1.62 Mercenary TL Report
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.
While it may be frustrating to low level mercs, this is not something we plan on looking into or changing any time in the near future."
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.
We'll look into this during the style review.
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.
Style review again. Not necessarily sold on the dex/qui debuff proc, but be ready to make a case for it during the review.
Crush:
Bludgeon needs to have the previous style requirement, Maul, removed. This would help those who use crush to more easily keep aggro.
See above.
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.
Same.
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.
Really liking the idea of adding more to skills like parry and block. We're going to be looking at this going forward. Might be a TOA thing (i.e. might be something we address when we're already reworking that area of the code/design for TOA.)
Other Issues:
Determination needs to affect melee stuns as promised When was this promised and by whom?
Charge is still bugged, needs to be addressed.
Bug /appeal. Make a TL forum post detailing the bug so we can make sure it's not more of a design problem.
Shield Spec Mercs would like Mastery of Blocking
Reasonable request. Will see about getting that added. Void needs to be replaced by a worthwhile RA
RA review should address any issues here.
Mercenaries would like to be able to purchase Avoid Pain
Will need to look into this. Everyone wants Avoid Pain. Prepare to make a case for this during the RA review.
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.
We can look into this when we address other functionality/interface issues, although I am not sure how complicated this will be to address.
So there ya go. Nothing modified, this is cut and paste from my responsed. Feedback to the feedback is, of course, appreciated.
Pretty disappointed about the low-level stuff, and the lack of commentary about low RR mercs.



