Im not a merc but i do go help out sometimes. There is no such things as too much reward. Mercing have disadvatages too y is it talked as if its cheating? Its not! Whats needed fixing is war loot and everything about it.
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Iâve been a merc⌠I became pretty decent at it. I was filling my titan chest pretty close to twice a day and in many instances getting top score. It was purely for my own benefit as I was looking for more ascension material. My opinion is that mercing really doesnât help the community as much as is stated. If an alliance canât beat a titan without help, more than likely, the next one will be a pass, so it really just delays what should happen which is the titan being reset at a lower *.
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No, itâs closer to an item per day in my experience.
Between feb 27 and today, March 28, my 7dd account has received 29 non-farmable ascension items (not including purchased items) and my alt (killing 8s and 1 out of 3 9* star titans) received 22 non-farmable non-purchased ascension items over that same time period.
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Yeah, same here.
I hate to be bound to a single alliance and i just want to wander even when itâs not so good anymore for loot.
And most of all, iâm some kind of rebel.
If SG want that i play in their way⌠I simply do the opposite, lol.
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Merc-ing is fun, too bad they are killing it.
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BsâŚplain and simple
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Mercing grew organically in this game, which contributed a lot to the community feel of E&P that I enjoy.
Large alliances who used mercs got to meet up with peers who theyâve possibly crossed paths with in raids or chat and built a sense of comradery between players of equal pegging.
Small alliances who used mercs gained temporary mentors who would usually offer tid bits of advice to help growth and morale within their alliance.
In terms of rewards, yeah there may be a gain in number of rolls (based on activity) but the frequency of high level item drops is so low in general everyone is suffering whether they are in an alliance or not. In lieu of this, how many mercs fill their titan wanted chest a week? That is a reward mercs forfeit to take that path.
The numbers discussed in this thread describe one end of the scale (as Rev and Checker discussed, this is more skewed to the max but not the ânormâ for mercs as qualitative factors also play a part).
A game such as E&P experienced massive growth because of the different aspects of gameplay (raids, map, titans, alliance wars) with no real consequences of loss if you chose not to participate. Other game apps have suffered because of the ârequiredâ aspects they enforce on their gaming communities.
Supply and demand is what grew mercing to what it is now. There will always be the need for help and if a portion of your gaming community is asking for this, why would you look to take it away? Why would multiple channels to ârequest merc servicesâ exist? Why would you nerf an idea started by your own community?
The current steps taken to nerf mercing are more than enough already, SGG should not be looking at further nerfing an aspect of the game which was developed by its community because mercing isnât a âbugâ or a cheat that players are exploiting - it is simply a style of play suited to a few and benefiting a lot of others who need them.
My suggestion to SG would be to compromise with the portion of your community who merc or use mercs - why not get creative and incorporate this into the game somehow? How can this be spun into something positive where SG and players who choose the #MercLife both win?
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I donât merc myself. Nor does our alliance use mercs.
I like the concept though, in titan killing (not in AW). I think itâs an enrichment to the game and itâs community. Sure enough players are mercing mostly because of the extra loot. Sure enough that extra loot needs to be balanced to retain a proper effort/reward ratio. But finding a way to balance this without âkillingâ off this way of gaming sounds like something SG should fully aim for. Itâs worth it.
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I quit paying for heroes as I have too many now that I canât ascend⌠why get more? I sort of want a rabbit⌠but I will need 20+ warm capes for the blues that I got now⌠whatâs the point.
O so cause ur lucky means everyone is?
No
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I donât know if itâs a problem since it hasnât really impacted me or my alliance. We had a single helpful merc as mentioned that I thought went really well and a lot of annoying inâs and outs who didnât do anything other than get us excited maybe we were getting a new member and then break our hearts by leaving (again, not a single one ever hit the titan on this side).
It would be nice to know what triggered this response specifically, though we probably will never know.
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That person wasnât helpful at all 
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Iâve never merced as I never changed alliance but I were kinda happy when strangers joined alliances, help killing the titan and then left saying that itâll be back to help next day.
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No, not one bit 
Itâs too bad that you donât do it anymore and pop in and visit - weâre much better off after your visit as a few of us took your advice and have become much stronger as a result in our titan hits.
