Should rename the game to Merc fantasy online.

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Originally Posted by Stompa

I didn't say you were going to quit the game, as I said in my post, I was responding to one of the earlier posters, who put up a photo of the /yell chatlog, and said [paraphrased] ; "I feel like I should cancel my sub because of all this Merc yelling / Merc activity."

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This "merc" was never an issue anyways. There are at least 3(or more? I don't remember) thread on FFXIAH from vet players offering help for new players to gear up for free, with dozens of people replied with "I can help too" in the thread. There are also a dozen of people that I know of, would also help for free if you send them tell in game.

So yeah, if you are a new player on Asura and you can't find one single veteran player help you gear up, I question if you really tried.

I feel that a lot of the "I hate merc" threads here are just hating because they are biased toward merc emotionally, or if they really evidence to prove it as an issue in the community.

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Originally Posted by Afania

I feel that a lot of the "I hate merc" threads here are just hating because they are biased toward merc emotionally, or if they really evidence to prove it as an issue in the community.

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No, it's nothing to do with emotion (as you put it). It's the simple fact they are killing off the game. You are removing instances of people getting together and fighting the NM's. Instead, people are just buying stuff sitting in a treasure pool, returning back to town, and repeating the process.

It's not like the old days where gil was more of a challenge to "farm". Gil is ridiculously easy to obtain now, so that also adds to the problem.

You play on Asura? Or are you just speculating?

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Originally Posted by Sirmarki

No, it's nothing to do with emotion (as you put it). It's the simple fact they are killing off the game. You are removing instances of people getting together and fighting the NM's. Instead, people are just buying stuff sitting in a treasure pool, returning back to town, and repeating the process.

It's not like the old days where gil was more of a challenge to "farm". Gil is ridiculously easy to obtain now, so that also adds to the problem.

You play on Asura? Or are you just speculating?

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I admit I am newer, well I've not played in 10 years or so? I came back a month ago and well yes I see tons of shout for Mercenary. The only grouping I witness seems to be limited to Capacity Parties or Ambuscase. And they don't lift up if they don't have their GEO or COR most the time. I think the only way to fix the mercenary problem is to just, quitting using them commonly? But good luck with that part, better start praying if we wish to see people suddenly change their behavior over "Oh this gil is only a drop in the bucket might as well."

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Originally Posted by Sirmarki

No, it's nothing to do with emotion (as you put it). It's the simple fact they are killing off the game. You are removing instances of people getting together and fighting the NM's. Instead, people are just buying stuff sitting in a treasure pool, returning back to town, and repeating the process.

It's not like the old days where gil was more of a challenge to "farm". Gil is ridiculously easy to obtain now, so that also adds to the problem.

You play on Asura? Or are you just speculating?

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You DO realize that your response is emotionally based? ^^;;

The modern merc issue is a monster of SE's own creation due to how pervasive NM scaling-based-on-group-size is. In the majority of modern content, it's essentially impossible for a large group of weaker players to team up to compensate for their lower performance via strength in numbers like the old days. Now we need everyone pulling their own weight OR overgeared players picking up the slack. Guess which is easier to organize? Merc'ing has also always been a thing. It happened in the old days too, it just wasn't as commonplace to see shouts for it since the majority didn't have the gil to make selling to them worthwhile. Nowadays, the "lower class" has 10x+ as much gil as the "upper middle class" way back when, which means that it's more likely that you'll have a buyer if you try to sell drops or clears, which means more people will start selling. Player mindset has also shifted from a willingness to claw your way up to the top to instant gratification, which definitely makes the problem worse.

I think we'd have a lot more players who'd be willing/able to help weaker geared players gear up if it wasn't actually going to make fights harder to carry more people. For instance, when I do simple carries for clears n' gears for newbies, I have to split up the group and do multiple runs if there are more than two who need to be carried, because of the scaling.

