Idk I feel like mercs are fine. Maybe im biased because mine survives fairly well and is useful as hell even tho it uses pretty cheap and ez to get gear. One thing I do notice is alot of players just throw whatever gear on their merc and expect it to ultra tank which isnt going to happen here. you have to protect your merc and control what it does the best you can and provide it with a solid setup. If you just let it wander around and dont do anything about the mobs that are trying to kill it then its going to get wrecked. As far as bosses yes they can shit on a merc especially if you dont put effort into your mercs setup. I mean bosses can shit on players too, thats why they are bosses. However with all this being said I wouldnt be opposed to seeing mercs get some love, Maeko is the love of my life.