Quote from Traw;1292634:
Where did you get dont do life skills?
I got that because you coughed out "combat viable pets" once, maybe twice, and that is a joke in itself. You don't get partners for combat viability or anything else other than utility. I can see meryl being a handy thing for folks who don't want to waste time warping over to iria to repair their lumber axe, when they can just summon their partner and repair it. Or anything else misc. And people who don't want their chairs to be destroyed. The maid and the butler don't have general shop repair. They have clothes for both, and Accessory/magical clothes respectively. Which is handy if your accs are godlike and you want to keep them from ever dying without plats, or if you have Rosemaries/Raccoon Cub wear.
Who gives a shit if maid/butler are cheaper? They don't have general shop repair, score scrolls in their shops so you don't have to waste inv space on score scrolls anymore, and just keep all your mmls on file. Nobody except people who're garbage at bard will buy it for the bard skills. I doubt many people also give a shit about double gather unless they're THAT big on life skill gathering, or they have dye wells, I never did. And I don't know about you, but the partner quests never really thrilled me at all.
This is one of the pets that's on the list of "if you buy a pet, buy this one over others because of the handy benefits". Not for combat value because that's just Tuan and Bone dragon. And mimic if you do giggleshy raids.
Quote from Traw;1292634:
I do them for stats because they aren't useful otherwise. Not spend real money doesn't mean I dont PLAY THE GAME.
It might mean you don't got much clue what you're trying to criticize though.