What messed up the mercs pathing and agro? The DPS mercs end up very far away from the group, casting away, and pulling agro on mobs that are not being pulled. They disappear on pulls, even though the puller is set, and we have to reset puller, put them on passive, etc. to get them to show up. What the heck happened to them?
Tank mercs have always been underpowered. Even when mercs came out in SoD they were horrible. While every melee and pet class in the game was able to molo their way through SoD progression the priests were being chain trained by their one hit wonder tank mercs. I reported on them extensively in beta with nothing ever done. If you can manage grinding out all your tank merc AAs then have your tank merc fully raid buffed it can handle single pulls of 100-105. But it will still suicide to one light blue add. Conclusion: You are always better off using a healer merc and even letting a wizard or shaman pet tank than a tank merc.
I usually box 2 groups of 3 toons. I brought in a different character than I usually box with to get it to 106. Killing with a 3 character, 3 merc group in FM (all 105/106), this character had the merc tank. Unlike the other 2 groups also using a merc tank, I got wild swings in hit points like this. When I went to look, there were no mercenary armor pieces equipped, and the FM mobs were just pounding the tank without the mitigation. When I outfitted the merc armor, it got much better. I agree with Tucoh that all the mercs could use a tuneup without threatening the role of a real player. What I would like most for the tank merc is better AI, or at least a Focus command.
My Tank Merc has always tanked better than my Monk could, and Merc Tanks hold aggro better than pets do. At least Necro pets anyway. So it isn't terrible, but people are noticing a difference from 106-110 and more so in RoS content, where the Tank Merc really falls off.
I mostly just want a "ignore rooted mobs" command for pets. Many classes that will be using Tank mercenaries (Real healers) will CC adds with roots often times. I know there are ways to mitigate its stupid actions but it's more tedious than most other mercenaries. It feels more like controlling a pet than a mercenary.
Related to pathing, I have learned to keep levitation off of my tank merc. If I move from high ground to low ground. I will float down to ground level, while the merc does not. If I get agro while lower than the merc, he will happily zig-zag over my head, trying to find me, while I get beat to a bloody pulp.
That's not been my experience, at least with the borderline dark blue mobs. At 107, my tank merc can easily tank 2 mobs in the 100-102 range, and even three usually goes pretty well. Four is where it starts to really challenge me One thing you may need to watch is positioning. If I'm fighting a mob and get an add, where the add is behind the merc, the damage does spike pretty badly. I hit Passive, making the merc run towards me (always has Cheetah or some run buff on), and then hit aggressive again once he's got all mobs on one side of him. The difference in damage with mobs in back vs. not in back is really quite striking.
Are your tank mercs committing suicide by autoattacking into the Sarnak Finesse 100% riposte buff? I either am the tank or play my alt with a real tank, so I don't know if the mercs would since they have a little AI to them, but pets certainly will kill themselves if positioned poorly.
Did Chardok HA a few times at 110 with a tank merc after they made them RoS level and never had a problem with that. Though I almost killed myself a few times on it.
what Picaresque said .. Tank mercs shine when maxed aa's have merc gear on and if using a healer merc make sure delay'd heals are blocked also are you using your Necro's Healing AA cant think of the name RB or something .. I know they nerfed it but its still usefull to help heal .. what other toons are you boxing or grouping with do they have certain abilities/spells that can help .. also is your tank merc fully buffed I personally dont use tank mercs but its not because they are not good .. ive read many peoples posts on this and there are plenty of players who use them up to current content and have no issues .. at least with 90% of content ..
Went to SW to kill centaurs for faction. At 110 with full EoK merc gear the tank/healer merc combo barely can handle one light blue horse. One light blue add and it's Game Over. Can't be right.
more info is needed .. how many merc Tank AA's do you have . are you in a group or just 2 boxing and if so what is other toon lvl and AA also whats that toons Merc AA's at.. again do you have the blocked spells list for delay'd heals is it on reactive .. was merc fully buffed and not just with healer merc assurance..
While yours is obviously way worse and hard to come by, if not the pharmaceutical industry is making tremendous progress.
You are in here way over your head. How much stuff should a tank merc need to handle a light blue mob? How is one supposed to get merc AA if the merc cannot handle a light blue? Should I kill green cons to accumulate merc AAs in order to be able to step up to tanking light blues? You get it? Guess how many of those horses my sk pulls and kills in no time, without need for a healer.
Lol your SK is a real tank .. merc tanks are not suppose to be a real tank you ninnie.. if you expect your tank merc to tank like that your in for a real let down .. I was trying to be nice and offer some info .. I am not in over my head .. tank mercs opperate as intended .. so
You thinking this decision is your's to make again shows you are not the sharpest tool in the box. At what point I suggested a merc should be able to tank as a pc can? Further you did not answer any of my question but instead relying on .. (gotta stop here before I completley destroy the world you have built for yourself down in in your mum's house basement).
Hitting you in the back can destroy a real tank as well. That's a good call maybe the mercs don't react to that properly where any real tank would instinctively back up or adjust so everything is in front of us.
My advice would be to ignore the merc (who may need looked at) and invite a real tank. There are tons of tanks out there who can tank this stuff that don't get enough love because they aren't raid geared.
From my first reply to your post all i was trying to do was get more info from you .. was not being rude or anything .. trying to give some sound advise on the information I had .. which was not much .. you responded with a negative comment .. which i can only assume your trolling .. the comment you made about " how many horses my SK pulls and kills in no time" was your way to say you think mercs should be able to do that cause my SK can .. let me bold that for you which decision is that ? I dont recall making any decision one way or the other .. last but not least if your having performance issues that sounds like its a personal problem .. you can rant and rave and quote me all you want from now till you turn blue .. im done and will not respond to this thead again..
