Another Attempt to Punish Mercs....Here We Go Again!

I decided to start a new thread to post my views on what sounds like an imminent nerf to the titan loot mercs receive. Between wars and the already compromised timer on titan chests no more attention is needed. Below is my response to this new attempt. It was in a solved thread and I didn’t want it to get buried…

@Petri this is entirely disappointing! We came up with what seemed to be an ok compromise once on this topic. Have you guys really forgotten about my letter already??? Have you already forgotten about the 100+ comments from your community telling you how important mercs are? At least a few times a week I run into people that thank me for helping them when they were getting their alliance started and are happy to tell me how 9 months later their alliance is going strong and killing 9* or 10* titans on their own! Do you really want to punish people for helping other players? Because that’s exactly what this is…punishment!

Unless my understanding is completely off, doesn’t the * of the titan play a factor in the loot tier? So doesn’t that mean many of the mercs are already nerfing their loot tier by typically hitting lower star titans than they would if they stayed in 1 alliance? Sure they are killing more titans, but they’ve already given up filling their titan chests in many cases so does that not also make up for some of this?

It’s a mistake to not learn from and to forget the past history that got us to where we are at today. I ask to please reconsider. I dont have the time or energy to rally the community into making you realize this is yet again a huge mistake…

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I couldn’t agree more. When I merc it lets me help others and get to know other players but also maybe get loot. In doing so I give up the timer on my titan chest so it takes that much longer to fill.

Please leave well enough alone.

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I no longer merc and my alliance doesn’t use mercs but I’m in total agreement with Bahaha. We’ve already addressed this issue why are we revisiting it again by further nerfing it?

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The fact that this change quote:
“addresses the problem where some players would get too many rewards when they attack multiple titans in a short time period.”
…is laughable. Too many rewards doesn’t exist in this game. There is already so much disappointment in the serious lack of reward on every level, and now this punishment for those that put in double and triple the work and help build this community is beyond ridiculous.

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If they nerf merc loot I expect them to buff loot for all titans so it actually makes sense to stay and fight and not get 1 ascension item a week

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Maybe they cam allow us to bank unused alliance flags. With mercing we could use them all,now we will not be able to

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I don’t wanna say anything about it before knowing what they wanna do.
And most of all i’m a merc.
I can fool myself saying that i do it to help people, but it’s only a bonus in the end. I primary do it for myself because yes, i get some benefits from that.
So i rather leave people who use them to tell something on this topic.

Just a question. Why now?
It is true that we already have the timer handicap and many mercs much less because alliance wars so… Why?
I don’t see any reason to change it now, on the opposite, i guess mercing is more and more rare.

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As a mid-tier player who largely remains in one alliance and helps to lead it…I don’t like this incoming nerf. It’s over the top and hurts the community. I don’t like relying on mercs, but when your alliance is in a pinch to down a particular titan it’s nice to be able to bring in a heavy-hitter to do some toiling. So far, all the mercs I’ve interacted with turn out to be cool people as well, and are great to learn from.

IMO, if you’re going to forgo filling the 5/5 chest in order to fight multiple titans in a day & help out growing alliances, then you deserve the extra loot you get for that effort.

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I’ve got no skin in this game. I have never merced and we have never used mercs in our alliance. The rewards mercs collect do not affect me.

But it seems based on the posted explanation that SG are responding to a very specific situation: “where some players would get too many rewards when they attack multiple titans in a short time period”. That certainly seems like an inequitable outcome that should be addressed, doesn’t it?

I mean, I can understand wanting to keep the chance to earn Titan loot more than once a day, and good on you all for making the most of the loophole that allowed it to happen, but closing that loophole seems like it is just a fair thing to do.

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But mercs are already limited to 3 days, plus they run the risk of slowing their titan chests (previous compromise). It seems spg wants to do away with mercs all together.
If our titan died and I have leftover flags that would go to waste, why shouldn’t I be able to use them for full rewards?
Question for spg, how is using my flags for full rewards getting too many rewards?

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I am not a mercenary. But every time I have a shot or let a titan pass, I go out to help other alliances, I make the extra shots and return to my alliance without waiting for the reward.
How does this new measure affect me?
the next one that comes out in my own alliance is going to give me a worse reward?

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Possibly, depends on the time window which so far they haven’t divulged.

This does hit mercs coming and going, less loot on merc jobs and then less loot in home alliance

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Coincidence that they’re nerfing merc loot after alliace wars start using titan score for matchmaking? I dont like the change that they’re considering in the next update. And only recent event i can think of that would cause this change is the alliance wars matchmaking. They already did the “must be in alliance at start of prep time” to discourage mercing and now this seems like another attempt to downsize it even further. Have a feeling there’s a connection.

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I think the answer is that in the situation you describe, a player who is already advantaged by being in a strong alliance (strong enough to kill its Titan without that player using all their flags), is then further advantaged by gaining an additional chest of Titan loot when they visit another alliance. You could argue that was unfair.

Mercing has never particularly bothered me, but it is definitely one of those things - like cup-dropping - where smart players have subverted the game designers’ intentions to win themselves an advantage. That’s to be respected, maybe even applauded, but it shouldn’t be surprising when devs act to stop it.

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Yes… And no.
Players that use cup dropping gain an advantage “stealing” precious resources to weaker players.

But mercs get an advantage helping people.
We are like Robin Hood, we steal at the system :face_with_monocle:

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How is it unfair? We used flags and had some left over. Even my alt with only two fully levelled 3* in a nit full caaual alliance has this happen and I’ve taken those flags to.hit other titans.

Another factor is level ups. With the refill of alliance energy, but now huge disincentives to merc, it will be that much more difficult to time levels as not to waste those alliance flags

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Let’s put a few things in perspective…mercs already nerf their titan tier simply based on what they do. They are generally hitting lower star titans AND doing less overall damage than if they were in an alliance the entire titan battle. Both of these items impact your loot tier negatively.

So what exactly is the need to nerf it even more?

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I can see that point @Brobb . Only thing is that this will have a larger effect on the community than frozen titan chests. This will effect the alliances who use mercs, it’ll effect the mercs, and it’ll effect alliances that pass on titans who are too strong and merc while they wait on the next one. Titan loot should be fair for all. Targeting any group of players that are not breaking rules but getting punished anyways is not a good way to go about this. No group of players should be singled out like this. SG has always preached fairness, this new change doesn’t sound fair at all.

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Lol 100% agreed is all I’ll say on that.

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I suppose the unfairness would be that a systematic advantage in collecting ascension materials is available only to players in strong alliances, regardless of the individual players’ strengths and weaknesses.

But frankly, I don’t feel passionately about this and I can appreciate your argument that how you use your flags is your own business. This is a time when it would be useful to hear a bit more from SG about the rationale for the change. I’m not sure that we will, sadly. @Petri?

I don’t think I buy your argument about levelling, though. That just takes a bit of forward planning - I don’t think I’ve wasted a Titan flag since about level 6, and I spend much of my life drunk.

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