Kenny the Voodoo Doll (Rare Merc Issues)

[Tekadeo]

So I was super excited about finally finding my first rare merc, Kenny.  He cost 30p (and 3p every 30min) so I really expected him to be amazing.

As a Mystic, I kind of expected him to be a very good healer/buffer at least.  However it seems he buffs well and does pretty decent DPS (~50k), but he literally NEVER cures and doesn't heal much.

Random parse on Gynok (lol old school) put him at almost 60k DPS but had ZERO cures and only 782 HPS.

After subbing him out for the normal Inquisitor merc, we killed Gynok easy.  Healed about the same amount but Stamper cured 37 times.  As a healer, Kenny needs to CURE more and honestly he needs to heal MORE for what he costs.

It also seems like Kenny doesn't rez either, but honestly I havent put him in too many situations to test it out properly.

Id also like to add that if you have a merc out when you open a box, the money they take should be used for their fee.  It's ridiculous with these rare mercs costing 3p every 30 minutes and also ganking a full share of plat.

[Rendoir]

Tekadeo wrote:

Id also like to add that if you have a merc out when you open a box, the money they take should be used for their fee.  It's ridiculous with these rare mercs costing 3p every 30 minutes and also ganking a full share of plat.

No - it's ridiculous when you pay 3 plat for something that allows you to kill stuff you can;t kill on your own and then expect to get all the plat in a chest by doing it. If you want all the plat in said chest, buy a real merc ie. a second account.

[Applo]

I have to ask, where did you find him?

I've looked for this guy so many times it's kinda sad to hear what you've said.  I've tried all of the healer mercs and always have to go back to the inq because the others are awful, awful, awful at curing.  I hoped that since he was elite he would not only have sick wards, but he'd be able to cure better than the others too.

[Brigh]

It has already been said in the merc thread that Kenny doesn't have any cures. It is also well known that shaman mercs suck at curing. I have gone several hours with only a handful of cures. Most of the time I have to carry my own pots just so I can move after being pinned. Best way to keep plat is to suspend merc and open chest. I am still waiting for The Great Mercenary Patch of 2012 that fixes paladin merc healing, and shaman merc not curing.

[Tigerlord001]

I got Kenny the day before yesterday, and my findings are pretty much the same. I expected that with him being "elite", he would be a fairly rocking healer (for a merc), but that's not really the case. He can tear through heroic enemies with his dps, and his HP is awesome, but when it comes time to heal, he doesn't feel much more powerful than a normal merc. Granted, I have been throwing him against contested Skyshrine while solo, but I was a tiny bit underwhelmed with the heals. I wouldn't mind seeing those given a slight buff. The way I remember cleric mercs in EQ1, they would heal you as soon as your health started dropping, but Kenny will wait until you're in the red to do anything about it, which is often times too late.

As for cures, it was stated before they have none, like was said above, so I was expecting that. I just make sure I always have my pots stocked. No merc will cure curses, unfortunately, but other detriments are easy enough to deal with. Still, having a lot of fun watching him tank heroics and stab them to death with that tack he carries.

[Kinvore]

While we're on the subject, always been curious about something.  Do the druid mercs heal or cure at all?  Just wondering.

[Gninja]

Just to be clear even though the mercenaries say they are a specific class does not mean they have the same abilities or behave just like a player o that class should behave. They are each unique and have their own benefits and downsides. Having said that I will check on the cures as he should be curing at least as good as the other shaman mercs which is fairly slow compared to stamper who should be the fastest curing merc.

I will also check on his healing although he is much more of an offensive healer he should likely be doing more. Out of curiosity you mentioned you were trying Gynok. He is not intended to play well against epic X4 stuff but as long as he wasn't taking hits that wouldn't have affected much. If he was taking hits he was likely debuffed. Either way I will give hima  good once over again to make sure everything is working as expected.

[Kinvore]

Gninja you're awesome.

[Raknid]

Mindsway@Antonia Bayle wrote:

While we're on the subject, always been curious about something.  Do the druid mercs heal or cure at all?  Just wondering.

