Hello, just dropping by to say few things about mercenaries.
I’m not a professional game developer, nor I have any real experience in balancing. Just a fellow player, like you who wants to have fun while playing 
.
Also, I know that many people want different things for Diablo. One guy thinks most important are new runewords, the second wants more character builds, the other thinks about new endgame activities and events and so on… I understand and accept that.
With that said, here’s my little request:
Please, please, please, PLEASE make Act 1, Act 3 and Act 5 mercenaries more viable. Not “just barely viable”. Make them really appealing to choose over Act 2 merc which I’m pretty sick and tired of…
With recent addition of new type of skillset for Act 5 merc I really see the light in darkness, but there’s still more work to be done.
Now, my thoughts:
Original Act 5 mercenary (stun/bash) needs just a little boost to compete with his new counterpart (which is very good at the moment). I’d say that he needs to get rid of Bash (knockback) and get better skill instead - maybe Berserk or Zeal?.. or change his Battle Cry to very good Battle Orders, so it will be a tradeoff - less damage but more sustainability for mec and your character?
About Act 1 and Act 3 mercenaries - their biggest problem… I think it’s their AI. Often they just relocate instead of fighting, and Act 2 and Act 5 mercenaries don’t have this problem since… they fight in melee, they RUN TO monsters, not FROM them. I don’t know if it’s fixable, but maybe a small tweak like… Rogue could RUN AWAY from danger instead of walking - with the priority to attack as soon as she would be in safe distance?
Pretty much the same with Iron Wolf with one potential small change - instead of running, he would have a chance (fixed or raising with merc level) to teleport to safe spot. If it can’t be done - he should RUN AWAY too. Once again - he needs to QUICKLY relocate and ATTACK.
Pathfinding may be a problem here too. Mercs do often get stuck walking back and forth… and when they do - they are useless, not doing damge they should.
Also, when talking about Act 3 merc being overwhelmed by monsters… why, why WHY in Diablo’s name sometimes he attacks with melee? This is a problem, since all gear he gets is focused around FCR/+skill/+elem damage/-enemy res - nobody even cares about value of his melee damage. And yet this merc still wastes time to attack with his sword, dealing tickle damage at best. He shouldn’t be allowed to attack this way… OR maybe this attack should be very powerful and/or useful somehow? I don’t know in what way… I know that this fits to the whole fantasy thing, but… it’s just hurting his current state.
Thirdly, I think Rogue’s and Iron Wolf’s damage output is vastly lower than Act 2 and Act 5 merc (especially Iron Wolf’s). Potential solutions:
- Improve skill leveling / skill damage. I don’t really know about Rogue, but Iron Wolves deal laughable amount of damage since creatures in later stages of the game have very high resistances.
- Make IAS and FCR values rise with merc level (Act 1 and 3 only, of course). I believe this would slightly help with the relocation problem.
- Tweak the skills to be more useful.
- Rogue’s normal attack could be Magic Arrow + Exploding or Freezing Arrow. Or maybe give her one of physbow skills: Multiple or Strafe? OR… remove Blessed Aim merc from Act 2, and give this aura to every Rogue?
- Iron Wolf’s Fire variant could use Fireball + Enchant and… maybe straight Fire Wall (not horizontal) instead of pitful Fire Bolt? Or maybe high level Firestrike?
- Cold Variant could get Frozen Orb or Blizzard instead of Ice Blast. Also I don’t know if change from Frozen armor to Chilling armor is a good choice… maybe if it would shoot Ice Blasts instead of Ice Bolts?
- Lightning variant… just needs to get rid of Charged bolt. This skill is tickle damage too. Nova would be better, I reckon - but then, Nova has limited range so he could act more agressively. Static Field is brilliant addition and it should not be removed.
- I know that giving Conviction aura to Act 3 merc would be broken, but maybe allow them to pierce immunities? Give -enemy res values rising with every merc level?
Act 3 mercs don’t leech life. This needs to be adressed if they ever aspire to be viable. I think that Redemption aura was a very good choice and I don’t know why the developers reverted that in changelog. If it’s too much - make them regenerate health much, much faster.
Lastly… I think Act 2 mercs could get some small changes too - only Might and Holy Freeze auras are viable - this could be tweaked too. Something like… change Prayer to Cleansing.
Well, there it is. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad post. I just want more diversity in Diablo, a game that I like very much.
Cheers to you all, and have a good day!
Matt