Merc Life (50/50 question/rant)

[Chameleon]

1: I recently had my Merc screen show "0" (zero) life for my rogue, yet she was still alive. Does this mean mercs die only if their health reaches negative values?  IIRC zero life for you means death, does it not?

Merc life display is only updated, once a second; thus, it is possible that the for an instant the life could have been zero but also during same frame the merc could have healed/leeched 1 hp but the display wasn't updated.

2: The merc screen shows changes in merc life only in rather large chunks, like from 221 to 160 as an example. The game does calculate the exact amount, right? Right? Maybe (or definitly) a stupid question (it HAS to calc the exact amount!!!!), but I really don't understand why Blizz doesn't show us the specific value for merc life at a given time.

The delay, explained above. The reason, to reduce lag. By only updating the every second instead of immediately fewer packets are sent to each player.

3: WTF doesn't the game factor in stuff like BO or Oak Sage when restoring "full health" to a merc upon level up??? It works for players! Why, I asks you? "I feel much stronger now!" accompanied by the loss of a third of total life just doesn't feel right.

IIRC, the magic number is 32767, if your merc, after effects of BO and Oak has a max life greater than this, the life roles over into negative values, and thus the next hit will kill your merc.