The wardern merc does. No experience with the fury(if there is one even).

[Tigerlord001]

Thanks for looking into Kenny. Even if you have to bring his dps down a bit to give him better heals, that'd be a fair trade, imo. Most people wanting a DPS merc would likely choose Matri over him anyway. Just please don't lower his hp! It's really nice having a merc that isn't insta-killed all the time. 

[Brigh]

Gninja wrote:

Just to be clear even though the mercenaries say they are a specific class does not mean they have the same abilities or behave just like a player o that class should behave. They are each unique and have their own benefits and downsides. Having said that I will check on the cures as he should be curing at least as good as the other shaman mercs which is fairly slow compared to stamper who should be the fastest curing merc.

I will also check on his healing although he is much more of an offensive healer he should likely be doing more. Out of curiosity you mentioned you were trying Gynok. He is not intended to play well against epic X4 stuff but as long as he wasn't taking hits that wouldn't have affected much. If he was taking hits he was likely debuffed. Either way I will give hima  good once over again to make sure everything is working as expected.

While you are at it check ALL of the non-plate healer mercs as we shouldn't have to carry pots to cure ourselves.

I got tired of the shaman and warden never curing me. It must have taken an hour+ before I saw a standard shaman merc actually cure me, and he never cured more than 3 times in a few hours of play. It isn't about how fast they cure but if they cure AT ALL. I tried the warden with a 20s character and found I had to stand around like the shaman waiting for Pin to wear off. What is the point of having a cure ability if they are never going to use it?

[Raknid]

Brigh wrote:

...waiting for Pin to wear off.

That is something that the Warden merc hasn't cured on me. I just attributed it to the detriment not really being a "detriment" to anything but movement so there wasn't anything to trigger some cure script like a debuff or dot would do.

Otherwise though, I get the "curing detriment" message all the time with the warden merc.

[Lempo]

So in addition to making the mercs appear on track it appears that the respawn timers were decreased to something like an hour or less. post after post popping up now about how "I finally found the rare merc!" lol. No you didn't they just made it easy mode for you to get them, be it a merc that allows you to track, the scrolls you bought in the SC shop (yes you are a pay to win type if you did this), or a racial ability. They are no longer rare and are becoming less meaningful for every day that goes by.

For the record

• Didn't have one.
• Didn't want one.

Oh yeah and I would also skin and fry the rainbow fish the second I reeled him in.

[Tekadeo]

Regardless of the perceived rarity of them that you suggest, I am the only person in my guild that has ever SEEN Kenny.  I've heard the brigand is seen more often but idk.  

However it is still harder to get and WAY more expensive to maintain these mercs, so YES they do deserve to be better than the standard mercs, it's absurd to think otherwise.

And Gninja, Kenny is a mystic and it's cool that you can program his AI to be more offensive; that's great.  But at the end of the day if I wanted a DPS merc I wouldnt go for the Mystic--that doesn't make sense.  He should still fulfill his primary role as a priest at least on a basic level (curing rezzing healing).  He doesn't have to be amazing but he also shouldn't fail at it.

[Ahlana]

Lempo@Everfrost wrote:

So in addition to making the mercs appear on track it appears that the respawn timers were decreased to something like an hour or less. post after post popping up now about how "I finally found the rare merc!" lol. No you didn't they just made it easy mode for you to get them, be it a merc that allows you to track, the scrolls you bought in the SC shop (yes you are a pay to win type if you did this), or a racial ability. They are no longer rare and are becoming less meaningful for every day that goes by.

But most of the rares found recently have been on different servers..

I don't think they adjusted the spawn rate at all personally. I got the Brig but that is because I was on my ay to cella and there it was standing in front of Vasty Deep. No track or anything, my buddy tried finding it up in the zone about 8 or so hours later and was unable to locate it with track.