My only beef w/ mercs are with those who vastly overgear the majority of content and still sell lowest tier fights/drops. The only buyers for something from an Escha-Zi'tah T1 are going to be players who actually need the gear as legit upgrades (newbies/returnees in other words, who are the least likely to have a support network to find help from friends, and least likely to really be able to afford the expense,) and the sellers are looking for a 30x-100x return on pop cost for fights which last a matter of seconds for them. I've got no issue w/ mercs selling things at the upper-end of content, but it triggers me when I see them taking advantage of those who are already in a bad spot. =_=*

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Originally Posted by Nyarlko

My only beef w/ mercs are with those who vastly overgear the majority of content and still sell lowest tier fights/drops. The only buyers for something from an Escha-Zi'tah T1 are going to be players who actually need the gear as legit upgrades (newbies/returnees in other words, who are the least likely to have a support network to find help from friends, and least likely to really be able to afford the expense,) and the sellers are looking for a 30x-100x return on pop cost for fights which last a matter of seconds for them. I've got no issue w/ mercs selling things at the upper-end of content, but it triggers me when I see them taking advantage of those who are already in a bad spot. =_=*

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This right here is what needs to change. "mercs" charging multiple millions for things that even new players shouldn't be using, but don't know better. The fact that people still think upwards of 3m for a t1 fight is "fair" is absolutely disgusting.

No. You should NOT charge it, because people are to naive to know better. You're ripping them off.

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Originally Posted by Isola

This right here is what needs to change. "mercs" charging multiple millions for things that even new players shouldn't be using, but don't know better. The fact that people still think upwards of 3m for a t1 fight is "fair" is absolutely disgusting.

No. You should NOT charge it, because people are to naive to know better. You're ripping them off.

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I don't charge. In fact, I even provide the pops out of my own pocket for T1s. :D

MMO communities have a way of being jerks about group content in some manner. If it's not merc'ing stuff, it's demanding people link achievements for beaten content despite people needing first clears not being able to do that. And while it is fair to suggest people don't want to waste their time and resources on failed runs, it suggests that games could overall be doing more to promote backtracking or aiding others behind the curve. More generally, I'd say XI needs the following:


- The cost for server transfers removed.
- Some servers merged.
- The ability to better communicate with players cross-worlds (Think: '/tell player@server <message>' instead of the slower, more clunky friend messaging)
- A cross-server LFG tool tailored for each major piece of content. (A section for Delve, Es'cha, Omen, specific expansion missions, etc.)
- Auction Houses across all worlds consolidated.
- Stackable bonuses for helping people with first-time clears or people under a certain amount of first-time currency gains (Tickets that give +5 Job Points, extra Omen cards, etc.)
- A method for helpers to bypass lockouts/entry costs in exchange for not being able to lot/earn personal loot.
- EXP loss removed from the game entirely.
- Snapshot consumables upon entering an event, and if failed, refund any used items/charges. Job abilities reset, too.

- Create a consumable with a one-hour recharge that lets you pull your party/alliance to your current location with a confirmation prompt for those summoned. (Won't work in Dynamis, Abyssea, Limbus, mog house/garden, in BCs, etc.)


Honestly, I'd even look into things like making pre-ilvl versions of RMEs easier to acquire relative to upping an individual's desirability, but I'm sure some would gripe about that.

I don’t see how consolidating servers solves the issue? The larger the population, the more impersonal and transactional the game will be. This has been shown to be the case in all other MMOs with phasing or single servers. This also just helps gilsellers by giving them more free space to farm on empty servers then dump it all into Asura.

I like the idea of rewarding players helping first timers by rewarding them. Whatever currency is valuable. Maybe copper vouchers?

Basically a game should always give reasons for players to backtrack to old content for more than just aesthetic pieces. Like the roulettes in FFXIV to some extent.

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Originally Posted by Isola

This right here is what needs to change. "mercs" charging multiple millions for things that even new players shouldn't be using, but don't know better. The fact that people still think upwards of 3m for a t1 fight is "fair" is absolutely disgusting.

No. You should NOT charge it, because people are to naive to know better. You're ripping them off.

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Maybe, just maybe, your part of the problem

Canceled my account today and the merc issue was 1/2 of the reason. The other half was the abundance of farming and CP bots. Seems people want to bot their gil and cp then pay someone to get them gear and clear content. This system makes no sense to me, hopefully it changes at some point because I really want to continue playing this game but I see no reason to at this point.