No not the NPC type, the player type. Was this at all a thing in EQ or VG? In FFXI for a time there was a mercenary guild for hire. I never used them but from what I heard they had reasonable rates. They would loan out members to help with everything from PLing to Class quests to Endgame events. They got a reputation for being reliable and trustworthy and many people used them. Just thought it was kind of a neat idea. Thats not to say there werent helpful people that would help for free, but I understand some people didnt mind if it meant they didnt have to beg and wait for help.
Closest I ever got was the handful of times I got loaned out to rival guilds by my guild leader. I had a reputation for being a good tank, and he allowed it a few times if it wasnt something that directly conflicted with our goals. I dont know about every case but I know that for a couple of weeks it was to help a guild whose main tank was in the hospital. The after story to that was shortly after that they decided it would be good to invest in a back up tank lol.
On the flip side Im not really ok with the idea of a guild mercing out items. Saw this in FFXI too and somehow it just didnt sit well with me. Is that odd that Im okay with mercing out bodies but not items?
Anyways thoughts? Sounds like it could be fun potentially helping out people while getting paid and experiencing various content across the board. But these are the things you think about when your at work and its a slow day. Damn winter storm advisory.
Now they have mercs ..the npc type..pretty much a money sink. As for mercenaries otherwise, I don't recall that being a "thing" in EQ..but then again I only went back for about 3 months last year, could be something I was unaware of. Have a question about this mercenary guild, was it done on ingame money or RMT?
I definitely find the idea interesting. You did see people advertising things like 'Looking for a max level ranger to track for an hour. Paying ', and obviously people looking to buy or sell PL for platinum pieces. I guess this would be a guild full of people looking to take advantage of those advertisements. I'm generally okay with whatever methods players can come up with to accomplish things. I do think it's a little strange that you are in favor of this, but against selling loot rights. I guess there's a slight difference, though, since loot rights are generally sold for items that would otherwise rot.
I would have to say I'm indifferent towards merc services. I've been a part of them a significant amount of times due to usually running with "elite" guilds and not having much else to do after clearing the current end game. I also understand the frustration of them though. I have seen servers in games crumble in terms of doing content with random players because of the mindset that casuals would have to just buy their success. Another issue I have found is people buying significant amount of the in game currency with RL money to buy merc services. I've never really been on this end though because I'm typically on the selling end so a lot of this is just ignored by us since we just act like everything is fine since we are basically still "winning" in the end.
Provided everything is kept in game, ie services, the currency/payment for services rendered etc, why not? Hell, make the guild yourself, great opportunity to not only help others, but to get insanely rich too.
If I get what you are saying, it's sort of similar to Project 1999's Dial-A-Port, my old guild for a good while. Anyone can do a /who all dial, and if a name pops up, they are taking port requests. Awesome guild even though we never raided or anything. We also had Dial-A-Rez service as part of DAP, and the guild had a Cleric on its own account that members could log in and use to help people that were stuck, could not otherwise get help and were willing to donate for the time it took for the rescue operation. There was almost always someone online taking port requests and even now DAP is still going strong, and overall server pop still seems fairly strong, around 1k on avg which is pretty impressive. When a raid target popped and batphones went off we would get hit SO hard with port requests, but the tips would match the urgency of the raiding players and they tipped well for a fast, no BS port w/ SoW. The server population was better able to respond quickly to raid targets of variation with a guild like DAP around and that meant happier players. The porters got great tips and were also happy as pie. The guild though? Never asked for or took a percentage or anything. All your port tips were yours to do with as you please.
I feel like guilds like Dial-A-Port help keep server populations thriving, healthy and in the favorable side of numbers by way of helping players. so I am all for guilds that offer services like this, be it merc, port, rez, all of the above, all crafting guilds that actually unionize and standardize their craft prices amongst the guild or whatever. I've seen all kinds of crazy but incredibly cool ideas over the years in MMO's. Very interested to see what ends up happening in Pantheon after release
When I was playing EQ on a regular basis some years ago, I was inundated with port requests, (wizard) I always stated my service was on a donation basis, give what you think its worth type of idea. I also used to rescue newbies from places where they couldn't possibly survive (for free)...having been dumped off in an area that was "red" to them, by someone with a warped sense of humour. I hope more people have the idea of helping rather than hindering members of the community. :)
Portalgun said:Provided everything is kept in game, ie services, the currency/payment for services rendered etc, why not? Hell, make the guild yourself, great opportunity to not only help others, but to get insanely rich too.