Still haven't seen Kenny on Nagafen /shrug

[Tigerlord001]

Lempo@Everfrost wrote:

So in addition to making the mercs appear on track it appears that the respawn timers were decreased to something like an hour or less. post after post popping up now about how "I finally found the rare merc!" lol. No you didn't they just made it easy mode for you to get them, be it a merc that allows you to track, the scrolls you bought in the SC shop (yes you are a pay to win type if you did this), or a racial ability. They are no longer rare and are becoming less meaningful for every day that goes by.

For the record

• Didn't have one.
• Didn't want one.

Oh yeah and I would also skin and fry the rainbow fish the second I reeled him in.

I can tell you for a fact that I spent the greater part of a day in Nek forest for my merc, so your statement just proves you have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe some people are just willing to put forth the time and effort to get things they want. After all, isn't that something you like to preach that not enough people do these days?

Edit: A greater part of a day after I finally just decided to stay until I found it. I've been hunting for it for far longer.

[Mystfit]

NIT PICK ALERT!!!! Kenny (aka Billy) is a Moppet, not a Voodoo doll He's my second favroite in-game mob besides Meatbeast.

[Tigerlord001]

Actually he is a voodoo doll. He's got pins running through him and his title under his name says "Soandso's Voodoo Doll Mercenary". 

[Anastasie]

I searched for quite a long time in withering lands to find the new rare fury merc and still haven't found him =( 

I went into the caves and still no luck.

[Yimway]

Gninja wrote:

Just to be clear even though the mercenaries say they are a specific class does not mean they have the same abilities or behave just like a player o that class should behave. They are each unique and have their own benefits and downsides. Having said that I will check on the cures as he should be curing at least as good as the other shaman mercs which is fairly slow compared to stamper who should be the fastest curing merc.

I will also check on his healing although he is much more of an offensive healer he should likely be doing more. Out of curiosity you mentioned you were trying Gynok. He is not intended to play well against epic X4 stuff but as long as he wasn't taking hits that wouldn't have affected much. If he was taking hits he was likely debuffed. Either way I will give hima  good once over again to make sure everything is working as expected.

Hey Mr, Ninja Sir,

Could we start putting these AI's on normal mobs as well?  It sure would be nice to fight creatures a tad smarter.

[Zirlok]

Anastasie wrote:

I searched for quite a long time in withering lands to find the new rare fury merc and still haven't found him =( 

I went into the caves and still no luck.

No reason to search in game, jus ask people here who have found em as their spawn points are all static. Its been confirmed by many and was jus a lie they can't be camped, they obviously can be and ARE being camped so bring your tent and map as thats all you need, no luck whatsoever involved.

p.s. If we can get some waypoints started here would be nice, i will report back with a spawn timer as i'm camping Billy now since he spawned right after patch.

[Ahlana]

Zirlok wrote:

Anastasie wrote:

I searched for quite a long time in withering lands to find the new rare fury merc and still haven't found him =( 

I went into the caves and still no luck.

No reason to search in game, jus ask people here who have found em as their spawn points are all static. Its been confirmed by many and was jus a lie they can't be camped, they obviously can be and ARE being camped so bring your tent and map as thats all you need, no luck whatsoever involved.

p.s. If we can get some waypoints started here would be nice, i will report back with a spawn timer as i'm camping Billy now since he spawned right after patch.

Well you could camp them, but you can not be in multiple places at once. They do not always spawn in the same location, and I am unaware how many spots either of them can pop up. 3 at least for the Nayad.

[Zirlok]

Ahlana wrote:

Zirlok wrote:

Anastasie wrote:

Well you could camp them, but you can not be in multiple places at once. They do not always spawn in the same location, and I am unaware how many spots either of them can pop up. 3 at least for the Nayad.

Wouldn't be too hard to set up some lvl1 FTP's at the 3 spots she spawns at, then just use a call(cov/orb) with the main u want it with. Far as Billy all i've seen is one spot in Nek, not single person has claimed to found em anywhere else.

