Really, I think they should expand mercenary gear. They currently have 4 slots. Shoulder, Waist, Ear, Neck Make them have as many item slots as players do. Give them every slot but Charm/Ammo. Bringing them up from 4 to 20 slots. If we assume in their additional 16 slots they will have Merc armor options available equivalent to the existing armor that’s another 16*6000 HP or another 96,000 HP and quite a bit more heroics so that maybe they can not get hit every single swing. This way you have to put a decent amount of time into your mercenary to get it up to moderate power levels. I also agree an Expert tier of mercenaries probably deserves to be made.
Excellent idea Darchon. The problem is that it would require the Devs to work on the product. It might be easier for them to just calculate the stats gear would provide and add appropriately to base stats. My opinion is that this problem will continue to to ignored because someone in power has decided mercs aren't needed any longer. It's easier and less time consuming to do nothing.
They need to go to rethink the way Merc AAs are obtained. They’re ridiculously slow and it’s counterproductive to only earn them with the Merc out.
I'm not a fan of mercs, rarely use them, but definitely agree they need to be tuned properly. It's beyond pathetic that they do 30k dps in TBL still. It's been like that for years. At minimum they should do half of what a normal low-tier DPS class can do sustained (60-75k). I'm pretty sure my riposte DPS outclasses my merc.
I think by design they keep them weak enough to promote more boxing which increases profits but I agree they have become outdated which in turn will force some players away and hurt the bottom line. As mention more or better merc gear, more AA's and maybe even a way to convert player AA's into merc AA's might be a good idea. Say an ability to convert 100 player AA's into 1 merc AA as an example might be good. As much as I think the entire merc AI needs an overhaul I also understand this would probably be a huge project that the team would not have time for but some basic stat adjustments to current merc gear might be enough to make them relevant especially for all access accounts that are paying for these upgraded models that only seem to be falling further behind the curve making that all access package not seem so appealing to some. It really doesn't matter if you like mercs or not what matters most is player retention so all of us can enjoy the game and if making mercs relevant is going to keep those dependent on them here it should certainly be of high priority to make it happen.
I can't speak for anyone else, but this is exactly what happens to me. I have 3 accounts of characters that I 3 box, and I hit this wall every time, and unsub. I come back to EQ every year or 2, and give it another go, and always end up at the same conclusion. I really wish they would make the "leveling" portion of the game, feel like the game feels at about level 60. The timing of fights, the speed at which damage is dealt out, both to you and from you, the time it takes to cast a heal vs the time it takes to die, is all really really good at about level 60-70. That's when the game "feels" like EQ to me. After that, it's a slow slide into blink and you're dead, which for leveling is really off putting combined with how long it takes, and how many fights you have to slog through. The slog of it all is one thing, but when every fight is 'I wonder if the tank merc is going to live through this', it's just too much to worry about to ever settle into the kind of grind you need to do. I'm all for tough content, I've played off and on since release, but there are times I just want to grind out some levels without having to pay so much attention to every single pull. This game is so enjoyable and even relaxing to play in the 60s and before, but after that, it just becomes more trouble than it's worth.
I have seen many people, in game, do exactly this. Many more than purchase additional all access accounts to box. The result is less of a player base and lower revenues. This is very obvious, to anyone looking, except a DBG employee who does not wish to see it, because it does not support the idea of EQ they personally have. I see things like this occurring in life over and over, where people ignore the obvious if it does not fit their narrative. Then they go compile a bunch of data that supports what they want, and summit it to others as reasons why this should not be done. Again ignoring the obvious, until they eventually fail, then blame others for the happening.. In this case it contributes to the decline of the game in my opinion. I do not want the game to be easier, just to be able to use a feature that is currently broken. I also love EQ and want it to stay around. “Light only benefits one whose eyes are open.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo
Merc stats scale differently from the players. The devs should know better what needs to be done with the gear. As long as something is done. As it stands right now, the tank merc is completely unable to perform its one and only job in TBL. A large part of the issue is the jump in mob difficulty in Stratos compared to the RoS zones. You start hunting in this zone when you and your merc are still wearing RoS items (that's EoK items for mercs). You must be able to kill rares in TBL T1 without any TBL gear in order to acquire it. Perhaps they need to upgrade the base stats on lv 110 mercs.
My simplistic response was more tongue-in-cheek than serious suggestion. Players have been asking for merc upgrades for nearly half a decade. It's not going to happen.
