Out of all the MM primaries mercs is probably my favorite, although i never got one all the way to 50 (many in the upper 40's tho) i have bad alting problems lol... but i have done every primary for MM. don't let the lethal fool you it's really not that bad especially with the achilles proc in soldiers, assault and tactics and a good secondary.
Mercs IMO are the most fun especially after the 2nd upgrade, all the cones and AoE. don't get me wrong it DOES seem like they don't do too much damage do to the DoT nature of their attacks but it is a near endless stream of DoT, you just watch the hp literally melt away rather than drop off in huge chunks. They are a sustained DPS pet
As far as secondaries go though IMHO Merc/Pain was without a doubt my favorite pairing. The buffs/debuffs/heals coupled with the Achilles proc it was just very enjoyable got him all the way to 45, and i really regret deleting him, it was as survivable if not more so than my Necro/Dark
But Mercs/time should be some awesome sauce i plan on rolling one myself soon as it goes live
Edit: I never did get into sets until recently but i'm positive with those and the damage alpha it will not disappoint.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Vinceq1980
So Mercs is the only MM primary I have yet to try. Something about the lolcones and the lollethal ontop of the DOT really turns me off.
 However with /time I figure with the -res and +dmg along with just enough survivability measures in def buffing and heals its tempting to MAKE MERCS work. So question to the hard headed MMs out there who have stuck to their mercs to 50  , will intensive IO investment along with a dmg boosting secondary help plug in the severe pot holes of this primary? I mean with ach heel proc and lady grey proc and maybe even shield breaker proc Im hoping to see some success with it. Please someone out there tell me MERCs can be made somewhat useful. I really dont like reusing primaries when making new alts but I have not quenched my MM desire even with 5 fully IOed MMs. |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Do0msayr
Out of all the MM primaries mercs is probably my favorite, although i never got one all the way to 50 (many in the upper 40's tho) i have bad alting problems lol... but i have done every primary for MM. don't let the lethal fool you it's really not that bad especially with the achilles proc in soldiers, assault and tactics and a good secondary.
Mercs IMO are the most fun especially after the 2nd upgrade, all the cones and AoE. don't get me wrong it DOES seem like they don't do too much damage do to the DoT nature of their attacks but it is a near endless stream of DoT, you just watch the hp literally melt away rather than drop off in huge chunks. They are a sustained DPS pet Edit: I never did get into sets until recently but i'm positive with those and the damage alpha it will not disappoint. As far as secondaries go though IMHO Merc/Pain was without a doubt my favorite pairing. The buffs/debuffs/heals coupled with the Achilles proc it was just very enjoyable got him all the way to 45, and i really regret deleting him, it was as survivable if not more so than my Necro/Dark |
So, yeah, providing you're ready to put down the inf it's a great set. IMHO and contrary to what the haters say!
Quote:
Bots were decent, i don't like thugs i don't know why but they just don't do it for me no matter what the combo. Mercs on the other hand... probably one of my favorite things about them is all the bullet casing that literally cover the whole floor after clearing out a room just puts a big ol grin on my face like this ---> |
Originally Posted by Darkscar
So, yeah, providing you're ready to put down the inf it's a great set. IMHO and contrary to what the haters say!
|
I have a io'd out mercs/dark at fifty. He does fine, you want to keep the s/l/e def as high as possible grab aggro lots with that aoe taunt. They'll clean up nicely for you 
mercs really do need their io's however, more than any other mm primary. Keep in mind that your spec ops are very weak compared to every other lt-type pet. I call them "spec oops" because ncsoft is just plain jerks for not balancing them after all this time. Pisses me off actually. They do get paid to do this kind of stuff after all, but you couldn't tell.
I doubt honestly however that anything, ever will compete with bots/traps.
NCSoft has nothing to do w/ how the game works just saiyan
They have to take careful consideration for Spec Ops as far as buffs go, because they're very controller-like.
Procs made a huge difference in Mercs. I went from being completely incapable of solo'ing Mynx and Ms. Liberty to being able to actually beat them on my Mercs/Dark just by adding in as many damage procs as I could find.
I played a mercs traps to 50 long ago when CoV first came out and honestly never had issues with it, and was surprised that people thought it sucked. I find it far from the hardest MM primary.
