Selling In-Game Advantages (The Great Debate Over Mercenary Heroes)

Hey, Everyone.

Now that we've had some time to reflect and let things calm down a little, I'm interested in GW players' opinions on the Cash Shop Heroes. Specifically concerning whether or not these purchases affect gameplay in a positive or negative way.

This is a continuation of this closed thread, so I would recommend reading it first and acknowledging why it was closed prior to posting.

To have a concise and clear jumping-off point, here are a few questions:

• What kind of impact have you personally seen or felt stemming from the introduction of Mercenary Heroes?
  
• Do you consider the introduction of Mercenary Heroes to be an unfair game advantage for those with excess real-life money or an aesthetic fan-service that benefits many of the game's players (or both)? Explain.
  
• Are teams consisting of 7 heroes of the same profession consistent with the game's themes and/or felt values? Why or why not?
  
• Do you believe that this is a "trend" that the Live Team and Anet may continue to follow in the future? In your opinion, is that a good or bad thing?
  
• Profit is obviously always a concern for any for-profit business. However, over the years many game companies have added features to games specifically for the benefit of their fans, whether for monetary gain or not. What do you believe is the primary motivation for the addition of Mercenary Heroes - profit, fan service, or a mixture of both?
  
• Does the addition of Mercenary Heroes change your opinion on the direction of the future of the company; namely - Guild Wars 2? If so, in a positive or negative way?

Feel free to answer one, all, or none of those questions.


Remember to keep this thread clean of insults (masked or otherwise), ad hominems, and trolling. Let's be respectful of Anet employees and others' opinions, if for no other reason than to prevent the thread's closure.


For John Stumme's opinion on the issue visit his wiki page.

7 Heroes of the same profession is by and large unnecisary. Running 7 discord heroes for example is pointless. Three can spike down anything very quickly, and your much better off with some support heroes. The second most powerful type of Hero is the Mesmer. The problem is most of the most powerful Elites and skills of the Mesmer work off interupting, and as people have found trying to run a bunch of Mesmers is anti-synergetic as they are simply stepping on each others toes and desperate for things to rupt.

All in all, I would say that Merc heroes do not give you any sort of ingame advantage.

I have a hard time imagining 6 Chaos Storms, 5 ESurges, 1 Panic, 4-5 Interrupts, 5-6 Unnatural Sigs, 1 Wastrel's Worry, 1 Wastrel's Demise, 1-2 Mistrusts, utility, healing and/or minions not at least a little overpowered....

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Feedback:John_Stumme

John Stumme, Design Lead of the Live Team, put these thoughts up on his user page. It's a good idea to read that to know where Anet is coming from now. Short version is that theoretically, anything that could show up in a GW1 expansion is fair game.

It's funny HotSoup mentions Discord and lots of mes heroes. My friend in my guild did this, and was saying the SAME thing. Though he was quite happy with his female hero entourage.

Anyways, yeah I don't feel it provides any real advantage to someone who doesn't pay for them.
I'd have to see what other possible ideas the live team might want to put in the shop for it to be a "trend", and then i'd be able to comment on that.


edit: with what John S posted. I personally wouldn't mind a new profession for sale ! haha!

Thanks, FoxBat. I added the link to his main page on the original post.

I had already seen it and meant to link it. I had just forgotten. I appreciate knowing his perspective and what he and the Live Team believe this means for the company; however, I'm interested in hearing what the fans see this as.

I had no doubt, after hearing about the inclusion of Mercenary Heroes, that John believed this addition to be purely aesthetic. I believe he wants the best for the game and he's doing some great things. This implementation just has a lot of controversy, and there's nothing wrong with airing that out.


EDIT: I would also like to point out that while I like John and his overall goals in the game, this is one of the ones that irks me. Suggesting that buying a new profession may be a possibility worries me, as does his suggestion that having more storage panes could be considered an advantage (it is in wealth, but not gameplay). Paying for content is one thing, that is another.

It's far from surprising that it was done. All that businesses want to do is make money by any means neccessary, ncsoft/anet are no different, infact I'd say NCsoft are the most money grabbing game publishers around.

Same answer as before:

Yes it's an in-game advantage. Players with merc heroes have access to team build possibilities that no one else does. In particular, access to a 3rd rit, 3rd mesmer, or 4th necro has a huge impact. (3 rits means offensive channeling + offensive communing + defensive communing. 4 necros means physway can have curses+orders+minions+resto. (Also more discordway crap, but I'm not going to talk about that...) Every additional mesmer means access to another overpowered elite, and most of them synergize. (Also mono-build gimmicks like multi-e-surge or multi-PI.))

