Hireling Preview Night!

[Tolero]

Are you ready to try Hirelings? Your opportunity has arrived! Next week, November 12th 2008, we will be having a Hireling Preview on all Live game servers! All players are invited to attend!

At 6:00 PM EST (-5 GMT) Hireling vendors will appear in the game worlds on all servers. From 6:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST you will be able to purchase and quest with Hirelings! Need to know more about how to purchase and play with a Hireling? Read more in our handy guide to Hirelings by clicking here (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=163357)!

After the preview event, you'll be given the opportunity to participate in several forms of Hireling related feedback activities. It's the perfect time to tell us about your experiences with the Hirelings! So come out and contract your very own Hireling during our Hireling Preview!

[Mockduck]

Cool! I think hirelings will be particularly good for solo players. I know I'm looking forward to paying for some backup in the outdoor areas.

[adamr09]

eh cool i guess. not sure why they didnt come out with mod 8 but o well, still looking forward to using them with some solo stuff :D

but wasnt risia our preveiw? :P

[Allgee]

4 hours is not long enough to trial them, cant you make it at least a day of trials. otherwise theres no point in giving feedback if we didnt get to use them abit.

[Gaermain]

4 hours is not long enough to trial them, cant you make it at least a day of trials. otherwise theres no point in giving feedback if we didnt get to use them abit.

Well yeah, but...at least the preview isn't during Heroes.

=)

[xdarkseraphx]

Well yeah, but...at least the preview isn't during Heroes.

=)

Lawlz good point! I think hirelings are good, but it will make it much harder to get into parties with my cleric now that people can bring heal botz around.

[Fixx]

Thought heirlings were part of the new mod ??

Thanks for throwing us a bone.

/throws bone back :mad:

[Morakan]

so now my cleric is useless?

[mmogamer]

4 hours is not long enough to trial them, cant you make it at least a day of trials. otherwise theres no point in giving feedback if we didnt get to use them abit.

100% agree, on top of that, why hasn't most issues been seen and fixed from the weeks of pre mod8 time with them on risia? If you can't get the feedback you need from the pre release, maybe it's time to ask some questions you want answered when we first get to play with them. Also, would also be nice to get REAL game responses from GM's on Risia when we do submit problems and bugs for things like hirelings.

[sagimore]

This is just a one night deal, I dont mean to complain, but shouldnt the Test Server have done this. I feel teased....and not in a good way.

[darksinner]

so now my cleric is useless?

i'd take a real cleric over a bot anyday. hey it'll be good for everyone for soloing

[ronlamb]

Except for the day when the servers were down, there were not enough people playing on Risia to test the performance of hirelings. That day there was so many people it wasn't a good test either.

[Adrahil]

Well... I don't have to keep buying haste pots anymore. Zefyn Kurimas and I are going to be best friends as he spams an extended haste on me. Excellent work Turbine, this looks like a great boost to filling out parties!

[michrech]

I have a couple issues, one of which is pretty major, about the hirelings.

First, they don't fight properly. They strike about once a second or two. It's like they strike, wait to see if they hit, then strike again, etc.

Second, they don't use shrines properly. More than once they've gone into a shrine (usually the res shrine) and just stood there. I've had to select whichever shrine I want them to use and actually instruct them to do so (especially when they're dead).

Third, they don't do ladders, so far as I can tell. They also seem to ignore water.

Fourth, on occasion, I've not managed to get them to use valves/runes. I think they're afraid of breaking something.

Beyond that, there is the potential for slight abuse. For example, in part of Waterworks, there is a shrine that has two poison sprays that need to be disabled, or jumped over. I can tell my hireling to "stand here" (safely away from the poison), get myself into the shrine on the other side, wait for the door to close, then use the "Come here NOW" command. They instantly appear, bypassing the poison. Same can be done to get them out.

Onto the magic casting of the bunch -- I've only used up to level three hirelings, however, you seemingly only get something like three spells to have them cast. I think the wizard was casting spells (like flame hand, or whatever that first level spell is called) that weren't on the toolbar, but it'd be nice to have access to them to force them to cast whatever might be in their inventory. I do like that we can't control what spells they have memorized -- they *are* their "own person", after all. :) That said, to access their other spells, I don't think extra toolbars is the answer (at least for some, like my poor level 12 wizard that has one spell bar for each spell level he can cast, plus an extra couple for "often used" spells/accessories. Maybe a dropdown list, or a "pop up" similar to the "Resist Energy" or "Teleport" boxes? I dunno..

