I don't have a problem with Mercenaries. I understand that for a particular NM, quest, key, whatever, sometimes people need the help. I think it's freaking ridiculous to charge an xp party though. You're getting xp. Regardless of whether you wanted to pty or not, you still are getting the benefits of it.
I agree that the FFXI community doesn't have to
SoymilkLatte wrote:
operate like a hippy we-love-you! commune.
However, imagine if you started a party and the Red Mage charged you for every Refresh or the White Mage charged you for every cure. That's basically what you did. Because we don't all have to love or like and help each other, mercs are perfectly accpetable when you want to do the additional stuff, like AF or NM's who drop special gear. But for xp, that's a group thing. With the exception of BST, we all need each other to xp.
As a side note, you should really have just replied in the other guy's thread instead of creating you own.