Gold Seal Hire Rentals - A Poll

[Annex]

In 2018, approximately how many one hour Gold Seal Hire Contracts did you purchase using Astral Shards or DDO Points? Obviously, no one keeps track of such things so please take a best guess.

Edit: Please note this poll only concerns Gold Seal Hire Rental Contracts. If you wish to make comments about Gold Seal Hire Permanent Contracts, please make them below. Thank you!

As we all know, DDO only includes a very small number of permanent Gold Seal Hire Contracts. I am curious if Gold Seal Hire Rentals generate significant revenue for Standing Stone Games. If yes, that would explain any reluctance to add additional permanent Gold Seal Hire Contracts and I can stop bugging them about it. :)

[HungarianRhapsody]

In 2018, approximately how many one hour Gold Seal Hire Contracts did you purchase using Astral Shards or DDO Points? Obviously, no one keeps track of such things so please take a best guess.

As we all know, DDO only includes a very small number of permanent Gold Seal Hire Contracts. I am curious if Gold Seal Hire Rentals generate significant revenue for Standing Stone Games. If yes, that would explain any reluctance to add additional permanent Gold Seal Hire Contracts and I can stop bugging them about it. :)

Each life, I buy one gold seal hireling to solo the one Necro 1 quest that requires 4 bodies to stand on buttons at the same time.

[cdbd3rd]

I *might* have bought one, but don't recall. I voted 0, cuz it may have even been before 2018 if I did.

Permanent Elieri has carried me along fine so far even into low teen HN quests I've been exploring.

[thedip]

I never have and never would rent a gold seal hireling.

[Grandern_Marn]

I’ve never really needed to buy one. People I’ve grouped with may have had a gold seal hire but don’t remember.

[Aelonwy]

The cleric is the only permanent gold seal hireling I do NOT own. I have never rented a gold seal hire either through pts or astral shards. I do use platinum hirelings on occasion, mostly for access to Deathward, Mass Deathward or Greater Restoration on characters with a less than stellar UMD. I almost always hire the guy with DD to run I Dream of Jeets so I can do all the optionals.

[LeoLionxxx]

Each life, I buy one gold seal hireling to solo the one Necro 1 quest that requires 4 bodies to stand on buttons at the same time.

You can actually use Wight corpses to light up those tiles. Takes a little effort to position them correctly before they die though.

[Noir]

Didn't vote for me. Voted for my wife. (51 to 100 - Which might actually have been low - She regularly takes full parties of hires into DA to farm remnants)
Personally I am probably 11 - 25. (Have Elieri, Black panther, Alabaster Lioness, and Both 10th and 30th level Scarecrows.)
I only use GS Rogues for the most part.

[Aelonwy]

Didn't vote for me. Voted for my wife's (51 to 100 - Which might actually have been low - She regularly takes full parties of hires into DA to farm remnants)

I'm not going to comment beyond... if you could see me right now my eyebrows are nearly touching my hairline in a shocked expression.

.....Okay one more comment... Annex you know now whom to blame. :D

[MaeveTuohy]

Each life, I buy one gold seal hireling to solo the one Necro 1 quest that requires 4 bodies to stand on buttons at the same time.

Me as well.

[Noir]

*snip*
.....Okay one more comment... Annex you know now whom to blame. :D

She also color coordinates all her (47 ) alts (2/3 of which are mule toons - lots of mirrors of glamoring )
You saw her sense of style last year in your contest ( Her toon won first place for female humanoid )

Please don't harpoon us

[Vish]

I don't buy gold seal with astral
One time last year I bought a rogue, for some quest, and used ddo points
Otherwise, I only own eleri the lvl3 cleric, and use her until I can plat buy clerics at 4

[askrj1]

Each life, I buy one gold seal hireling to solo the one Necro 1 quest that requires 4 bodies to stand on buttons at the same time.


You can actually use Wight corpses to light up those tiles. Takes a little effort to position them correctly before they die though.

I believe those where ghouls. Depending on build class there also options of other pets, you can even just scroll a Summon I spider on one side.

[notthin27]

Went 1-5. I use rogues in tormented. prolly 3 a year on GS rogues

[Nonesuch2008]

Voted 1-5. Gold seals are like Sib's cakes, I only drag them out when I am determined to salvage a quest that has turned into a campaign.

[Aelonwy]

She also color coordinates all her (47 ) alts (2/3 of which are mule toons - lots of mirrors of glamoring )
You saw her sense of style last year in your contest ( Her toon won first place for female humanoid )

Please don't harpoon us

Oh you don't have to worry about me, I have nothing but respect for msrayven and her spectacular fashion sense. I'd worry about Vexa, you know if worrying actually was a suitable defense from an artifact level sentient weapon. I'd say more but I value my life and resurrection cakes are nothing but empty calories outside the game.

[Annex]

Thank you to everyone who responded so far! :D

I absolutely promise that Miss Vexa will probably not stab anyone responding to this poll!