Don't get me wrong i hate it as much as the next guy and truely thought SoE was being truthfull and the days of camping were behind us(still remember the invoker rock in feerrot /cry ). As well it completely sucks to have to resort to this to get "better" help, srsly whats the point of not having all mercs equall in strength? I mean almost all players are using em, anyhow thats another discussion.

[Tigerlord001]

I've personally never minded camping something I want, though I know a lot of people hated that in EQ1. When camping, at least you can step away for a bit, watch tv, get food, whatever, whereas if it's a random spot over an entire zone, you can never be sure it's not up, or if it was up and someone got to it first. With a static spawn, you can sit there and know for certain when it is and isn't up.

[Gninja]

When these mercenaries were first added they shared a spawn across zones. Thus you could never really know which zone they were in. This caused some issues if noone was in one of the zones so we pulled it down to them only spawning in one zone. Each of them have well over 20 different spawn points across the entire zones not just two or three as some have reported.

There was an issue a week or so back where they were spawning much faster than they were supposed to but this has been fixed and they are back to spawning at the rate we wanted them to.

If you are interested in why he is called a Voodoo doll and not a moppet you can read the dialog he gives and it might give clues to exactly what happened with Kenny (Not Billy)

[Koleg]

Gninja wrote:

When these mercenaries were first added they shared a spawn across zones. Thus you could never really know which zone they were in. This caused some issues if noone was in one of the zones so we pulled it down to them only spawning in one zone. Each of them have well over 20 different spawn points across the entire zones not just two or three as some have reported.

There was an issue a week or so back where they were spawning much faster than they were supposed to but this has been fixed and they are back to spawning at the rate we wanted them to.

If you are interested in why he is called a Voodoo doll and not a moppet you can read the dialog he gives and it might give clues to exactly what happened with Kenny (Not Billy)

I'm more interested in why spawn the rate is set at the level which it is.  It's understandable that these Elite mercs are rare, but unless someone is hunting them or camping them, they aren't going to see one and maybe that is the desire.  But making them as rare as they are doesn't really make people any more excited about searching for one or follow the marketing machine which seems to have such love for "Elite Merc" available when purchasing AOD. 

The 30p hire / 6p per hour cost already makes them rare enough that they are only really good for those that are looking to solo farm plat chests.

[Zmobie]

I'm just trying to figure out why I would want to camp/hunt/hire a healer merc that doesn't cure/heal/rez.

Seems pointless to me.

--Nibs

[Gninja]

Nibaazi@Everfrost wrote:

I'm just trying to figure out why I would want to camp/hunt/hire a healer merc that doesn't cure/heal/rez.

Seems pointless to me.

--Nibs

I am looking into that. As stated above.

[Lizabethan]

Gninja wrote:

it might give clues to exactly what happened with Kenny (Not Billy)

Thanks for clarifying!

[Lempo]

Koleg@Unrest_old wrote:

I'm more interested in why spawn the rate is set at the level which it is.  It's understandable that these Elite mercs are rare, but unless someone is hunting them or camping them, they aren't going to see one and maybe that is the desire.  But making them as rare as they are doesn't really make people any more excited about searching for one or follow the marketing machine which seems to have such love for "Elite Merc" available when purchasing AOD. 

The 30p hire / 6p per hour cost already makes them rare enough that they are only really good for those that are looking to solo farm plat chests.

You know I would really love to start linking back to the initial thread where these were announced. Gninja was active and responsive in it as well.

It was stated that mercs were not something that they wanted players to be running around with all the time, that they were primarily to get people by in a pinch when a player was not available. Now there is (or at least it seems) a tremendous amount of dev resources being used to tweak them in what seems to be an attempt to make them the 'perfect' grouping partner.

The rare mercs were to be just that, rare, something between a rare fabled/mythical and artifact item, they would not appear on track and so on, then envy set in when someone saw someone with something they didn't have and another and another then the demands were made claiming entitlement to these and measures were taken to remove the rareness of the elite mercs, the regular mercs are already more than powerful enough, just put them all in Freeport/Qeynos and whatever other cities that they have as 'bases' and get on with it.