I have a little devil’s advocating to do away from the opinion I have expressed in earlier posts here. “Exploit” seems to be the wrong word to use here because the motivations behind mercing are so variable from trying to help growing alliances to gaining more rolls for resources and ascension items. This is nothing like the troop levelling bug that was used to bypass several months/years/thousands of dollars to rapidly advance troop levels from the summer. The use of this bug was retroactively classified as cheating and resulted in bans on several accounts because the intent behind using such a bug was clear: to gain an advantage over other players of a similar spend level who didn’t know that the bug existed and to avoid the alternative of paying extra money to get enough troop fodder to achieve those high levels. Mercing is just not the same as this; there is no single clear intention why people are using all their flags they generate over more than one alliance. Even in the case where mercs were playing for the purposes of getting more loot rolls, that’s exactly what they get:
Unlike the troop levelling bug, mercing is not really a trade secret and is definitely widely known by the playerbase, since so many alliances have benefitted from the help of Bahahaha and co. There is no way that anyone with a brain cannot reason out that defeating titans more frequently gets you more loot…
Unlike the troop levelling bug, Mercs that believe they are getting a clear advantage over those who don’t Merc are sadly mistaken; the alternative to mercing (paying for extra items or WE to use to farm resources, speed up chests) actually achieves more because you are not at the mercy of RNG when paying for items that you specifically want, whereas with mercing, it is entirely likely that you could Merc 100 titans and still not receive any ascension materials. So many forum posts have already complained about titan loot quality being mostly “getting a lot of useless crap”. So Mercs have gone out of their way, put in extra time and work into the game just to put themselves in a position to receive mostly more useless crap. 100 pieces of useless crap is the same as 50 pieces of useless crap, right? I have 202 pieces of rope in my inventory. Would 50 more pieces of rope benefit me in any way?
So, since it has been established by me that exploit is the incorrect word to use to describe mercing, then it is, therefore, absurd to have to cut back on the supposed “benefits” that frequent titan loot collectors (Mercs) receive versus the actual tangible benefits that those exploiting the little known troop bug did.
As Talisax said it is the most common type of mercing.
You don’t need to know english, nor follow discussions in the recruit chat or other apps.
You just need to go random and find what you need (in my experience, just need at max 10-15 jumps before stopping, something like 5 min)
You don’t find always request with the titan that you want, and i’m very strict on the type of titan i want to fight (i go only in the 5-6-7* range)
I talking about the quantity of mercs because it’s the only reason for SG to change things right now on this matter. Too many mercs.
All the rest reguarding mercs it’s not changed since the last discussion that we all know.
Nothing.
So if they change for some other reason, it’s just because they change their mind on the previous agreement, or something new is approaching.
But if they change their mind without a real reason or because they notice only now that it was not a good agreement for them, then it’s only normal for mercs to arise.
And if something new will approach soon we have yet to know how it would affect mercing, so it is useless to talk right now.
So the only reason i see to nerf is that there are too much mercs, and thats why i told you about the reduction instead.
Uncertain what you mean by that; if you mean cup donations which I guess would mean cup dropping: I wish they would given I’m the most outspoken person on this forum asking them to fix that including how to actually do it heh.
Find any freemium game in the top 100 grossing apps where there is any competition between players that is less P2W than E+P and I will consider your statement.
If the current model doesn’t suit to taste, there’s always Candy Crush.
Guess you always have to take their word as a SG perspective and not their own.
It’s common sense that SG don’t want to “balance” spenders. For them (and for all) the more the better.
It’s questionable if nerfing mercs put them in a situation of more spenders or less.
I know, thats exactly the same thing i think.
If we are talking about nerfing mercs because they get too much ascension items and thats unbalance the game, thats simply ridicolous. (For the simply reason that ascension items money package unbalance much more)
If we are talking about nerfing mercs because they get much more ascension items without paying (and thats what they talking about i guess) then i can understand but not agree, both for a moral perspective, a fun perspective and a business perspective.
Even more, i started to track my loot as a merc to prove my theory that for 3* ascension items merc is great, not so much for 4* ascension materials (if we compare mercs little titans against regulary slaying top titans)
‘Donators’ is a terrible term, let’s stop using it. There is no ‘donation’ involved here. People who spend are ‘spenders’.
Spenders have an advantage that one might argue is unfair. But here’s the thing: they pay for that advantage, with actual money. And that money is used to fund the game that we all play. With no spenders, there is no game. They buy their unfair advantage and I sincerely thank them for that.
Mercs don’t buy their advantage in any way that is of benefit to the game developers or the game.
Yes, that is exactly what we are talking about. I’m pleased you see that, but it’s not surprising - you are smart.
I haven’t seen any arguments made for not nerfing mercing from a moral perspective, btw. I’ve seen some made from a fun perspective, although they always seem a bit of a stretch. I’ve only seen one made from a business perspective - your own argument that mercs might stop spending or quit. It’s a good point, but it’s probably a bit limited.
I can see a “moral” question if we are talking about changing a previous agreement with their customers without a real reason, or accepting a game exploit through money but not through smart playing.
But it’s my opinion, and i know i can be totally wrong on the “without real reasons” part.
They’ve given their reason - badly, maybe, and they should definitely communicate more, but they have certainly given it.
It’s fair to say that they are have a moral obligation to honour their previous agreement, but that is not an open-ended obligation, surely? There’s no contract here, just a compromise. If circumstances change (and they’ve told use that circumstances have changed) then it’s surely acceptable for them to change the game in response.
You’re right - more explanation from them would be better. But you’re wrong to equate buying an advantage with getting an advantage by mercing. Because if you buy an advantage, you’re paying for the game.
I’m totally fine that people pay for getting an advantage, don’t get me wrong. And totally fine that SG give that advantage.
But in a game that want to have all kind of players and all kind of spenders, you have to put some limitation on that.
You can’t point out mercs for gaining more resources as the game intended, and at the same time allow people to literally buy infinite flasks that produce infinite resources.
You need to take a step back in a sense or the other.
Yes, except I think you can point out mercs for gaining more resources than the game intended, while allowing people to buy infinite flasks that produce infinite resources. Because those flask-buyers are paying for their advantage, just as the game intended. Mercs are not.
