Well, data points, I guess. I'm a 107 druid mostly playing molo with my tank merc, and can make decent progress. Currently in RoF, getting all kinds of old progression quests done, I can safely take on 4 light blues (it's challenging, but rarely not doable), or 2-3 dark blues. CotF, about the same. In TDS, 2 mobs at a time is doable (dark blues). Haven't done much with the merc in EoK or RoS (well, at all in RoS). I have a decent amount of merc AAs (not all, but most), and the dropped merc gear (extravagant?). There are other factors which can certainly come into play. The char's AAs (Healing Adept, Healing Gift, Abundant Healing, etc). Liberal use of big hit DSs (can be applied before engaging, but cast quickly anyway), using DoTs for damage, so you can mostly concentrate on healing, making sure to change to mob as a target every time storm strike/banestrike is up, keeping Reptile up on the merc. Also, with adds, make sure to get the mobs all in front of the merc. That's a huge tip. Everyone knows, they're not as good as player tanks, but seriously, for light blues and low dark blues (at least through 107, I can't speak to higher levels yet), they're perfectly usable. Getting one rounded by 2 light blues? There's something else going on there to mess things up. Tat
Did your healer merc cast any buffs? Then it was more useful x N to the Nth power than any tank merc. The fact that a DPS merc is doing any DPS at all makes them N to the Nth power more useful than any tank merc. Those two mercs are useful, the tank merc is not. You saying that those mercs are bad at performing on their roles is the reason for tank mercs requiring 3 healers to still get one rounded most of the time to trash is not useful input. Healer mercs useful. DPS mercs useful. Tank mercs useless.
So while every tank,melee and pet class can do things in RoS with their current level healer mercs. You are satisfied that your current level tank merc is "challengingly useful" in level 100 content. Counterpoint taken, LOL
Easy, son. No need to go full Panda on me. My Earth pet survived 8 spiders. It's true. I didn't record it, though. So I guess I'm lying. I have plenty of friends. But not all of them are online. I look for people to join my group, no one responds. So I'm stuck sometimes with my "completely automated Zero effort nanny team-mate." which is completely worthless. I'm not worried though. There are plenty of wise() people willing to dole out their brand of pear-shaped wisdom for free. There's hope for complainers like me yet.
Here's a new video, from today, of me taking out a giant in Lcea without any issues with a tank merc, on just my druid (2 pieces of TBM raid, rest is EoK/RoS group gear). Don't laugh, I don't ever molo/solo with this toon. OK, you can laugh at the part where I kept trying to send my mana pet to attack the mob I spent more time trying to remember how to use Blender than anything else! I'll try an RoS mob next. https://youtu.be/Eldh7XzcxdA Youtube hasn't finished processing it, so you might need to manually increase the resolution. EDIT: Here's the parse (I think I was too far away to get most of the merc's dps, but it was probably negligible anyhow). Note that I didn't use any burns and, as you saw, I was far from stellar : A mountain giant craig in 388s, 9670k @24923sdps --- Siderius + pets 9659k@24894sdps (24894dps in 388s) [99.88%] --- A clockwork defender CXCIX 11k@29sdps (5595dps in 2s) [0.12%]
Tank mercs need a boost, but to say they are completely worthless doesn't make it any easier to get a tuning pass. It's like the story of the gnome who cried troll. Keep telling lies and no one will believe you when you tell the truth.
That is pretty good, you and your tank merc were able to handle one blue con from 5 levels ago and it only took you 6 and a half minutes and half your mana. A group geared 105 paladin could of done it faster and had more mana left over without using any merc.
Almost all the people that cried troll quit the game or main changed long ago, during SoD, when mercs came out. Every melee in the game molo'd their way to Discord while every priest was being chain-trained by their tank mercs in Oceangreen. I know that's when many of us retired our clerics. When you run into groups of people on your adventures in RoS just stop and take note, are they a tank/melee/pet class with a healer merc?.Are they a priest class/wizard/utility with a tank merc? Divide a paper in half and count em up. One side will be solidly colored in a week from all the checkmarks, the other will be blank. But we must be imagining that right? Everyone has a better option to fill the group than a tank merc right? That must be why you never see them. Would you like to buy a bridge?
