Hirelings: Fix the **** things.

[Reock]

Getting pretty friggan tired of hirelings randomly vanishing, having to be repeatedly told to do something (especialy interact or fallow). This last one was real **** cute so much I had to share.

Was doing butchers path on a lowbie fighter with a cleric hireling, get through it all no problem till the very end, the warlock rare is up. I go in fighting him, tell the hireling to fallow so it will stop standing at the water and pop over to me. It dosnt, instead it stays were it is despite repatedly being told to get the hell over to me. Finally the warlock manages to double fireball me and I drop unconcious but not dead......thats when the hireling pops up on top of me, gets fireballed and i die from collateral damage, he dies a moment later. I leave run back (from Leaky dingy to butchers, so not far) instance has already buged/reset.

Fix.these.****.things.

[~jradnut]

The Contract Operators Weapons and Rewards Dungeon Service, C.O.W.A.R.D.S. for short, 8) have a highly classified code of conduct. If you knew it, they would have to grief you.

Sounds like your hireling thought you knew too much...

[Dispolte]

I've been running a wizard, using a cleric hireling, and when facing large numbers, i'll charm a few... no problem, right? Let them fight it out? No, because my cleric hireling HEALS the charmed bugbear, then the charm wears off, and it attacks me with full health!
Can you put it a code to NOT HEAL the charmed mobs?

[mightyurufist]

Can you also fix the Resurrect Spell for some of the Cleric Hirelings? Several times I've been killed right in front of the Hireling, and the Hireling just stands there being beaten and healing herself instead of resurrecting me, even when I am ordering her to do so.

[Kreaper]

I have been using hirelings lately. Here are a few issues I have with them:

1) If you put them on defend you, they waste all their manna doing everything except heal you. If you put them on passive they will just stand there and do absolutely nothing, including heal themselves. What to do? Program them to self heal in passive mode. Also, add a repair button to their bars. (I wouldn't know if Clerics have a heal button.)

2) Firewall... Why don't they cast it, or ANY spell, when you tell them to? Mobs up on a ledge and you want your hireling to cast a firewall on them? Good luck with that. Hirelings seem to have big issues with mobs above or below you.

3) No response at all. Often, when you tell them to attack a mob they will just stand there. Hello? Did you fall asleep? Wake up and attack the guy! Hello? What are you doing? Where are you going? That's the wrong direction! You're fired!

4) What are you doing? Are you trying to blast that column out of your way so you can kill that mob? I was running Tear and got to the room with four columns and two switches. I commenced to killing while keeping an eye on my hirelings red and blue as he went after one of the platform archers. I ended up killing everyone else in the room and turned to watch this idiot hireling use up his entire blue bar and pots trying to fire through an obstacle at the archer while the archer tried to fire arrows through the same obstacle. It was like Dumb and Dumber trying to play rock, paper scissors with oven-mitts on their hands.

5) Sometimes, even when on passive, they will take off running to attack non-agroed (Is that even a word? I guess it is now!) mobs.

6) Crossbow? Really? Why do Flare and Blast have crossbows? You can't make them use the useless weapons and why do they think it is a good idea to stop casting/repairing to reload and fire the crossbows while standing in the middle of a large mob? Please take their crossbows away.

That is all.


For now.

[slothinator]

1 - Standing in a spinning blade trap or lava pool. Move or heal yourself, don't just.....great, you died again. Always fun running back through the ouchy stuff to grab their stone.

2 - I bring hireling clerics for healing, and when they hit 10% of their hitpoints they ask me to heal them. You could do that yourself, you know?

3 - When they run down the opposite hallway, draw agro from a mob of ogres/trolls, and then drag them back to me. "Look Master, what I found for you!!!" Thanks, Flower, thank you very much.

[danotmano1998]

And one more...

For some odd reason, I think the hirelings suffer from very dry skin.
Why else would they choose to stand on the bottom of a lake and watch everything happen around them?

[Uska]

Rather that they had never added them and wish they were gone.

[somenewnoob]

Not to mention the level 1 wizard your fighter brought along for an int rune door........ and instead of doing anything useful in combat keeps greasing the floor causing both you and him to fall down!