Potential solutions are:

1. Cap the number of heroes for each profession that a player can bring at the number of normal heroes for that profession. (Ex: A player cannot bring more than 2 mesmer heroes.)

2. Give everyone one merc hero slot for free. (No, this does not solve the problem, but it's a big incremental step because a lot of the most powerful combinations are only one off from the normal hero limits.)

This is not a trend that a-net should continue. Selling in-game advantages for real-world cash is a surefire way to turn your game to crap. And I want no part of it.

I think that there is an advantage. I do not think it is an extreme advantage in any case, but I do believe that there is an advantage to having merc heroes.

I also believe that because the advantage is fairly small it is not a big deal BUT, it is still an advantage. I think it would be a fairly easy advantage to fix, as someone suggested before, just putting a "zaishen hero" or something that can be any profession. This way it would fix the advantage.

I hope that this small advantage wont turn into the norm and turn into larger cash shop advantages down the road.

I dont agree with Johns thoughts about the merc heroes. He mentions that something that would be fair would be a profession release that was paid for. I dont agree with this at all and I never want to see this enter the cash shop even if it is completely balanced with all other classes. Only time I would ever want to see a new profession is with new content. However that is a different discussion.

I feel that if this is the biggest advantage there will ever be in the cash shop, then it will be fine and this is no big deal. However I wouldnt mind a Zaishen hero add and a price drop on those merc heroes.

Heh, no kidding. People keep talking about how mesmers stumble over each other, yet with a little micro, im spiking hordes like SC teams. 7 necros is STILL the the most overused and short-sighted argument for why mercs are a bad idea, yet mesmers are consistently the most powerful in PVE for a number of reasons. BTW, Panic + PI does NOT conflict. Anything that would make it through results in mass ass sitting.

I added a question after seeing this post. Obviously, the future of Anet isn't GW; it's GW2. Does this addition affect anyone's opinion on the future direction of the company?

People already paid for their in-game advantage, you can't undo it now.

Well, you might add a 9th merc slot for free. Or a 3rd mesmer hero would go a long way.

It concerns me, but doesn't affect my purchasing of GW2 when it comes out. At least not yet. If they start making things that are more advantageous (did i really spell that right>?) for real $$, then it will affect my opinion of the company. But for now, I don't really mind this tiny advantage, as long as this is as far as it will ever get and it was not really "intended" it just kind of happened.

But, if they purposely said, oh well they will pay for it cause they can have 7 more necros, then that will affect my opinion.

Do you play console games? No, they aren't. Not by a long shot.

Hell, look at most other free to play MMOs...buying things in the cash shop not only gives you an advantage, but a lot of the time is required if you want to do anything past a certain point, and free players are not only highly disadvantaged but are very limited in what they can do and can access.

NCSoft is, with Guild Wars at least, nowhere near being the "most money grabbing" around.

Any game company silly enough to even suggest something like that (besides EA or Activision) wouldn't last long. Gamers want to know that you care and are passionate about your game/community.

A good example is Dragon Age II. EA pissed off a lot of people by forcing them to jump through hoops for bonus items (Facebook games are the new crux of console gaming), and even more so by releasing DLC the same day that the game released. This gave many gamers and reviewers the feeling that they were paying for an incomplete product and having to shell out an additional $8 for first-day DLC. The reaction to this was lower-than-expected sales and some biased reviews.

The difference is that EA can pull stuff like that off and Anet probably can't. I know this isn't a direct correlation, but the idea of selling content is much easier for me to swallow than the idea of paying for a profession or a game advantage.

I think he meant like City of Heroes or Aion, which do in fact sell a lot of stuff in their cash shops.

Yeah, I was just kinda jumpin off the deep end with it lol.

But yeah, the way John has stated it is that they wouldnt mind having Professions/other stuff in the cash shop as long as it wasnt an advantage. I think professions are a little too hard to control and show that it actually has no advantage at all, but I am fine with other things that they put in there, as long as there is no advantage.

From what I can tell though, they GW2 model seems to be without advantageous cash shop items, So I am happy.

And guild wars is not their only game is it....

• What kind of impact have you personally seen or felt stemming from the introduction of Mercenary Heroes?
  None, other than some guildies enjoying themselves.
  
