I've been "semi-afk exping" recently, by parking my toons in a spawn area and having the merc tank and healer take care of business while I'm afk. Then every once in a while I go back to the computer, buff up and do a couple pulls, then go afk again. Slow exp but I'm really bored of exp grinding and am simply trying to get "raid ready" so I can concentrate on raiding rather than grinding. Anyway, up to about 80 or so this has worked fine for me. I hang out in light blueish areas so the mobs aren't too tough. But now at around 84 in the Loping Plains, I'm starting to wipe ALOT. I noticed that my tank can barely take on a few light blues (I'm using a journeyman tier II tank) and often he doesn't grab the mobs like he used to. I've had 2 of my guys die while tank and healer are still up, the tank just ignores the mobs while they mow down my characters. Is it intended that they become dumber the higher level they are?? It's gotten to the point where I'm starting to expect coming back to a wipe every time I go afk for more than 30 minutes, quite frustrating.
I don't think mercs get dumber as they level up, but a few things come to mind. First, mercs used to have a problem with the Z axis, so if you were parked on a hill, they would not engage reliably. I think I have heard that this problem was fixed a while back, but I don't set up camp on a hills often enough to tell if it still happens. I have seen mercs occasionally fail to respond when I switch them from "passive" to "active", though, in which case resetting them to "passive" and then back to "active" usually fixed the problem. Second, mercs can "panic" and bail on you if you pull too many mobs. Are you parked in a high traffic area, by chance?
Not that high traffic, max 3 mobs at once (light blue or low dark blue). Usually they work fine but every once in a while it seems like they stop helping, maybe the tank has moved a bit too far away from the group not sure. But I've seen him ignore mobs when only a little distance from the group (within buffing distance), seems pretty random.
First all Journeyman mercs have the same skills, a higher rating only affects their breaking point. Second all light blues are not the same, at 70 a light blue or 2 in droga is a wimp, at 80 a light blue or 2 in Steppes is not a major problem, but as you progress in levels mob power inflates and AFK ing becomes questionable. Corpse retrieval is a pain, I suggest trying a Green (to lt blue) camp, less XP but continuous. Part of AFK ing is having top HP buffs and picking mobs that like to die not the ones that like to kill, so live camp various mobs in the target range until you have a spot the mercs can handle ( if you need to help them move on).
The higher you get, the less effective the merc tank is. Fight weak cons or only fight in areas where it's one at a time or your merc will get toasted continuosly with multiple mobs.
I've noticed that the tank merc will tie itself to a random group member. If the wrong character is sitting too far back from the intended assist point, the tank will think that the mob has not yet arrived in camp.
I've just noticed 2 scenarios where the merc tank often fails. 1. If he's chasing after a low hp mob, he tends to ignore adds for too long. At level 84 even light blue adds burst down my characters pretty fast. The tank tends to wander off after a fleeing low hp mob, and if I get a roamer add at that moment my characters tend to die. 2. If one character is designated as puller, the tank tends to be rather unpredictable. Sometimes he reacts fine, and sometimes he just sits there. I've gone afk with a character marked as puller (forgot to take it off) and when I come back my group is wiped but the tank is still alive, like he didn't even engage the mobs at all. Note that I always have the tank set to "aggressive" and marked as "main tank"
If you have a character designated as puller, then your mercs won't assist that character until he is "in camp". Their definition of "in camp" can be somewhat nebulous, though, and sometimes the puller has to stand almost on top of the merc before the latter engages. When I pull for my merc, I always try to have Plan B in case the merc fails to engage for some reason. At lower levels (<70-80) Plan B is usually as simple as toggling the merc's stance a couple of times. At higher levels, when mobs hit hard and can destroy the puller in seconds, I find that I have to be more creative by rooting/knocking back/cc'ing/etc the mob.
