In-game advantage from the cash shop

I cant believe people are still on about 7 necros - this is not about 7 necros, 7 paras, 7 pets, or whatever.

It is about having party composition be fair. I want a 3rd rit hero in some areas. I want a 3rd mesmer hero in others. Knowing that I could have them, but only for real money? and my guildie I make builds with, he can't because he didnt buy it? its crap.

If people really and truly want only a reskin then they shouldn't mind having limits placed - 2 mesmer heroes max, merc or not. 2 rit heroes max, merc or not. The same team compositions available to everyone else.

Thats fair, and thats all that matters.

As long as it's only fun to play 7 ranger heroes, it's fine. You know, it's fun to run dressed as Grenth. It's fun to use those special /bonus weapons. Everyone's 'fun' is different.
The merc heroes are more something along the line of the imp in pre-searing, though less useful and a micro-transaction in the store is required (you might got the imp with your very first copy of GW, not even being aware that you got a bonus). Just to note - i don't like the imp being in game either, probably mainly because i don't have it, but it does bring an unfair edge, even if it's PvE.

What it does, however, is opening door for useable items in the store for GW2. Transmutation stones? Fine. Costumes? Alright. But if i ever see anything useful in GW2 store, even a scroll giving 20% more xp for 5 minutes, i'll be more than disappointed. That's, imo, the real reason why the playerbase is that much worried and doesn't like the merc heroes.

You want 3 Rits and Mesmers so badly?

Roll one as your main.

It's free.


Seriously guys, this is NOT a big deal. (although I do think Mercs are overpriced...)

Plus: I expect more heroes to be added in another update, don't you?

How is this any different than the players with and without Nightfall or GWEN? If you only had the older campaigns, you had to pay money to have access to heroes in the first place. So by saying that money has finally impacted the game, you're completely wrong. Either this is the third time it's impacted the game (and clearly everyone got over it the first two times), or it in fact has yet to impact the game.

Everyone has the same option to party with other people of any profession. Money is just a substitue for guild mates; it confers absolutely no special bonus. The best teams will still be mostly real people because they can take advantage of all skill builds (hero AI still lacks on many abilities) and coordinate better in most situations.

The "ingame advantage" that merc heroes could potentially provide me is NOT worth the real-life cost.

The "ingame advantage" that merc heroes could potentially provde me is only very small compared to a regular non-merc 7-hero party.

So: lol @ "ingame advantage for cash". I disagree.

Also: My igneous summoning stone makes me a FEARSOME DEATHSTORM in pre-searing. Perhaps you should be angry at that "ingame advantage for cash" also, right? Fear my fire imp, suckers!!!!!


FEAR IT!!!

Actually, I care. I care a great deal. And the fact that GW2 is coming makes me care an incredible amount more. And believing that Linsey is hard at work on a new and unannounced game makes me care even that much more.

Cash shop advantage is not okay with me. If this studio is going to show me that they don't mind offering products for sale that effect the equity of the game then it's a problem. Not just for this particular game, but for everything that studio produces, now and forever.

This needs to be addressed. Immediately.

The game is nearly 6 years old, most MMO's dont last this long, so they put an update in place that allows those who wish to pay for it, the ability to run 8 of the same class, who cares, everywhere in the game can be done with H/H in HM as it stands, so all this steam rolling talk is nonsense, i think those with there back up and pissed about this update are just pissed because you have to pay for it, and its not free.

Dont like the update, dont pay for it, and continue to play the game the way you always have, end of problem.

Good Job to Anet for still updating the game 6 years after its first release.

Bringing along one (good) human player with (good) heroes is still better than soloing with seven AI. This is a non-issue.

I can reverse-substitue "merc" for "expansion" in your quote and the statement is still just as true. It is very curious that you've somehow convinced yourself otherwise. It's like you've abandoned logic to try to make a logical argument. Mind-boggling.

Each campaign, the expansion, character slots, inventory slots, skill unlocks, and now mercs all confer an advantage in the game over players who didn't purchase. The campaigns and the expansion are the biggest offenders because they open up access to skills, hero-access, HOM, etc. you can't otherwise get. The rest only confer a time-saving advantage, not a unique perk. Everyone can eventually unlock all the skills in their campaign(s), play with others for profession mixing, sell loot to free up inv slots, etc. Only the costumes are truly cosmetic.