[twinminds]

/signed

My hirelings are always on aggressive mode, yet frequently stand there staring at me while I get beat on by a horde of baddies. Usually they'll heal me just fine, but when it comes to participating in combat, they're mostly standing there picking their noses.

Also, I will give them a command, such as opening a door or pulling a lever. Occasionally they will run halfway there, then stop and run back to me. They never get to the lever/door, never open it, and I usually have to hit the command a few more times before they'll listen again. I've told my cleric to cast command on an enemy around a corner, the hireling will run quite a ways, look around the corner, tick off everything in sight, never cast the command, then run everything back to me.

In fact, just now mine watched me die while doing nothing, then promptly died herself. It was beautiful.

[ArchStriker]

Yeah, it kind of sucks that hirelings never live up to my expectations.

[pokeoutyoureardrums]

3 - When they run down the opposite hallway, draw agro from a mob of ogres/trolls, and then drag them back to me. "Look Master, what I found for you!!!" Thanks, Flower, thank you very much.

That tickled me in a seriously funny way. After being gone half a year, the last couple weeks have shown me some hires are a tad less suicidal than they used to be. They run through traps almost asap instead of lingering, jump after you if you FF them instead of waiting like turtles on muscle relaxers, etc.

Then they stand around complaining and being bludgeoned by the GD giant in von 2 -Stupid Rage, poor excuse for a mercenary.

[shadowhop]

Just do not expect to much from a hireling and all goes well.

I can do a lot of content alone because of hirelings or play with someone else without the need that one of us needs to play a healer. Just do not expect something intelligent from them and if you need that just group up with a player.

[Razcar]

Getting pretty friggan tired of hirelings randomly vanishing, having to be repeatedly told to do something (especialy interact or fallow). Welcome to management :p

[Dendrix]

I use the free hirelings from LFM, often up to 5 in my groups.
Of course controlling them is a nightmare, they seem to have minds of their own, they will do the damnest thing, but it seems to work out most of the time.

[Morlen]

I leave run back (from Leaky dingy to butchers, so not far) instance has already buged/reset.

On a plus note, the instance didn't bug on you. The Shaman at the very end is an optional. As soon as you reach the room that he is in the quest finishes, then you can either kill him or just climb up the rope and leave!

[Master_of_None]

On a plus note, the instance didn't bug on you. The Shaman at the very end is an optional. As soon as you reach the room that he is in the quest finishes, then you can either kill him or just climb up the rope and leave!

Believe he's talking about the trog warlock optional, not the kobold shaman at the end.

[English_Warrior]

Believe he's talking about the trog warlock optional, not the kobold shaman at the end.

I love that Trog.....he killed my first ever permadeath toon.....me and a buddy rolled a couple of toons on a new server for the fresh-off-the-boat permadeath experience.

Needless to say years of twinked toons had made us WAY overconfident in our ability...we went in on elite at level 2 and got through the quest with relative ease....he popped up so we just charged in unbuffed to do him in....he taught us a valuable lesson in humility.

[Master_of_None]

I love that Trog.....he killed my first ever permadeath toon.....me and a buddy rolled a couple of toons on a new server for the fresh-off-the-boat permadeath experience.

Needless to say years of twinked toons had made us WAY overconfident in our ability...we went in on elite at level 2 and got through the quest with relative ease....he popped up so we just charged in unbuffed to do him in....he taught us a valuable lesson in humility.

Yeah, he caused my most recent pd loss as well. Nailed me while I was swimming for my life. How the heck can you get hit by a fireball while underwater?

[sirgog]

I've been experimenting a lot with hirelings at high level (solo scrollfarming various Epics, including some of the tougher ones like ADQ1). Hirelings can be helpful when doing so, especially on my fleshie caster.

The features I most want:

1) Give the Hirelings that could cast them level-appropriate permanent self-buffs. Level 16+ Clr/FvS/Wiz/Sorc hirelings should not need a Resist Energy spell from me. Higher level bards and arcanes should always have Blur active on themselves, etc.

