Going off of memory here, but my tank merc seems to put out about 11k to 13k DPS. That's with a shaman, bard, and zerker helping melee DPS. Here again, I don't know what an average warrior or other tanks puts out DPS wise while tanking. Keeping in mind a merc isn't doing anything special, where would that put them % wise when compared to other real tanks?
Oh, absolutely no maybe about it. Merc tanks take no notice of in-front/in-back at all. They simple are not programmed to care. I use the passive/aggressive buttons to get the same effect a mage would use the "punt the pet 30 yards" to get them behind all the mobs, except I'm doing it to get them in front.
So I was using my tank merc last night and checked out his stats. At level 110, with no AAs, Gear or Buffs the tank has around 120k HP. With the best mercenary tank gear available this jumps up to around 140k HP unbuffed (4 pieces x 5k HP per). For reference a group geared tank has around 180-190k HP unbuffed. At a very basic level, increasing a merc Tanks Innate HP/AC stats upwards to be short of a Bazaar/Conflagrant geared Tank, would be a good start. I think having a tank merc have 150k unbuffed instead of 120k unbuffed would be a good start. This still puts them 10k shy of a Conflagrant geared tank once you fill their four slots with Defender Extravagant Merc gear, ending at 170k unbuffed merc tank. Plus the tank still would lack the benefit from Heroics, which from what I can tell, don't really impact them (for example swap in and out a piece of gear with heroic Stamina and their HP only changes by the raw HP amount). And all their stupid AI issues and horrible DPS. They would still be a very distant option behind any human tank. But they would have a little bit more life to handle the newest expansion. Trash hitting for 30k and named for 50k in the newest expansion makes a 120-140k HP tank extremely pitiful.
For a little reference on the subject, here's a link to some short videos I posted last year, highlighting how powerful merc tanks were in EoK (very powerful): Videos here! RoS doesn't have enough content for me to even bother testing, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if mercs are less powerful than they were before. Particularly if you haven't purchased all the merc AAs, which are ridiculously expensive now. I assume they work the same as player focus AAs, where the abilities (or mercs) might be less powerful at 110 than they were at 105, until you buy the new focus AAs.
Idk how you made that fake video, but I have seen dozens of fully buffed tank mercs get one rounded by blue and light blue con mobs. Even in the Lcea caves, one fully buffed, max AA, max geared tank merc with two merc healers and a real healer still instantly dies from one add.
Your video is not indicative at all of my experience with tank mercs. My tank merc would die on a single Lcea spider. I only have about 80 merc AA and they are all in defense, as well as all EoK tank merc gear. My tank merc gets spanked in nearly every encounter lvl 105+. My Mage pet, on the other hand, tanks better than many group-geared player tanks, though it has aggro issues. But it can take a hit, especially the earth pet. The earth pet fully buffed can tank up to 8 Lcea spiders at once. Tank mercs are worthless IMO. My experience tells me they aren't worth the time to summon them, let alone the plat I spend to keep them around.
I would hope that Merc AA would not decrease in effectiveness as it levels. Especially since the tank merc rarely uses abilities or discs and that AA that they do get augment baseline stuff and not discs or abilities. Who knows besides the devs. One thing we do know is that they are underpowered for their role. How underpowered is the only question in my mind.
ROFL, thanks for the laugh! Yes, I went to the trouble of making a fake video about EQ's mercs, so I could propagate the idea that they are way more powerful than they really are. Did you see the video where the three mercs killed a mob all by themselves? Don't be jealous because mercs can do more by themselves than they can can with your help You are having other issues if you can't keep your merc alive against one mob with a real healer. Let alone 2 merc healers AND a real healer! And again, I believe the mercs seem weak if they are under-AAd, and maybe even just ARE plain weak after RoS, even in older content. But the videos are not fake
As a healer I am always filled with dread when I'm invited to a group and the tank is a Merc. I'd rather /q but I go on and try to keep it up anyway, because I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings... I've always preferred to use my Rogue merc to tank when molo'ing, he tanks the same, but does more damage.
You need to realize your experience with tank mercs is an anomaly. Most people I talk to about tank mercs have similar experiences as I do. I know the RED names have repeatedly stated there are absolutely no differences between merc skins. But is it possible there are some differences when the J5 merc is hired? Similar to how when pets are summoned their level can vary? Just spitballing here, but there must be some explanation as to why your merc can actually take a hit and mine disintegrates if a mob gently sneezes in his general direction.
Glad you got a laugh out of it, all the non-tank, non-pet class, non raid-geared melee aren't laughing. Tank mercs have been the definition of TERRIBAD since they were first designed, and they have continued to be TERRIBAD every single expansion since. A tank/melee/pet class gets more use out of a T1 apprentice healer merc than a raiding priest gets out of a J5 tank merc.
Our guild had a druid return recently after quitting the game like a decade ago, here he is level ~90 trying to do stuff with a tank merc and begging for help as to how to be able to do anything with it. The best answer the ENTIRE server community could offer was to either find a place to kite, or pick targets where he could tank using a healer merc. That's how bad tank mercs are.
This was my experience at 90. When I was with my enchanter and her cleric merc, it was mostly fine. As a druid you could not possibly keep up with the heals that a tank merc needed at 90 and kill the single blue con in less than 5 minutes.
No, it can't. It'd be lucky to survive 3 for 15 seconds w/ a single reactive healer. Yes, tank mercs are a joke. So is every merc. If you want to use a merc you'll have to do it in EOK or lower, that seems to be the design intention. It is no different with DPS mercs, they're a joke, too. A competent DPS player is doing 100kdps sustained, a merc does 20kdps. The same people who complain about boxing are the people who complain mercs suck, well, yes, they do suck, they're a completely automated Zero effort nanny team-mate.. If you made them anywhere near as effective as a player character no one would need to group with other people for anything. Make a friend or box a 2nd character. They're not going to change this.
