I came back to EQ2 a couple of months ago & am now at 115 & since I hit 115, my Merc is cowering with fear when we are killing groups. He starts fighting when the group is whittled away until two remain & then he flexes his muscles like he 'should'/used to. I am using Jennis Proudhilt (paladin) & he has been trained up to Rank 8 & has armor from the Dragon PQ's & accolades. Is there any point in getting a different one? As I have seen many posts saying Merc's are useless at 120. I am not flush enough with plat to be able to afford an Elite Merc. I am a Mystic. Also, the buffs I cast on him show "Out of Range" on the maintained spells window. Is that Normal? Would appreciate any feedback please....
Check inside the Myrist Library - the Prophet Portal gallery - you can hire Firiona Vie as a mercenary (she's a paladin). This might not fix the cowering issue until she's leveled up, but it may be an upgrade in terms of how mercs are classified (based on expansion) If your account is an old one, there's a mercenary that's rewarded in your /claim (8 years?) - a paladin and shadowknight. Another feature to look into is the Mercenary Battalion buff that you get for having your merc in the "able to hire anywhere" catagory. It is an unlock that you have to pay for with Daybreak Bucks. After unlocking, your mercenary will provide you with a character buff that adds some fervor / ability mod / etc (player stats) - after they're level 5. A little pay for power scheme here, but for the 2.00 or so, its kinda worth having the extra 10 fervor or whatever. If you're hoping to box a couple characters, and use a mercenary as your main tank, you might be a little disappointed. The cowering "feature" somewhat limits how much you can pull - and what types of mobs you can pull (i.e. old raid zones). Newer / higher tier mercs seem to work a little better, but you're not going to be able to pull a whole room of mobs and expect the merc to tank them all and hold aggro effectively. 2 or 3 vs your merc is the norm. Lastly, don't forget to toss some gear on your merc. They'll accept any of your old hand-me-downs, or there are merc specific gear(s) available for 'em. You can also reforge a little hate gain in a piece of armor to help - maybe? I've never really paid much attention if that even works. If I happen to use my warden, I'll test it out with Serter (he's a dropped tank merc from..chaos descending) and report back.
Ok here's some news. This is Serter, Rage of Solusek, fully leveled up to 20, using the armor from the freebie box in the Blinding, and 12 of the crafted 150 resolve accolades. Reforged some of the accolades to increase: Hate gain Flurry Multiattack AE Autoattack (strikethrough and accuracy, even though it doesn't show up as a merc stat) I can drag him behind me and not catch any aggro. He'll solo Overland names, but it takes a lil while since his dps is lacking (about 60m dps vs. Stonehand - named in the Wracklands) ..so, there's hope!
WOW, thank you for going to so much trouble in replying to me! Absolutely appreciated Hubby & I have been soling & duoing since we returned, & are in our old Guild, which comprises of 2 members & their alts. So unfortunately Serter is out of reach for now. We started when the dragon events were on & have geared up our Mercs with the amor & accolades we collected then. We are so far behind the 8 ball with our knowledge, basically we are constantly learning new stuff & I guess now we will have to look into reforging next & see if it's doable. Once again, thank you for your kindness Zeddicious!
Have you guys tried Evania for a merc? I've used her for several expansions now and she is still great. You can get her from doing the panda quest, and she's located in Nye Celonia (sp) Also Zergus (sp again) from the upgraded Zek zone is pretty good too. Evania does pretty decent fighting and healing I haven't had any issues with her at all.
It doesn't actually matter much which mercenary you use. The mercenary will match YOUR level. How good a merc's stats are is pretty dependent on training the merc all the way up, then equipping the merc with good, current tier armor. How well would YOU be doing vs. that mob if you were dressed in level 110 gear? Overland and Solo content ignores Resolve, so look at the other stats. Ideally, you will gear your merc with stuff that's as good as your own. Mercs are NOT limited to MERC-ONLY gear, either, they can wear anything, so put 'em in the best plate you don't use for yourself.
Thank You to all that have replied !!! Thank You Sigrdifa for your great advice. I will definitely look into my stats & armor. My current merc has had so much training, so if my adjusted stats doesn't limit the merc's panic attacks, I will give Evania a try Breanna. Thank you for your suggestion. & Geroblue, I completely agree with you
