In-game advantage from the cash shop

advantage means something that gives you a better outcome than others

considering gameplay is instanced in PvE, there really is no "advantage" because even with 8 paragons, other people's setups have no effect on your gameplay

some people are just never satisfied

but lets put it this way.... does that mean that i am at an advantage cuz i decided to buy all the skillpacks so my heroes could have all their skills?
no it doesn't give me an advantage, it just shows i'm lazy

now if you were able to use the mercs/heroes in PvP, then you would have room to gripe and complain

100% true and hit the nail on the head. Dzjudz is the voice of reason.
Many of us play the game ( yes i said play ) for enjoyment and feeling rewarded when we work for something.Adding mercs means we are paying anet for less enjoyment - anyone who does SC can you tell me if doign sc for several hours, a sc is enjoyable and it even looks same as a warrior doing 3 hrs of raptors - its not enjoyable but a chore.When you have paid for the mercs , got everything done in gw within a few weeks .. what the hell are you going to do till gw2 comes out ... bitch about gw being too easy now ?
I can even do vaetires for more than an hr before i get bored and some raptor warriors do it for several hrs on end

What set gw apart from other mmo`s and especially WoW was the fact that you buy the game and the only extra costs are from extra slots and other things which DONT affect gameplay ( skill packs dont count ).Everyone has an even foot within the game or in each campaign so to speak.No players with fancy armor that Has to be purchased , no fancy mounts and no sepcial weapons etc and we play how the game was designed to be played.All of the fancy lil extras from the shop are either eye candy ( costumes ) or extra chr slots/storage - skill packs mainly save players having to haul ass and cap/buy skills or tomes.

It's really not going to give much of an advantage at all.

Unless people think that a seven-necro team is really going to be more efficient than the thousands of other team builds that are possible now with seven heroes (and not using a merc pack to make extras of one profession).

this is true so...

I have literally no clue wtf you're trying to say here or how it relates to the topic.

People care about the value of ecto a little much.

My lineup:

N/Mo AotL Prot Bomber
Mo/Me RoJ Smiter
N/Rt IV Life Resto
P/* SF Buffer
Rt/N SoS Bloods
Me/* Panic Domination
N/Rt PoD Debuffs

I'm pretty convinced it shreds through most areas with unbelievable speed and cleanliness. Cleared Foundry last night in extremely short order, and did FoW in about an hour and a half with no cons or speed buffs.

And I have no delusions that this is the "best" overall team build. There are team builds out there with what we already have (7H that is) that [email protected] 7 of any single profession is in all likelihood subpar compared to any of the balanced hero builds.

There is no real in-game advantage from mercenary heroes.

What about not paying for mercs then?

Okay, you can have 7 paragons it team. That sounds ... boring. You soon run out of redundant skills. And start thinking about more interesting stuff ... What about curses necro? Ranger with barrage or Dervish or Warrior Assassin to take advantage of all those on attack skill shouts? Maybe Ritualist for More "turret" action and some splinter fun? Mesmer...

Not sure that having 7 copies of discord is fun either...

Or effective. The only thing that gives "2 Man Discordway" an advantage over regular DWay isn't the extra copies of Discord, it's the ability to bring Smite support, Channeling support, and other such lines along with the spike damage from the first 3 Discords.

It's kind of the illusion of being more effective, since a Smiter's Boon RoJ Monk is a way better addition to 3 Discord heroes than an "N/Mo Smite Support Discord".

14 discord heroes in Unwaking Waters?

this, and really... who cares.

There are games where other people's gameplay really doesn't matter. Why, there's Minesweeper, Dragon Age, old console games, solitare, and many more. With those, the way you play really has nothing to do with the way I play. Guild Wars, however, is not a solo game. The other people in this game actually do affect others. And giving in-store advantage by selling the ability to have a more versatile party structure
(and yes, a build that uses 7 of one profession is nonsense, but a 3rd rit or 3rd mes in a balanced team is not, by any means.) is the exact same thing as selling a higher rate of XP or a higher rate of gold drops. It's the same as a 3rd person shooter selling stronger bullets. Its unfair, and it's not what I want in this game, and its something a lot of people dont want in thier games either. (PS: save the 'like it or leave it' bullshit for the uneducated rednecks, please. It's retarded.)
Also, ANET used to stand for being a company that wouldn't have done this. Its a damn sad day that this is the direction they are headed. They told us back then that it was against thier beliefs and policies to have an in-store advantage, and thats part of what made them successful. (PS: skill unlocks were just as available in-game as in-store, this isn't, but it would be a good fix to this monumental screw-up.) Now, the new management pissed all over the notion of fairness and shat out an update that goes against everything they said they were, and I'm sorry to see them lower themselves.
The idea of having your own custom re-skinned heroes was actually a great one. Really, that was a damn good idea, and if it had been implemented properly I would have applauded them and bought - quickly, and for more than one account. Because this used to be a company I enjoyed supporting, and I've bought at least one of damn near everything they've ever offered in that store. We'll see how that goes in the future, but I don't plan to purchase anything from them again while this stands as it is. And whether ANET cares whether I buy or not, I did.

