No mercs don't need full raid buffs. If your healer merc is dying with basic buffs then... The problem isn't the merc. If your DPS merc is dying then again... The problem is you and you shouldn't have them on burn. If your using a tank merc.... And your 120... The problem is you because that merc is only good early on. People don't need to flood the GL with 40 mercs and 40 familiars, etc etc an then pack themselves into a small spot.
I'm gonna go the opposite direction and suggest MGB/TB should be DISabled in these zones. It only reinforces the afk/buffbegging behavior. Add a buffing NPC already.
Dunno about this one - lots of players say that the tank merc is no good after level 60. I have not found that at all. My 120 tank merc does quite well in NOS. But he does have a 120 healer merc to keep him going. Lacking any good buffs really, most are below his level. So not top of the line. I think its sufficient to say that we all play different and one players feelings or methods will seldom match another's. Doesn't make it a law or something that needs to be changed in the game to suit a few. There are many of us that get zero lag in the lobby. And are on older computers or on slow connections. Personally, I feel bards singing in there really lags me down visually (too much going on) but hey, its not that big of a deal. Someone has been standing in front of the magus with their merc on top of the magus but whatever, I can go around. Look for ways to help yourself, let the little things go and have fun. If your playing the game and stressing this much then the problem might be you.
I'm surprised people aren't taking advantage of the multiple ways to cut down on rendering lag in game. If you're still having lag after the below, then you probably need to upgrade your PC. ALT O General > Hide Players > AFK In Non-Combat Zones General > Hide Pets > AFK In Non-Combat Zones General > Hide Mercenaries > AFK In Non-Combat Zones Display > Particles > Spell > On For: Group + NPC Display > Particles > Env > Density: Low Display > Particles > Player > On For: Group + NPC Display > LOD Bias > Normal or lower Display > Far Clip Plane > adjust it down to where your comfortable seeing in front of you Display > Advanced > Turn off Shadows (you take a huge fps drop when you turn this on even if you have a monster video card) Display > Advanced > Actor Clip Plane > turn this down low to where you just see players/npcs render not far from you, you don't need to see everything 10 miles down the road unless you need to see something very far out in a combat zone. Display > Advanced > Max Frames Per Second > 60 (you really can't tell past this point how many frames per second you're getting but this is a very fluid amount if your video car isn't a potato) Display > Advanced > Max Background FPS > This is something boxers use so other clients on the same system don't lag out while alt tabbing between clients. You know, the lag when you have boxes on auto follow and then they stop following.
Spell effects actually run pretty light in my experience. The biggest performance boost I get comes from using classic models. Unfortunately it's all the later-added tack-on eyesores (weapon models, illusions, familiars, mounts, nimbus, HF etc) that you can't disable which cause the majority of the pain. Also, graphic slowdown and lag are two different things entirely. 100afk's in PoK cause significant lag whether they're displayed or not. Most monitors only support 60hz. That said, probably decent advice since most folks who have high refresh monitors know what they're doing.
1 - This only works when people actually go AFK, have auto AFK set, etc. 2 - "invisible" players still cause collision. You still bump over/through them or just get stuck in general going from the Throne portal spot to the GH doors. You still bump into players around the small bank that are AFK.
