Over the past few days there has been quite a discussion going on over on Guru about Merc Heroes being a sold gameplay advantage:

Selling In-Game Advantages (The Great Debate Over Mercenary Heroes)


The general rule with Guild Wars Guru is that once a thread reaches about page 5 or so, it degenerates into Quote Wars/Semantic Wars/How Long Have You Played This Game VS. How Long Have I Played? Wars/etc. Basically, it is time to click out and forget you were ever there.

This time, things got a little more bizarre than usual. A Guru poster by the name of novawhiz got a bit irritated that people weren't completely understanding/agreeing with his point of view, so he posted this COMPLETELY INSANE "Burgers" analogy, which is simply too good to ignore cross-posting here:



In the above thread: (Post #342)

novawhiz wrote:

Improvavel wrote: Why can I have this hamburger and you can't? Because I paid for it. You want one, you will have to pay for it. Actually this is quite like "Why is that guy fries and coke bigger than mine? I bought the same menu!" "He paid to have extra fries and more coke.". ....seriously??? Are you an epic troll or is this really what this discussion has devolved into?? It seems like no one here understands what this argument is about at all.. This is the most inappropriate analogy i have ever heard in my life. Anet released the game with the understanding that it was FTP (after retail cost for actual game/expansion). So to apply this to your epic hamburger analogy: Anet sold hamburgers, they were all the same, and all had a one time only cost. It was understand by the customers that after they bought this hamburger, they would not be expected to buy more ketchup and lettuce and mustard for other extra fees. There was no such as thing as bigger or juicier or more condiment-full hamburgers. We all spent the same money on the hamburgers, and we all got the same hamburgers. Then Anet starting offering hamburger containers to help people hold and eat their hamburgers. These containers cost a small extra fee but did nothing to alter or enhance the hamburger, they simply added convenience to those who chose to buy them. Then later, Anet started selling napkins. You didn't need the napkins to eat the hamburger, and other people who bought napkins surely did not have any advantage or any change at all in the quality or content of their hamburger. Then, suddenly, Anet realized they had sold all these hamburgers, and then a few chicken sandwich expansions, and a plate of EotN egg rolls. Now people were enjoying all these delicious meals they had, but Anet wasn't making any more money. So, Anet decided they would add some customizability to their hamburgers for a fee. People could dye their buns, mustard, ketchup, patties or anything different colors. They could also buy little flags to stick inside of their hamburgers. All of these payable additions were nice and nifty but did not change the actual content or quality of the hamburgers. They were all still the same size, with the same condiments, with the same ingredients, with the same flavor and taste. Now, suddenly, Anet decided they were going to be really nice and allow people to customize their hamburgers with 7 special toppings. For everyone, you could choose 7 servings of toppings from the servings of toppings available. There were 3 servings of tomatoes, 3 servings of fries, 2 servings of horse radish, 2 servings of coleslaw, etc, etc. Great, now you can mix and match and make your hamburger with 7 servings from those provided. But then all of sudden, Anet opened an exclusive VIP buffet, where only those you paid an extra fee could go. This buffet allowed them access to 7 servings of tomatoes, 7 servings of fries, 7 servings of horse radish, 7 servings of coleslaw, etc, etc. Now, suddenly, all hamburgers were not equal or possible to made equal without paying. The guy who didn't pay was left with limited options for toppings, while the guy who forked out some green got to make any combination he wanted. Now, things were not right. Some people wanted more horse radish because they loved horse radish, but were still limited to 2 servings. Other wanted 4 servings of coleslaw and 3 servings of fries. This was not possible without paying extra fees. Now, people found that unless they paid they could not potentially have the same kinds of hamburgers (in content/quality/taste/flavor) as the people who paid more. But wait a second - when we bought these hamburgers, Anet said we wouldn't have to pay anything extra to have a better hamburger. We were OK with rinky-dinky food coloring and flags sticking outta people's hamburgers who paid, but now that paying extra money could allow you to have more options and abilities to make new/other/better hamburgers, something was wrong. People who paid Anet would flout around with their 7 horse radish stacked and their 7 layer fries hamburgers while the rest of the players who didn't pay had to settle with their simple burgers with 3 stacks of fries or 3 stacks of horse radish. It was just not fair that certain players were able to experience all the different delicious tastes and flavors of an incredible number of hamburger combination, while the rest were left with the same plain old limited combinations. The people who paid would make wonderful combinations of burgers and take pictures of them and post them on the internet. All the other scrubs would look in wonder at all the juicy delicious tastes they would never experience. And thus, here we are. Some people are arguing that the paid-buffet combinations don't necessarily taste better than the next normal burger. However, they are completely missing the point. The point is that the paid-buffet players have access to different flavors and tastes that the rest of the people don't. Whether some people arbitrarily think these flavors taste better than other normal-buffet burgers is irrelevant. The advantage is in the unlimited possibility of flavors that the people who paid get to experience, while the people who didn't pay are limited in the flavors they will ever taste.

I tried to spacebar some of that wall of text, but... OMG. Someone needs to log out.

EotN egg rolls. I lol'd.

I mean he has a point about Anet selling advantages, but come on. Is anything a challenge in pve anymore anyway? There are people on guru who've done doa with heroes uw with heroes fow is hardly even an elite area anymore they need a 'Dhumm' boss-like before chest for it to be up there in the 'elite areas' category for me.

ie. after you finish last quest go to temple where menzies appears (After hearing the news of his slayed general (Priest of menzies)) He's the 'lord of destruction' a warrior with axe, sword, and hammer skills which he alternates through... Badass

What if I want some pizza? I've got money...

This guy has written the most useless thread in guru history. Merc heroes are completely useless anyway. Doing things with human players is 100 times faster so why bother with 7 heroes in an elite area when finding a group takes 2 seconds.

Yeah Steve I agree. I think the whole pack should be $9.99, but that's just me. Heck, i'd pay 12, or even $19.99, but $45 is just...

/moneywhores