Ty all for the replies. I think I shall try to remain optimistic for the /time/ being and wait to see what is in store for the mastermind AT in the somewhat diiiissstantt future. Hopefully the spec ops get retuned and alot of the knockback is replaced with knockdown then I will definately roll one.
Given the quality of life change to buffing I am thinking about starting another MM with a shield secondary. I have been thinking about Mercs/Thermal a lot, not sure how well it mixes, but I may have to give it a shot.
Protector: Tulare 50 Inv/SS/EM-ph1x3r 47 Bots/Traps
VIP: VIC-29(Traps/AR) - Corinth(Grav/FF) -Wrecka(Claws/SR)
/Time works on anything even Mercs.
Right now I'm levelling a DS/Time but I think I might do a lot more /Time toons.
Was there a stealth buff with the new issue? My merc/pain was much more fun than I remember.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
...[I]t would be more proper to say this game is slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly dying.
|
Quote:
I would like to know too. The last time I played was 14 months ago and my Merc's always wanted to run up and punch things. It made it very hard to keep control of some fights.|
Originally Posted by Nyghtmaire
Was there a stealth buff with the new issue? My merchant/pain was was much more fun than I remember.
|
I did hear that they fixed the AoE size of the Twiligh Grasp ( cool! ) though.
Quote:
Always the same story, 'if you're ready to put down the inf'. Gues what? You can do the exact same on any other given set, and they beat Merc on pretty much every aspect of the game.|
Originally Posted by Darkscar
My Mercs/Dark ranks right up there with my Thugs/FF for me. Maybe even better as now both are set up and IO'd to the best of my ability they are both very survivable and put out plenty of damage, especially when I tell them all to aim on my target! ;p I may actually prefer the Merc as I now find that the Thu'gs/FF can be a little boring with me siting back almost like i'm on a bots/ff lol.
So, yeah, providing you're ready to put down the inf it's a great set. IMHO and contrary to what the haters say! |
its very unlikely you cant admit Seals (yes those 'we got stealth but actualy its useless pets') have the most useless powers of all pets and the huge ammount of dots make them far less efficient (we call that 'targetstuck'). Not to mention the retarted and pretty useless medic (again, Demon and Bots beat him hands down).
i've played ever set, even several times, of wich i currently have 6 lvl50 MMs (and 3 more upcomming), there is nothing weaker or broken then Mercs.
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
I've taken a couple swings at merc (ff,dark,storm,pain) and /storm worked the best FOR ME. In the end, dark may be stronger, but storm was just a lot of fun and the only merc I ever enjoyed enough to take all the way to 50 and through the I-trials.
procs are indeed a great idea.
It addition to the general awesomeness of /storm, tornado also lets you slot the extra recharge intensive pets uniques for an extra 5% def & 10% res, which really helps.
Not to mention hurricane, which I've found to be one of the best synergy powers with mercs.
Guides: Dark Armor and IOs | SS/DA | Crabbing | Fortunata
Quote:
Even more broken than Ninjas?
|
Originally Posted by SinergyX_EU
i've played ever set, even several times, of wich i currently have 6 lvl50 MMs (and 3 more upcomming), there is nothing weaker or broken then Mercs.
|
Ninjas arent that broken. they have broken as in paper thin def and no res but they DO have damage lots and lots of single target damage. U know that if the ninjas survive you targets will fall soon after.
Trick is getting a secondary that allows such a scenario to play out.
Quote:
And I can assure you, based on experience, that Ninja/Trick is **NOT** the Secondary to do that!
|
Originally Posted by Vinceq1980
Trick is getting a secondary that allows such a scenario to play out.
|
It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...
Quote:
In my experience, yes. It may be down to secondary, but at least you can play ninja by leaving numbers at X1 and increasing difficulty. My ninja/therm has had no trouble moving along at a decent pace, even though he's only at 40 running on SOs except for the 1 pet special I have. My merc/pain is still painful to play at 50 with a billion inf sunk into her. She can't take numbers because they have no survivability and can't take hard targets because of the anemic st damage and useless control.|
Originally Posted by Crysys
Even more broken than Ninjas?
|
Maybe some secondaries work and maybe tankerminding does, but the experience was so different from my bot/ff and DS/pre-buff poison that it's like night and day. Just to repeat that last part differently, even with a good secondary they are harder to play than mixed melee pets with pre-buff poison as a secondary.
