One of the pluses of Merc mod is that they don't tolerate the sorts of trolls that have become routine in cRPG. So basically a barebones version of cRPG with less features, less customization, less equip, less interesting mechanics, less of everything really, that used to trail far behind in population, is now routinely populated by a factor of x4 over cRPG. I'm sure it's a coincidence.
Trolls in Merc are organized in clans as well, such as Skod which is like a smurf version of Krems, of course rules are more strict since admins are responsible for hundreds of people there but they're still cancerous.Apart from that the people in Merc community is far less developed than the ones in cRPG, this forum and game has always been a source of quality debates and arguments, where you can learn new stuff, meanwhile Merc forum is a bunch of troll kids boosting their e-peens and trying to roast each other in a 9gagish way.
The reason cRPG is dead is not the trolls, it is the lack of attention from developers and co, the mod stood broken for so long, the damage on siege wasn't fixed for a long while, the arrows, horses, polearms etc. was broken for months. Nobody including me had the patience to keep on playing in order to keep the mod alive, I mean, if the devs didn't care, why would players care? This is where Mercs take the upper hand, despite the developer of that mod has been the architect of some bullshit in this forum, he actually improved his skills. In Mercs mod nothing that isn't completely finished being added to the mod, therefore nothing breaks the mod. So people can enjoy their routine gameplay without some troll abusing the newly patched mechanics.