On the subject of Clerics, I haven't had too much of a problem using the clerics. Only problem I'd see is if you get into a larger group (I've been soloing on Risia). I could imagine them just standing there, while being attacked (they do that when it's just me they have to watch out for!), trying to heal a party, running out of spell points in the first fight.

Something I just thought of that would be nice to have would be the ability to hand them a wand to use that would come back to us (if there are any charges left) when they leave us.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure I can come up with more as I play with them (I just made level 4, so I can move onto slightly more powerful companions. :) )

[plagus]

4 hours is not long enough to trial them, cant you make it at least a day of trials. otherwise theres no point in giving feedback if we didnt get to use them abit.

I agree... in order to fully test the hirelings we need to trial them on a broad spectrum of quests, 4 hours will not be long enough to test out their effectivness. Allgee is right we need to have day long trials... being in Australia, these times wont even allow me to test the hirelings at all... what about people in the rest of the world who are working at the time these trials are on? A day of trials is much better and will allow people all around the world to have the opportunity to test out the hirelings.

[cdbd3rd]

Third, they don't do ladders, so far as I can tell. They also seem to ignore water.

Ladders they'll do, but they're buggy about it. Water is addressed in the main thread about them - they don't do water. They'll teleport to you after you're across (currently sometimes have to tell them to come.)

Fourth, on occasion, I've not managed to get them to use valves/runes. I think they're afraid of breaking something.

Again, sometimes they will, also a buggy issue probably being dealt with.

Beyond that, there is the potential for slight abuse. For example, in part of Waterworks, there is a shrine that has two poison sprays that need to be disabled, or jumped over. I can tell my hireling to "stand here" (safely away from the poison), get myself into the shrine on the other side, wait for the door to close, then use the "Come here NOW" command. They instantly appear, bypassing the poison. Same can be done to get them out.


Since they don't jump much, especially to avoid things like that trap, 'stand/summon' should be considered okay, despite the unrealistic side of it. Same mechanic as the crossing water issue, so I don't see it as an abuse.





Greened it some. ^^

[cdbd3rd]

I agree... in order to fully test the hirelings we need to trial them on a broad spectrum of quests, 4 hours will not be long enough to test out their effectivness. Allgee is right we need to have day long trials... being in Australia, these times wont even allow me to test the hirelings at all... what about people in the rest of the world who are working at the time these trials are on? A day of trials is much better and will allow people all around the world to have the opportunity to test out the hirelings.


Temp trials on Live is one thing. They're buggy enough that we need some of the current fixes uploaded to Risia. Seems like there were quite a few folks running them around while I was there - in addition to server down time when it was jampacked.

[Jacoby]

Whoo Hoo.... Not!

Did the community even ask for hirelings?

I know some things they did ask for enmasse but those seem to be ignored.

[query]

Hirelings were worked on. And now they are slowly being introduced as to not to a coyle outcome. All things griped were mentioned before. I personally (on risa) think the clerics not specced for combat werte too weak (even after buffs) but they had a good start. Following was fine. Activation of valves did take a bit of commanding and yeah, better to teleport than to have them climb.

I look forward to hireling monks soon just because you can. :)

[vegabond1969]

And so the crying begins... It seems pretty simple, you buy one and use um. So that being said, if you dont like the idea of hirelings, then dont bloody buy one. Problem solved, sheesh.:rolleyes:

[query]

logic and calm rationality. What would the forum posters do? :p


And so the crying begins... It seems pretty simple, you buy one and use um. So that being said, if you dont like the idea of hirelings, then dont bloody buy one. Problem solved, sheesh.:rolleyes:

[Generals]

It'll be interesting enough to see how the hardware curbs the lag spikes :eek:

[Grayhawke_Blackmoor]

Quit messin' around, release em and a note, "If you dont wanna use em dont!".
It's gonna take time for all of us to get a handle on how best to use them with thier limitations. Four hours is ridiculous. If they are buggy, or quirky, so are the maniacs we party with all the time in pugs (and more than of few of my guildees too) :). That's what makes the game fun.
I think it would be cool if a couple friends, and myself could hire a couple to round out the party. Lookin forward to tryin em out either way.
I took the sorc on a rampage through gianthold and managed to loot Chief Ough's chest, but he was out of spell points and my toon is over a year old on Risia. Please update! Someone should be fired, or at least reprimanded for Risia. Totally unsatisfactory.
New content gets better with every release and I am anxiously awaiting next mod. Keep up the good work on that heh. Where is my druid??

[vegabond1969]

logic and calm rationality. What would the forum posters do? :p

True enough. The forums would have what 10 posts, mostly from the Devs;)

[Angelican]

I am looking forward to having these things when it's the middle of the night and I can't find anyone to group with or we can't fill a group. But I'm worried about it hurting grouping also. As it is, people advertise for that one or two last spots to fill a group and I usually end up filling it. If all someone has to do is go to the vendor and "buy" someone to fill the last position I am no longer the one in the group.

