[Tallenn]

Actually, I HAVE used mercs before. I know exactly how they work. My issue isn't so much with mercs, but with the use of RL money to improve your character in the game.

I didn't like Smed cash AT ALL, but at least before, you were only able to use it for cosmetic stuff. Now that you can use it to pay your mercs, you can basically purchase platinum with your credit card, right from SOE. If you don't have to use that plat to pay your merc, you can use it for something else, so in a very real way, the marks you purchased to pay your merc IS plat you purchased from SOE with your credit card.

It doesn't matter if 100,000 people use it, or if nobody uses it. The bottom line is that SOE has become a plat seller.

Again, the issue is not mercs (though that's a separate issue), the issue is with allowing people to BUY progression in the game with RL money. For me, the issue is with smed cash period.

And yes, I'd heard about the WoW mounts, and am floored by that, as well. But this is an EQ forum, which is why I didn't mention it. I'll have to look more into that, too.