I don't think that is true. I am fairly certain they did get some tuning upgrades when level increase went to 110. I could be wrong though.
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...e-notes-february-15-2017.238466/#post-3507344 I believe this was just after EoK launch !! Nov 16, 2016 patch was in Febuary 2017 *** Mercenaries *** - Mercenary equipment has been simplified and improved: - - All existing pieces of mercenary equipment (excluding the Vestments of the Forsaken) are now 'Faded' items that can be converted to newer equivalent level and archetype items. - - Vendors that sell mercenary equipment now sell the newer items. - - The stats for all levels of mercenary equipment have been improved significantly. - - There are now four archetypes of mercenary equipment corresponding to each of the four mercenary types: Defender, Soother, Assassin, and Sorcerer. - - Mercenary equipment slots have been changed from head, chest, primary, and secondary to ear, neck, shoulder, and waist in order to correct a bug that would cause melee DPS and tank mercenaries to become less effective when wielding primary/secondary equipment. - - Two new sets of mercenary equipment have been created for Empires of Kunark. One set can be purchased for Sathir Trade Gems in Lceanium while the other set can be obtained as rare drops from basepop and rare creatures. - Level 100+ mercenaries have had their base stats improved: - - Increased the total HP and evasion of tank mercenaries - - Increased the evasion of healer mercenaries - - Increased the evasion, offense, and HP of melee damage mercenaries - - Increased the evasion of spell damage mercenaries - Identified and corrected an error with melee damage mercenaries that caused them to delete their innate haste item. - Healer and damage caster mercenaries will now update their target when casting spells. This corrects an issue where casting target-of-target type spells would not resolve correctly when targeting a mercenary. - Added an innate defensive effect that reduces incoming melee damage to Journeyman mercenaries. This effect will increase in power with each tier. - Additional ranks of Mercenary Alternate Advancement abilities have been added for levels 101-105. Additionally, the following Mercenary Alternate Advancement abilities have been improved: - - Increased the effectiveness of Furious Wrath from 1% to 2% per rank - - Increased the effectiveness of Subtle Magic from 2% to 3% per rank afaik mercs have not had an update in 2 expansions now ..
4 armors slots for mercs , would be easy to make the armor at 15,000 hp ( or 20 k) each instead of 6000. and tank merc way better ac than what they have atm for gears. that's as well . seem to be easy to do and not time consuming for the dev's .
The 2017 update Zamiam quoted left out the massive nerf in merc mitigation if I remember correctly. Don't they have like 3k AC at most these days? I was in a group that tried a tank merc in Empyr yesterday, with hilarious results. He lasted about as long as an orc pawn would last against a level 110. Our wizard (not a merc) was a far better tank, which isn't to say that he was a good tank.
I agree. Mercs are terrible right now. It's a joke that they are getting one rounded and have so little effectiveness with their abilities anymore. I don't see why it would be such a hard fix to make them useful again either. 1. Give all level 110 mercs an extra base 60K HP and 40K mana. 2. Give level 110 tank mercs an extra 500 AC (or extra 25% damage mitigation). 3. Improve casting damage and melee damage by 100% on level 110 caster and melee dps mercs. 4. Reduce hate generation by 50% on level 110 caster and melee dps mercs. 5. Improve healing effectiveness by 50% for level 110 healer mercs. 6. Bonus: Reduce the amount of experience needed to get an AA on a merc by 70% for all levels. No need to mess with merc AI. No need to create new gear / gear slots. Just some simple changes to mercenary base abilities when they hit level 110. If it's not possible to easily give those stats to level 110 mercs without giving them to lower levels mercs, then make a new training level for level 110+ mercs (expert level). That even gives room for more quests or just simple plat sinks for people who want to buy the upgraded mercs.
You know what they say... be careful what you ask for! I would prefer that mercs scale appropriately with level and era.
I think that they can uptune Mercs a bit without effecting the group game in EQ. It is what many want. I guess the question is why have Mercenary Gear, Mercenary AA, and Mercenary Levels if they die in 1 or 2 hits. It makes no sense to me.
Every expansion should have a new merc quest which powers them up. EQ2 has rare merc spawns throughout the world which, if you can find one, grant the ability to hire an epic merc. They cost much more to hire, but they are so much more powerful that they are worth paying it.
