Group of 5 with 1 healer merc (journeyman) Merc belongs to the beastlord (me) who is higher in level than the other 4 (friends who recently returned). Last weekend (prior to the expansion launching) with the beastlord marked as puller, the merc had no problems following the group though would run out to the puller if the puller was hit by a spell but would follow back to the group. If the group moved to a new location in the zone, the merc would move along with them. This weekend in the same place (ROS-Overthere and ROS-Skyfire), if the beastlord is marked as puller, the healer merc would often stay where the group engaged previously and not move along with the group. The merc would move with the group until they would engage. The merc would often not continue to move with the group at all. Briefly, the merc followed when the main tank was marked but again stayed behind as soon as we thought it was working and let the tank get killed. I tried changing stance, auto assist, suspend/resume, zoning, and even camping all the way out and back with no noticable change to the behaviour. While my beastlord was marked as puller and I Throned to summon an ackward to reach corpse (one caused by the merc not healing because it was where we had been not where we were), I had to drag my corpse to the foot of the throne for it to give me a rez because it had not moved after zoning in. When there was no one marked as puller, the merc seemed to be more consistent with following the group.
You've described what being marked as puller does. Your merc won't follow you. They'll choose someone else in the group to follow, but if they run off too quickly the merc will just chill until you toggle yourself off puller. The best solution is to not run a merc on the same character who is marked as puller, but if that's not an option then it's important for the puller to keep an eye on the map any time you change camp locations. You'll often end up needing to temporarily toggle yourself off puller to get the merc to return to the group, then reassign the puller tag. Same with your rez in the lobby. Since you were (presumably) alone in the zone with your merc and you were still marked as puller, when you run off you are instructing the merc to stay stationary (because it thinks you are pulling).
You absolutely missed the part where I noted specifically this is not how it was working even just one week ago. Last weekend, my character was marked as puller and the merc followed the group just fine. We could run from corner to corner and the merc would follow. In previous weekends, when we were in Lcenium (or however it's spelled), we had no issues at all moving from each of the areas to kill the mercenary quest mobs, the merc stayed with the group and followed when we moved no matter how fast or slow and we were generally using mounts to go from area to area. My character was 120 and theirs started at 100 (a couple with 2 characters each). This week, even if the group moved without mounts or someone went back over to where the merc was, it would not follow anyone in the group most of the time. If we moved less than its heal range from the first spot, it appeared to move just fine so initially, we didn't notice until the boxed cleric was having trouble keeping up with the damage. When the tank was marked, it seemed to follow for a couple fights but they might have also been just barely within its heal range and it came closer. The merc was not chosing someone else to follow. That was the problem. Most of the time it was not moving at all. The merc is mine because I'm 120+ and they're now 106 and I have lots of merc AA spent on the healer and merc equipment, too. I'm helping them 'catch up' with their characters without completely PLing (i.e. we're keeping to where they can tank and mez other such even though everything is yellow to red to them).
Mercs struggle with hills and easily get lost. It is bad enough some times when they are following the player who owns it and will frequently port to the player to catch up. It cannot do this with other members of the group. It is more likely to be a problem with pathing in the zone, than with the merc. Did you notice mobs running in the wrong direction when you were trying to pull? That is when the mercs do and end up out of range of the player it is following in. I dislike Skyfire with a passion. It is a nightmare for pathing.
It was happening in both Overthere (where we were last weekend with no issues with my beastlord as puller and the one with the merc) and Skyfire. When we were having issues in Skyfire, we tried Overthere and it was 100% different than last week.
