1.62 Mercenary TL Report
The Mercenary class has come a long way from the beginning of the game. Due to previous changes, the class has seen an upswing in population, but low realm rank performance and low level PvE still stand as barriers of true popularity. Although wearing the heaviest armor out of the Light Tank Classes, it can be said that it has the worse defense out of the three.
Concerns:
Leveling a Mercenary at the beginning of the game can be a painful process. Due to the lack of any defensive skills until level 10 (evade), and the lack of their primary means of defense until 17 (parry) most players seem to tend to find a low-level Merc frustrating. This issue has partially been minimized due to /level, but a new player to the game doesnt have that luxury.
Mercenaries tend to have subpar performance until they reach higher realm ranks, particularly with RvR survivability. Lacking the higher amounts of evade that the other light tanks have, we start to come even with them after being able to afford to augment ourselves with realm abilities.
Spec Line Issues:
Dual Wield:
Flank needs a to-hit bonus. It is one of only 2 side positionals in the game without one. Even a small one would help.
Dark Tendrils: Due to player feedback, I would ask that this style be reverted back to an evade reactionary. The stun in the Reflection/Hypnotic Darkness chain is too valuble. I would be interested to find out if it is possible to have a dex/qui debuff proc added to the style.
Crush:
Bludgeon needs to have the previous style requirement, Maul, removed. This would help those who use crush to more easily keep aggro.
Devestate needs something added to it to make it a beneficial level 50 style. Adding a stun component, or some other effect, would make this style worthwhile.
Parry:
Parry is the primary defense of a Mercenary. It would be great to see some sort of other benefit from speccing parry, like the ability to parry arrows, or some other ability.
Other Issues:
Determination needs to affect melee stuns as promised
Charge is still bugged, needs to be addressed.
Shield Spec Mercs would like Mastery of Blocking
Void needs to be replaced by a worthwhile RA
Mercenaries would like to be able to purchase Avoid Pain
Item Problems:
Mercenaries would like to be able to equip Shields in the 2-handed slot, so that switching between 2 weapons and a sword and shield can be done more easily.
The Mercenary class has come a long way from the beginning of the game. Due to previous changes, the class has seen an upswing in population, but low realm rank performance and low level PvE still stand as barriers of true popularity. Although wearing the heaviest armor out of the Light Tank Classes, it can be said that it has the worse defense out of the three.
Concerns:
Leveling a Mercenary at the beginning of the game can be a painful process. Due to the lack of any defensive skills until level 10 (evade), and the lack of their primary means of defense until 17 (parry) most players seem to tend to find a low-level Merc frustrating. This issue has partially been minimized due to /level, but a new player to the game doesnt have that luxury.
Mercenaries tend to have subpar performance until they reach higher realm ranks, particularly with RvR survivability. Lacking the higher amounts of evade that the other light tanks have, we start to come even with them after being able to afford to augment ourselves with realm abilities.
Spec Line Issues:
Dual Wield:
Flank needs a to-hit bonus. It is one of only 2 side positionals in the game without one. Even a small one would help.
Dark Tendrils: Due to player feedback, I would ask that this style be reverted back to an evade reactionary. The stun in the Reflection/Hypnotic Darkness chain is too valuble. I would be interested to find out if it is possible to have a dex/qui debuff proc added to the style.
Crush:
Bludgeon needs to have the previous style requirement, Maul, removed. This would help those who use crush to more easily keep aggro.
Devestate needs something added to it to make it a beneficial level 50 style. Adding a stun component, or some other effect, would make this style worthwhile.
Parry:
Parry is the primary defense of a Mercenary. It would be great to see some sort of other benefit from speccing parry, like the ability to parry arrows, or some other ability.
Other Issues:
Determination needs to affect melee stuns as promised
Charge is still bugged, needs to be addressed.
Shield Spec Mercs would like Mastery of Blocking
Void needs to be replaced by a worthwhile RA
Mercenaries would like to be able to purchase Avoid Pain
Item Problems:
Mercenaries would like to be able to equip Shields in the 2-handed slot, so that switching between 2 weapons and a sword and shield can be done more easily.