  
• Do you consider the introduction of Mercenary Heroes to be an unfair game advantage for those with excess real-life money or an aesthetic fan-service that benefits many of the game's players (or both)? Explain.
  Human allies will always be the biggest advantage a player can have. Moreover, with seven hero slots, solo players have more capability than ever before.
  
  
• Are teams consisting of 7 heroes of the same profession consistent with the game's themes and/or felt values? Why or why not?
  I don't think it's entirely fair to decree what exactly the game values are, unless you work for ArenaNet, but IMO, it's team play. This was sacrificed long ago. The earliest I can remember being when 55s ran the elite game and farms. Since then it's been one exploitation and power creep after another. But what makes this a moot point is that five humans can already pair with many profession combinations to have a homogeneous party, and there's nothing unethical about that. The only thing that's changed is the number of heroes, and they're established dummies.
  
  
• Do you believe that this is a "trend" that the Live Team and Anet may continue to follow in the future? In your opinion, is that a good or bad thing?
  I hope so, they are listening to their fans and giving an old game some polish. While I think there are more technical issues with the game I'd like resolved, it's a nice luxury feature.
  
  
• Profit is obviously always a concern for any for-profit business. However, over the years many game companies have added features to games specifically for the benefit of their fans, whether for monetary gain or not. What do you believe is the primary motivation for the addition of Mercenary Heroes - profit, fan service, or a mixture of both?
  A mixture. They wouldn't have done it if it was never suggested, and if you were to poll players right now I think the feedback would be positive. This was a smart move from both perspectives and most importantly it's more about fun than anything else.
  
  
• Does the addition of Mercenary Heroes change your opinion on the direction of the future of the company; namely - Guild Wars 2? If so, in a positive or negative way?
  I'd have to say positive, as there won't be heroes or henchmen in GW2. The only impact this has is on GW1; Anet has been showing with GW2 that they are listening to fans and creating a game that anyone can enjoy.

Personally I've not purchased this item and I don't feel "gimped". I don't believe this is a cash advantage as the more homogeneous a party becomes, especially with AI, versatility diminishes.

* What kind of impact have you personally seen or felt stemming from the introduction of Mercenary Heroes?

None. I'm not sure how what someone else does in their instance of Zen Daijun is supposed to affect my instance of Zen Daijun, you know?


* Do you consider the introduction of Mercenary Heroes to be an unfair game advantage for those with excess real-life money or an aesthetic fan-service that benefits many of the game's players (or both)? Explain.

Neither, actually. I think it's about on par with makeovers & toon renaming.

* Are teams consisting of 7 heroes of the same profession consistent with the game's themes and/or felt values? Why or why not?

We already have teams of 7+ toons of the same profession running their way through various elite areas. It's like asking if SC teams are consistent with the game's themes and/or felt values. If that's what someone wants to do for THEIR experience of the game, so be it. Not my thing. *shrugs*

* Do you believe that this is a "trend" that the Live Team and Anet may continue to follow in the future? In your opinion, is that a good or bad thing?

It's a business. They need to make money. I think they're finding an excellent balance between enhancing the players' experience and making a profit.

* Profit is obviously always a concern for any for-profit business. However, over the years many game companies have added features to games specifically for the benefit of their fans, whether for monetary gain or not. What do you believe is the primary motivation for the addition of Mercenary Heroes - profit, fan service, or a mixture of both?

I think it's part of an overall plan to essentially turn GW1 into an acclimation experience for GW2. I work in the industry, so I'm always looking at things from a business perspective.... and a lot of the changes I'm seeing right now in GW1 speak to me as being prep-work towards acclimating existing players (and new ones who may explore GW1 in anticipation of GW2 after seeing it hyped) to the rather significant changes in the mechanics of GW2.

* Does the addition of Mercenary Heroes change your opinion on the direction of the future of the company; namely - Guild Wars 2? If so, in a positive or negative way?

Nope. I have a very favorable opinion of where ANet is heading with both titles. I see a level of morality in their business decisions and care for players that is sorely lacking in most major labels.

Neither do I. This thread isn't for "butthurt" kids who can't afford 8 RoJ monks to complain (obviously). This thread is to explore the ramifications of this decision and the future implications.

Some people are going to be pissed. Some people are going to be happy. And some people couldn't care either way (*raises hand*). I'm just interested and I think it's a good way for us to reevaluate where the game is going.

What kind of impact have you personally seen or felt stemming from the introduction of Mercenary Heroes?

A. From what I have seen the mercenary heroes don't seem like they are anything special. To me, it's like paying for content that is already included in the game.

