Confirmed Can we get a fix for Merc stopping mid fight?

Discussion in 'Bug Reports' started by Scorpio, May 11, 2020.

  1. Scorpio New Member

    I returned to EQ while in quarantine and ever since, my melee DPS and Tank mercs stop fighting mid fight. This seems to happen almost every time i send in my Mage pet and Swarm pet. When this occurs, both Tank and DPS merc stop fighting after initially engaging and will re-engage around 10-15 seconds later - if its a long fight - they will repeat this cycle until a wipe or a group win. I'm playing on Fippy which the most players I've seen on the server is 5 - yes 5. We need mercs to function!

    This is not level dependent or merc race dependent - Ive tried switching them out, switch back and forth from passive to active and have experienced this all the way in levels from about level 55. It happens with J1-J5 mercs. Took a heroic leap to 85 - same problem but with much worse results.

    Please advise if there's anything i can do - or please work into the next sprint or patch.

    Edit - this happens with just 1 mob or multiple. I can pull a single light blue or above - it's not a merc "fear" factor either.
    Lessw, Laurana, Velisaris_MS and 7 others like this.
  2. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    I also have noticed something similar on my Enchanter. When I cast either Doppelganger or Phantasmal Opponent (I forget which:() then the enchanter's tank merc stops tanking. He seems to get back into the fight as soon as the other poofs. Doesn't happen on her normal pet like Summoned Nureya's Animation.
  3. Scorpio New Member

    Just confirmed again - When i cast Rumbling Servant the merc disengage after a few seconds until the servant dies, then they re-engage. If i cast another, they disengage again until it dies ... It looks like anything that out aggro's them - they take there ball and go home. It's definitely broke-ed
  4. Vumad Cape Wearer

    I have not noticed this exact issue but what I have noticed (over about the last 6 months) is my tank merc ignores adds. The tank merc used to run back and forth trying to stay on the top of the aggro for everything, but not it sticks on one mob only. Pull just 2 mobs and silkies end up getting stuck off tanking until CC is done, because the tank merc is working right anymore.
  5. Metanis Bad Company

    Just think of the money they'd make if they offered an "enhanced AI" version merc for $10 a month per character!
  6. Scorpio New Member

    lol Metanis - lord lets hope not - But this has cut my DPS massively if I don't use Rambling pet. I imagine that all classes that have some type of aggro getter AA has the same trouble. Enchanter Doppelganger, Warrior version, SK Version, Necro, Mage ....
  7. Wulfhere Augur

    Melee mercenaries, not sure about caster or healer, do disengage when a swarm pet is tanking. This has been true for a while (years?).

    The bug would be that swarm pets are not considered part of the group. All mercs disengage when the target is not being tanked by a group member. Well other the healers who respond to group damage and curing regardless.
  8. Scorpio New Member

    Thanks for adding in Wulfhere. Back before i took a break - 5 months or so before quarantine, I played a 110 Mage on a different server. I never noticed merc dropping out like this before, and I would have noticed this!
    If I have DPS and a Tank merc, both drop out. Interesting take that the bug may be "out of group" flag on the swarm pets or Doppleganger AA types. Makes sense to me, i wish they would put a priority on it as it is affecting how I play (slows down much needed DPS).
  9. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Tank Mercs have logic in them that means they won't fight for aggro from NPC's that are specifically meant to have aggro, they will fight for aggro from standard pets.

    For example I pull a mob while my pet is out or the bard I box has pets out & the mob attacks those pets first the Merc tank will do absolutely nothing until a player/standard pet is top on aggro.

    If you are doing Doomscale Horde Mission for example, the Tank Merc is 100% useless as the NPC you are supposed to protect actively engages & aggroes all the mobs which means there is no player for the Merc to protect, NPC dies mission fail criteria is met & resets.

    I generally don't use dps mercs but presumably they have similar behaviour coded into their AI
  10. Wulfhere Augur

    I just tested again and healer mercs never heal swarm pets either, but they do heal damaged group members while a swarm pet is tanking. Again swarm pets are "not in group".
    Skuz likes this.
  11. yepmetoo Abazzagorath

    Also, depending on the fight, don't forget that mercs can be "scared" and stop fighting, more common with worse mercs.

    Makes me wonder if maybe if swarm pets aren't considered part of group, maybe the AI sees them as potential enemy npcs so they get feared at first when swarmed with them?
  12. Wulfhere Augur

    They don't fail a confidence check in this case. Swarm pets to not trigger a confidence check.

    Mercs don't support out-of-group combatants at any time. Swarm pets are not group members. Therefore mercs stop when a swarm pet is tanking.
    lockjaws likes this.
  13. Scorpio New Member

    Thanks for the input guys, but I still think there's something odd with the mercs behavior. Like I said before, I played a Mage for years and have never seen merc's stop fighting mid fight like they do now. I would run 2-3 servants per mob in higher levels and never had this happen. When i 3-box, I use DPS mercs and occasionally tanks mercs - they all stayed engaged.
    I would agree with the heals- they have never been healed and that's fine.
    CatsPaws likes this.
  14. Vumad Cape Wearer


    They do that already. It's $15 per month to sub or $20 per month in krono purchased from another player and then you obtain the "enhanced AI" from another source. Your pay structure would reduce income. Properly working mercs are bad for the bottom line.
  15. Piflet New Member

    I had a healer mercenary stop healing me when I was doing CoTF mission the fall of Lord Bayle. I got mezzed and then he just went comatose on me, had to toggle him back to reactive before he started with the heals again after the mez broke. Only happened after I was mezzed. I clicked on the Merc to make sure he wasn't mezzed and he wasn't
  16. Petalonyx Augur

    Is this affecting caster dps mercenary as well? If i have a swarm pet tanking (as is often the case for mages during first 15s of any fight), will they just stand around doing nothing?!

    I've used healer mercs up through 942 mercenary AA (current max) and never had a single issue with them (balanced & reactive, no spells blocked). These non-healer mercenary engagement rules seem problematic.
  17. Wulfhere Augur

    What period of time do you define as "now"? 1 year? 2 years? If we can narrow it down to a specific expansion like TBL or ROS that might help the Devs.

    I agree it's not ideal merc behavior and could be bugged. Ever since level 101, and especially since 106, the new merc templates have had chronic problems with AI and ability selection, not to mention basic stats and survive-ability.

    For my merc testing, I was using a level 102 mage only using swarm pets. So if the problem appears at a specific level, it's lower then that (and probable years older). You previously posted testing with level 55ish mercs.
    Skuz likes this.
  18. Scorpio New Member

    I played a Mage as a main until a month or so before the latest expansion came out. It's fairly recent. like i mentioned - I always used 2-3 servants on the mob per fight, so if this was prevalent then, it would have definitely been an issue. I box 50% of the time when guildies are busy and run with tank/DPS/Cleric mercs. I would have noticed it.
  19. Wulfhere Augur

    So you're saying the change comes with TOV expansion? That mercs of all levels were affected?

    Looks like the patch test this week include several merc changes. It'll be interesting to see how those turn out.
    Skuz likes this.
  20. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    Happened again today during the HA "In Defense of Health" - when you summon the winged defenders to help you then the tank merc stops tanking. Doesn't matter who summoned the winged defenders - the merc stops.