Merc mentality

[Runespider]

In the last year mercing has gone crazy, maybe because Abyssea made the game so easy and now almost anyone can merc or maybe cause all the well geared players are bored and have nothing better to do. Regardless it's strange that so many are fixated with gil at a time when gil is more or less worthless, also odd that the easier they make XP and Drops the less people want to do it.

The constant mercs make me think of the old HNM shells that sold gil, rmt style. I can't think of anything else these people would desire to want to put so much effort into making gil for such an extended period of time for. Square were always good at tackling sweatshop RMT but not proper players selling gil in this fashion.

What do you think about the way mercing has blown out of control? Multiple shouts daily for FC burn parties (people buying XP while they afk for 100k an hour) shouts to buy drops from Abyssea etc. I know people that pay others to level their jobs for them and then buy the drops they need, what's the point playing at all?

To me it's kinda sad how popular mercing has got and it's a blatant sign that Square are not putting enough content to keep players busy. I shudder to think what other loot systems they are working on after seeing Voidwatch and it's obvious attempt to tackle people selling drops.

[Leonlionheart]

Well why can't you sell VW slots?

Like you have an experienced group that can 4man Hahava right? 12 slots for sale, people wanting win/atmacite/chance at gaer.

[Alkalinehoe]

What's wrong with mercing? Is it honestly any different than selling a piece of gear on the Auction House?

[uptempo]

Nothing wrong with mercing ive both sold items and used peoples mercing services.

People selling fc burns why would you even complain about that, it's nice if you are going to be busy and fancy getting a few levels or capping merits while your not able to be at the pc as long as the player learns the roles of the job they are leeching who the heck cares.

[Zatias]

Maybe they are working on a relic?

[Rearden]

Maybe they are working on a relic?

Nah, everyone has to be RMT

[Xellith]

NPC: "Help please save my kingdom from the dragon in the ghelspa outpost!"
You: "Ill do it!.. perhaps a reward after too..."

/slay dragon
NPC: "Thank you for saving us all! Here! Your rank is increased! have some gil!"
You: "w00t"

You are a merc and you didn't even realize it. This is no different than someone paying for a burn pt to get some job levels up.

[Gokku]

i like to start merc arguments in port jeuno shinryu being the best case XD all you have to do is offer to proc blue for 100k and people lose there shit.

[Panthera]

What do you think about the way mercing has blown out of control? Multiple shouts daily for FC burn parties (people buying XP while they afk for 100k an hour) shouts to buy drops from Abyssea etc. I know people that pay others to level their jobs for them and then buy the drops they need, what's the point playing at all?

I don't understand why in systems like campaign, you must participate to get exp, while in Abyssea, you don't. It's not a mercing problem. It's an Abyssea problem.

To me it's kinda sad how popular mercing has got and it's a blatant sign that Square are not putting enough content to keep players busy. I shudder to think what other loot systems they are working on after seeing Voidwatch and it's obvious attempt to tackle people selling drops.

I think the problem stems from raising the cap. It made many events obsolete, and there's not enough to replace them.

The problem with a discussion like this is that you cannot tell wealthy players how they should and should not spend their own money. You cannot tell people that they shouldn't get free exp like it's an entitlement. You cannot tell SE that they give too much without asking enough when they have an efficient money making product.

[Greatguardian]

Merc'ing has been prominent a lot longer than Abyssea on most servers. As long as there are borderline incompetent players who sit around on vast sums of gil gleaned from their e-boyfriends, parents credit cards, or heck even mog bonanza, there will always be a market for mercenary work.

Don't take me the wrong way, I have nothing against merc work and I've definitely done some myself. However, I do think that purchasing mercenary services is generally a dumb decision. Unless you have absolutely no need for gil, mercenary work essentially boils down to paying people to do something that you are too lazy or too gimp/unskilled to do yourself. While mercenary work requires very little effort from the client, it does not necessarily save any time as opposed to simply doing the work themselves.

The mercenary market itself has degraded quite a bit lately, as well. More and more people think they're good enough to offer their services when, really, they are nowhere near worth the money. The value of gil has fluctuated quite a bit recently, and mercenary services have almost exclusively been about naming the highest price that some bottom-feeding moron would pay for services, that the pricing has always been grossly exaggerated.

Would I pay 500k for a good cleave spot if I wasn't capable of simply doing something like that myself? Sure. But the key word there is "Good". These days, it seems anyone with Warrior90 and a Great Axe thinks they're good enough to cleave for money. The value of services rendered has to meet or exceed the perceived value of the price in order for any purchase to be worth it. With a group that was actually riding pop timers on pulls, cleaving efficiently and effectively, and keying all the chests, I'd gladly pay 500k (again, assuming I was unable to just do this myself) for an hour. But you couldn't pay me to sit around while some Red Mage dies every other pull and the full perle + Vermeil Bhuj Warrior is hitting 500dmg Fell Cleaves.

The simple solution is really, if you give a crap about gil, go out, make friends, and learn about the game so that you can use your Skill to get Gear. If that's too much work, there will always be someone willing to take your money and get you your Gear without Skill. Do neither? Well, then end up with neither Skill nor Gear. You just don't find players with Skill and not Gear. One is a logical progression of the other.