Wow your Roj monk does not roj a leftover single target? Because my ogden sure is an idiot when it comes to roj.

Any of the expansion packs would have provoked the same argument. Heck did anything imbalance the game more than Eye of the North?

I will post here what I said in-game last night.

I don't care. I get to run around killing stuff with all my babies *squeee!*
In-game advantage or not, I got the full set. And not to be super leetz, but to have a chance to have my toons, which I have put my all into, be my heroes!
Not a gimpy looking old man monk, but my beautiful Akina!
Not the spiked out sin, but my steam-punk Namine!
And Sia joining them all in pinkalicous glory, complete with furrroucious ears!

I am not planning on rolling 8 necros, that is just silly. But I have pimped out my houris, and now I have the most beautiful set of heroes ever!

Expansions are completely different from microtransaction (mico in content, not in price).Expansions are accepted for game design because they do literally that - they expand the content of the game and the world. There are many reasons why microtransactions are purchased by significantly less people than expansions are.

Mercenaries don't expand the game world, they expand the gameplay options exclusively for those who paid for them. That is wrong.

Actually, it only takes 1 character slot to fill however many mercenary slots you bought:

1. Roll a new PvP character.
2. Stick a costume on it (optional).
3. Register as a mercenary.
4. Delete character.
5. Repeat from 1 as needed.

That's what I did...

I'm torn about this issue.

One side - it's a thoughtful addition. I mean - fun thing to have in game, enjoyable to see your alts rather than Dunkoro and Olias.
It won't break the game, really - seven necros? Probably subpar to most balanced 7 heroes teams, which everyone can line up. Third, fourth ritualist? If i wanted (or, more to say, needed) another one, i'd just run N/Rt or E/Rt. Or even R/Rt, if for spirits. Six SF eles? SF sucks in HM, and you can steamroll pretty much whole NM now with 7 balanced heroes. Third mes? I don't think mesmer heroes have enough interesting builds requiring a mesmer primairy.

But on the other hand... it does provide a game-changing opportunities for players that are not only cosmetic. Game-breaking or not, they're something more than looks. They might provide a little edge over other builds, even if not noticeable in PvE (if heroes were available in PvP now, that would be WAY different problem).
The issue isn't about how much it gives - it's just the fact that it's there.

I'd prefer not to see it in the store. Same as i would prefer to see the Vessel drops deleted (at least triple-modded offhands, inherently modded scythes are not an issue), as well as perma 15% damage items. Or let them stay in game, but make them customized for ANet's staff - they will still be worth their collection value (even better if they were customized for Regina), but wouldn't bring any edge over other players.

Wow, and here I was thinking that mercs were useless...

actually, I still think mercs are useless!

7 Necros?! Really?


I really don't get the arguments against this: If you really, really MUST have 7 necros in your party then by all means buy the mercs.

BUT most of us are going to do just fine with 7 heroes. Any heroes, really. Because the game is already easy mode, I really don't get how it can be any easier.

And I really like the title changes: I might actually go for "LDoA" and "Drunkard" now.

These are good changes by ArenaNet, once again for free, and having the option to buy mercs to pay for these awesome changes is fine by me.


TL,DR: Any "benefit" offered by Mercs is negligible, and IMO, not worth the price tag.

Why does it have to be easier to be wrong?

What if people simply think a party of 7 ranger heroes would be incredibly fun to play? What if someone thinks they would really enjoy trying out a 7 hero monk party throwing smites all over the place? What about 7 Searing Flames eles? I can't do these things even if I think they would be incredibly fun to do but other people can because they spent more money than me.

Why are those people unable to access those gameplay features not cosmetic feature and people who paid money for more heroes are able to do so?