Is my merc brain damaged?

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Velisaris_MS, Jul 24, 2015.

  1. Velisaris_MS Augur

    Here's the situation: I'm boxing my druid and ranger together (both are lvl 83). The druid has a tank merc, and the ranger has a healer merc. The healer merc does the same thing on every pull - cast the current level delayed heal, cast the current level heal over time, and then promptly sit there through the entire fight repeatedly casting the current level group heal spell, over and over again. Every once in a while, it might throw in the current level light spell. I'm only fighting one mob at a time, so only the tank merc is taking any real damage, yet the healer merc keeps casting the group heal spell.

    I've tried blocking the delayed heal, HoT, and group heal spells. Both my druid and ranger have those spells blocked on themselves as well as pets. I've tried blocking both the regular spell versions and the rank 2 spell versions. I've tried all the stances - balanced, efficient, and reactive. These are journeyman 1 mercs. Even though I've blocked those spells, the merc keeps gleefully casting them constantly.

    Is there something else to try to get the healer merc to actually heal, as opposed to cast spells that do nothing but get the tank killed on a regular basis? I'm not even fighting mobs well above my level - even con mobs at most. Is my merc brain damaged or just flat out broken?
  2. Thash Zoner

    They've been doing this for years, mine did just the other day. Only using group heals. It's not a very persistent problem, as far as I can tell. Zoning, camping, resummoning the merc - one or more of those should take care of it.
  3. Endless Augur

    Did you block complete heal as well? That's a 7500hp heal that takes 10 seconds to cast. I don't know about the content you're doing and your gearing, but for me, waiting on a 10 second heal is not going to work. Especially when it's only for 7500 before foci crits and whatever.

    Make a hotkey for when you're just boxing, moloing or any dependency on a merc healer;

    /blockspell add me 13 18272 18254

    That will block complete heal, promised heal and HoT. This is for lvl105, not sure about lower level, but 13 is for complete heal.

    And another hotkey when you're in a group or raid with a real cleric

    /blockspell remove me 13 18272 18254

    This of course removes the block from those spells so a real live cleric using proper judgment can land those spells on you.
    Motherlee likes this.
  4. Iila Augur

    Mercs no longer cast CHeal above a certain level, like 85ish. There's no need to use a block slot on it.

    The OP's problem is that his dumb merc healer is healing a tank merc. And you can't block spells for your mercs. Maybe upgrading to a J5 merc at 85 will help, but mercs wasting time and being awful by casting Promised and Elixer spells just comes with using mercs.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  5. Bigstomp Augur

    Mercs are designed to fill ONE slot in a group. Can't find a healer, you can pull one out. Can't find a tank, you can pull one out.
    They're not designed to fill 2 spots in a group.

    Swap one merc for a dps merc, and just heal on the druid. Alternatively (this plan will be viable for a shorter time period) tank on the ranger.
    Iila likes this.
  6. Motherlee Augur

    I say the mercwars are not taunting as well as they did in June. Guildies say I'm imagining it but they're not playing wizards.
  7. Velisaris_MS Augur

    Thash: Thanks. Resummoning the merc seems to have stopped it using the group heal.

    Endless: Yes, I have complete heal blocked as well. However, I think the merc stopped using it a few levels ago.

    lila: The merc is still casting the blocked spells on my characters, not just the tank merc, which is why I'm wondering if something is broken.

    Bigstomp: I'm doing DA HAs with the 2 toon/2 merc group. I started doing them when both toons were level 81 and had no issue with the healer merc. At level 82, it was healing fine. It's only been in the last week or so since both characters hit 83 that the merc has gone completely stupid, which makes me wonder if this is just the way the mercs are or if there is something broken.
  8. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    If you gave your mercenary gear, this could be why: Mercenary gear lowers merc effectiveness
    Motherlee likes this.
  9. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    Really? Where was this stated?

    Even if that is so, I don't see that as a good reason for poor healing. If only one group member is taking damage, the merc should not be casing group heals. Not only does that heal poorly (group heal does not heal as much as single cast), it takes more mana and is usually slower casting.

    I think the OP should document this healing with some logging and pass on the information to the Devs. It sounds like perhaps the merc script is not working as intended.
    Xianzu_Monk_Tunare likes this.
  10. Motherlee Augur

    I didn't give them gear but that is really interesting, Fanra. Thanks.
  11. Aghinem Augur

  12. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    As it says by following the link:
    So your healer merc should be fine with gear, this does not affect healer (cleric) mercs.
    Motherlee likes this.
  13. Velisaris_MS Augur

    I think I will start logging it because something has to be wrong. The healer merc, on every fight now, casts the delayed heal, the HoT, and then spams the group heal. That's it. It's not even remotely tyring to cast a direct heal spell now. Re-summoning, logging, or zoning doesn't seem to fix it now.

    I have the merc messages filtered to a separate window so I can watch it during fights, and it's just row after row of the group heal message. Like I said, this only started happening after the toon that has the healer merc hit 83 (maybe that's when it gets a new group heal or something). Prior to that, it was healing fine. I almost never had to patch heal with my druid.
  14. Crystilla Augur

    Forgive me, I forgot which J version you have. Do you have different settings like balanced, reactive, efficient? Each setting offers a different set of spells that the merc can access. Switching settings may also help.

    Also, I'm betting you don't but there is still a bit of a random bug with cleric mercs that if you have another cleric player in group with their auras up, the auras for some reason can bug the cleric merc to chain group heals over and over.
    Motherlee likes this.
  15. Velisaris_MS Augur

    It's a J1 merc, and I've tried every setting - balanced, efficient, and reactive. It doesn't matter, it still just spams the group heal AND will cast the blocked spells on the characters as well as the tank merc. It will even randomly cast the delayed heal on a group member between fights.

    And there are no other clerics in the group or even any auras running.