I think that introducing Cleric Mercenaries have helped to kill off group Clerics. I think that introducing Warrior Mercenaries have helped to kill off group Warriors. I think that Wizard Mercenaries have helped kill off group Wizards. I think Rogue Mercenaries have helped kill off group Rogues. It is hard now for these specific classes to get groups. I think that having Shamans in the game cast a 96% rez is wrong. It should be 90%. Druids aren't able to cast a 96% rez. What is going on? I am just curious here on why things are messed up .
Mercs are only better then Marginally skilled players... IE if a merc can replace you... you suck I think in general people are less apt to group outside of their clique/circle of friends due to not wanting to deal with 1) marginal players 2) The O i am going to join group for 15 minutes types and 3) people who don't have similar playstyles. Druids can 96% rez IIRC? its an AA i thought? However druids are getting a whole nother level of ****blocking from the devs, but thats another story for another thread.
With your line of thinking, shrouds helped kill off the low level group scene. And PoK port stones helped kill off any utility Wizards and Druids had with their ports. I still see a number of these classes grouping whenever I wander through a high traffic zone, like a hot zone. This kind of "sky is falling" statement should have been better said a few years ago when mercenaries were actually released. Not years later after the hate has died down substantially.
You should probably blame the moronic healers who actually believe a terribad merc could EVER replace a real healer. Same goes for rogue and wizard mercs -- both are completely devastated by real players. Tank mercs, eh idk here. Haven't been a group geared tank in almost a decade BUT I see a hell of a lot more "pet groups" than regular groups with a tank merc --- that being said, I also imagine a skilled group-geared tank would destroy a tank merc and possibly a pet. TLDR - Only terrible players live in fear of being replaced by mercenaries, mercs are not the problem here. Also, you're absolutely nuts if you think healers have trouble getting a group. It's the other way around, groups have trouble getting a (real) healer.
You have a point about cleric mercs helping to kill off the cleric class, unfortunately bad balance combined with raid events that repeatedly had them hiding behind walls did most of the damage. DPS mercs may be more powerful than you think they should be, that's a reasonably debate i guess but still relative to the person you discuss it with. Tank mercs are almost completely useless, they are still getting one rounded by light blue cons and require raid buffs and two healers minimum to be badly viable. Any melee or pet will replace a tank merc in a group. When i group with a shaman buddy he replaces the tank merc in group. They definitely need a huge(HUGE!) uptune to be considered viable, they presently wouldn't even replace a tank class 10 levels below you. Druids and shaman got the same rez its out of combat only and it still doesn't stop the group from asking those players to camp out for merc buffs when in an instance.
One can easily get a Journeyman V Merc. compare a starting out player with a J V merc. You will understand where Im coming from. THIS is what I mean. It is not that a player sucks. Any Class other then a Cleric should not offer a 96 % rez. It should be a class specific thing.
Understand about 80%-90% of the servers are now boxed so when you post something like this you will be attacked. Does not make your post any less valid...just saying. Anyway, you are right the game is officially hosed as far as MMO's go. What exists now is a single player game (grouping is extinct) with a server chat. SOE introduced mercs as a way to stop the bleeding of accounts during SoD. This strategy was a success, but it inadvertently changed the grouping/mmo paradigm. They tried to resolve the situation several times (i.e. awarding more experience to groups with real players), but their efforts failed . SOE has their accounts. The boxers have their independence. The paradigm has shifted. I don't think there is any going back.
Mercenaries are designed to fill the slot when you don't have that class or subtype in your group. I would take a real cleric over a mercenary cleric in a heartbeat. Same with a real tank or real DPS Don't blame boxers. I am one and I MUCH prefer a real player over a merc/box It's a population issue. I don't want to sit LFG. I wanna kill! Mercenaries help with that. But as soon as my friends/guildmates are on, or I see a random LFG Invite sent.
Ya, I understand that. But, a Cleric that is a ' Group Cleric ' that has zip for aa. You get a Jourmeyman V merc. Cleric and you see a big difference. I'm not talking High end.. I'm not talking 5k+ aa. or Raid. Same with a tank. rogue.. wiz. Mercs.
'Perhaps there would be a better place for you' why is that ? Cause you don't like what I typed ? Why that comment ?