My solution, only allow the activation of the vendors when the server number goes below a certain number. That way you still have people forced to fill a group when there are plenty of people to do it. Then when the number of people on the server is low you activate the vendors so people can fill the groups.

Just my thought, though I'm sure it's not worth much. :P

[Spisey]

I'll put them to the test! Time to solo coal chamber and burning city to see if they can keep up... :D

[brshelton]

so now my cleric is useless?

I highly doubt a hireling cleric can do everything a GOOD cleric can. Now whether thats you... ;)

[wgc01]

And so the crying begins... It seems pretty simple, you buy one and use um. So that being said, if you dont like the idea of hirelings, then dont bloody buy one. Problem solved, sheesh.:rolleyes:


/agree 100% seems simple enough to me

[Arthanon]

A few months ago I quit World Of Warcraft after having played from release. The scope of the game was just too
much. 20 to 40 man raids made me miserable. No way you can get 20 to 40 people together without personality
conflicts cropping up spoiling everyone's fun. Often even the 10 man raids would be filled with a lot of drama I was
trying to get away from by playing a game in the first place.

I recently decided to shop around for a different mmo. One that would be smaller in scale but just as exciting. I first
tried a trial account with Everquest II. Not bad, I'm tempted. But they ****ed me off by gimping their trail version. No housing or auction house. So I am now on a DDO trial, still got 5 days of play ahead of me.

I plan on being more casual. I like playing a game in a shared environment, but I'll often be soloing. So far DDO has
fit the bill in some ways. It certainly is soloable, even on the Normal or Hard difficutly. Elite has given me troubles
after reaching Stormwind. Bosses just hit too hard.

But I don't like being locked out of content. I started with a fighter and soon realized I can't reach some areas
because of locked doors. So, I created a new fighter multiclassed with a rogue. Now I can open those pesky locks and disarm traps. But I'm still unable to reach some things. For instance last night I couldn't free some prisoners,
an optional quest in the one where you free Arlo from the kobold prison. The lock was a 'rune' and I couldn't read
it. Take it I'd need a sorcerer or wizard to get that door open.

That sucks and puts a mark in the No-Play column of my evaluation of the game.

Hirelings sound like just the thing for me. If they can get those areas open to me, then DDO looks more promising,
or a healbot. Depending on where I am and what I am doing. Could use one of those on my solo journies.

Don't get me wrong...if I chose DDO. I'll be partying it up from time to time. But I will not get locked into a weekly
run situation like I did with Wow. Probably mostly be pugging it.

Can't wait to try out a few hirelings :)

[Rog]

eh cool i guess. not sure why they didnt come out with mod 8 but o well, still looking forward to using them with some solo stuff :D

but wasnt risia our preveiw? :P
if had had to guess they got mad feedback from the risa experience and they revamped the little buggers to try to fix them now they think they are fixed so they bringin them back into the game.
pure guess but thats what i would do to save myself forum pain
lunarsong

[Quanefel]

Cool.

I wonder if anyone out there would want to have a contest to find the most "inventive" way to get their Hireling killed. :D

[carlston]

so now my cleric is useless?

Your good man, thing is most these bots are brain dead, they will never replace a true player of the type

[KLBen]

I think the thing to remember here is that your style of play isn't going to change unless you change it.

From the beginning I've been a solo player, my brother goes for parties. As such, I'll be taking advantage of hirelings, he won't. Proof? We both use Risia and this is exactly what we've done.

And as for having them active only when the servers go below a certain number of players? I disagree. That's sort of like punishing people like me who prefer soloing.

[Jeannie]

But I'm still unable to reach some things. For instance last night I couldn't free some prisoners,
an optional quest in the one where you free Arlo from the kobold prison. The lock was a 'rune' and I couldn't read
it. Take it I'd need a sorcerer or wizard to get that door open.


You could probably do it with a potion of Fox's cunning, ;)

If you completed the first 2 parts of Waterworks you can get into the Marketplace. The Rusty Nail has a potion vendor that sells stat potions. There are several quests that have runes that require wisdom, intel or charisma (depending on quest) and those potions can help if you are only a few points shy. Most of those areas are optionals though, so even if you cannot get in, you can still finish the quest.

Good luck :)

[greystone306]

Also, the test server can't really show if they cause lag problems or not, like the live servers can..probaly 1 of the reason there starting out with a few set hours for them to be available, so they can monitor any effects they have at all on the game and such..and tweak if needed..