2) Most of all, cleric-type Hirelings need Quicken Spell. They need to turn it on, and never turn it off.

3) Perhaps Hireling versions of some of the popular forum builds could be added, with Epic-ready gear?

Examples of possible Epic-ready hirelings:
An Axer clone swinging an Aligned Planes or Devil's Ruin eSOS in Epic Marilith Chain with 3 piece Abashai set (Axer is Shade's 'Max DPS Barbarian', Aligned Planes is probably more useful than Devil's Ruin in 6-person content). Commands - Frenzy, Stunning Blow, Trip and 'Hjeel Me' - causes the hireling to scream 'Hjeel Me' and maybe drink a Silver Flame Potion
A geared Evoker Favored Soul (as per Impaqt's build). Commands (all Quickened) - Heal, Bladebarrier, Mass Cure Serious, Symbol of Stunning
A geared Soul Survivor FvS (as per my build). Commands (Quickened) - Heal, Mass Heal, Holy Aura, Mass Cure Serious
A decent Defender Fighter or Paladin (perhaps from Junts' guide), using a Devil's Ruin Epic Chimera's Fang. Commands include Intimidate, Defensive Stance, Shield Block (remains active for six seconds after pressing it unless you tell it otherwise)
A WF Enchantment archmage with Mass Hold Monster, Discoball, Symbol of Persuasion and Irresistable Dance as spells we can order them to cast (they also cast 1sp Hypno, 3sp Resistable Dance, Firewall and Reconstruct at their own leisure). They have heavy fortification and do not drink Yugoloth Int potions (leave those for the veterans that can dodge attacks only).

Don't be afraid to fudge their stats upwards either. Even if a Hireling has 250hp more than a real person in the same gear, the real player will be better even if they are quite mediocre.

[Robai]

1) While you are fighting hireling is standing in the trap and healing himself until his mana is gone and then he dies.
Or even worse, standing in the trap he is healing me when I still have more than 80% health (then he dies very fast).

2) Why on the heavens healer hireling is using damaging spells?
I'm dps, I can manage, just heal me instead when I need it (and not when I still have 90% health).
Ok, use damaging spells, but only when I say so (like fighting undead boss, etc.). Why waste mana on trash mobs?

3) There should be additional options for his actions.

For example:
- autocast spells (enabled/disabled)
- - spell 1 (enabled/disabled)
- - spell 2 (enabled/disabled)
... (and so on, including restoration spell)

- heal me when I have:
less than 90% health (yes/no)
less than 80% health (yes/no)
less than 70% health (yes/no)
...

- automatically heal/restore/buff (if those spells are selected) not only you, but also your group members (yes/no)

[pokeoutyoureardrums]

As an offshoot, I wish summons had mini hotbars with a few actions.

wait.
attack.
defend target.

Those would do nicely.

[BrightAsh]

Just do not expect to much from a hireling and all goes well.

I can do a lot of content alone because of hirelings or play with someone else without the need that one of us needs to play a healer. Just do not expect something intelligent from them and if you need that just group up with a player.

/signed

Indeed indeed, just don't expect to much. Hirelings are great healingpots outside of combat. If you enter an encounter, leave you're hireling a bit behind you (as they dont have quicken, they drain their own mana by trying to cast spells when hit).

Personaly, i don't quit get the fuzz over the dumb*** hirelings. They are very very stupid indeed, and they should be. DDO is a MMO. If hirelings get smart, you might as well make it a single player game (except for endgame and raids). I use them too, not coincidently in the same way as Shadowhop states. They come in handy in a group as a bit of backup. Don't build your quest around it :)

[FrancisP.Fancypants]

I've been running a wizard, using a cleric hireling, and when facing large numbers, i'll charm a few... no problem, right? Let them fight it out? No, because my cleric hireling HEALS the charmed bugbear, then the charm wears off, and it attacks me with full health!
Can you put it a code to NOT HEAL the charmed mobs?

Didn't know they healed charmed things. Interesting that they do that, but they won't auto-heal any character you have to babysit. :/