Tank Mercenaries

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Sakura, Jan 20, 2020.

  1. Sakura New Member

    Since rogue mercenaries DPS (in some cases better) as well as a real rogue, can we get a tank mercenary that tanks as well as real tank? It would be great not to have to roll a real tank when playing my cleric. What does everyone think?
  2. Funky Augur

    i have yet to see a rogue merc out dps a real person...

    either way, a mercenary should NEVER be better than a real player. i will that the tank merc is pretty terrible tho.. cleric merc can be quite questionable in situations.
  3. Sakura New Member

    They are hitting 350k with a bard. So can we please get a tank mercenary than can tank?
  4. Denial_Sinfae Augur

    I think the tank mercs should be good solid tanks for any group content. However, if 350k is beating your dps they need some work.
  5. Sakura New Member

    350k sustained is beating a lot of people’s dps. But, the point is tank mercenary needs a boost.
    Dyna likes this.
  6. Ninelder Augur

    One healer isn't enough to keep them up on T1 group content, even with max AA, max gear and raid buffs. I only use them when I can have one real healer and two merc healers(with 5 merc slots of max AA, max gear, raid-buffed tank mercs that will still die about every 10th mob, thus why you need 5 of them.)

    Have fun trying to get all 5 raid buffed just so you have the capability of having a T1 content tank available for about an hour, only when you can manage to have 3 dedicated healers for it.

    Try not to snort coffee all over your monitor whenever you come to the boards to ask for better tank mercs and some buffoon tries to compare their capability to the OP merc healer.

    Dump the cleric, play any of the classes that have tanking capability or just have your cleric use a cleric merc and let the cleric tank. All better options to the using a tank merc scenario.
  7. Sakura New Member

    I enjoying playing my cleric, and will continue to play him. But if a DPS mercs get a boost (big one), then why can't a tank merc get one?
  8. Darchon_Xegony Augur

    Caster DPS, Tank and Healer Mercs can all use boosts. The melee DPS are actually where they should be. Caster DPS should be equivalent to Melee DPS and Tanks/Healers should be about as effective as the last Expansion geared characters. So in ToV these level 115 mercs should be as effective as a group geared level 110 TBL toon.

    Also the Merc AAs could use some changes. The flat changes in Merc damage or healing should also have critical chance increases. The aggro reduction/increase AAs should also reduce timers on their discs or maybe add additional abilities. Give clerics remedy heal/ward buff and maybe Celestial Regen/focused celestial regen. Give tanks Paragon Champion/Courageous Defense and maybe like Brace for Impact / Resplendent Glory. Caster DPS can get Twincast and maybe Force of Flame/Ice/Force

    The core abilities that mercs have is just not sufficient any more. They need some more additional abilities that are core to the classes function but not so many such that they’re encroaching upon real players.
  9. Tucoh Augur

    This makes me want to bring out a brd, ber, bst, sha, war and rogue merc dream team to see if we can't ride the coattails of a merc like we are level 5.
  10. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    I've basically realized that as a druid, I'm simply a class that cannot molo mobs unless they are several expansions old. I've seen tanks with a merc healer do all kinds of stuff.

    It just isn't possible to be constantly healing the merc tank and manage to kill anything. If I'm healing, then the only dps is the merc tank and that's a joke. And I'm lucky if spam healing the merc tank keeps them alive at all.

    So, the answer is to give up on merc tanks for anything except old content. Some classes just cannot molo. Mainly, the ones that need a merc tank.

    I don't have any answers for this. Sure, making the merc tank actually useful would be nice, but I don't see it being possible without a huge number of objections from player tanks. Of course, for me, I don't care how good a merc tank is, if I can get a real one, the merc tank is dumped, even if they could tank better.
    FawnTemplar, cygnet and Yinla like this.
  11. bortage spammin lifetaps


    Mine seems to cap out at like 200k (when it's not zig-zagging around wildly instead of hitting the mob) with a maxed out bard, what are you running for 350k?

    edit: oh did you mean sustained or with bard cooldowns?
  12. Bigstomp Augur

    DPS mercs dps like a tank not like a real dps.
    I reliably out dps my rogue merc. (although it is confusing as to how a rogue merc got such a large boost and caster mercs still are so low)
  13. Fian Augur

    Let's face it, the rogue merc is OP right now, and DB will nerf it when they have time. Thank you for pointing out how strong it is.

