We are seeing more and more random instances of where healer mercs are simply not healing, even when they have line of sight. They'll be acting fine for one encounter, and then for the next they just stand there beside you (fully in range, and in line of sight) and don't heal at all. They instead watch you die and don't bother to rez you. This has been noted with Bhoohghar by several players (including at least one that was a rank 20 Bhoohghar) and Fippy, at the very least. Testers, please post any additional details you have here (there have been some comments in the Testserver channel of Discord as well). Devs, please be aware that this has been an issue for a couple days (so not just since the Friday patch.)
I tested several in Vaults of Ssraeshza solo, on the first mobs in the side rooms (just giving a couple auto-attacks to keep them on me) Firiona Vie (Paladin): I get heals from holy aid and holy circle and my pet too Bhooghar (inquisitor - level 20) heals me with Atoning Faith and Warful Healing. I tend to drop in the yellow before getting healed Oor of umbra (fury - partially upgraded and level 20) heals me and my pet A LOT (Raffik's rum, touch of corruption, avast. she doesn't hit that much, but I stay max-life while she hits mobs and heals me (while afk looking at chat info). Oor at max-level on my conjuror doesn't heal as much. I'm not dying, but I'm staying in the yellow area, not going to max much. With Wilh (necro with a not-geared at all mid-level Oor) the heal seemed way better. Zel'Kriaz (inquisitor - level 0) heals me and my pet with Atoning Faith, Fanatical Healing and Alleviation. She tends to let me drop into the orange and then cast Fanatical Healing when Atoning Faith is not up. It's a bit stressfull. So far Oor is better but I just got Zel'Kriaz right now. With the 4 of them, all in the same zone, I have Firiona healing less (obviously), then Bhooghar, then Zel'Kriaz, then Oor. It is interesting to note that my maxed out and a bit geared Oor healed less than the mid-level ungeared Oor. Zel'Kriaz and Bhoohghar have massive heal surge but I drop pretty low. Oor is more consistent.
Resishi Rumble. Merc: Zel'Kriaz Trained to 17, 4 Pc of Armor. Most fights my health was low and I died one time. She just stood around till I hit "back of" and she came rezzed me. The Listless Spires. Merc: Bhoohghar max level old gear. No problems.
Merc can stop healing and fighting it he/she is overwhelmed and frightened. There is a special animation for that.
Reishi Rumble is huge crowds of mobs, either if you swarm pull the main areas, or when the ring events pop. The merc will just soil himself as there are too many mobs. Listless you don't have that problem, unless you choose to pull everything, but I think in solo it all leashes pretty quickly. Have you tried just setting your merc to follow you, not assist, not defend?
In my situation it was a solo overland named, there was no overwhelmed and frightened animation. I pretty much let my warlock die because I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the merc ... who did not heal, and did not rez for the fight at all. And the issue is sporadic. Most fights with that same max level merc were just fine, it would just be random fights where she'd stand and stare, with no method to the madness that I could see. No overpulls or anything like that, just overland content. Other guildmates on Test reported the same with Bhoohghar and Fippy over the last couple days, so I figured it was better to say something and see if there was any pattern than to risk something squirrely going live.
Adding here from Discord "neutronarc" said "Bhoogar didn't heal me at all while fighting a named in wracklands.. did ok against non names... Yesterday.. maybe the problem is against named mobs" This fits with my issue with Bhoohghar against a Wracklands solo named, but a bit more data is needed.
I solved the problem with merc not resurrecting by giving it "Back Off" command after I die. Not sure what to do when merc is not healing though. I am not sure if my merc have ever had problems with healing, but I can confirm that "Back Off" command helped me several times. I have also noticed that depending on graphical settings and distance between camera and merc, the game may decide not to play merc animation which can be confusing by giving an idea that merc is not doing anything.
I never play with a merc as I usually 2-box with a mystic (she casts Torpor once in a while and cures, then fight the rest of the time). The only experience I had recently with a merc was with Oor in Diaku just after it launched while my graphic card was down. It was a nice experience and kinda easier than with a 2-box, especially due to the last fight. I set her then and all the mercs now as protect you/me. Anyway, I ran the two first mobs with Zel'Kriaz (celestial inqui, level 2), next 2 with Oor (fabled fury, max level), and last 2 with Bhoohghar (fabled inqui, max level). I got cured better by the inquisitor mercs except on the last fight where I ended up curing myself all the time. I had my death prevention proc 2 times, once with the 2nd mob (invisible swordsman with Zel'Kriaz), once on the trash on last mob with Bhoo. So twice with inqs. Never happened with Oor. With Zel'Kriaz, I stayed at 10% life for quite a while before I "died" and death prevention kicked off, he never healed me. It never happened on my last run with Oor nor with the 2 middle nameds (including siblings) with Oor this time. With the inqs, I often dropped in the orange. With Oor, I never dropped below low-yellow. Last fight was a massive pain. Bhoohghar kept aggroing all the adds, I had to run after her all the time and she was out of range from me. I must add that I have way more firepower than last time I tried (diaku gear + overseer + Eth cloak to level 3) Overall experience: way worse than last time I ran it with Oor only. I'll have to run it again with just Oor to see if it comes from the Inquisitor mercs delaying way too much their heals.
