http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=112788539889196630&num=12
We all know what a mercenary is this game, a person who offers you in game services for in-game gil.
A Mercenary is a legitimate profession.
Time is money, and if someone gives you their time, it is not wrong for them to charge you for their time(this is how it works in the real world, and is thus acceptable in-game)
A Mercenary may PL you, aid you in a quest, mission or even some NM hunt. Generally, the Main purpose of the mercenary is to make sure you don't die.
Others may claim that Mercenaries extort players? How so, if they are demanding payment, obviously what you want from them is a hassle.
a Merc does something for you, for GIL, how does it differ from WHM's charging for tele's? It's a legitimate way of making gil.
I myself, became a MERC Palidan once, I was in jeuno, didn't feel much like XPing, I just wanted to make some gil, but I got swamped by like 6-7 tells for parties. I went /anon and did a /sea pld, nin, war in my level range and discovered there were none...
So knowing this, I realized I could make some gil, I threw my flag up, along with a Message: PLD Mercenary for hire, $20,000 Gil, I Stay for 1 level up for each party member.
About 10 minutes passed, and I recieved 2 tells, one offered me $10k, the other $5k, I explained to them, $20k thats it! first one accepted my terms and I was off. an hour passed and everyone including I had leveled, no deaths, and no hate loss once. I left then, I explained to them, I did not want to party, I only did it for the money. The BLM was even Kind enuff to give me a warp.
As you see, I accepted money, for something I didn't really want to do. Typically, when mercenaries work, It's something they don't want to do, but everybody has a price for changing their minds.
In Conclusion, I just want to say, Long Live the Mercenary.