Mercenary AAs for ToL?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Bobokin, Dec 9, 2021.

  1. Bobokin Augur

    And you did this with an unautomated 3Box (3Merc) group? Get outta here!

    Thank you for helping validate my premise.
  2. Bobokin Augur

    My point was that by not having any merc upgrades, the game was catering to automated boxers that do get upgrades as they go in armor, weapons, AAs, augs, and spells. The expac was ready for automated boxers, but it wasn't ready for players that play by the rules. How is it unrelated?

    Do you actually believe what you just wrote? You must never have seen automated groups roll.

    Although you would like to change the premise of this topic, this isn't about the efficacy or ethics of automated groups; it is about the efficacy of groups with mercs in the new expansion. The only reason I brought up automated groups is because they are not affected by the same restrictions that groups with mercs are, and being late to the game on merc AAs means they have an unfair advantage above what they already have inherent to being automated and being full or max plus.

    You are stating that automated 6box groups, given the same amount of time played, level four times as fast as 3Boxes, and you don't believe increased merc AAs are needed in any way? You just made my case.

    Both are still just one wizard behind the curtain. The difference is that one wizard has a group that is growing comparatively more powerful while the other is handicapped by not having the expac ready to go on the merc front.

    I alluded to that earlier. Do you believe this was an intentional oversight?

    I support the same.

    Neither do I, but they should do well enough, and they should progress.

    When has there been an expac without expanded merc AAs since there have been merc AAs? Do you believe that Daybreak has intended not to have any merc AAs added in this expac?

    Why? The most they could be is half the characters in a group. Most pick up groups use mercs. Are you stating that most pick up groups shouldn't be involved in missions a month after launch?
    Knighted likes this.
  3. Qimble Augur




    I would say that what is needed is more than simply merc AAs. They need to improve the AI for the healers and tanks. The DPS mercs I guess you could just get away with giving them like 200 or 300% more damage from AAs.
  4. Schadenfreude Augur

    The 118 tank merc with max AAs, best gear and reasonable support was doing ok with singles in Vex Thal which is certainly an improvement on the last time I used him. Still loves to rush out and tank mobs I was about to CC, though.
  5. Gorg00 Augur


    No, I did it with a regular group. If you're going to hobble yourself by only having 3 characters in a group, you should expect it to take longer.
  6. Bobokin Augur

    Yeah, I hobbled myself by having the people I group with most die in real life.
  7. Gorg00 Augur


    I'm sorry they died, but that honestly isn't relevant and is a low handed tactic to try and invoke emotion in a rational discussion. You've chosen not to group with someone else in their unfortunate absence, which is where you've hobbled yourself.
    Szilent likes this.
  8. Bobokin Augur

    You assume too much. Just because I advocate for 3box players doesn't mean I am an exclusive 3box player. Although it is much more difficult now, I group with people almost all of the time I am grinding. I rarely run boxes because I like to group.

    That isn't the point; is it? Yours was a tactic to present my premise as somehow my fault because I hobble myself rather for what it is: a mistake by the game developer that greatly affects some players and not others.

    Some groups have three real players, some five, some six. All but the latter use mercs. Yes, this affects 3box groups greatly because that is half of the group, but it often impacts regular pickup group players as well. There is no denying this is an oversight by Darkpaw Games, and it should have been addressed with players up front.
  9. Andarriel Everquest player since 2000

    You do realize how small .001 is? you would need to kill 1000 mobs for 1% lol! although .001 is probably the chances of spawning GoldenTalon!
    Andarriel
  10. Angahran Augur

    ok 0.001% was a little bit exaggerated, but honestly, killing a dozen mobs and barely seeing the xp bar move is demoralizing, plus the added fun that a death and 96% rez can easily wipe out an hours killing.
  11. Smokezz The Bane Crew

    Hours of killing? You must kill mobs INCREDIBLY slowly. Your posts are ridiculous. You obviously never played when the game was new. When it took most people well over a month to get 50-60 in Kunark. Now you expect to have it in a few days, and cry because "xp is low"?
    Nennius and Duder like this.
  12. Angahran Augur