If I get what you are saying, it's sort of similar to Project 1999's Dial-A-Port, my old guild for a good while. Anyone can do a /who all dial, and if a name pops up, they are taking port requests. Awesome guild even though we never raided or anything. We also had Dial-A-Rez service as part of DAP, and the guild had a Cleric on its own account that members could log in and use to help people that were stuck, could not otherwise get help and were willing to donate for the time it took for the rescue operation. There was almost always someone online taking port requests and even now DAP is still going strong, and overall server pop still seems fairly strong, around 1k on avg which is pretty impressive. When a raid target popped and batphones went off we would get hit SO hard with port requests, but the tips would match the urgency of the raiding players and they tipped well for a fast, no BS port w/ SoW. The server population was better able to respond quickly to raid targets of variation with a guild like DAP around and that meant happier players. The porters got great tips and were also happy as pie. The guild though? Never asked for or took a percentage or anything. All your port tips were yours to do with as you please.
I feel like guilds like Dial-A-Port help keep server populations thriving, healthy and in the favorable side of numbers by way of helping players. so I am all for guilds that offer services like this, be it merc, port, rez, all of the above, all crafting guilds that actually unionize and standardize their craft prices amongst the guild or whatever. I've seen all kinds of crazy but incredibly cool ideas over the years in MMO's. Very interested to see what ends up happening in Pantheon after release
That actually sounds very cool and very similar to what this merc guild did. Though pretty much any class with the ability to port was doing so in FFXI and charging a fee but they were usually very cheap. People in a hurry to an event would pay extra for it. We called them Tele-taxis. But yes thats pretty much the idea.
I'm sorta on the fence about this one, I can see that things like that can be useful, but wouldn't want things like porting monopolized by a Walmart type guild. I used to do ports for donations, so that particular example, were I in game, would make me feel like the little guy struggling against the big box store. On the other hand, I imagine it is nice to be able to do a /who that leads you to someone who can help you right away when you are stuck in some out of the way place. In terms of offering PL services, that I am against, I have seen too much of that from gold farmer types, I would rather see friends and guilds doing that instead of people making money off it. In the end players spend their time in game however they choose to, and I am all about everyone being able to play the game they want to, regardless of what my opinion might be :)
I like the idea of player mercs, if someone has the gold to pay for a player to help them why not? I like the idea even more if its on a PVP server, setting up bounties for notorious PK'ers or loot ninja's :D I think it could be a great aspect of the community especially if its all RP :).
It's not quite the same thing, but in SWG if a player witnessed a jedi use their powers/light saber, it would place said jedi on the bounty hunter terminals for bounty hunters to take missions on and hunt them down :P
I do not remember ever having to actually pay another player to help me, that said, I have traded off some time to receive some time from others. It works both ways I guess. What goes around, comes around.
I almost always help and am glad when others are able to help me too.
Paid merc players? Not a bad idea for certain. I can see a usefulness for such. Klumpedge requires payment in beer... and not that cheap watered down stuff.
Klumpedge said:I do not remember ever having to actually pay another player to help me, that said, I have traded off some time to receive some time from others. It works both ways I guess. What goes around, comes around.
I almost always help and am glad when others are able to help me too.
Paid merc players? Not a bad idea for certain. I can see a usefulness for such. Klumpedge requires payment in beer... and not that cheap watered down stuff.
*Amber Oakheart (my character name) offers Klumpedge a good ale, and a well cooked meal, for his services in slaying some ravenous bears*
Accept / Decline
:D
Rachael said:*Amber Oakheart (my character name) offers Klumpedge a good ale, and a well cooked meal, for his services in slaying some ravenous bears*
Accept / Decline
:D
How could anyone refuse an offer like this?? ;)
I say if a guild wants to opearate in this manner and peopple are willing to pay them...then why not? Just don't be surprised when another guild tries to undercut your services or better yet, creates a guild that helps out players entirely for free. ;P
NoobieDoo said:Rachael said:*Amber Oakheart (my character name) offers Klumpedge a good ale, and a well cooked meal, for his services in slaying some ravenous bears*
Accept / Decline
:D
How could anyone refuse an offer like this?? ;)
I say if a guild wants to opearate in this manner and peopple are willing to pay them...then why not? Just don't be surprised when another guild tries to undercut your services or better yet, creates a guild that helps out players entirely for free. ;P
Right? Thanks Rachael for sweetening the pot.
