SPOILER below
[QUOTE=Brockaine22]Your problem is you have no good tank. I cannot stress enough how important a NPC tank with a shield and tons of hit points is.[/QUOTE]
Agreed. My party going out of mercenary had two tanks (main and Sartan), and two mages (Finala and Taar). Finala was prone to going under (it seems all combat mages are), but with the right heal spell on autocast and your tanks at work, it's no big deal. I just started Veteran and picked up Vix along the way (I grabbed the 5th slot before heading to the Azunite Desert portal); I'll probably ditch him later in favor of adding a third tank (Eva is a good one). Tanks soak up damage and keep your mages from biting the dust.
Another very, very important thing is what melee powers your tanks have ready when facing tough odds. My main dual wields, so I usually have him use waves of force when facing great numbers. Whirling attack is another great one, which is what I normally have my other tank use. I like the freezing effect from Taar's ice spells, so I'll have Finala cast Drown ahead of time to soften up any crowds that are resistant to ice (then have Finala throw lighting blasts since drown makes targets weaker to ice and lightning). For powers, I like energy orb for the combat mage since it recharges very quickly and does nice damage. For the nature mage, I like the ice blast. Most of these are area of effect, so you can mess up multiple bosses and work them over in short order. This proves invaluable as you navigate Zaramoth's Horns later in the game.
The fight with the three Dark Wizards can work pretty well if you keep the area of effect powers in use. I kept my party on mirror most of the time and blasted those crystal shields away pretty quickly. They also seem to like to pick on one party member - in my case it was Finala.
My tanks are loaded up with high resistances. This is very important since armor rating alone isn't enough. Cast buffs like Spirit Embrace (boost to elemental resists and immunity to curses) and a wrath spell like Wrath of the Bear (boost to critical hit damage) for your tanks.
@Dreez: That's how it went for me in Mercenary. Finala went under for most of the fight (not dead, but unconcious).
Act III -major gameplay imbalance? *spoiler*
Same thing here.. I cruise with a party of 5.
Sartan - Main tank loads of AC and HP.
Also level 30+ in Combat skills so casts debuffs dehydration
Jilazee - My main DWing monster 1.3kdps
Nature Mage also casts Bear buffs
Dru - Nature Mage pet dom and primary healer. (heals for 700hp)
HP Buffs
Fin - Combat Mage Fire/death.
Casts Drowning.
Lothar - Combat mage lightning/death.
Low armor so doesn't debuff.
Not alot I can't walk over tbh makes the game very simple.
Sartan - Main tank loads of AC and HP.
Also level 30+ in Combat skills so casts debuffs dehydration
Jilazee - My main DWing monster 1.3kdps
Nature Mage also casts Bear buffs
Dru - Nature Mage pet dom and primary healer. (heals for 700hp)
HP Buffs
Fin - Combat Mage Fire/death.
Casts Drowning.
Lothar - Combat mage lightning/death.
Low armor so doesn't debuff.
Not alot I can't walk over tbh makes the game very simple.
Tulir
I just cant understand you guys. problems with bosses and something like 4 peoples party? I played the WHOLE game trough alone. i used NPC:s if i wanted to do their personal quests. I had no problems with bosses. well, elite Archmage took a while to kill alone. But i would say this was pretty easy game(as warrior, dunno about other "classes"). but there was only one dangerous creature in this game for me, mimic's and those quest enemies in towns
(i hope you guys understand me, because im not very good at writing )
I just cant understand you guys. problems with bosses and something like 4 peoples party? I played the WHOLE game trough alone. i used NPC:s if i wanted to do their personal quests. I had no problems with bosses. well, elite Archmage took a while to kill alone. But i would say this was pretty easy game(as warrior, dunno about other "classes"). but there was only one dangerous creature in this game for me, mimic's and those quest enemies in towns
(i hope you guys understand me, because im not very good at writing
)