    Been playing this game since release. Yes, in the past levelling was slow, there were hell levels, there was also an entire world to explore from 1-50 and countless quests to spend time on! Now we have a half a dozen zones and a handful of quests.
    Noone want's to take a year to get to 120.
    120 is required to use the T2 gear.
    Skuz and Aenvar like this.
  13. Smokezz The Bane Crew

    Again, if you take a year... you're killing incredibly slow. It's been a week. You're being far too impatient. Instant gratification is obviously your thing.
  14. Smokezz The Bane Crew

    And just to show how absurd your statements have been... My warrior is L119 right now. I'm in the Shei instance to get collectables currently.

    Start XP: 89.513%
    Killed 19 mobs.
    End XP: 90.530%

    No overseer, no potions, no lesson. Is that great XP? No. Is it the end of the world, certainly not. If I continue killing, I will hit L120 today even at the dismal rate I kill mobs when I kill during the day. (Pull a bunch, burn them down and afk until burns are back up). It certainly won't take a year.
  15. Ngreth Thergn Developer

    We had no plans to Add mercenary AA. The mercenaries got their upgrades in stats with No mercenary AA in mind. If we add AA, I will be lowering their stats. AND you will be more "behind" the "boxers" because you have to earn the AA points to get them there. Lack of Merc AAs as a reason you can't "catch up" makes no sense since it takes additional hurdles and time to get those, where in the current as delivered, you immediately have the new stats when you level.

    It may be valid feedback that their stat increase was not good enough, but that is not the point of this thread. (And, reading some, that may not be the case, their increase may be fine.)

    Now, an error that WAS made (and it was an oversight error, not an intention) is that their hidden focus items needed to be increased. That was missed (it's so hidden we didn't see it!) This only has an effect on the healer and caster mercenary.

    Also, while looking into this, we found that the mercenary sets from the last three expansions are not equipping their focus items. A fix for that is incoming. (mercenaries from before that are fine, and using good focuses from the last level increase)
    Wulfhere, Rondor, Shindius and 6 others like this.
  16. Darchon_Xegony Augur

    Have you considered maybe not making them hidden? Instead actually putting the focuses on the items (presuming they would even be able to use them like this). Only reason I suggest this is it gives a little more value to the 4 pieces of mercenary gear we can currently equip our mercs with, which are currently just very minor stat pieces.

    Could make the priest gear provide spell haste on ear, mana pres on shoulder, range on belt and healing on neck.

    Similar setup for casters except fire/cold/magic on neck.

    Melee could get Cleave on shoulder, haste on belt and ferocity on neck

    Tank could get improved parry on shoulder, improved dodge on belt and maybe some sort of focus to make their innate mitigation not so awful
  17. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    That explains a lot.
    Shindius likes this.
  18. Alnitak Augur

    Thanx for the update and the explanation. Meanwhile, why you are on the subject of mercenaries and also mentioned "boxers": can you do something with group missions so mercenaries and pets are actually useful again? Like removing "raid" flags from mobs in Hero group missions and pets can hold aggro again and mercs are not ground to dust as a joke? It would make no difference for "boxers" and those uber raiding cliques, but it woull make life and game much more enjoyable for many "casual" players. Especially for groups who use pets and mercs for tanking.
    Shindius likes this.
  19. Velisaris_MS Augur

    A WHOLE lot. Makes you wonder...if this thread about merc AAs had never been made, would they have even bothered to look and see if anything was wrong?

    I just remember all the threads I've seen over the last couple of years talking about new expansion mercs not working properly...and seeing those complaints summarily dismissed as not a problem.
    Shindius, Bobokin and Skuz like this.
  20. Yorag Journeyman

    "We had no plans to Add mercenary AA"

    So, 1,330 is the maximum AA's that can be spent for your mercenary with 55 banked. Seems kind of inconsistent considering all of the AA's that were added for our characters again. So now all of the mercenary AA's that are awarded in game along with those earned in Overseer just disappear into oblivion. There should be a means to choose between mercenary AA's and character AA's if your mercenary is maxed.