Mercenaries, Not a New ClassFollow

I saw some posts about, "What new class would you like to see?" I would rather not see a new class but would very much like to see mercenaries for hire. I just had this thought and do not have a lot of the pros or cons worked out. I just have a few basic thoughts.

The mercenaries for hire would be located in hometowns and a few other select areas like the Outpost in OT, or a camp in West Commonlands, etc, NOT PoK. You would only be able to hire mercenaries starting at level 20 and up, and would only be allowed one at a time, they would always be an even con to you when you hire them. The cost would start out very reasonable, for example 100 platinum for 4 or 6 hours at level 20, and would reasonably increase in cost to approximately level 62 or so, then after level 62 they increase sharply in cost to keep upper end groups open for PC toons. Keep in mind if they are over priced for lower and mid levels it would not be useful.

I would suggest 3 types or classes of mercenaries. They would be the tank/hybrid melee, the cleric/shaman, and the wizard/enchanter. I do mean a dual class type of hybrid similar to some of the shrouds. They should also be equiped with decent gear and weapons on par with an average toon of that level and should know when to taunt, cast, or heal, etc. They should be better than the shrouds or the shrouds need to bumped up a bit for the current mobs. This would be very beneficial to lower level toons; for example, were two peeps, if both are melee classes and really need a healing and buffing class to complete their group, they can hire one so they can go adventure; or two casters can hire a tank, etc.

This would also make solo play for lower level casual players a little easier without making the mobs easier. Of course the limits of hiring these mercenaries would be due to lack of platinum! If they allowed LDoNs to be done by a 2 person group, it would be soloable by you and mercenary. This would mean that you would always have something to do in EQ as long as you had the platinum. I have experienced the LFG for lower level toons and I know it is a pain. I believe the frustration from LFG at lower levels is one reason many peeps get power leveled by their friends. I would much rather group with that one other level 30 toon that is the same class as me and hire a couple of mercenaries and go exploring. Think about it, there is more to EQ than just the hot zones!

They would not be concidered a pet, but would take up a group space, they would also insist upon getting their fair share of the coin (drop) too, but they would never loot any items, to insure that rare drop does not go to waste. To ensure they get their fair share of the coins the mercenaries can have auto loot programed so they automatically loot when the mob is killed, then releases the corpse to the rest of the group.

They would of course be allowed to die but you should be able have them for the full time you pay for to ensure you can finish a LDoN or other quest or task you have going.

They would also only be able to be employed in groups and only as many until the group is full. They would not be able to be used for raids. Their main purpose would be to allow more peeps to advance through the lower levels without the LFG hinderance.

This is just a thought. To me it would add a breath of fresh air to EQ and a whole new aspect of the game to explore (if done correctly.) I have been playing since Kunark and have seen many changes, this is one I would like to see. What do you think?

Rumblefoot,
Orginally from Tholuxe Paells

I like the idea but it would not turn out the way you envision it. From what i see there would be 2 major problems

1)Like groogle said AI sucks and the mercenaries would probably like trying to group with a severely underpowered monkey with down syndrom.

2)The masses screaming OMFG YOU NERFED XX CLASS!!

Someone remembers Pool of Radiance! You could hire level 1-4 NPC's to help you defeat monsters in the Slums of Socal Keep! Magicians and Warriors. Now that was a good RPG game....

I think its a great idea. Even better would be the feature for you to program each hired mercenary's tactics. Slow at 80%, Nuke @ 50%, Snare at 20%, etc... You could set their tactis to aggressive or defensive based on mana, mob, etc..

However the amount of programming required would be enormous IMO. Therefore it will never be implemented.

And what if you needed one to pacify before a pull? You would almost have to have control over them in order to pull this off...

It sounds good but then you would further make it a non social game. There would be people with tons of plat that would never group. Making lfg that much more scarce. It would in turn make it a farming plat and solo game.