No problem with merc'ing but Odyssey V25 RP merc'ing needs to STOP.

[Gwydion]

Hello SE, fellow FFXI players,
I personally do not have any problem people who like to merc content (sell wins, RP or clears to other players). However, there is a problem with the design of Odyssey. When a powerful team finally gains access to V25 and clears it, all 6 of these players can sell RP by using the following steps:

1.) V25 player invites 5 other players who need RP
2.) These 5 other players pay as much 1-3M for their spot in this party.
3.) The V25 player does 5% damage to the NM (say, Kalunga or Bumba) and after 15 minutes, every gains RP.

In general, I do not even have a problem with the steps above. The issue I have this:

Problem:
All 6 members of this powerful team are not incentivized help other players clear Odyssey V25 content, but to rather become 6 independent sellers of RP to people who are struggling to make the climb on their own or form a group!

Solution:

• Create an incentive for players to team up. For each person who gets the clear for the first time, a personal drops similar to Dynamis Wave 1 boss, where players who do not have the clear, increase the size of the treasure pool.
• Maybe this personal group could be a Primeval Brew for Odyssey? Sortie Gallimaufry bonus?

...I'm just at such a loss for words how this further segregates players.

[leia]

5% Cheese has to be Nerfed and it is ruining the experience.
Also they should implement you can't unlock armors if you did not clear pervious tiers.

[Sirmarki]

Hello SE, fellow FFXI players,
I personally do not have any problem people who like to merc content (sell wins, RP or clears to other players). However, there is a problem with the design of Odyssey.

You can't pick and choose what you think is suitable to merc or not, mercing is bad.. Full stop.

[Gwydion]

I don't think all merc'ing is bad. Mercing is fine if it's a 1 to 1 party gaining clear vs selling RP.

But, it's not OK when the 6-member party that earned the clear, now becomes 6 independent mercs/sellers of the content.

[Sp1cyryan]

I don't think all merc'ing is bad. Mercing is fine if it's a 1 to 1 party gaining clear vs selling RP.

But, it's not OK when the 6-member party that earned the clear, now becomes 6 independent mercs/sellers of the content.

You don't get to just pick and choose. Lol

[Zenion]

You can't make Odyssey bosses easier without people complaining. You can't make taking pickup party members worth doing without making the bosses easier. This is the essence of six-man content: You do it with a single static party, and to hell with everyone else because there is no room to change that party.

If you want to solve the mercing problem, make it so you can't earn RP from a fight if anyone in the group hasn't gotten that clear. Problem solved, now people aren't selling RP farming runs. Sure, the people who would have paid for them get nothing now, but that's fine, that's how the content is designed to be played: "screw you, got mine."

[Gwydion]

You can't make Odyssey bosses easier without people complaining. You can't make taking pickup party members worth doing without making the bosses easier. This is the essence of six-man content: You do it with a single static party, and to hell with everyone else because there is no room to change that party.

If you want to solve the mercing problem, make it so you can't earn RP from a fight if anyone in the group hasn't gotten that clear. Problem solved, now people aren't selling RP farming runs. Sure, the people who would have paid for them get nothing now, but that's fine, that's how the content is designed to be played: "screw you, got mine."

Yeah, I hate the "screw you, got mine" ....but it's everywhere these days.

[Immortal]

Yeah this was lame from day 1, take it out

[Eth]

Sorry if this is going off on a bit of a tangent, but I think lack of endgame alliance content is another factor that has harmed FFXI in recent years and lead to the decline of a culture of helping each other.

The old endgame was all alliance. Dynamis was multi-alliance. I know that people eventually figured out how to low-man everything, but early in the life of the game, you needed bodies to throw at endgame challenges. This encouraged helping. Back in 2005, people in an endgame shell helped me get sky access not because they were unselfish, but because they were selfish. They needed bodies. To do Northlands Dynamis, you needed bodies too, and that meant having to do city Dynamis wins for new members.

The now dominant 6-party content killed all of that. It has encouraged perma-statics who do Odyssey NMs and Sortie together. Linkshells still exist, but often, there is a clique of 6 people at the center of the linkshell, and {our party is full} for everyone else who joins and would like to get in on that. You got a pearl to an "endgame" ls, but you're still just a spectator to the successes of the central gang of 6 for Odyssey NMs or Sortie. Success in the new and final endgame all but requires starting such a static, or replacing someone else in an existing static.

If Sortie and Odyssey had been made alliance content with HP scaling like Geas Fete, it would have been healthier for the FFXI community.

[Gwydion]

Yeah, I personally think 6-man static content is killing linkshells. Every linkshell is now social + a queue of people waiting to ge into a static.