[Just to be clear, I'm referring to a buffs on the merc of a shrouded character. I'm not referring to a high-level merc which is unsuspended after a character shrouds down and the merc loses all its high-level buffs.] If I shroud down, get a merc, and buff the merc with both shroud AA buffs and normal buffs from normal characters, the merc will lose the buffs from the normal characters upon zoning. The shrouded character will keep all the buffs. But after zoning, the merc will lose the normal buffs and only have the buffs that the shrouded character cast from the shroud AAs. For example: Level 10 shroud with merc in PoK. Shroud casts "Wild Speed" (shroud AA ability for SoW) on both self and merc. Druid casts lvl 19 Endure Disease and lvl 7 Strength of Earth on both shroud and merc. Zone into The Nexus. Shrouded character still has both Druid buffs, but they are removed from merc. Messages appear in the chat window saying the buffs have worn off the merc. The merc only has the SoW buff from the "Wild Speed" from the shroud AA. I've also tried suspending the merc before zoning, but the buffs are removed when the merc is unsuspended. The same with camping and logging back in. It seems any time when the merc is reloaded while the main character is shrouded causes buffs from other people to be removed. It seems like the only buffs which stay on the merc through zoning are those which are cast from its shrouded owner. This seems like a bug or unintended behavior. If the mercs aren't supposed to have non-shroud buffs, then it seems like they shouldn't stick in the first place. Having them land and then drop upon zoning doesn't seem like planned behavior. I've looked around the web for people talking about this behavior, but I can't find any mention of it. I would have thought if this is the way buffs work on shrouded mercs, there would have been some mention of it in the various EQ discussions. I know that shrouds aren't used all that much anymore, but this buff behavior on mercs greatly limits the usefulness of shrouds.
This - shroud down, get some plat out the bank, unsuspend merc, use my other toons (chanter / mage) to buff the merc. Zone from PoK to PoTranquility, merc's buffs are gone. Shrouds are poor enough substitutes as it is, at least let their Mercs keep their buffs
This whole penalizing players has gone to far if mercs can't be buffed while trying to do things shrouded. There are some things I have been considering doing while shrouded like the Heroes Journey. It even seems punitive if you buff a merc after unsuspending it after shrouding and then zoning.
This did not used to happen. It is a bug. Whether or not the Devs know about it or are even concerned though, anyone's guess.
Thanks for that info. I was wondering if this is how it has always worked or not. I wasn't around when mercs were first released. I'm thinking this change may have happened when the merc levels were compressed to just Apprentice and Journeyman. Perhaps when there were all the various merc levels, there was some code which made sure the buffs stayed on the mercs when the player was shrouded. I tried a test with both A and J mercs, but the buffs are removed no matter which merc version I have.
Bumping this with the hopes that it can be fixed along with the problem of mercs losing their buffs upon leveling: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/mercs-losing-buffs-when-they-level.294879