Profit is obviously always a concern for any for-profit business. However, over the years many game companies have added features to games specifically for the benefit of their fans, whether for monetary gain or not. What do you believe is the primary motivation for the addition of Mercenary Heroes - profit, fan service, or a mixture of both?

A. To me it seems that all of the content offered in the store such as costumes, extra storage panes, mercenary heroes, etc... were designed to accumulate money from their customers. Obviously the item has to have some sort of appeal to the player but in the end it all comes down to money.

His outright dismissal of the slippery slope aspect of the counterargument is extremely troubling. Comparing classes "empirically" makes zero sense in this context.

My thoughts exactly.

The only thing I'm concerned about is whether this will be giving Anet an incentive to not give us more heroes. Before hearing of this everyone pretty much agreed that rits and/or mesmers would be getting a 3rd hero sometime soon, probably in WoC. Now you just can't be so sure... ironic that its rits and mesmers who are the most powerful of PvE classes.

If you want to complain about messing up the games themes or values, Cons/PvE skills were 10x worse than this ever was. This also wouldn't hardly be as much of a concern if Anet's idea of PvE balance post-nightfall wasn't to make certain classes ridiculously overpowered (rit/mesmer/necro) while leaving the rest either useless to heroes (all melee) or to be shitty and underpowered (ele/ranger/paragon).

Bullet 1&2:This has been a feature that has been requested since day 1, the ability to use your other characters as a henchmen(and 7 heroes, when the concept of a hero was introduced, has been constantly requested). I'm pleased that A-net finally caved to the fanbase, at least in this regard. Remember, It's just PvE, who gives a ****. IIRC their original argument for denial was something like A: they didn't want to waste resourses to code it in,(not much of an issue with the separate dev teams) and B: it would clutter the interface(and TBH it does, I wish I could collapse parts of the hero panels or shrink them a little) whether the heroes would affect actual gameplay wasn't the issue outside the forums iirc, since there were henchmen anyway. Even so, I 6 hero'd the FoW and parts of DoA and was getting closer to a win in UW, and I know it had been done before. The new system just cuts out the workarounds and BS, gives the players who prefer to go it alone what they want. Only thing they screwed up on was they didn't bump the cap in Urgoz/Deep.

Bullet 3: If you're worried about some hypothetical merc hero build being super powerful, We already have whole parties of assassins or whatever speed clearing stuff, I can almost guarantee that a full human party will be stronger always whether gimmick or balanced, A: they get pve skills(even if heroes got pve skills they may not know how to use them), B: they can split more effectively C: while this is debatable, they're also smarter(IE humes know not to stand in AoE and can pull off complicated tactics and strategy ect.). Also remember, it's PvE, who gives a ****...

Bullet 4&5: If by trend you mean more store only content, I have mixed feeling, but just cause I'm short on cash atm . I was a fan of the Bonus Missions, those were fun, worth the preorder of EotN or the $5 in the store, not so much the costumes, makeovers or xunlai panes, but just because I don't really use them, and the rates for the mercs seems like a bit much TBH but if I had it I'd buy em. They seem to be adding a decent amount of freebie content along with their premium stuff so I'm not that pissed. This seems the best way of giving players what they want while keeping the lights on, a decent compromise.

#6, What this means is that, at least for now bits of GW1 are being maintained well beyond the point some games are, If they do the same to GW2 I can see it being a decent product(though one my dinosaur machine won't run...) They could show PvP more attention, and I wish there was a way to get player content into the game, but meh...

Buyign Nightfall or Eye of the North gives you an advantage over people who only bought Factions or Prophecies because you get Heroes instead of henchman.

i only have one thing to say about the mercenary heroes.....

just like the storage panes, they should have given all players 1 as a teaser and the option to buy more would be there

I think the point is that Nightfall and EotN have content as well. Paying for new content has always been expected of every game. If someone releases an expansion, you should pay for it if you want the advantages inherent.

The difference is when the product being sold comes across as purely for an advantage in the game and carries no real content outside of an aesthetical change and a game advantage (like the pets in Aion).

I honestly don't think so, especially at this stage after most sales have been made. I'm sure these mercs have been in planning for a while, and John was fully aware of them when he suggested we'd see more heroes as rewards in upcoming content. Some people surely buy it for an advantage, but Anet chose to market it as a cosmetic because they figured most of their sales would come that way.

