In the past I've 4 boxed and used a warrior tank. I'm about to start RoF group progression and I want to simplify and just 3 box with a merc tank. I will have one merc cleric and my boxed shaman for heals. How well are the merc tanks holding up in RoF group content? I'd like to know if I'll want to gouge my eyes out, especially for named mobs and group missions.
Nearly worthless. They don't get disc, you can't control them, they have horrid hp and mitigation. Even for just killing trash in a exp zone they are really poor as they are dumb. Use a mage pet, Pal, or SK. Warriors are way under powered for tanking and dps compared to knights but it can be done if you like farming gear and begging for rots.
Merc tanks are badly made - the red headed step children of mercs, so to speak. Merc healers and casters are on par with well geared, but average skill players. Merc tanks? Badly geared and terrible players. Players tank are a requirement to fully complete RoF. Mage and BST pets are capable of taking you to the end, but won't cross the finish line due to mechanics that actively punish pet tanking in a couple of the missions and rares.
Actually, they do get discs. The problem for me is, they have a tendency to blow them every time the timer is up. (Seriously, why is my merc using defensive type discs at 96% hp?) As to controlling them, that's a bit more of an issue, but it can be done... to an extent. I'll take an *intelligent* player over a merc any day, but tank mercs are usable. We've made it through all the T1 partisans and group missions, and most of T2 (working Chapter House and planning Xorbb next) and we've used a tank merc all the way. As long as you have the puller and main assist settings right, you can usually make it work. (Grelleth 2 takes a little more baby-sitting, having to juggle them between assist and passive to keep them off the boss, while keeping an MA on the adds at all times.) The biggest issue with tank mercs is when they take a coffee break. Just stop doing anything, for no reason at all. (But all mercs do this, so that's not a tank issue.) Edit: Don't expect to use Root for CC, either, unless it's your puller who is doing the rooting. Even with an MA set, the merc will freak out on rooted mobs.
Merc tanks are pretty bad for missions but it's doable if you micromanage them. I've had no problem killing nameds in t1-3 with them and a cleric merc as main healer. Damage can be a bit spiky, and I usually heal with my shaman as well, but theyre more than adequate to get the job done.
Don't mark them as tank and they will only hit what the MA is hitting. Mark them as tank and they will break mezz, root and totally screw up any type of CC you attempt.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I have been using the merc tank to level my bard/nec/shm through VoA and have experienced all of the annoyances mentioned. Based on the feedback I'm going to give it a go, I'm willing to deal with a tedious mission or two if it means simplifying my box crew. Who knows, maybe I'll find a tank friend some day ) As far as control, I've found keeping the merc on assist stance, with auto assist off, and using /mercassist works fine to control them. My main being a bard makes is much more simple for control as I rarely pull more than 1 mob, and if I get into one on the aggro list that is too far away and freaks the merc out, I just memwipe it. As mentioned the biggest problem is on occasion they just do nothing and let me die, my healer merc does that also. The disc usage is also annoying, there is no way to control when they disc, and no way to know if they are available (unless you closely monitor the logs each time they use discs).
Merc tanks are fine for most of the named except a few, and some of the missions. But anything that requires the tank to do more than just tanking (e.g. assorted raid mechanics in story missions) makes mercs a liability. So it's fine to use merc tank for grinding/farming, but better group with some real people for the missions.
