Quote Originally Posted by LineageRazor View Post
I have no problem with mercs selling runs, though I have no plans to partake. I also don't believe that only gilbuyers buy runs - folks have listed plenty of good reasons why an honest player would pay mercs for clears.

That said, it seems obvious to me that paying mercs for clears is likely to be a VERY common reason for purchasing gil. There's not much in this game that is expensive, and SOMEONE is buying gil (otherwise the gilsellers wouldn't be here). Merc services are probably the most pricy thing in the game outside of buying a Free Company house. I won't sully the argument with made-up statistics, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that the great majority of folks who buy gil buy it to afford merc clears.
A lot of things are expensive actually. Melding material to all your crafting/gathering jobs for one.

I make 400k a day and EX Primal sellers are charging around 400k. So I can spend 3 hours wiping w/ pugs or 3 hours crafting. What's the difference? It really depends on how you feel about selling runs in general. I would suggest that everyone read David Sirlin's book "Playing to Win" especially the part where he talks about the rules of a scrub.

Basically, the rules of the scrub are made-up rules that are not enforced by the game. Someone that says "I will not buy runs because of x, y, z" but for whom it is clearly more efficient to buy said run is playing by those rules. This is not the same thing as gilselling/gilbuying which are clearly against the rules. Buying/selling content clears however is not.

Also, as some have said, you can be competent and still not find 7 other players who are. It's not as simple as "go join another FC" because maybe you happen to like your FC. PF doesn't really solve the issue. People lie about experience. Putting up 2 strikes parties doesn't help. And you can't just kick the people who are messing up, filter out the weaker players and keep the strong, because usually when the group wipes 2-3 times, it completely breaks up, regardless of if the problem is just on one person's end.

TL;DR I'm fine with buying/selling clears - they don't violate the rules of the game and they allow both casuals and hardcore players to have fun... OH NO! lol