So we've seen > level 100 tank mercs are tough to keep alive, but I am having a similar problem with healer mercs keeping me alive. And not just 1, but 2! Both J5, one is lvl 102, one was 103, with the 103 set to reactive, and the 102 set to Balanced. Think both have at least Healing Acumen 4. Fighting a yellow-cond mob, and using some typical defensive abilities, I would watch my health jump all over the place and get dangerously low. I was needing to throw in some abilities that I normally save for named fights (Resplendent glory, flash of anger, hold the line, etc), and I would still watch my health drop in 15 to 20% chunks sometimes, until I hit the floor. Where were the heals??? No one in my group was taking damage, mercs were not out of range, nothing to prevent them from healing me. I find it ridiculous that 2 healing mercs can not keep me alive. I only figured I would try having 2 after 1 healing merc basically stood there and drooled while I got pounded to death. This was not a problem in the new expansion before going over 100. These mercs really need to be looked at.
I never taken the time to parse it or anything but my merc keeps me alive just fine when I go out and molo - and my class has terrible mitigation and the avoidance of a tree. I do know that pathing is wonky even by EQ standards this expansion. If you were set as puller it is possible that you were considered "out of range" by the merc standing almost right next to you. I've seen it happen a few times even below level 101+.
make sure you block the single target HoT line of spell, group HoT line of spell and delayed heal LoS... merc loooove to use those when you are at 20% HP, for some reason.
Short answer: healer merc is fine. I refuse to have 2 healer mercs in group. My group is farming named in arx mentis and we use 1 healer. We use 1 healer for all content, even pow. Because of my steadfast refusal to double up on mercs (which so many groups do, heck even seen 3 healers in some groups), my group can plow through the content. Trash mobs die in 30-40 seconds. Double hp mobs die in 60-80 seconds and named mobs get burned down in 90 seconds or less. When mobs die fast, tanking gets easy. So for example, in a 30 second fight, that required flash of anger, you just prevented 1/5th of that mobs damage. Then you add to that the 8 second stun from your wizard friend and half that mobs potential damage is negated. If that's not enough, cycle through defensives. Nttb, guardians bravery, cotf bp, last stand, armor of darkened runes, imperators command, tenacity, bravery, htl, etc. But most importantly, get decent players in the group with real dps.
They get better at 105, there were a couple of spots in the grind TO 105 where I had heal mercs either stand there and drool or (my favorite) chain cast their best group heal. Until you get 105 it's best to actually turn merc messages on and put it into a window you're watching so you can see if they're actually doing anything. If they're not, try repositioning or quickly toggling passive and then back to reactive.
105 mercs seem to leak mana all over, they run oom far faster than clr mercs at 100 did. Healing quality seems about the same. Serviceable for the most part, but stupid compared to a player.
My favorite is when the merc is spamming group HoT heal and the a caster take a bit damage. They run over to the caster to heal and let the tank die...
Thanks for the feedback, I will take a look at blocking HoT lines, and keep a window dedicated to their casting messages to see what they are doing. In normal content, running missions, its been OK. But going after anything that is challenging, and its like they go on vacation. Previous to this expansion I thought the healer merc was just too good; my health was always above 50% even on named, and they never ran oom, which made doing anything fairly easy. I like how things are a bit more challenging now, but not when its this bad. Rathgar, I understand your point on DPS and group makeup, but I'm simply talking about the mechanics of healer mercs here. There is just no reason two of them cannot keep someone healed. Its just poor programming at that point.
I forget what patch it was but they made adjustments to mercs so their abilities were variable one time you log in your tank or healer merc does fine. Next time you log in your merc or you keep dying, not fun.
Blaming the mercs is misplaced imho (unless one is bugged). Tanks are getting hit more and harder than ever, which is the real reason mercs (maybe real healers) can't keep up. As the tank I can tell you TDS is more dangerous. CoTF is a cakewalk in comparison. Here are some combined parses of mobs in AH (cotf tier 2) and AM (TDS tier 3). Max level group geared warrior for both expansions. (Pretty much max AA's, nothing good left to get). A spent praetor noctis (Arx Mentis) Dps by mob 6239 /g Tanking summary for: Rakknar --- Total damage: 38796564 --- Avg hit: 5079 --- Swings: 11787 --- Defended: 2322 (19.7%) --- Hit: 7638 (64.8%) --- Missed: 1827 (15.5%) --- Accuracy: 80.7% --- Dodged: 548 (5.5%) --- Parried: 683 (6.2%) --- Blocked: 693 (5.9%) --- Riposted: 398 (3.8%) --- Absorbed: 0 (0%) A soldier (Argin) Dps by mob 2285 /g Tanking summary for: Rakknar --- Total damage: 56115053 --- Avg hit: 3662 --- Swings: 32714 --- Defended: 13020 (39.8%) --- Hit: 15323 (46.8%) --- Missed: 4371 (13.4%) --- Accuracy: 77.8% --- Dodged: 2483 (11.2%) --- Parried: 4926 (16.2%) --- Blocked: 2257 (6.9%) --- Riposted: 3354 (13.1%) --- Absorbed: 0 (0%) We can see the tank is taking a lot more damage. Now start factoring in multiple mobs. Three mobs in AM is 18k dps vs 7k dps. If the tank isnt popping defensives on three mobs, down he goes. This is why i am always pushing dps on my posts. There can't be any slacking this expansion. Real dps classes need to be pushing 27k-30k dps sustained (cause the merc rogue can). Only one adps class per group. Classes that can stun need to stun, etc. Don't make your tank tank one mob for 3 mins.
EQ Button <> Character <> Blocked Buffs <> Add Promised Rehabilitation, Ardent Elixir That should help some.
I have the same problem. I have to check my list of blocked spells again. In the meantime I had one act like a real healer. I went down, caster merc went down, wizard went down, I got a fast rez from the cleric merc, it was at 1% when I took it. lol. Just like in rl, they always know how to rez fast!
I hope you removed those at raid time. Real clerics love to use those as additional resources so that multiple heals occur over time on the target. Of course the merc cleric casts those in place of strong heals while the real cleric uses them as additions. A real cleric weaves heals and mitigation like a bard weaves songs. <wink>
In Degmar they are bugged. I say it is a bug because anyone who has been to the zone knows that the merc has trouble staying in one place and will move around constantly. When they move they don't cast. When I travel to Dino island and fight the mobs there I have 0 problems with the healing from my merc (I am blocking the HoT's and long heals. There is a bug that has existed for years where a merc will cast single HoT then follow it with group HoT while you are getting pounded- I had to parse my logs to find that). Killing yellow T-Rex on Dino island the tank never gets questionable, in Degmar fighting white guards the tank dies quite a bit while my merc healer is running around a hallway trying to find a good spot to stand.
