What a Tank Merc/Healer mercs really do? Nothing!!!

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Old and retired, Aug 18, 2022.

  1. Old and retired New Member

    Why is it that a tank merc can't even handle trash without getting his brains knocked in?
    Why is it that a healer merc can't heal the tank merc and others in the group? I know they are not made to do this job. I get it. But a tank merc is pathetic and the healer merc isn't much better. It seems the healers are always casting the wrong heal spells. Why can't these be adjusted to at least be able to tank one mob? I understand, get into a real group. But, once again, if you can't find a group in the middle of the day you need to use a merc. If you only have an hour or so you don't want to join a group and then leave when your time is up. Again, why can't the mercs be adjusted to be able to do something? Ok hammer away. I can take it.
    Metanis likes this.
  2. Svann2 The Magnificent

    Mercs are weaker than players and you want to use both a tank and healer merc at the same time. Pick one.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  3. Koshk Augur

    No one on these forums will be able to answer those questions. We are not the developers, and cannot answer why they do (or do not) make certain decisions.

    I suggest you open a ticket, and ask the game studio directly.
  4. Loup Garou De loop de loop

    I can't remember the last player group I was in so I am not going to say get a group.

    But I think many players over think mercs with all the settings and hauling them around to level 120 zones when the player is only level 85, remember mercs are the same level it's owner is.

    I have a tank merc (cat) and a healer merc (uppity elf) and usually a rogue dps (cutest little frog) and we are doing well in zones that are about 2 levels below character level (115). We can smash thru all the old stuff easy.

    The healer is set to balanced, the tank to aggressive and the rogue to burn. I do not use roles or hot keys to assist. They all have the best in merc armor (Vigilant)

    Sometimes you just have to KISS
  5. Alnitak Augur

    Healer mercs are fine. Except a few scripted missions (when some weird debuff ends in DT like in Shei mission) healer mercs do their jobs of healing and buffing.
    And tank mercs can tank, except some rediculous opponents like Zlandicar (still, imho the hardest hitting mob in group-level EQ - quad 125K melee is insane even for a named dragon), though when fully buffed my tank merc sometimes survives the whole fight. It takes a chanter and cleric runes to do that, but it happens.
    And melee dps mercenaries do fine jobs too - over 500K dps during burn, not shabby for a merc.
    Caster dps mercs may be needing a bump up, but I have no first-hand experience how they do in a properly caster-aDps'd group with a chanter, a bard and a druid present.

    And just to make it clear - I have no healing priest in my usual group, nor a plated tank, so I use mercs regularly.
  6. Gnomeland Augur


    Actually everyone can answer, they just don't like the answers:

    "Because we want players to group with each other, not mercenaries."

    Every time people ask to improve mercenaries, that's the response. It's not going to change. They want you to group, even if they won't do anything to actually make that fun for people with limited time. In other words, it's by design that the game isn't as fun if you can't spare the hours needed to get a group going and to get value out of it.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  7. Stymie Pendragon

    For the healer merc, I suggest blocking all heal over time spells and their promised line. This will help make them cast their better heals.

    Open your browser and paste this into the search bar. It will take a little research, and work on your part to get it going. So, just normal things for EQ. :)

    eq healer merc block spells
    Metanis likes this.
  8. mtgdragon69 New Member

    also block complete heal it just takes to long to cast. If your merc tank is the main tank set it in the main tank role. it will be the first in line to be healed.
  9. Cicelee Augur

    I anxiously await the response from Conq on this thread

    And +1 to the person who earlier mentioned blocking the heal over time spells. You want your healer merc to just chain direct heals...
  10. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    You already have your answer. You said it yourself.

    Mercs are bad. And that's good. They will never be good and that's not bad.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  11. Stymie Pendragon

    As far as I can tell from reading their posts, they are a new player who is just starting out on a live server. There's a boatload of information to digest, and mercenaries are an invaluable tool during the leveling process for many.

    Almost nobody starts this game with a social network to rely on, so don't worry OP. Just ask questions when needed, and most of us will try to actually answer them in a helpful manner.
    Kialya and Metanis like this.
  12. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    If they are a new player and they're already admitting mercs "are not made to do this job" what makes you think they will accept a reasonable answer?

    I understand what you're saying Stymie. Being helpful where possible makes sense.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare and Stymie like this.
  13. Skrab East Cabilis #1 Realtor

    Mercs were made to this job. They didn’t release them in SoD to not serve a need.
  14. Tappin Augur

    Tank Mercs don't even function as a speed bump anymore, they die so fast. Sucks to main a cleric these days.
    Annastasya, Tallie and Skrab like this.
  15. Nennius Curmudgeon

    Well, mercs. do get better. Two boxing a 120 pally and a 120 rogue with a healer merc. and rogue merc. In GMM I can kill most everything I see. But, the mercs have maxed AA's and vigilant gear. This game can be very frustrating at the beginning. It can be frustrating at the end game. It is a high maintenance game with lots to remember.

    When I started out some 22 years ago I learned quickly that I need to choose my fights carefully. I still do. Point is that a game designed around grouping doesn't translate to the modern merc. era very well. I have learned to alter my expectations to match my abilities.
    Rolaque and Stymie like this.
  16. Kaeladar Journeyman

    When ToV released the rogue mercs were doing more DPS than they were supposed to. In XP/mission groups, one of my rogue merc was outdpsing 3 necros DPS combined, or beastlord + necro + rogue players another time.
    The issue is that casual players who actually try to group are usually performing very poorly because of the lack of research and also just lack of AAs/gear, so if you tune mercs where they are able to do the content "on their own", then no reason to group with the guy that has no AAs and will slow you down :/
    I think one of the prerequisite for making mercs decent, would be to change player AAs that require a specific spell level range to work at all, to make them more flexible and not useless outside of said range, so that players who are catching up are not that useless. But it will never happen.

    I wouldn't be surprised if cleric mercs casting splash / group heals to heal the tank is done on purpose. They have to use roughly the same spells as real clerics to save time designing spells, and maybe the lack of AAs on mercs is not enough to lower their usefulness, so they make them splash heal in group to lower the HPS. I am not sure why else a cleric merc would ever use splash heals unless it's mistake in configuration.
  17. Conq Augur

    Merc's are the Devil.
    I_Love_My_Bandwidth and CatsPaws like this.
  18. Scila Augur

    Mercs do work with gear and aa's. There are a couple of things to avoid and watch for. You have to pull to the group or they will stand there. Have puller/tank/assist set appropriately. If you are too close to an "environment" such as wall, building, mountain, etc. they get confused. If you find that they are "lost" when you get to a camp spot, take off puller, let them pop to you, then put it back on before you start pulling.
  19. Svann2 The Magnificent

    With 2 healer mercs (and a wizard alt) I can tank current content trash. Names can be done with dragonscale glyph. I havent tried a tank merc in some time.
  20. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    If the player cleric is not working for you maybe try a merc cleric? Ours seems to keep our group alive and kicking
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.