If you rent lots of one hour Gold Seal Hires I want to know just as much as if you never rent any! While no forum poll will ever approach scientific accuracy, a decent forum poll can reveal a topic worthy of further study. In some cases, 'study' may mean 'incessant badgering'.

Have a wonderful day!

[Memnir]

I voted 1-5, because I bought a Rogue or two to help with optionals.

[Garix]

Each life, I buy one gold seal hireling to solo the one Necro 1 quest that requires 4 bodies to stand on buttons at the same time.

^^This^^


You can actually use Wight corpses to light up those tiles. Takes a little effort to position them correctly before they die though.

The cheapest gold seal is 5Tps. I'll pay that than trying to be clever with corpse positioning :)

[zehnvhex]

You don't even really need to get cute with it. Just plant bae hireling and regular hireling in the big room and then jump back and forth between the two nodes in the smaller room. The terribad pathing of the ghouls will have one step on it. Takes about 3 seconds or so.

I mean you do you of course but I think it would take me longer to open the store, get the hireling, position it, etc...than to just jump back and forth twice.

[DYWYPI]

It's not overly difficult to trigger the four pressure plates in 'Tomb of the Burning Heart' there are several methods if "soloing", as with 'The Xorian Cipher' pressure plates.

Typically for the above Necropolis quest; my Assassin uses 1 Hireling and slain undead monster bodies to trigger the plates. Probably the hardest part for me is; seeing in the darkness where the pressure plates are positioned but I'm nearly always successful, first attempt.

I solo play the majority of quests on my Assassins. I've never used either a Gold Seal Hirelings or Gold Seal Permanent Hireling within the live games so my answer to the poll is, zero. Throw a coin in the fountain of dust.

[archest]

rogue to open chests.

[K_9]

None from me. As I have x2 owlbears, x2 scarecrows and the free level 20 cat I'm usually ok on extra hires if needed.

However if gold hires were actually better than platinum hires (with extra benefits/bonuses/abilities) I would consider it, alternatively as they currently stand I am unlikely to buy one unless I could do it with platinum somehow.

[Katalissa]

The "one true" gold seal hireling - our ever faithful Elieri, is the only gold-seal hireling I've ever had or used.

Even in mid to high heroics, she's still a great lever puller who has gotten me through things like the Monkey room in Against the Demon Queen, or the Maze of Madness in Gianthold. She's even managed to grab a soul-stone and get it to a res shrine a couple of times, although at this point she's more likely to die trying, so generally a summon-as-needed lever puller at this point.

My only gripe is that it's an "alt" toon who has her (not Katalissa). I guess it wasn't an account wide thing?

I've never paid anything else for other gold hirelings. I mean - why? An ordinary "for plat" hire can be easily got and the only downside is you need to summon them at the quest entrance. Worst case scenario mostly is I have to use dimension door... (or run a lot). And if you want a hireling as a stone-grabber to carry you to a shrine, well, you need them pre-summoned anyway.

[Cantor]

1 for only 5 points because I was running the pit and needed a puller, haven't run it in a while and forgot to grab a plat hire and was well time committed by furnace 3. A week ago the answer would have been 0.

[Dulcimerist]

I still have the half-dozen gold seal hireling contracts I won during DDO lotteries back in the day, and have never used them; so I've never purchased any. I have the panther and two owlbears, which I use while favor farming or doing wilderness slayers.

If the Catacombs starter pack went on a significant sale, I would buy that for my daughter and myself, just to have Elieri permanent hireling.

[FuryFlash]

My answer would be zero every year other than this year, but I had to vote one. This year, I was running a heroic Reaper 10 Amber Temple when I realized I didn't have Restoration for the lich (I'm so used to running legendary). Decided to spend a couple points on a Gold Seal hire with Restoration rather than restart the quest, since I was leading the group and we were at the end. But yeah, I have sworn off hirelings as much as possible, and I certainly wouldn't spend DDO points on them regardless of whether or not I used them.

[PhotoRob]

The "one true" gold seal hireling - our ever faithful Elieri, is the only gold-seal hireling I've ever had or used.

Even in mid to high heroics, she's still a great lever puller who has gotten me through things like the Monkey room in Against the Demon Queen, or the Maze of Madness in Gianthold. She's even managed to grab a soul-stone and get it to a res shrine a couple of times, although at this point she's more likely to die trying, so generally a summon-as-needed lever puller at this point.

My only gripe is that it's an "alt" toon who has her (not Katalissa). I guess it wasn't an account wide thing?

I've never paid anything else for other gold hirelings. I mean - why? An ordinary "for plat" hire can be easily got and the only downside is you need to summon them at the quest entrance. Worst case scenario mostly is I have to use dimension door... (or run a lot). And if you want a hireling as a stone-grabber to carry you to a shrine, well, you need them pre-summoned anyway.

It's technically account wide, but you only get one of her; you have to share her through the shared bank. Why we only get a single Elieri but *everybody* gets a couple of owlbears (and I assume the other permanent hirelings as well) is something I consider more than just a little annoying.