Question about Mercs, Thugs, and Bots

So far I started a Merc's/TA, the combo is very fun so far with all the animations and having soldiers and a bow is very neat. I have been reading that people feel the mercs are very underpowered compared to the other powersets. Will this combo be dissapointing later on, cause I also read that TA is also very bad. Does anyone have mercs/TA or any advice, any thoughts?

Also I did make a thugs/therm and been playing him a little bit, what can I expect out of him?

I also plan on trying to make a bots/traps MM sometime, how would the 3 MM's compare here, Mercs/ta, thugs/therm, Bots/traps?

TA gets a bad reputation that it doesn't deserve. There's no buffs or healing arrow to be had, but the debuffs, control, and damage it can bring is undeniable.

Thugs/thermal is an odd pairing. You add resistance to the pets that are heavy on defense. Unfortunately, two half measures are not as good as one full measure because of the way mitigation works. I'm not saying it will be bad, mind you. Thermal is quite the strong set, and you'll be able to Forge at least three heavy damaging henchmen all the time.

Bots/Traps is a beast all its own, and really doesn't compare to anything. It's got some crazy synergy. I've got a guide in the works for it, but it's not what you'd expect. I'm only going to cover the Big Game Hunting aspect of Bots/Traps, because nothing else is hard to do with it.

Mercs are indeed low on the damage scale. They're a little easier to handle than Thugs since the Bruiser is a melee guy, and the Arsonist likes to get killed, but their DPS is rather low and they have no significant utility.

Bots are simply a beast, and generally regarded as (one of) the best options available for a Mastermind. They're ranged, they're durable, and with Force Field Generator they can have surprising defense numbers. I have a Bots/Traps and a Bots/TA, both at 50. They both play well, better than any other MMs I have, but the Bots/Traps can do things the TA simply can't do, like effectively tank. That said, I feel like I contribute more in a fast moving team with TA, since you can generally get your debuffs out there quicker.

I agree with Dechs in that TA is a very underrated set. Fast, effective debuffs, and a grab bag of different things at that. The only thing I dislike about it is that it has an inordinate number of placed powers, but that's just because I'm not a fan of the targetting reticule.

Amazing, someone else picking Merc/TA.

From day 1 CoV started, i've played a merc/TA, it was not untill later that i noticed my damage was far far far from bots or necro.

TA partly has a right to be the 'underrated' set, but only because of borked game mechanics, not what the set actualy offers. Both sonic Arrow (aoe -res) as oilpatch-arrow still make the pet's AI totaly borked. From random running from the patch (wich never got fixed) to become completely uncontrolable (though this was worse then it is now).

The set itself is pretty nice, though lack of healing and the suicidal medic, its not the most easiest/efficient to play. The -res is pretty strong, glue arrow and ice arrow are working nicely, the only odd 2 are Flashbang arrow (does a -hit, but seems to not always work) and EMP arrow. This last one is very very strong (alike the EMP from epic blaster) but it puts your recovery to -100% for 10seconds or so.

Mercs itself, though i must note i am pretty fed up with them already, are pretty much the underperforming set of all MM pets. Although Ninja's defense is borked, their damage and utility makes up for it. Mercs rely only on DoT's, from burst to mini-fullauto, making this highly annoying when a mob is defeated and they are still standing their emptying their clips. The seals (spec ops?) have the most terrible utility, though flash/stun/imobilise is good, the recharge of these powers are insane. Also they have stealth ability.. untill today i still doing know why (they random pop in and pop out). Commando is ok, its basicly a AR blaster (with very annoying grenade), though sources once said it could also summon a turret, i never seen him do this. LRM missile is 99% of the time used at the wrong moment, same for full-auto (all mobs, he wont use. last mob, he pops FA).

Bots/traps i give my vote, bots are lovely, they heal, u can repair, they bubble (and u bubble), traps got lovely debuffs and soakers (seeker drones).

Thugs/thermal is somewhat odd, as said. Though if you just face +1/+2 max, its a very very effective set, Brute gets lovely resistance and Forge, while having AoE healing and single target healing. The revive doesnt work on pets though.

I have a thugs/pain, wich is somewhat the same, the slight lack of defense is easily compensated by the healing, though i never fight anything higher then +2.

Will Merc's get a buff in i21, do they get anything or TA get anything?
I would like to see them get something.

I also have from when CoV first came out a bots/poison, will he be any better after i21? He is lvl 38 at the moment.

I really like playing the mercs/ta right now, but in the back of my mind I kinda feel like im wasting my time if it turnes out that this build just gets weaker as you continue compared to bots and thugs.

Does TA not debuff as well as traps? From what people are saying on the boards make it seem that way.

Here's the problem with Mercs. They have mostly Smashing/Lethal damage, and mostly in DoT form in tiny numbers in rapid succession. There are no "hard hitters". The biggest assests Mercs gain are from the Spec Ops, who have some good debuffing and mez from their grenade attacks. But a single-target, no damage Web Grenade takes two minutes to recharge, Flashbangs, a -tohit debuff and not half as devastating as the Malta alternative, has a three minute cooldown, and their Tear Gas has four minutes. Furthermore, the Commando's LRM has a four minute cooldown. If these powers had shorter recharge timers, they would likely see heavier use as a strong mez class, since Mercs has one of the only T2 summons that will dish out mezzes at all.

Second, Trick Arrow is a good set. You have Entangling, Ice, and Glue Arrows, all which cut down movement and attack speed if not mezzing them, plus Toxic Gas and Acid Arrows to debuff enemy damage output and increase your own. The really fun part about TA is the Oil Slick Arrow. The only pet set to NOT have an AoE or cone fire attack is Necromancy, which means you can drop down an Oil Slick in tandem with your mess of slows, and watch some clowns slip around until one of your pets graciously lights it into a sea of fire. I find this most effective with Ninjas or Bots, since the Oni can do this with Rain of Fire, giving further patch fire damage, and the Jounin add two extra slows with Caltrops, or Bots, whose T3 Assault can deploy Incendiary Missiles, creating two massive patches of scary fire.