Like....right now I have a Dark Elf Healer merc. If I wanted to switch to a healer of a different race, like Human, or maybe one of the unique reward ones....would it have the same XP pool, or is that just the Dark Elf Healer's? I'm assuming it wouldn't go across types, like gain it on a Healer Merc, spend it on a Tank.....
I believe its all the same pool. Exp and AA points. If you dismiss a healer and hire a Tank you will still have the same exp and the same AA you've already purchased for your merc.
Oh well that's good to know. I was afraid it might've been on the individual, but then thought maybe it was just on the type.
So its probably best to plan which is going to be your main type of merc before you spend to heavily in the class skills.
You eventually can buy up every AA in merc window. IIRC, General ones affect any types but specifics only affect their own type.
You can think of the merc AAs as belonging to your character but applied to whichever mercenary you have unsuspended. Once you purchase the AA, you will never use it and it will be applied to whichever merc you have up, though there are archetype restrictions for some of the AAs, as Scorrpio said.
The only consideration really is regarding your merc actually doing work. For example say you have swarm pets on a mob and your healer never actually has to heal since it does not heal swarm pets the merc does not gain experience from what I have noticed. I could be wrong on this but after watching my merc experience bar doing this they don't seem to gain anything unless they are actually participating in battle. Obviously this is more of a situational thing but something to keep in mind. If your merc is just standing there even if not in passive stance they probably wont gain anything since they are not actually "working" while on the clock.
I did not know this, very interesting. Maybe you need to run in and take a hit from the rooted mob once each fight.
