Mercenary Heroes

I think they should release content in 10-15$ packs similar the BMP or GW: Beyond content, but longer and with more content.

It should be filled with around of 1/2 of Factions's campaign worth of content. I want my money's worth and a level of professionalism for what I get.

It would have storylines, missions, quests, dungeons, cosmetic weapon skins, costumes, armor skins, and titles, and any other thing that does not affect how the game is played for others (this includes sources of money and currency).

It would not have PvE skills, heroes, new or superior professions, new sources of income, merc heroes, consumables, or anything that lessens and cheapens the gameplay experience of others due to in game advantages that were purchased.

Basically, make the BMP, WIK, Hearts of the North, Ebonhawke/the Foefire, and more into mini-campaigns.

They could even branch out and do interesting things like prequels to GW similar to the style of the BMP with Orr sinking. They could also create new elite areas for people to play in like creating a domain for each god (Dwayna, Melandru, Lyssa) equivalent to the FoW and the UW.

Um, Stumme said nothing about making a new profession; he was just using NF and Factions as examples of people having access to new professions and having to pay for it.

You guys read waaaaaaaaaay too much into what he said, and you boycotting a feature that does not even give you a slight advantage in PvE in terms of singleplayer does not and will not stop them from making more microtransactions to build up revenue for their game.

Also, selling something exclusively for money is pretty much every business ever, even a Mom-and-Pop Store. It is not "complete bullshit" and is certainly not a bad thing.

" I would say something like a new profession is fair game - so long as it's not empirically better than any other one that you could be." -John Stumme
(In the context of what would be fair to charge money for)


I think that is bullshit. I don't think a new profession should be something that we would need to pay for unless it comes along with content like NF or Factions.

So, basically, you were opposed to Factions, Nightfall and EoTN as they included all the things you listed.

And apparently.. you would rather pay for the GW Beyond content we are getting free. WIK by itself was more content than the bonus mission pack.

Is that correct? If so, I do prefer Stumme's approach. I see nothing that I cannot do now that I require some unknown profession for or the supposed existence of "advantages" in PvE. Dead npc is dead, done mission is done. Store purchases are optional.

PvP.. couldn't care less.

No. Nice strawman.

The stuff you get advantages from gameplay-wise should be standardized into the 4 campaigns we have available: Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, and EotN.

It would be dumb to create a compelling feeling to buy in game advantages beyond those 4 campaigns just because a player isn't on equal footing or is inadequate compared to other players. That isn't the philosophy of GW

I would rather pay for it if I got better GW: Beyond content and more GW: Beyond content.

I'd rather get MORE content from WIK, the BMP, etc and pay vs. not paying and getting less content from those.


Way to misrepresent and add nonexistent sentiments to my ideas.

just curious. did you buy any of the mech heroes packs?

Stumme is comparing €30 for all three games + eotn (Complete Collection price in europe) with €35 for mercenaries...

My main concern here is "What's next?". If an added prof is acceptable from the cash store, then what else will they try? Winds of change $45? It is apparent that they have diverted from the orginall GW model...it concerns me greatly how far they will stray in the future. The breaching of a dam always starts with a trickle...i.e. over time GW could even stray so far as to...well I won't go there, but I think you get the picture.

It is perfectly acceptable to question Anets actions in this reguard...heck I am concerned about those who do not. Following blindly is not wise...history has taught us that repeatedly.

For me paying for extra heroes or a customer doesn't help play any better the day i go the game off the shelf at best buy in 2005.

also paying for the Bonus Mission pack in 2007 wasn't a big deal. again it didn't make a better play or worse off having access to weapons you can get from any other crafter.

i didn't pay for pet unlocking or pvp skills because i got most of them and don't PVP.

Snow, the few dungeon's I've run with you i don't see how paying for any (in game store item) will make a dungeon easier or faster. Game play has not changed IMO with these mech heroes.

My answer to you or Anet is i don't question it/them because everything i seen in the store is just for "kicks". if someone want to run around with "paid" stuff i don't care. Game play for me hasn't changed. My gold BMP spear does the same damage as any gold one found in game. My Mercenary Hero will still die if i dont' heal it or micro it right. I get a quest done what....10 mins faster or Vanquish 5 mins faster.

Hope that makes sense. Now if want us to pay for an auciton/market house! where do i send the money? I'm ready to donate money for a programmer!! hahah

To be honest, I dont think that many people are concerned that merc heroes have an ingame advantage(Yes there are some but really guys? its not a huge deal. At least not yet). The main complaint I have seen is that they are largely overpriced.