Also he did say an update to melee AI is coming. Don't know if it will go far enough, but clearly the money disincentive is not a huge argument. On the contrary, they might be going ahead with it just to make your melee alt a viable merc.

Such an argument has its limits, however. Yes, when you buy NF or EotN you get content. However, the advantages of owning said campaign/expansion are not limited to that content. Thus, owning them gives a player in the Factions setting an advantage over someone who doesn't own them. Also, there are other in game purchases that don't include additional "content" such as storage panes and skill unlock packs. The give advantages (albeit small ones) over people who don't have them as well. Also, its entirely possible the sales from merc heroes make it more likely that we'll all get new FREE content that we might not have otherwise.

The really important question is whether said advantages are unfair. In the case of merc heroes, so far I'd have to say no. With 7-hero parties it is now quite possible to /faceroll pretty much all of PvE, as many of us discovered almost immediately. Of course this was largely the case before 7-heroes as well. Still with only the existing in game heroes there are quite a few variations that effectively switch you to "easy mode". Merc heroes don't change that.

I guess what I'm trying to suggest is difficult for me to word because I'm not really on this side of the fence.

I think the perspective is that when you purchase a game, you're receiving content. That content includes new professions, new skills, new weapon skins, new areas, new challenges, new heroes, etc. And a big difference is that it can be sold in a store. You can physically go and buy a copy of "Factions". You can't buy a copy of "Mercenary Heroes". See what I mean?

Although it is an "advantage" to own an expansion, that's not the selling point and obviously not the intent. The selling point of these heroes seems to be "cosmetic" and "advantageous". When you sell something that enables a person to do elite content by his or her self, that seems like a different issue.

But again, this is me trying to clarify something that I don't necessarily buy into.

I don't see what all the fuss is about honestly. There is nothing merc heroes offer that can't be done with the currently available heroes. Sure there are gimmick builds, but something like full necro, full mesmer, full rit, etc is pretty pointless in my opinion.

Are they selling more options for players? Sure. Are they selling a direct advantage? I don't think so. The only thing I ever got out of it was aesthetic appeal at seeing my beloved characters fighting alongside me.

What kind of impact have you personally seen or felt stemming from the introduction of Mercenary Heroes?

nothing for me. its costly to buy. if i couldve gotten least 3 mercs for the price of one i would do it. they gave us a free pane then the option to buy more. why couldnt they do that with mercs>

Do you consider the introduction of Mercenary Heroes to be an unfair game advantage for those with excess real-life money or an aesthetic fan-service that benefits many of the game's players (or both)? Explain.

techincally its not unfair. they are basically like free heros except in looks/name. now if they had pve skills then heck yeah its unfair advantage!

Are teams consisting of 7 heroes of the same profession consistent with the game's themes and/or felt values? Why or why not?

kinda yeah in the fact they only gave us so many of each type of hero then turn around and let us buy more of a profression. i.e-7 rts

Do you believe that this is a "trend" that the Live Team and Anet may continue to follow in the future? In your opinion, is that a good or bad thing?

if you mean the trend of showing off something cool then say oh btw you have to pay rl to get it? then they did that in the begining of 4th year.

Profit is obviously always a concern for any for-profit business. However, over the years many game companies have added features to games specifically for the benefit of their fans, whether for monetary gain or not. What do you believe is the primary motivation for the addition of Mercenary Heroes - profit, fan service, or a mixture of both?

profit of course! if it was for fan serive or both we wouldve gotten least one merc for free as a tease.

Does the addition of Mercenary Heroes change your opinion on the direction of the future of the company; namely - Guild Wars 2? If so, in a positive or negative way?

so far from what i seen no. But if they are going to make it out that you have to pay RL cash to make it in this game ( gw 1) then yeah it would effect my opinion of gw2 in a bad way.

