Mercenary Update - Community Input and Discussion

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Shenovar, May 7, 2022.

  1. Shenovar New Member

    I love this game, I started playing when I was young and it brings great nostalgia and fun! I just can't accept how badly mercenaries function in this game. I want to start a list of simple fixes that would drastically increase the playability of the game overall.

    - Could they be given the same functions as a pet? Hold, Back, Follow etc, you can leave off Attack function to prevent abuse. If you could have a tank pet return to your campfire or move your healer merc behind the group on Hold so it doesn't run around and get killed.

    - Mercenary AA's are nice but at least half should be auto granted at lv100-110 so they aren't so weak and content can be done.

    - Mercenary Gear - Put a vendor in PoK for all tier gear or increase drop rate - I wouldn't even care if it was a Marketplace item at this point..

    - We can customize NPC in the guildhall but not the mercenary that follows us around?

    - I don't think any of these features would require much work and it would significantly increase the ability to play this game.

    Is there a list of what is going to be changed with Mercenaries from the Roadmap other than simplification of the ranks?

    Thank you everyone, I just want to hear opinions about what would be beneficial or something you would like to see in the mercenary update!
  2. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer


    Mercs should self-incinerate and leave Norrath forever.
    Arkanny likes this.
  3. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    I think they should add a new type of merc. Squishy DPS-classes(without pets) have poor synergy with the current selection. Especially because many encounters still need a "trinity"(tank-heal-dps). That means DPS-classes don't have many molo-options. :oops:
    Shenovar likes this.
  4. Yinla Ye Ol' Dragon

    Mercs are fine as they are you just need to learn to control them. Passive = hold
    Marking tank as puller stops it standing in front and getting frontal AEs

    Mercs are not pets and nor should they behave as well as a real player.

    Merc gear leaves a lot to be desired could do with sone upgraded gear. Maybe they are holding that back for next expansion.

    AAs are easy and fast to gain for mercs now you no longer need merc out to gain them and they also get exp from quests and achievements
  5. Timmyboi Dunning Kruger Award Winner

    Don't mind me. I'm just here to observe the passive schadenfreude
    Metanis likes this.
  6. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Mercs are like players when it comes to relative strength & weakness, it depends on the when, what expansion you are referring to.

    Because at times Mercs are okay, at others they are basically garbage & a waste of platinum,

    Using a Merc tank on live from 1-50 felt almost like cheating because the tank was so strong.

    Conversely using a Tank at L110 in RoS was an exercise in frustration and in TBL it felt like smashing your own face into a brick wall because they were so bad.

    In ToL however the merc tank is reportedly doing okay.

    Mercs are like a lot of other EQ stuff, frequently frustrating though a lack of consistency & poor tuning.
    Dre. likes this.
  7. Simaril Apprentice

    I think it would be kinda cool if you could give mercs the ornamentations from various expansions to change their look. And is there a way to prevent them from being illusioned by group illusions? If not that would be nice too!
    Hobitses, Nennius and Jumbur like this.
  8. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    Implementing that feature for non-player races might be unrealistic, but I would personally swap to Iksar mercs, if I could outfit them in Arx Mentis plate. :cool:

    Weapon ornaments might be doable for mercs of all races though...
    Hobitses likes this.
  9. Iven Antonius Bayle

    I am sure that they are based on pets so this definetly should work.
  10. Dre. Altoholic

    Modern group content requires a crazy amount of healing just to keep a player alive. It'd be great if more classes could generate a large portion of that themselves, or at least enough to survive short fights/ occasional agro without every group requiring a healer/merc.
    Jumbur likes this.
  11. Kaenneth [You require Gold access to view this title]

    I want spell casting haste for cleric mercs; I can have 3 mage earth pets and a bst pet go down vs. a couple blue cons, while the both merc mana bars never drop below 98% they need to at least *try* to heal.
    Nennius likes this.
  12. DruidCT Augur

    Merc AA should matter more. Merc gear should matter more. Mercs should max out with higher abilities but they need to be earned. Perhaps that expert tier and cost significantly more. Mana and endurance management should be a thing with them in exchange for greater ability. Burn mode on DPS mercs should double DPS at the cost of needing to manage mana carefully, balanced keeps it pretty moderate, efficient 'i can do this all day'.
    MacDubh likes this.
  13. Velisaris_MS Augur

    Being able to tell the mercs which spells to cast (basically manage their spell bar for them) as opposed to trying to block certain spells from landing would go a long way to fixing that.
  14. Conq Augur

    Mercenaries are the Devil.
    Silvena likes this.
  15. DruidCT Augur

    Why the merc hate?
  16. TheAgenda Augur

    Because people think that mercs are the reason they can’t get groups, and not their nasty neurotic personalities.
    Mesc, Barraind, Annastasya and 3 others like this.
  17. Nennius Curmudgeon

    Mercs. have a self-image problem. For a very long time folks have been saying they suck and worse. They seem to have given up and are now like pop stars who won't sing without Auto-Tune. In other words, they have chosen to be pathetic. But, since there is often a shortage of player controlled healers we are forced to tolerate and pretend to accept them. Much like FM radio in the U.S.
    Silvena and Metanis like this.
  18. Shenovar New Member

    Seems like any topic you post in this forum comes criticism or hate. Mercenaries suck, but it's the only way for me to play the game for the hour or so I get to. If they have been here for years the least we can do is try to suggest how to improve them. The fact that we block some of the mercenaries spells to improve their performance is a good example of something that could be remedied. Possibly change the type of spell, thank you to the people who are contributing ideas!
    Nennius likes this.
  19. DruidCT Augur

    I can't remember the last time I grouped with an actual cleric, do they exist outside of raids? But seriously getting a group of three players with mercs is hard enough much less getting 6 players.
  20. Spacemonkey555 Augur

    Either add multiple sets worth of slots in the merc gear tab so I can have say healer and melee dps gear sets equipped without swapping (only one set of slots would apply) or make a tradeskill combine that allows combining 2 sets and keeping the benefits of both. Hate merc gear swapping.
    Flatchy likes this.