Here's the problem: merc AA is way too slow. I've long maxed my AA in TBL and have been blowing glyphs all the time, but my mercs only got a couple of new ranks in their AA, about 12 points. The new ranks of merc AA cost way more than the old ones. Back when merc AA was created, it was 2 points per rank for most of them. Now it's 4 or even 8 points per rank. At this rate I won't max the merc AA before running out of things to do or get. If the mercs are tuned with the new ranks of their AA in mind, then it's a miscalculation. They will NOT have their new AA to use in this expansion, and won't even have them maxed before the next one. Please review the cost/attainability of merc AA.
Agreed, the implementation needs to be reviewed, on my mage it's almost a 100:1 ratio of player AA to merc AA. Currently, it promotes anti-social behavior because you need to leave a spot open for your merc for xp, which means that you don't want a full group or you want less people to accommodate multiple mercs. The concept of merc progression is a good feature, but I would just prefer to have merc xp be gained regardless or merc status. I think the xp system is preferable to quests, because it's flexible and can be used in any expansion. Alternatively, just auto-grant the AAs at the same level as player auto-grant.
That's good but can you elaborate a bit? By fixed do you mean they will be sped up or they will be autogranted? What about how heroics work (or don't work mostly) for mercs? That probably needs to be looked at as well.
Merc AA EXP should be faster than it is. If heroics don't work on mercs that is a different issue, not sure if it's a bug or was intended.
Interestingly enough, they seem to go a lot faster at lower levels. I have two toons currently locked at level 95 that i'm horsing around with on FV, and the Merc AA comes quite fast. I currently have somewhere around 60 each, and they were created Jan 5th.
All servers. Some levels (So some servers may not see an effect if their max level is not included in changes, though the change technically happened on all servers.)
At lower levels you are probably killing a lot faster. They are probably getting X percent AA exp per even con kill (for example) irrespective of how long it takes to make that kill. Older expansions have mobs that have fewer hitpoints generally relative to the damage output players have, hence will result in mercs leveling at a faster rate.
I usually take out the Gribbles missions and two TBM heroics(don't have a lot of time atm). Its not a question of quantity in this case. The Merc AA is just point-blank *a lot* faster on a per mob basis. To give a comparison, my main is at like 70 Merc AA. So in like a month and a half the new toon has almost caught it per Merc AA.
Just tested it. I get like 1% merc AA per kill per yellow mob in TBM Heroic(Fate Rewards the Bold and needed 5 items so I didn't kill many mobs) @ 95. Came in at 7% into merc AA and after the complete.. now 25% into merc AA.
You were just killing faster, that is all. When you are 110 it is harder to find mobs that are high enough level and can be killed fast enough to match what you experienced at 95 (or whatever). My merc AA is leveling at the same speed it always did as far as I can tell (I don't do HAs other than for some achievement). Maybe you get a different kind of merc AA than me?
So you're telling me you get 1% Merc AA(against yellows in TBM HA) a kill? ~2% if on lesson? If so... ok.
I have 128,578aa and my merc only 150... But then again, I hate merc with a passion and never play with them...
Finally checked it. I usually lesson at the turnin for Gribbles 2 and finish 3 before it runs out for like 70-75 regular AA total. Gribbles 3 gave 60% of a merc AA on its own on turnin. At this point i'm just plowing Improved Health given the other main modifiers(dmg, healing, etc) are level capped lol.