Up until I saw that link with Johns thoughts that was all I was worried about, the fact that it was $45 to get merc heroes. But now I am concerned on what they will do in the future. The fact that he thinks its ok to charge for a profession is too far and way out of line with what their model is, even though it is changing.

the only thing ive bought from gw store was the skill unlock packs , mainly because i cbf capping every skill for my pvp randoms.

The BMP offers a massive in game advantage. You can now outfit all by playing a mission that takes maybe 5 minutes at most. No more paying for weapons. That is more of an in game advantage than these mercenary packs, and it was less expensive as well.

I mean really, with what you people are saying you think no one ever spent a penny on any GW games.

Anet is a great company, and they deserve to earn money. If i could pay to add all the features of all the collector's editions of all the games i would do it in a heart beat.

Hell, i'd pay to have the half completed utopia stuff added, so i could see what they were up to.

They could be charging for the WiK content. Frankly, i think they are insane that they are not. They could have charged for the Embark Beach upgrade, the 7 heroes upgrade, and a hell of a lot more, yet they give us all of this for free.

Seriously, grow up. Stop wanting everything handed to you for free. The real world does not work that way.

two questions.
1) what price is acceptable for you? or what would you charged?
2) i had to reread john's thoughts over but where did he said it was to much?


Really? I am at a lost for words if you think having the BMP is any kind of advantage. the sword i get from the BMP does the same damage from the sword i traded for 5 Mountain Troll Tusk from a collector. but i have to add an inscription. The 20/20 wand i crafted was cheaper then buying the Inscriptions to mod a full BMP set my self.

40/40 Tengu Focus & Tengu Scepter & mods & time to trade mods = 60k +/-
VS
40/40 crafted from Gertrud or Telamon & fully mod = 12k +/-
VS
40/40 Droknar's Scepter +Droknar's Focus = Beat EoTH once & Droknar's Key from someone else = 10k +/-

So really BMP over Crafted items for heros? Please I await a rebuttal on this item.
Same but Market Code thing they never finished that ppl found in the .dat file. Market
ahh that's why we have forums and GW for! RL sucks. now I have to go back to work


QFT ... and I hated doing Togo's story because i never playied a rit!! aaahhhh.

QFT!!!!!!

Obviously you've never actually played the BMP missions. They're quite difficult, take a fair amount of time, and very easy to fail (at least for normal players).

I understand I am super late to this discussion, but from most of what I have seen in the game, the only issue people have about Mercs are the cost, and I am one in that category. Had 8 mercs cost 25, even with no option of any other packages, I would take them. The cost is just way out of base where the one Merc package should be $3 USD rather than $10.$10 for people with little money like me is quite a bit to blow on something such as mercenaries. On the other hand, the "small advantage" everyone is talking about is only called small because...no one knew we were getting the Mercenary upgrade! I and few others are brewing builds and I tell you, 7 discord is by far the most underwhelming. Down the line you will start to see builds knocking out areas in pretty damn good time due to micro and profession overlap, especially since with Necro, mesmer, and monks being some of the best classes in PVE, having access to 3+ Mesmers is actually pretty significant. Or 5 Paragons with IMS chains to clear elite/dungeons not much slower than real teams can. Make no mistake, you *will* find plenty of advantages to having the mercenaries, but the people who currently dont care for them are generally people not doing alot of the high end regularly anyway. Im buying on the first sale cause there is already some pretty nasty things that can be done with hotkeys and fast-casting.

The main problem is the merc pack allows you to have 1-4 extra necros by spending money(a lot of money). ATM necros are a powerhouse profession because they require no skills to manage e and many necro skills are OP on heroes. The BMP gives no in game advantages because they give weapons that have different skins but same stats as any other weapon in the game.

Swing, the problem with that is, even though more necros is definately a boon, it isnt a HUGE difference from 3 N/RT. You are going to overlap in the same ways having a Rt/N would. The clear powerhouse combinations are going to come from Me/X, P/x(assuming no profession overhaul takes place, in which case, it may get better) and possibly D/x. Necros do what they do very well, but they were the only profession you could get 3 of before. Now that the others arent bound the same way, there are definately advantages beyond Spiritway/Sabway gimmicks that can do much the same places faster. Player skill will dictate it ultimately, but being a former HB player, the opportunity to stack Mesmers/Dervishes and micro some things makes old necro tricks obsolete. Hell, even Glaiveway in gimped form is possible and better than Spiking one target at a time VIA Discord.