(waits for all pro-merc people to jump on the âthis is why we do itâ bandwagon :))
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I talk for myself here.
Iâm one of the annoying âpop in - pop outâ kind of merc that rarely gives any suggestion.
Donât get me wrong, i just love gives suggestion and show how much i know. Primary for my ego, secondary to help.
But the fact is that most of the time i join for a very short time, too short to engage some interesting conversation or listen to all the requests. Even more if people donât know that iâm a merc and hope that i stay with them 
- So if the timer is off (very few chance to defeat the titan or too much to wait) i just pop in and pop out.
- If the damage is very good (i can finish the titan or just wait for some time) i pop in and wait in silence.
- If the timer is good (much to wait but a good damage already dealt and the members log in) i stay and talk if they want to, giving some general suggestion or more specific if they find out that iâm a merc.
Thatâs pretty much how it works for me.
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I 100% get it - we have an open slot so you could come visit us, but youâd have to chat and share some expertise with us We do appreciate that kind of merc visit.
I will say now is a bad time as we are close to whacking our titan.
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iâm saying thatâs been the rough ascension item pull since both accounts moved to fighting 8 stars or higher. over 13 months of playing and ascension data. combined for both accounts. the other players Iâve talked to in similar situations (8-10 star titans, minimal gem skipping, full monster chests 1-2 times daily raid chests in 8-10 flags, fill titan chest every 5-7 days, and no event top 20 just completion bonuses) all have similar results.
thatâs not luck thatâs just what all th data iâve seen for high level players who know what theyâre doing get.
we all go though droughts - twice i went 16 titans with no items. but it caught up.
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The concept of mercing to help out other alliances is generally a good one but it does come with negative consequences as well.
This is just off assumptions as SGG would love to see those that are more knowledgeable help to develop players that may be less knowledgeable and improve as this increases the competition within the game. The negative is that in doing so, this may lead to alliances that are killing titans that are above their level which leads to an eventual over-reliance on mercs to kill titans or when a merc that comes along which isnât strong enough to do so which leads to using flags on a titan which inevitably escapes. This has negative consequences for an alliance that relies too often on mercs.
On the mercing side, there is almost no downside to hopping between alliances to gain loot. To continue on what @Revelate said.
I was able to get Tier IX loot which gave me 3 ascension mats every time and I would be able to do that at least twice a day if not more. 6 mats a day = 30 mats in 5 days as opposed to the normal 15 that I would receive just killing every single 10* in Departed.
What I also saw from some mercs were that they were just getting enough damage in one hit for 2 ascension drops for each merc call. If we look at that math, then you would be able to obtain 12 ascension mats a day and 60 ascension mats during a 5-day span which means that you are automatically getting 4x more than someone that stays in their alliance and consistently killing 10* titans.
Furthermore, you would also be able to fill your titan chest if you work around the 12-hour delay window and fill that chest almost twice as fast as someone that only contributes to one alliance.
I know that my statement above does not apply to all mercs but it is for those that have found a more efficient way to work around the system in place. I believe that SGG is implementing these changes to combat what I stated above and although not all mercs are doing it for that purpose, it is the one that needs to be addressed. The progression through the game for those that are doing what I stated is more than four times quicker than one that stays within a single alliance.
This is viewed by many to be unfair. Again, this is my opinion on the matter, whether you agree or disagree with how many people are actually doing it, it is not debatable that it is a possibility and that it is happening.
-Haylc
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Like after a titan kill have the next one come up in an hour to kill idle time for those this most impacts? Weâve seen them make specific changes for top 100 people before, why not apply something to the top alliances that are likely to have mercs (assumption is this is where a disproportionate # sit)?
My alliance in the high 90âs wouldnât want this, but there must be a way so SGG is happy and not everyone is butt hurt over it.
Even just clearly putting the timers out there that nerfs loot and let people work around that, surely that would cut back on it without penalizing normal alliance participation.
And thanks @haylc for the response.
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Nope, you canât give 1 hit per titan and fill the titan chest twice fast at the same time. Thatâs simply impossible.
You can work to try filling it as all the others, but most of the time it donât go as you wish.
And generally speaking, the 12 slots per day are not realistic too. Good for hipotetical, not for reality.
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