Mercenaries saved casual players.
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Quite interesting that some people seem to call out all the unfair advantages of having a Merc that makes you more powerful, while completely overlooking that these same advantages are available to anyone in a party.
Yes, I'm aware of the same tired argument that it's not the same, it requires coordination, investment, loot dividing, etc. but the example frequently used is 6 party groups. Mercs are basically a private server two part group which is not necessarily that difficult to arrange. Some people are so hell bent on the hardcore experience that they seem to overlook that what many players want is fun. Mercs add fun back into the game and aside from a couple of very overpowered interactions, can be pretty much made core with no changes whatsoever. |
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" It is, in fact, the exact OPPOSITE of what you wrote here. Those that expound the advantages of having a merc in SOLO play, tend to completely overlook the problems it presents in party play. The advantages YOU receive as a solo player, get exponentially increased when its used in a party and thus creates more overall game damage than it helps. EVERYONE....literally everyone, complains about multiplayer buffs and how it affects market pricing and other "balance" issues at some point. There is nothing more true about players who have never attempted or experienced multiplayer play, yet watch youtube videos of impossible lootsplosions and crazy amounts of divines/uniques dropping. Something like a merc, that offers (conservatively) 25% MORE power to the average solo player.......is ALSO AVAILABLE to parties, with a compounded effect. That 25% buff to solo offers 150% to parties which further pushes the divide on the thing that is the most imbalanced about PoE. Even more than just raw power, while the solo player may only be able to maximize one or two broken interactions....the party can maximize basically ALL of them. So take that 25 : 150% comparison and its more like 25% : 500% realistic power difference. You claim people just want to have "fun", and mercs require no changes. How quickly you completely ignore the fact that BALANCE happens every 3 months, occasionally even more frequently than that. What determines the balancing required? Generally.....the HIGH END. They don't balance out from the middle because that would result in zero changes; they don't balance from the bottom because that leaves powercreep completely unchecked and ends up making the entire game too easy or ultimately require a 3.14-like balance patch much more frequently. Balancing occurs where limits are pushed in order to 1) stop any one thing from being ultimately too powerful or profitable and 2) try to minimize the power gaps. Mercs going core with no changes, offering the severe powercreep they do with a few uniques and interactions, coupled with the exponential explosion of power they provide to party play.......CAN AND WILL have a significant on YOUR solo "fun". Whether you interact at the extremes or not is ultimately irrelevant: you cannot overlook the situations that "don't" have a direct effect on you....because eventually they WILL. Only looking inward by saying "I just want to have fun" is the absolute most shortsighted thing you can say. It's certainly important....but it holds no power or place in a conversation about balance, which by its very definition is about the WHOLE game experience and not just your own. Starting anew....with PoE 2 Last edited by cowmoo275#3095 on Sep 3, 2025, 7:47:17 PM
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" It is reason for casual players hate 1% of "high end" players. |
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That hate is misplaced....
No matter what activity you participate in in life, there is ALWAYS a 1%. Hatred of that particular group is nothing more than FOMO. Be aware of the 1%, but letting them control and consume any of your attention is a pure personal hangup and nothing more. I actually feel sorry for people who can't enjoy their own game and instead complain 24/7 about the invisible 1% that they don't even play with. Especially in a video game setting like this, where the 1% have no more "control" than anyone else does. They simply have more knowledge and ability to push boundaries that the majority of the 99% couldn't even dream of. Much like the artist that can make a sculpture out of a block of marble...yet the average person can't do shit. And frankly...the fact that folks who don't consider themselves part of the 1%....rarely even comprehend the degree that the 1% actually shapes the game's development in the first place makes that hatred even more pointless and misguided lol. Do you honestly believe that game balance occurs because a tiny cadre of "elites" have the developer's ear? No.....that's not how it works. The game gets balanced because it MUST be balanced. Otherwise, every one of us would be running around with a 2L skill that obliterates every single monster the game has to offer as if you had a god-mode cheat on. And you THINK that is fun, but there is very real data across decades of games suggesting the opposite: a game that is too easy does not hold an audience's attention....nor does it promote replayability. GGG set out to create a "forever" game, and a "forever" game must remain challenging. This game is 99.999% single player. Enjoy it or don't: that is nobody's business or control except your own. Starting anew....with PoE 2 Last edited by cowmoo275#3095 on Sep 3, 2025, 11:15:39 PM
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Mercs do help out a lot I liked them in other games and they feel nice in this one.
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Mercs won't be in every map when it is not the current league mechanic. People will complain so hard if they have to grind hundreds of maps to get a certain merc. Imagine they will appear every 10th map and then you look for a certain merc....Good luck, hehe. Sure, no problem for the grinders, but a huuuge problem for every player that only plays 10-20 maps per day (if at all), lol... So, it is best to just say goodbye to this league mechanic. Smile because it happended, don't cry because it will be over soon ;)
Not to mentionm they would have to change build enabling uniques and so on. What would be the alternative? A deterministic point in the campaign where you unlock mercs and you can choose? They will not do that in poe... Last edited by Strickl3r#3809 on Sep 4, 2025, 5:55:23 AM
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Not sure about the others but I really hate those big empty maps where the point is to kill rare mobs and boss. Also for minion build you just can see anything like traps and so on because the number of minions or their skills that fills the screen, so good luck with one shot explosions etc.
Seems t16 maps still not avail, currency option on maps aren't avail, currency drop on maps are very terrible. Keep in mind that new players ( if they are many ) will keep trading rolling, if they suck with their build then quitting is the first option, less players less profit. Atm is unfun to me, mercenaries in poe1 was top and things there had more meaning. |
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