1) I think a fair price would have been $25 for 8 slots, 3 for $10 1 for $5. (Still expensive considering the trilogy is like $30 but its better than now).
2) I am not exactly sure what you mean by this so I dont want to argue cause I may be arguing the wrong point. But I think you mean, where did he say merc heroes was too much? He didnt, he is backing the pricing up, I am saying that many in the community are saying it is too much.

But I can see both sides of this. I know that they have to make money, but it needs to be reasonably priced.

One of me is really all I could stand.

another proffession, preferably with some extra content, and a character slot, would make a nice package, for the right price

mind you i hadto have wiki up, and swearing alot with doing wik/hearts of the north, so hoping that wouldnt carry over to this potential new proffession

Finally i can run 8 W/Mo with Echo Mending!!!!! Now ill never die!.... on the real though yes this is overpriced and yes this is an "advantage" but... If you cant find a way to complete anything you want without having 7 necro heroes your doing something wrong and in a game that is 100% instanced what real advantage is gained? Some dude youll never meet or talk to can clear a vanq 10 min faster then you? So What...

TBH, i can see why they are adding all these microtransaction items to the cash shop. I don't think Guild Wars is pulling in the profit it use to. They have to have some way of keeping up with server costs. I mean they are a business. Their number one objective is to earn a profit.
However, that does not mean I like the way they are going about it. And the guy who thinks adding a profession to the store is "fair game" should be fired. Now, adding a profession along with new content i.e. some-what of a mini-expansion I can see, for the right price.
Regardless, regardless of how minuscule the affect is, the mercenaries do affect gameplay. Unlike skill packs, which you can obtain all the skills in game, mercenaries you have to buy. Thus starts the whole "pay-to-win" business.
I really hope they don't carry this "well technically it doesn't break out philosophy" over to GW2.

You kinda do have to pay to obtain all skills in game ... but you get lots of other content bundled with it. Even classes, heroes and whatnot.

The Merc Pack problem is two-fold:

1. WAAY overpriced. But that is probably because...

2. It gives an in-game advantage.

Let me explain. The reason they made it that pricey is either they acknowledge it gives an advantage in game OR their revenue analysis department is a bunch of idiots. When most new games on the market cost the same, that's quite a stretch.

So its overpriced, yes and gives an as yet undefined advantage, yes. My solution in hindsight would have been:

1. Make the Mercenaries cosmetic. Meaning you could import your character's likeness and name overwriting an existing Hero, but keeping the original Hero's primary profession. Think Gwen is annoying? Then you can import your hulking Warrior's "skin" overwriting Gwen's appearance, and have a beefy Mesmer.

2. Make the cost MUCH less, the full pack should have been in the neighborhood of $10 to $15, and would have been justified if the above notion were fulfilled. The cheaper it is, the more people will buy it, so the profit evens out.

To be honest, a LOT of the extra content through the NCSoft store is horribly overpriced for what it gives, especially when you consider that some things like storage panes and extra character slots are more expensive than just buying an entire new account.

As to those who claim that the advantage of Mercenaries is minimal, you're missing the point. Mercenaries give a player more options than other players who don't have them. The advantage could be minimal or massive, but the amount is irrelevant. Its the same concept as if ANet had sold weapon "upgrades" through the NCSoft store that gave players who purchased it the option to dual wield hammers or swords. This would result in a damage increase, that players who did not purchase it would be at a disadvantage. It may be as little as 1%, but its still unfair.

And before you claim the false pretense of buying or not buying one of the campaigns, remember that those represent the "base game" which is all of the content. Buying Mercenaries is simply the option to alter the party balance makeup and does allow a player to fine tune better builds.

Especially considering the Mesmer and Dervish buffs so recently, and when you consider some classes are much better as Heroes than others, its quite obvious that the Mercenaries upgrade gives an in game advantage. How much depends on the player and the builds, but as can be seen from videos and pics, not to mention the mechanics of speed clears as applied to build theory (DoA Trenchway for example), its clear that having 5 or 6 Mesmers for example can be overpowering.

I'm loving this so far.

So far, I've only bought one slot. Leveled a necromancer, put it in granite citadel 15k (green+green+blue, f'n sexy) and merc'd it. Rockin' 4 copies of Discord now.

Things don't die any faster than when I had only 3 copies of Discord. At least I don't notice things dying any faster. But hey, I got more necros than you do, so nanny nanny boo boo.

J/K haha. I like the merc though, the 15k armor and the emo girl haircut beats the crap out of Cynn.