    Anyway, back to tank mercs. A bard friend and I (enc) decided to camp some mobs in EW for pelts. I popped a tank merc (level 115), and he popped a cleric merc (114). We had no problems at all. I would mez adds, and slow mobs to make it easier for the tank, but it wasn't like it was struggling. I can easily believe that the tank would have died if forced to tank 2 at once, but that is true for plenty of player tanks too.

    As for my tank, I think I have about half tank gear equipped from TBL, and I think my merc AA for tank was maxed during EOK era. Since then I have been focused on trying to keep my healer merc AA up, so the tank has been neglected, only benefiting from the defensive bonus that you can get for all merc (that is maxed).

    So those saying that the tank merc is too weak, can you please provide examples? EW, overall, has weaker trash mobs compared to ROS/TBL, so the tank merc has been looking better as a result.

    Bigger issue for tank merc is that it is dumb as rocks, and it is hard to keep it at your camp, versus running 100 yards out into traffic to engage the pulled mob. That has been a problem forever.
  14. Tucoh Augur

    I wouldn't be so sure. Plate tanks are so far ahead of merc tanks that you could literally double the mitigation and aggro capabilities (including AE aggro) of merc tanks and honest plate tanks would /shrug at it.
  15. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    You know, not all classes get slow.
  16. Sakura New Member

    The group was full TBL raid besides healer in tier 2 ToV.
  17. bortage spammin lifetaps

    I must have phrased poorly, I was wondering what the bard was doing to get the dps merc to do 350k and whether or not it was sustained or with bard cooldowns running
  18. Nudia Augur

    I dusted off my tank merc this weekend to do some work towards the trade skill earring. I run a raid geared cleric and a mostly raid geared but otherwise neglected berserker alt with a cleric merc. I have some merc AA, but not much. The gear is a mix and not the best setup, as I don't use it often.

    In T1, I'm able to do 2 mobs easily, 3 gets hairy, and 4 will kill the merc.

    In T2, I'm able to do 1 mob easily, 2 gets hairy, and 3 will kill the merc the majority of the time, especially if they have DoTs.

    They're definitely useable, albeit not great, and with the eternal logic issues. I paid up my old enchanter, with his 140K hps of glory, and the above became significantly easier. Aside from mes, if I slow the mobs, I can remove my cleric entirely from the mix - a tank merc and two cleric mercs (115, 111) can handle TOFS mobs. Haste makes a significant difference for the tank merc's aggro (the berserker is in constant competition otherwise, even with auto-attack only at times).

    I think they could use a boost in aggro capabilities and a bit more resilience, but to say they're completely unusable isn't entirely correct.
  19. Sakura New Member

    Tank mercenaries are horrible. They can’t hold agro and randomly get 1 rounded by single trash mobs. They are in serious need of an upgrade. While, they may be usable to some degree doesn’t mean they don’t need some work.
    Dyna likes this.
  20. Nudia Augur

    I don't disagree, they could use some love. My response was more towards the person saying they can't be kept alive against a single mob - they definitely can.

    I also did a few TOFS keys, a Kael mission collectible run, and much of the 4th tradeskill earring quest with the tank mercenary holding aggro and not getting one rounded.

    For the aggro - it seriously made a monumental difference getting haste on the mercenary. I know it doesn't cure all, but it does help a ton.

    I don't think anyone thinks they are in a perfect state, but it seems everyone has a difference in what they expect them to be able to do. Personally, I'm looking for a stop-gap when I can't find a tank for basic tasks - something that can tank a few mobs if I'm careful and acknowledge that I'm not working with a real player. Others, it seems, are expecting the tank mercs to be adept at tanking a handful of mobs with no slow and another stopgap mercenary healer to keep them alive while DPS jump in guns blazing. I'd love if the thing could handle the intricacies of tanking a mission or be able to take a beating from a named. Absent that, they at least enable me to work on keys and zone quests.