Mercs in the Mines of GloomingDeepFollow

Ok, I have a rant about mercs, even though I dont have one yet.

I was in the Mines on my new baby mage, and in the mines was a wizard with her healing merc. Really, does one NEED to have a healing merc at lvl 5 in the mines?

I think that there should be a min. level requirement for mercs, for example you must be 50 or 60 before you can use a merc. Granted, most of the people who play today are veterans and very few are true newbs. Even so, when a character is made, if you've never played a particular class before, are you truly getting the best idea of playing the new class if you have an autonimous healing machine behind you?

How does a new wizard learn about aggro control and not getting hit, if they have a merc healing them all the time.

How does an enchanter learn to mez and do crowd control, if he can stand there and take continuous damage and be healed automatically.

How do monks and other pullers learn the finer ins and outs of pulling the named without adds?

Etc. Etc. Etc.

I have been in many a group on my sk, where cleric mercs did help. They are some seriously good add-ins to a group. But, my SK is 67, has 200 some aa's and is over a year old at casual playing. I know how to play him. My bst is 3 years old, again I know how to play him. Same with the cleric, the enchanter, the drood, etc. I may not know everything about them, but through time, trial and error, I have an understanding.

So, not that the SOE gods that be will do anything about it, would it be a bad thing if they implimented a lvl restriction to be able to use mercs. To me, it seems like some kind of pwrlvling cheat, or something to use one at lvl 5. Perhaps even lazy.

You didn't play Everquest when hundred of thousands of people did. Nobody soloed back then so from level 1, everyone was always grouped.

You are making this assumption that you have to solo to learn the ropes. I don't buy it.

I saw a 4 to 6 ish toon with a merc also in the mines. I laughed so hard. You have to work hard to get killed in the mines without jumping to your death in the pit, jail area, fort or the big bazu at level 6.

I now think there is no wizard. The bricks aren't really yellow and the Lion is looking very hungry.

have you ever thought mabe he was learning about mercs in a safe enviroment?

Epic fail there, really. If you can't recoup the cost of a merc twice over, you need to learn to use the 'suspend' button.

And to the OP; don't tell people how to play, you'll sleep better. As long as they are within the EULA, and not stepping on your toes (and killing mobs you need doesn't count, you can come back tomorrow and slake your thirst for bloodshed), where's the harm?

Odds are the low wizard is not the first character of a new player.

Supposing it was though: Great! A new player to the game, and they have already figured out how to use a feature to help them level up to the content where everyone is in a more efficient and enjoyable (to most) fashion. As a true newb character (i.e., with no hp jewellry or potions and so forth) the merc would make a big difference in survivability.

Supposing it wasn't a new player: Why care? Last wizard I started I solo melee levelled into the high teens before getting bored. Not sure my tactic translates well into the later game, but it was fun. Veteran players using the tutorial aren't their for the atmosphere, its just a compact way to get to 10.

Low level enchanters with deep pockets could always stand and take a lot of damage by chain rune casting. Add temperance to the mix...

Anyone with some knowledge of eq (mostly geography to get around efficiently) can push any character class to 50 pretty fast without scratching the surface of how that class is supposed to play. The last rogue I messed with solo tanked to 40 in a couple of sessions, backstab skill was pathetic and I had some gloom gear on still.

....and there inlies the problem! Too many char's ingame are PLed to min of 70+....waiting to get their Rk. II series / tomes....but what good are you if your melee skills are 20 lvls behind, or you fizzle so many times in a row in caster skills, that you actually get better at fizzling? Playing a melee class or caster class doesn't necessarily constitute someone to "know" how to play a certain class.
Just because you already have a level 60+ mage, doesn't mean you have the know-how to excel at being a wizard. As a mage you don't really have to worry too much about aggro, unless you chain nuke high damage/aggro spells. But, you do need to manage aggro on a wiz, for you don't have a pet to taunt for you, and I still see loads of wizzies stealing aggro from tanks, and even merc tanks...because they still can't manage their aggro, (even after 70+ lvls -- think about it).
My point is simple: why rush to the current level cap when you should be capping all your melee / def / and casting skills, and working on AA's? So you can be the gimp 85 xxx that has 20 AA's and still has no clue what your class role is, or how to play it?
Play any character you want, how you want to...but don't make other people you group with suffer for your mad rush to PL yourself to 85, that just shows "lack of character."