Quote:
If you refer to their squishyness, yeah they cant take much. Luckely powerboosted def buff from /time can help alot on this. If you refer to damage and utility, you havent seen a smoke naded jounin doing 3 crits in a row with a knockdown and up. True, necro graveknight can also hit hard, but they have lesser t1 pets.
|
Originally Posted by Crysys
Even more broken than Ninjas?
|
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
Quote:
Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal. My mercs/storm takes +2/x2 at level 39 with no issues: I think they issue may be /pain in your case, though: I've tried many /pain MMs and they run almost as bad as the old /poison... there's just not enough damage mitigation (as opposed to +res in /therm, -toHit in /dark and /storm, etc)
|
Originally Posted by rsclark
In my experience, yes. It may be down to secondary, but at least you can play ninja by leaving numbers at X1 and increasing difficulty. My ninja/therm has had no trouble moving along at a decent pace, even though he's only at 40 running on SOs except for the 1 pet special I have. My merc/pain is still painful to play at 50 with a billion inf sunk into her. She can't take numbers because they have no survivability and can't take hard targets because of the anemic st damage and useless control.
Maybe some secondaries work and maybe tankerminding does, but the experience was so different from my bot/ff and DS/pre-buff poison that it's like night and day. Just to repeat that last part differently, even with a good secondary they are harder to play than mixed melee pets with pre-buff poison as a secondary. |
Quote:
Right, so a strong secondary can compensate for a weak primary. That doesn't mean a bots/storm wouldn't be that much better.
|
Originally Posted by Zeh_Masteh
Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal. My mercs/storm takes +2/x2 at level 39 with no issues: I think they issue may be /pain in your case, though: I've tried many /pain MMs and they run almost as bad as the old /poison... there's just not enough damage mitigation (as opposed to +res in /therm, -toHit in /dark and /storm, etc)
|
Quote:
Yeah I have to imagine thats true. My Demons/TA is far, far better thanks to some build advice I received here on the forums, but anything/TA is a tough road.
|
Originally Posted by Redlynne
And I can assure you, based on experience, that Ninja/Trick is **NOT** the Secondary to do that!
|
Quote:
From the MM primairies i think demon is the best way to have. As 1 pet has a aoe and a single target heal (dont know the recharge of it), they have very mixed abilities and a nice resist AoE, they need less 'attention' then Ninja or Thugs (if u dont heavy slot on defense).|
Originally Posted by Crysys
Yeah I have to imagine thats true. My Demons/TA is far, far better thanks to some build advice I received here on the forums, but anything/TA is a tough road.
|
Robots might be a runner up, repair and heal from the protector bots might be enough to keep them alive.
Then again /TA overal is somewhat 'weaker' then the other support secondairies, even on defender/troller).
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
Quote:
Well, by way of anecdote, my mercs/pain is running -1/x2 with only periodic difficulty at 27. Pain is a pain - in the pancake.|
Originally Posted by Zeh_Masteh
Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal. My mercs/storm takes +2/x2 at level 39 with no issues: I think they issue may be /pain in your case, though: I've tried many /pain MMs and they run almost as bad as the old /poison... there's just not enough damage mitigation (as opposed to +res in /therm, -toHit in /dark and /storm, etc)
|
Edit: I logged in to two successful Touch of Lady Gray proc bids. After crafting and slotting, I am amazed by how much these babies improve performance. It's unreal! I move up to 0/x2!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
...[I]t would be more proper to say this game is slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly dying.
|
So Mercs is the only MM primary I have yet to try. Something about the lolcones and the lollethal ontop of the DOT really turns me off.
, will intensive IO investment along with a dmg boosting secondary help plug in the severe pot holes of this primary? I mean with ach heel proc and lady grey proc and maybe even shield breaker proc Im hoping to see some success with it.
However with /time I figure with the -res and +dmg along with just enough survivability measures in def buffing and heals its tempting to MAKE MERCS work.
So question to the hard headed MMs out there who have stuck to their mercs to 50
Please someone out there tell me MERCs can be made somewhat useful. I really dont like reusing primaries when making new alts but I have not quenched my MM desire even with 5 fully IOed MMs.