should mercenaries be attacking me non stop?

[succ]

everytime i get into a fight i end up fighting a ton of mercs all with massive spongy healthbars that take like 10+ minutes to kill, its really boring

[Noma]

It's an Ubisoft game, it's meant to be grindy and brainless. You have to forfeit your humanity to play them.

[c Z p]

Too big a bounty could kill you in GR.

[Cursed Life]

Dont commit crimes or pay the bounty, very simple even for you.

[󠀡󠀡]

The DSP profile picture is very fitting

[longjohn119]

Hunter build and Devastating shot and poison arrows wouldn't hurt ..... You should be able to take out any Mercenary at your level with 3 shots

Here is my mercenary playlist recorded on Hard with Heavy scaling
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkdqp16ufvSmzDidyrXaL5GdT51LqmG5N

[Jimi]

Those pesky mercs! All you need to do is keep your eye on them just a little bit and they are really not a problem at all.

Be a bit more careful when and where to instigate fights. Mercs (and their pets) do tend to hang around or come to forts while you are there, keep your eyes and ears peeled for them. If you are in the middle of a fight and you hear the 'merc horn', sometimes it's better to retreat and get your bearings, locate/mark the merc and then take the advantage.

Avoid bounties! Don't steal 'red' stuff and don't kill innocent people
(unless you're certain there are no witnesses of course)

Hunting mercs can be fun, turn the tables on them, be sneaky.
The Hunter is an excellent choice to torment them :D
As Noma said ; you can choose to play brainless. Or you can have fun with it.

[longjohn119]

I think a lot of people miss out on the importance of fighting mercenaries because if you look on the mercenary ladder you will see the different tiers all come with discounts and bonuses with tier 4 (50% discount on ship upgrades) and tier 3 (50% discount on gear upgrades) being the most important to get to keep upgrade costs down. Basically when I come across a merc I look to see where they are on the mercenary ladder and if they are above me I go after them although I wouldn't recommend going after ones that are higher level than you until you gain some experience.

Once I get level 2 devastating shot I'll go after mercs up to 10 levels above me and after I get level 3 devastating shot the sky is the limit with my personal best being 40 levels above me, a level 99 merc when I was at level 59

There is a place in the game where you can trigger almost an unlimited number of mercenaries in a row ... When the 2 kings give you the quests to complete do the one in Elis first (Olympic games) and after you complete it head out of the city and cross into Arcadia which will trigger 3 mercs. Then ride back into Elis and you'll see one or two of them but they are no longer lit up and you can ride up, jump off you horse and ambush them. Then ride back into Arcadia and trigger 3 more .... Just repeat until no more mercenaries show up

https://youtu.be/1cmkn9ECoTo?list=PLkdqp16ufvSmzDidyrXaL5GdT51LqmG5N

https://youtu.be/te8zxPFcxHs

[Fluffy_Llama]

becoming #1 merc is much more interesting and rewarding than anything the main quest offers plus they make for the best crew members for your ship

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

If there is no bounty on your head before such fights, most likely you choose to fight during daylight and with commoners/witnesses joining the battle, attacking you, getting hurt and killed, which classifies as murder.

[Dorok]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

If there is no bounty on your head before such fights, most likely you choose to fight during daylight and with commoners/witnesses joining the battle, attacking you, getting hurt and killed, which classifies as murder.

I quoted many cases of commoners not involved in the battles and mercenaries passing by stoping and later joining the combat after a time.

Typical case is be involved with a combat with another mercenary or a soldier/guard, and I suspect it's related to allies and first hit following a different logic. If a soldier starts hits you ok but if an ally soldier come in and you start hit him before he did I suspect it's what trigger mercenaries into a combat they was just observing.

The system is far to be perfect, even a bit weird in the start island, but it becomes better when you are more used to it, and overall it improves a play quality.