and a lot of chaos now that I'm mapping.

I certainly expect the mercenary mechanic to be nerfed next league.

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KingExodusGG#1474 wrote:

Tbh it sounds like you're just salty about the merc mechanic. Quite frankly you can balance anything with enough time and effort if we're being realistic and staying within the confines of reality.

Unsure what you mean by salty but I do regard 3.26 as the WORST League Mechanic and Atlas Implementation since Modern PoE (3.0). How are we still doing the same boring Atlas for 3.5 years? This thing feels like it needs some kind of shakeup. Its far too stale and this game is all about change. The currency themselves are named after Alchemists/Allegorists.

The Mercenary Mechanic is a PoE 2 Rogue Exile ported into PoE 1... its not exciting - its incredibly bland. Same thing goes with PoE 2 - it currently has no new League Mechanics exclusive to itself which makes it incredibly stale also.

i found mercs fun...it should go core