And your absolutely right Noobie. Its a free market. And there is nothing stoping players from being helpful. I would help folks for free to when I could. The biggest issue for me was that I was usually crazy busy with guild commitments.
If you are in a guild and the members will not team with you or help you for free, you are not doing it right. Join another guild or make better friends.
If you cannot find anyone to team with, you either have done something terribly wrong or the game is dead and you should move to a better game.
If you are paying someone better to help you, how is this not paying for powerleveling?
But, don't get me wrong. If you want to charge someone in-game currency for help and they are willing to do it, go ahead. Two consenting players should be able to do what they want.
Hell, in EQ2, I usually kept a low-level alt unguilded so people would pay him to help start guilds, since you needed a minimum number of players to start one, but not to keep one running. Then, you can just leave and earn the money again.
No npc mercs for rent ,sale or any other form of purchase. But the thoughts of a Merc type guild where they can assist a single player in the killing of a Mob for a specific querst or item is very interesting. I would be in favor of this emensly. A lot of solo players have quite a difficult time aquireing ceretain Items for class quests and epic quests. We just need to figure a way to get the spawns free of farmers.
Beefcake said:If you are in a guild and the members will not team with you or help you for free, you are not doing it right. Join another guild or make better friends.
If you cannot find anyone to team with, you either have done something terribly wrong or the game is dead and you should move to a better game.
If you are paying someone better to help you, how is this not paying for powerleveling?
But, don't get me wrong. If you want to charge someone in-game currency for help and they are willing to do it, go ahead. Two consenting players should be able to do what they want.
Hell, in EQ2, I usually kept a low-level alt unguilded so people would pay him to help start guilds, since you needed a minimum number of players to start one, but not to keep one running. Then, you can just leave and earn the money again.
You have some good points and I personally wouldnt want to give or receive PLing. I peronally would help people for free if it was just occaisional. But for instance if people were constantly asking for a Rez or a Port then Id probably start charging a fee. It would be minimal though. 500 gil was a drop in the bucket but was the standard fee for teleports in XI. Sometimes youd have some ass that knew they were the only porter working would drive up the prices just because they could. But at a certain point in the game whether people were advertising for it or not a port from a stranger would always be paid with 500 gil on my server. Call it a tip or a fee but it was always expected 500 gil. Rez never did get a standard fee. Some folks would do it for free and others wouldnt come unless you paid 3k, or any where between.
I read your thread title and about /puked. I read your disclaimer that they weren't EQ style mercs and read on. I actually initially liked the idea a lot, but, then I thought about how it could be implemented in an MMO and... my cynical side took over. I'm not sure how the system wouldn't be abused as a legitimate system that was implemented where a player could pay someone to basically bypass content (have that player kill the mob/complete the quest, etc.).
Well I guess in that case Raidan it would be up to the integrity of the guild or player that was offering a service. But realistically I dont see any way to stop it if people wanted to do this to bypass content. It was something that occured on my server in XI but its not like everyone did it, and it didnt last. At some point it died off. Im not sure if the guild supplying services quit or moved on or just lost motivation to do it, but one day they disbanded.
Here is a question slightly related. What if someone made a helper guild that didnt charge a fee that people could contact for help with anything from PLing to ports to being a substitute in a Raid? Would that change how anyone felt about it?
Amsai said:Here is a question slightly related. What if someone made a helper guild that didnt charge a fee that people could contact for help with anything from PLing to ports to being a substitute in a Raid? Would that change how anyone felt about it?
People helping others for free is just playing the game. That should always be encouraged.
Beefcake said:Amsai said:Here is a question slightly related. What if someone made a helper guild that didnt charge a fee that people could contact for help with anything from PLing to ports to being a substitute in a Raid? Would that change how anyone felt about it?
People helping others for free is just playing the game. That should always be encouraged.
I would totally join that guild and help out here and there, specially if I see someone stranded in a zone or on a CR. Obviously not with my main, but I have plenty of free time and plan to make a druid as well as wizard. One will likely port for donations and be how I make enough to fund my crafting, the other can port for free and just help people out on whatever server I end up on.
Also, a guild like that? Sounds like pretty awesome people. Would love the option to hang n chill with guildies like that.