Do you play offline? Would you like to have these changes? I can do most if it for you if you would want. I have a lot of your suggestions implemented in my own game already 
I would like to see these changes online, good suggestions.
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I have very limited time to play D2R with wife and kids these days, but when the new Season rolls out, I like to play online with a few different hardcore characters as SSF.
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I was reacting to TheVlad. I didn’t clicked reply I guess…
About changing curses + barb shouts to work together - basically why a Terror/Howl/Grimward curse can’t work with Taunt together.
But how Battle cry should be able to work with any curse, like Inner Sight does.
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What do you think about adding a new Throw Barb variant w/ skills: Double Throw, Throwing Mastery, and Shout? It would be fun to run a throw barb with throw barb merc companion.
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Throwbarb merc is fine but he should cast howl instead of shout to be usefull for himself and a ranged char.
On the other hand, i managed to find out why giving full item slots to merc is a bad idea…
I tested act 1 cold arrow merc + m’vanna’s set + Raven Frost + Angelic Wings + Angelic Halo. M’vanna’s bow was shaeled, diadem and chest were scinilating jjool of fervor ( mag 15@rez,15ias). this gives 120% attack speed so merc reaches 8fps breakpoint, wears full elite class set and has tons of AR, ~92% chance to hit plus magic arrow as base attack.
Can tackle any immunity. cold immunes can be dealt using phys/magic attacks, physical immunes can be killed with cold/magic attacks, and a sweet +20% dmg to cold skills from the set. A whole load of + to skills from full set bonus and form partial bonuses, and a heck of a load of +str and +dex on top of it, this is extra op since the nova proc from weapon 3 pc set bonus can proc from elemental damage ticks from freezing arow explosion and from chill/freeze ticks, it can liteally proc couple of times in a row like a nova machinegun. it might be suitable for something higher than p1, which is disputable in my book.
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For more variety, maybe even one of the Javazon throwing skills? Like Plague Javelin, not for pure damage, but to combat monster regeneration?
But that’d require limiting the equipable items to javelins only, I guess (no axes or knives)…
Sounds hilarious. Do you happen to have a video?
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Good suggestion, and think it’s more fitting for a Throw Barb merc to have Howl as a base skill. Howl would give the Throw Barb merc more identity similar to Frenzy merc with Battle Cry, and a unique way to assist ranged characters. Updated OP. 
Act 5 Barbarian Warriors
- New Throw Barb variant w/ skills:
- Double Throw, Throwing Mastery, Howl
It would be interesting for sure to try on PTR. I would like to rather improve the existing mercs than create new. Like improve Taunt skill, maybe make Battle cry radius improve with levels from 3,3 yards to upto 5-6 yards.
Throwbarb merc would be a guaranteed Amplify damage merc. With 2x Lacerator and with piercing from Throwing mastery too. That would be very strong coupled with melee builds.
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Agreed. Plus, adding a new throw barb merc gives another option for a ranged companion and adds more value to thrown weapons.
For A5 Mercs specifically - what about getting access to BO with one of the variants, so you can get it earlier than CTA but would remain weaker than endgame CTA setup (something like going from level 1-3, which could be raised by +skills from barb’s equipment)?
I’m holding out hope for A5 Frenzy barbs to be able to wield 2H swords. Eth Last Wish Colossus Blade would be a game-changer.
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Agreed, there is no good reason they cannot dual-wield 2H Swords. I’ve also wondered why they can’t equip Axes and Maces as well.
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Looking ahead to Season 6. Updated title.
“Season 6 - Consider Few Merc Buffs”
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Sounds hilarous. Do you happen to have a video?
sorry my c2q 9650 and R9 390x 8GB GAMING won’t cut it for simultaneus video recording and gaming. the punishment for the system is too severe for it to handle.
Never noticed… when did they do that?
Makes me want to go play my lvl99 guy now and get my Act1 Merc to 99…
To further improve mercenaries, what about the following below?..
All Mercenaries
- Add Stay In Town and Follow Me Buttons to Mercenary UI (available in town)
- Add Posture Buttons to Mercenary UI to give player more granular control:
- Aggressive - merc will auto-attack any enemy that enters aggro range
- Defensive - merc will stay close to player and attack any enemy the player attacks
- Passive - merc will completely ignore any attack on itself or the player
Consider further expansion for the sake of QoL:
Each hireling (per act and hireling type) has its own equipment set. Once you switch the hireling to another one, the previous one’s equipment is not lost, but saved. When you hire back the previous hireling, the old equipment is back.
I thought of saving just one equipment set per act, for simplicity, but Act V barbarians of different type use different equipment (one one- or two-handed sword/two one-handed swords), so the gear cannot be saved per act only.
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Thats a big change (not sure if that would not require another remake ). Would love that, but would first like to see the things in the OP before they invest time into that?
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Agree, scrap the Posture Buttons, but adding Stay In Town and Follow Me Buttons to Merc UI should be pretty easy to implement.
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C’mon devs, please consider some additional merc improvements for S6, especially A3 mercs as they are still underperforming.
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