Hirlings are extremly bugged

[~rachealgoss]

Many Many examples but a few critical ones

They just stop moving
They like to watch you get beat down - they wont fight if on attack nor heal as necessary
They will respond with "ok", "affirmative", "will do", etc and then wont do the task you assign them "search, open lock, etc
They will use wrong weapons for task - the rogues love to use quarterstaves on monsters and daggers on oozes

[Reesi]

bump - I realize nothing about this is easy, but I agree hirelings are still in a weird state.

These guys need an overhaul. Specifically, they cast spells inconsistently (i.e. bards heal with no heal specified- a good thing but still out of place, clerics cure, etc. At the same time, they will might not cast restoration on you even though they should have it memorized.) With displacement now being self only, blur might be preferred.

The issues are in several categories:

1) Bugs - healers stop working, its impossible to tell if they stopped casting because they were feared or they just decided they didn't want to. If they have to climb on a ladder, the impact seems to become worse.

2) Role - these guys are hirelings, can they be assigned logic based on a role - like Healer instead of their class? They should still use spells specific to their class of course, but why would they only have mass cure critical wounds memorized.... why not all the heals, since any cleric would have them all as their +1.

3) Skill, AI - The rogues follow so far behind you that you have to almost get killed before they can disarm a trap. The cleric will run into acid or lava then stand there and heal themselves over and over till they run out of mana and die. They also heal npcs, other hirelings, pets, turrets with priority over players.

Suggested fixes

1) Summon and reset. Pushing the come to me button should immediately summon the hireling to you, they should not have to run to you, they should warp, drop all hatred, and immediately evaluate the situation and set doing the right thing. I realize its not super realistic but given the time you have to address these issues, these seems like a better fix and no less realistic than an npc that decides to take a 10 minute bath in lava. If they are frequently getting hurt from a trap or fire, have them run or warp to their employer.

2) Re-design the spell lineup with spells/abilities appropriate for healer, tank, dps, support. Give them many applicable spells even though they might not be on the bar (something it appears you do now, like come clerics will remove curse or poison). The level 15 favored soul Larafey is a dps monster, but if you her to heal it is likely she has blown all her mana nuking because she seems to prioritize that.

3) Give the hirelings modes (i.e. scout, tank, dps, ranged) - if set to scout, increase the npcs range to find traps to about 4 times the normal distance based on the location of the employer. Have them automatically find traps and doors when they sense them. If set to tank, have them prioritize getting aggro. If set to ranged, have them try to move away to half casting range from the employer so they are not standing in the fray.