It seems like the beef with this has to be price. Cause really, no other argument against mercs is logical. It is an advantage, but no more so than other purchaseable content (less so than campaigns), and any advantage it offers can be reproduced by time and guild mates. Personally, I think the price is fine. But because the campaigns are such a bargain, I guess people feel entitled.

Hell, I've used 3 Rits before (and my main isn't one). I've had Jin set up as a SoS R/Rt for ages (before I had Razah and Xandra), and since I'd rather have her than Razah in my party, I don't intend to change her build to something else.

I agree that the AI really limits the ability for merc heroes to be abused. Just because you can have more of one prof does not make up for the fact that if you park your heroes some where and someone lands an AOE on them, they are all going to die.

The only thing I find to be an unfair advantage with the Mercs is that you can get level 20 heroes with Mercs at level 2 if you create your characters in NF. ANet said that they would never offer a playing advantage over the store, and that is exactly what this is. They either need to make the Fire Imp summoning Stone always level 20 or they need to change the level that players have access to mercs with. Level 20 heroes at level 2 is the very definition of unfair advantage.

I don't mind letting people create and delete PvP characters to make an army of whatever they want as you can go out with an all human team comprised of whatever. Also, Mercs can't use PvE only skills so they are automatically less powerful than what a team can be. If they had PVE only skill access, then I would be singing a different tune.

Hmm. Well, you could always go to EOTN at level 10 and bring back level 20 heroes.

True, you actually had to go somewhere do get it...

Question: How do heroes effect your XP gain? Are you actually hurting yourself by bringing along level 20 heroes?

But even that is not a unique bonus. Anybody can reproduce that by pairing with guildies, and this is similar to "running" that so many pay others for. All this is is the ability to power-level and/or "run" yourself now instead of relying on others.

And it's exclusive to NF characters, I'm assuming. I know my lowbie prophecies character still can't add mercs to her roster, presumably since she can't add other heroes yet either.

Tremble before the might of my Igneous Summoning Stone and my Sundering Rhino's Charge!

For I have purchased these ingame benefits for real life money.

These items make it much easier for me to get LDoA than people who don't have them.

Um...because ANet is a company, and they need to make money, so of course they're going to charge you for some services (particularly one that requires storing extra characters' appearance and armor info) that you want. That's kinda the point. BMP was a lot of fun too, but you still need to shell out some extra money for it.

Get back to me when they start selling the Sword of 1000 Truths in the in-game store. Until then, there is no "advantage" here; merc slots let you do something different (and certainly experiment with funny gimmick builds), but claiming that any of these "7 of X" hero builds are actually better than well put together balanced 7 hero builds is ludicrous.

This ^.

Other people having these heroes would not really affect anyone else in any way unless you party with said people, which in reality would not give you a disadvantage since you should be working together.

The main motivator for these threads seems to be jealousy. (or the ol' "I wan't what she's having, minus the price tag" effect)
If you encountered many people running 2 accounts with full gimmick heroes I'm sure people would complain too..
All in all, you have access to 7 heroes, that should suffice for any player tbh, things were easy enough even before the 7 hero update.

In the end, people who pay for the service are allowed to use it. People who do not pay for it have no right to be entitled to the same services.
For example, say you joined an exclusive club, with a membership fee of $100. This club would allow you free access to certain services.
Now, assume another person asking for the same free services without paying the membership fee "just because"...
Seems a bit silly, right?

Also, as Ghull Ka mentioned, the collectors weapons for pre-sear LDoA chars back before the edit.. nobody really complained as much or as heatedly about those, right? And people had to pay extra to receive that service for their account... RIGHT?

ITT: A bunch of players who think Discord > all and can't imagine a build outside of N/x

The only thing I want is a 3rd rit hero, and we can be pretty sure thats coming with WoC. 3rd Mesmer would be nice but I can't see myself really desiring 3 at once. Maybe multiple keystone builds or something I suppose.

While I do not intend to purchase Mercs, I think its good that Anet found a way to give players something actually meaningful to pay for without really any gameplay advantage. Call me when they unlock r15 faction titles and r12 EotN titles for players who pay.

I'll agree that the mercenary heroes are an advantage, but I'd say it's a minor one and perfectly comparable to that offered by extra storage panels (since you can hold on to more trade worthy items for longer) and certainly much less than an extra campaign offers in new skills.

So, not worried at all.

this I guess this level of happy is game destruction to some.