It’s not if you can, it whether or not it’s worthwhile to. My rogue has more survivability than tank mercs and does significantly mor deeps. Why would I waste time with a tank merc?
The subject (your subject, which I replied to) was a level 90 druid, so no idea where you got RoS? Please pay attention. And I never said anything about "satisfied". Reading comprehension I simply provided another data point refuting 2 light blues one-shotting a merc tank.
OK - truth time! So I went to Skyfire to test out my tank merc in RoS. First thing I did was levitate over the city wall and accidentally aggro a feaster (just like I do in the video below). My merc never engaged the mob (STUPID MERCS!) and I was dead before I even got my foot into my mouth. The video below is my rematch. Self-buffed, clarity pot, and I start off accidentally aggroing the same damn feaster. But this time my merc engaged: Yes, the merc did die before the fight was over. And for a little bit, I felt like Batman on a dock with a bomb and some ducks. I'm glad my dots killed him off before I had to come up with a real plan But I think it's pretty clear that the merc (and I) were doing fine until I stopped paying attention to his health and started looking at popping burns for fun. I'm not a very good healer for that very reason There is no denying that the mobs in RoS hit very hard and the tank merc was pretty spikey. But there's also no denying that a single real healer shouldn't have any problem at all keeping them alive, especially if that's all they are doing. And I absolutely believe it would be very frustrating (nigh impossible) if you had to rely on merc healers AND a merc tank with such fast- & hard-hitting mobs. Parse: A bottomless gnawer in 191s, 7329k @38370sdps --- Siderius 6542k@34249sdps (34796dps in 188s) [89.26%] --- A clockwork defender CXCIX 787k@4121sdps (5918dps in 133s) [10.74%]
But he also didn't get one-shot, so on the spectrum of truth and lies, you're the one who's closer to "liar".
I think you both miss the point of this thread. If you can solo without a tank merc, why would you ever use one (instead of DPS or healer)? You both just stated that tank mercs aren't even necessary at all for those classes, so what are you complaining about? PS: How fast does your 6-man, real-player group kill mobs with 10-11 million hitpoints? And then think about how fast you think you should be able to kill those mobs when you are alone.
Exaggerations help no one. Tank mercenaries when they were first introduced were strong, and completely ridiculous at lower levels. Do you know how bad player tanks, without raid equipment, are at lower levels? With full intricate defiant, a level 60 warrior has maybe 9,000 or so health after cleric. The tank mercenary has 12,000 at the same level, almost twice the amount of armor, and five times the amount of regeneration. Right now, there is no reason to play a player tank at levels lower than 70 or so, none what so ever, because even with how powerful defiant equipment is, the tank mercenary is STILL much better. Where this all changes is around level 70, when player equipment suddenly takes a large jump in power. Through the next 40 levels, player power increases every level and every expansion relative to mercenary tanks, until at last we have a situation in which they are little more than garbage. Yes, you can use them, but almost any other option is better. The question is: where should tank mercenaries be, ultimately? I think the best answer to that question is that they should be around where they were, when they were first introduced - level 80 to 85.
You implied RoS when you said you were level 107, which means your tank merc is level 107. The problem is that you aren't able to use it in 107 content. In your own words you find it a challenge in level 100 content. This is the problem.
Haven't tried it in RoS, so no idea if I can or I can't. When I'm in RoS, I'm with a group of friends, so no need for the merc. You keep assuming a lot you don't know. And being wrong. And, a challenge in level 100 content is debatable, when i can handle 4 pulls, and almost never have 4 pulls. So, yeah, I guess that's a challenge, kinda. And, of course, the only real story here is a claim (which you made) that at non-max levels, against older content, the tank merc gets one-shotted regularly, by low blue and light blue mobs. THAT'S the claim being disputed. And refuted. So, there is that.
I use one in RoS with a merc healer, Skyfire to be specific. I am not sure if the fact that I run a bard and shaman makes the difference or not though. I will have to try it out sometime with them.
