I saw something about them revamping 110 mercs, especially tank mercs, I really think they should revamp the lower ones too. My wife and I have been duoing gribbles HA in dead hills. At lvl 98, I had a cleric merc, she had a tank merc. Tank merc kept dying tanking 1 effin mob. Decided to have her chanter pet tank and it tanks 100x better. The pet hasn't even come close to dying yet. Are tank mercs really that trashy?! I mean, I get my mage pet tanking better than a merc tank but seriously, a chanter pet tanking better than a tank merc?! Just seemed really bad.On top of that, my cleric merc was constantly running out of mana healing the tank merc. When the chanter pet tanks, cleric merc doesn't drop below 70-80% health. Again, quite odd imo. W/e tho. Just a small gripe.
I would agree, hopefully they take a look at some of the earlier mercs. Tanks mercs didn't suddenly become useless at 110, they've been on a downward gradient since they were added and could probably stand to be buffed up a bit in a lot of level ranges.
Wouldn't it be funny if they retuned TBL in part because they didn't want to up MERC power(and the project that would entail) because they were being blapped by AEs.
We may in the future, But not in the immediate future. For the immediate future, we are only looking at 106 to 110. It's a matter of time and priorities, not lack of interest.
Just trying to collect more data here. So, you were using mercs for tanking AND healing? Healer mercs aren't always that great. (particularly, mercs like to use many poor healing spells, like the promised line. You can block these for players/pets, but there's no way to block spells for mercs). Any assistance healing from the two of you? (ENC and what, NEC? So, none from ENC, but maybe some from NEC). What mode was the healer merc set to? Were these J5 mercs? Were you both the same level (i.e. was the tank the merc for the higher level player?) What kind of merc gear was being used for the tank? What merc AAs had been applied to the merc? As you can see, there's a lot of room for variable results for mercs, depending how all these questions get answered.
I think most everyone understands...or they should. With limited resources you guys are likely doing what you can to make the 20th anniversary special for the players.
Ranger and Enc. I did try to toss heals in but ranger heals meh. That makes sense w/ the blocked spells. I assumed setting blocked spells for pets it applied to mercs also. Would make sense why the cleric merc runs oom so fast also since she is casting spells she shouldn't be. I'm glad the higher end mercs are being focused on first. Lower level more of a qol thing. Pet does the trick for now at least
Yes, we were doing that also.. Sort of defeats the purpose of having mercs if the chanter can do nothing but spam rune and ranger can do nothing but spam heal to try keeping said merc alive. Curious why the promised line of spells are bad. I do have them blocked but was never sure what made them so bad. Does the merc not heal thinking a big heal is incoming?
When I was actively maining a cleric I loved the promise line, quick cast and very versatile. Way better than boring CHeal at 80% Hp. From what I’ve read it sounds like the Merc cleric stops casting other heals because they think promised should be healing. Where a real healer would be more reactive to the actual damage taking place.
If you run a parser, it might be useful to see what's actually being cast by the cleric, and what kind of damage the tank is taking. At 98, I was 3 boxing, and using a merc tank and healer, but I rarely went after names, usually questing and grinding AAs. A quick look at my notes shows I was doing a fair bit of Gribbles, and fighting in Valley (VoA) at the time, so content would have been dark blue to white. I don't remember any particular issues back then, so maybe we'll figure out what's not right in this case, and fix it
Still wouldn't mind seeing another quest line in the future to upgrade from Journeyman to an additional tier of merc. Tank might actually disc. DPS might actually rival auto attack. Healer might use auras or cast DI/Shining/Click epic. Ability to block spells on: Mercs
The first two spells a cleric merc might cast will be a promised followed by a heal over time. But they won't cast those spells until the targets starts taking damage. It takes time to cast those two spells that offer very little immediate healing. In the time it takes to cast those spells, it can't cast direct healing spells, and the tank may be dead or nearly dead before a direct healing spell can land.
No, healer mercs continue to cast other heals. It's the opportunity cost that kills and they often only ever have current level Light available (their other options are on cool down from poor choices). A healer merc never casts proactively in combat, never recasts Vie for example, so it's always at least one step behind a real cleric on the abilities they both use, like Promised. On my paladin, I used to block promised and elixir to force the merc to use direct heals. Part of the reason (for everyone) is to have truly reactive healing. Also the paladin has their Harmonious buff proccing group heals from others' direct heals, augmenting the healer merc in that way, and paladins have their own cleansing (HoT). After some parsing last year, I now allow Promised again because on a paladin it can crit heal and it doen't impair the merc's direct healing pattern significantly. Elixir is still blocked.
Mercs up to level 100 are relatively stronger then 101-110. This was reported when TDS was current as a level 100 tank merc was noticeably much tougher then a level 101 tank merc. Dinging to level 101 was a real pain for many players who relied on tank mercs. Some tuning was done to remedy the situation but not enough and the devs relied on merc gear and AA to close the gap, again not enough. The balance has just gotten worse and worse since then.
You're not wrong, but the reason I specifically mentioned level 98 is because that's the level the OP reported seeing his issues.
I guess some help is better than no help, but not everyone is playing at level cap and the problem with Merc Tanks do not start at level 101. The drop off starts around level 65. Just take a Merc Tank at level 95 and let him tank a dark blue and see how fast it drops. Now take a mage pet and note the difference. They could at least let the lower tiers of Merc Equipment drop off Mobs. I don't know why only the top tiers drop. When looking to get Merc Equipment It appears the only way to earn Marks of Valor is through Heroic Adventures which are designed for groups. Yes, you can molo/box some of them but around level 90 this starts to get really problematic. You will be facing clumps of even con mobs anywhere from 3 to 6 in number not to mention possible adds. If Mez breaks, your Molo/box group is headed for the graveyard.
You're right about that general trend as mob difficuly ramps up faster then merc strength does. What is known though is that there is a cliff from 100 to 101 that mercs fall into. They actually downgrade versus the same content that was being played at level 100.
Again, what gear's on the merc? What merc AAs have been purchased? Is it a J5 merc, or apprentice? Different answers to those questions give wildly different results. Even the "dark blue" can be quite a difference (-1 level to -5). Overall, though, tank mercs below 100 aren't that bad compared to the higher levels. At 110, against stuff approaching level-appropriate content, they're terrible.