Introducing cleric mercs killed off BAD clerics. Warrior mercs killed off BAD warriors. Wizard mercs killed off BAD Wizards. Rogue mercs killed off no one as the wiz merc already did that ;P However look at this from the flip side maybe? Why did SOE add mercs? Why was it for clerics and warriors, which lets face it are the two most common classes in EQ (mainly due to a *requirement* to stack loads of them in raids)? It's because they were extremely hard to find to group with. Whenever I tried forming a group prior to mercs I'd end up with a bunch of dps, maybe some utility, and be asking around for the healer and sometimes for a tank too. When I did sometimes get a cleric wanting to join, they'd often try to dictate where we went... "I'll join if we do X, Y or Z". That's a generalisation of course, but the pattern was there. Had more clerics deigned to group then mercs wouldn't have been a requirement. But they didn't so we have mercs now. I'm always happy to use a real cleric if they want to join, but mostly it's exactly the same - they don't.
I laugh at that a fully buffed tank merc has less ac/hp then my 2 necros (ones group geared ones raid geared) That and tank merc ai is idiotic and always goes after the rooted mobs instead of the unrooted ones unless i'm micromanageing them more then a pet(wtb /merc focus command) give me a warrior a knight mag/bst/nec pet(i wonder if a sk pet out tanks a tank merc too) or hell even a rog/monk/ranger over a tank merc anyday
I will admit, recently after CoTF, Warrior Mercenaries are weaker. Recently they need a lot more healing. There has been a lot of bugs lately on the Mercenaries. But, they were working pretty darn good before CoTF.
I think you greatly underestimate tank mercs, or you just exaggerate by a large margin. I use one very often, in current content, with just myself as healer, and they certainly wouldn't be replaced by a 10-levels-lower tank, unless you're already 10 levels over level for the content. And they'll still be better than the lower tank, just not needed. That said, I think the OP underestimates a tank who knows what they are doing. If your equal-level tank can't outdo a tank merc, it's most likely because they went purely for level and didn't grab core AAs and upgrades while leveling, IMO. Even a real player who does require more healing is preferable to a tank merc. If they're paying any attention at all, they're reacting more appropriately to the game than the merc is. I believe the intent was that these servers don't have any of the issues you're complaining about, and you would have more fun playing on them. The shaman/druid rezz AAs are restricted. They are only usable out-of-combat, and they have a longer cast/recast than cleric rezzes. Your clerics are in no danger of being obsoleted because of these. *puts away his box of trolly snacks*
Whose fault would it be that the cleric has "zip for aa"? Same for tank, rogue, wizard. A Journeyman V mercenary isn't available until level 75 at the minimum. If a "Group Cleric" hasn't bothered to at least get the important and necessary AA's by that level, why blame it on anything other than the player of said cleric? When one considers the considerable bonus to earning AA's below 4000, there really isn't any valid excuse for a level 75 "Group Cleric" to have "zip for aa".
It is a level 100 AA called Rejuvenation of Spirit. Clerics and Warriors kept asking for and getting power increases instead of utility. This fulfilled the goal of being the best there is at what they do, and consequently pigeonholed them into the niche of raid classes. The other healers and tanks were tuned to be able to fulfill their roles in the group game (or the group content was tuned to them). Clerics and warriors pretty much disappeared from the group game, causing a vacuum that mercs were created to fill. People began creating the other classes for their utility in the group game as the power tanks and power healers were no longer needed.
As someone said earlier, mercs killed off bad players. As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. To the person who said tank mercs are worthless - no clue what you're talking about. I use a tank merc AND cleric merc in current content and do fine. If it is a named mob, then I'm probably patch healing with my Druid but that's it. This is without full raid buffs as well - usually just Cleric, Ench, and a DS from someone. Tank mercs are also the best for picking up mobs on a charm break. Most players cannot rival the immediate reflex of a tank merc in that situation. Have you tried current content with a group geared tank? They often get pummeled, the same or more as a tank merc. Sure, the gap widens as players get better gear and more AA, but to say it's not viable with a tank merc is just not true. I'm happy mercs were added, it makes my life easier. If they weren't, I'd survive just like I did before they existed. However, I think the addition of mercs encouraged many people to continue playing as it accommodated a lot of different play styles; it also makes content more accessible in a reasonable amount of time. I only think lower level mercs <Lv. 60 could be considered "overpowered". However, I don't really see that as an issue because the lower level game is so devoid of players that there is no good reason not to be able to get Lv. 60+ quickly.