What kind of impact have you personally seen or felt stemming from the introduction of Mercenary Heroes?
None. I have not bought them, and am doing fine that way. Other people's usage of the heroes doesn't seem to resulted in massive farming or other economic disruption that would affect me.
Do you consider the introduction of Mercenary Heroes to be an unfair game advantage for those with excess real-life money or an aesthetic fan-service that benefits many of the game's players (or both)? Explain.
Aesthetic fan service. Nothing has changed, except that you no longer need a second person to run parties with 7-8 of the same profession
Are teams consisting of 7 heroes of the same profession consistent with the game's themes and/or felt values? Why or why not?
Yes, I see no problem. Before, you just had to get a minimum of one extra player. Now, you can do the same on your own, since it can be much harder to find more players willing to run crazy shit with you. No problem.
Do you believe that this is a "trend" that the Live Team and Anet may continue to follow in the future? In your opinion, is that a good or bad thing?
If adding more items to the store to generate income is a "trend", then I'm all for it. I like costumes and such, and extra char slots and storage.
Profit is obviously always a concern for any for-profit business. However, over the years many game companies have added features to games specifically for the benefit of their fans, whether for monetary gain or not. What do you believe is the primary motivation for the addition of Mercenary Heroes - profit, fan service, or a mixture of both?
Both. As with any game- it generates profit for the company, and fun for the fans.
Does the addition of Mercenary Heroes change your opinion on the direction of the future of the company; namely - Guild Wars 2? If so, in a positive or negative way?
Doesn't change it at all.


If you want to see what "paid advantages" are, try playing Silk Road or another similar "free" MMO. See how far you get without paying- you simply CANNOT compete or keep up with paid players. Mercenaries change nothing, except some parties that could only be achieved with two human players are now achievable with one. And since heroes still get allocated drops, I doubt it will have any impact on the economy or help players farm any more easily than they could before (if it would be so profitable, they'd find human players to help- see SoOSC, gogo assassins!)

Well, there's always this.

Really though, I don't think either I nor any of the other people arguing against microtransactions that provide ingame advantages are really doing it because of concrete imbalances. It's the principle of not offering items of those natures that's being broken here. No doubt, it's a tiny advantage, but it's not up for debate that people who purchase mercenary slots have more options available than those who don't.

A step closer to those MMO that richer people is better in game(you know those MMOs.....). Not a big step, but still....like 70%(normal hero) and 85%(Merc) of human team power.
A little bit. Those who bought Mercenary Heroes can build something like 8Nec Discordway, while others can't. It is different from those previous store items. Allow me to talk about them.
Skill pack: skills are available to all players in many different ways, such as quest, trader, balth factions.
BMP: although it offer weapon skins that are unavailable to other players, it also adds mission, aka contents. Like a mini-chapter.
New chapters: new skills and weapons, but also contents. imo, contents are something worth paying for.
On the other hand, costumes and Merc Heroes, especially Merc heroes, give players advantage that is unaccessable to other players.
It's ok in terms of game themes.
Yes, I see more and more cash item. Imo, it's unfair for other players. Even the special costumes! All players should have equal ability in game.
Mostly profit. I don't see a huge(In fact, any) demand for Mercenary Heroes from players in or out of game.
Yes. And from what I read, Weapons in GW2 is gonna play a bigger role. I am seeing uber weapons offering in cash shop. That would give certain group of players a huge advantage ingame. A few pieces of special costumes during festivals are the most I can tolerate.

Ty for giving us this opportunity to express our view on this subject
and sorry for my bad english and long reply.

Until I can bring a 3rd mesmer without having to pay for it, I will continue to find this a bullshit update.

QQ more?

If anyone is actually playing the game thinking "Yeah 7 heros is kinda easy but I still need X", then they fail.

This is actually the first time I bought something from the CS, Ive not had to pay a penny for this game in some 3 + 1/2 years so I can't help but laugh at those who think NCSoft are cynical money grabbers offering in game advantages in order to get they're dirty mitts on your money.

Imo Merc heros allow me to achieve I couldn't do already, except have the pleasure of my mains company while playing my alt.

Well IMO, it's not too bad - ok, you can coordinate an 7(or 14, or 21) fold RoJ nuke to roll trough Shards of Orr for example, and a water magic nuke on Destroyers, but that's no advantage - a player party (2man to 8 man) would do this just as well without payment, right?

Nonetheless, i do not think more then 15% of the (semi-)active community will feel themselves called to buy those - if you can't roll trough anything with panic+sabway+spiritway+Optional, you're either screwed something over or are doing something you shouldn't hero.

What i mean to say, is that those heroes dont pose a advantage except to the a-social or noob-friended - comment please?

I find the trend worrying, very little content being charged for an awful lot. Having differences in whats available due to expansions is fine because a huge amount of content is given for a usual price. What I don't want to see is tiny bits of scrap being sold off it just turns the game into a real money grindfest, having to farm gold ingame as well as farm real money outside the game!

Don't give me the 'well don't buy it blahblah', end of the day it will leave people out compared to expansions where it made perfect sense to part with your money as you're getting pretty much the same oppourtunities to get some interesting gear or new missions etc.