a(nother) modest proposal

[Pyed-Pyper]

Hirelings need help, badly.

What if they were given a short menu of options for their AI, something that would allow the player to tailor the behavior in a way suited to the situation.

They could have, say, options for offense and defense. Casters could have use/don't-use toggles for spells. Warrior classes might have range/melee only options. There could be a command to have the hireling stay in one place and not move. Or follow closely/at a distance. And so on.

[droid327]

Hirelings need help, badly.

What if they were given a short menu of options for their AI, something that would allow the player to tailor the behavior in a way suited to the situation.

They could have, say, options for offense and defense. Casters could have use/don't-use toggles for spells. Warrior classes might have range/melee only options. There could be a command to have the hireling stay in one place and not move. Or follow closely/at a distance. And so on.

Sounds like a lot of coding to get the back end and GUI for that, for what's ultimately a stopgap solution.

I thought a hireling pass was on the long-term dev plan. Kind of inefficient to spend the time fixing a part of the problem now, when you're just going to throw that work out and fix the whole problem later.

Besides, they already have a "stay in one place and not move" command, that they often ignore anyway :)

[Nonesuch2008]

Besides, they already have a "stay in one place and not move" command, that they often ignore anyway :)

My hire was highly offended by your remark & wishes to have a word with you! Just wait right here a minute & they will return to show you the error of your ways.


https://i.imgur.com/xbQDlV6.jpg

[mr420247]

LMAO ya thats hires

Diablo 1 had better hires 30 years ago

Everytime they fix em they make em worse

[fognozzle]

The irony is there already is a menu for disabling spells/abilities. It just doesn't work. Right click on the hireling's icon, uncheck something, right click again and its rechecked.

And while we're at it, why do all mobs run right passed you and beeline for your cleric hireling?

[Deadlock]

Long overdue.

Start with follow distance. Add a "don't walk through traps/stand stupidly in that trap that just went off" toggle. Add in an option to specify when you want to be healed, e.g. when your at 25%, 50%, 75% of max HP.

If you want to go wild, add in a system that allows you to buff your hirelings based on your current XP level (like pet enhancements but for hirelings). Allow hirelings to share your current guild buffs at the time you summon them - can get get pets to have them so why not hirelings.

Allow a rogue hireling to disable any trap at the same quest level as them (just assume they have spent their skill points in a non-stupid way and have appropriate gear for their level - and make this work at all difficulties including Reaper.

[lyrecono]

Hirelings need help, badly.

What if they were given a short menu of options for their AI, something that would allow the player to tailor the behavior in a way suited to the situation.

They could have, say, options for offense and defense. Casters could have use/don't-use toggles for spells. Warrior classes might have range/melee only options. There could be a command to have the hireling stay in one place and not move. Or follow closely/at a distance. And so on.

They do, don't they?
To be fair, they were intended for a lower dificulty, meant for the solist, who, in the eyes of turbine, was suposed to do normal.
Ad a decade, hard, elite, 10 reaper skuls, 3 raises of the general difficulty, champions being the third and we have another system left abondoned. Just like many crafting systems, content and even weapon styles.

There isn't money in here for $$g.

Short term cash grab over long term retention

[SpartanKiller13]

In a contrasting opinion, I don't want hirelings to be strong. I'm down for minor AI updates, but I think hirelings should be significantly weaker than players. They serve the function of being a warm body to do stuff, and they can provide useful buffs/heals/SP restoration etc but if hirelings can replace party members there's significantly less encouragement to group, and entire build styles become less valuable (why play a dedicated healer if a FvS hire does it as well as a PC?).

Even though hires don't scale into R10 carries I think that's great! They're still useful in R10 so you can get "self"-healing, but if they could contribute meaningfully in any other way they'd be hugely overpowered compared to many players etc and that defeats the entire purpose of them for me.

[Pyed-Pyper]

http://i63.tinypic.com/fp5v9s.jpg



In a contrasting opinion, I don't want hirelings to be strong. I'm down for minor AI updates, but I think hirelings should be significantly weaker than players. They serve the function of being a warm body to do stuff, and they can provide useful buffs/heals/SP restoration etc but if hirelings can replace party members there's significantly less encouragement to group, and entire build styles become less valuable (why play a dedicated healer if a FvS hire does it as well as a PC?).

Even though hires don't scale into R10 carries I think that's great! They're still useful in R10 so you can get "self"-healing, but if they could contribute meaningfully in any other way they'd be hugely overpowered compared to many players etc and that defeats the entire purpose of them for me.

Making hires uber isn't my agenda, but rather that they simply function correctly, as Nonesuch2008 so eloquently showed.

[Pyed-Pyper]

They do, don't they?
To be fair, they were intended for a lower dificulty, meant for the solist, who, in the eyes of turbine, was suposed to do normal.
Ad a decade, hard, elite, 10 reaper skuls, 3 raises of the general difficulty, champions being the third and we have another system left abondoned. Just like many crafting systems, content and even weapon styles.

There isn't money in here for $$g.

Short term cash grab over long term retention

This appears to be the correct analysis. Years of power creep have simply overwhelmed the original programming and there's no motivation to compensate for changes.

[Chacka_DDO]

It's simple logic, we see also for monsters in DDO and also in other games.
If you cannot make AI-driven creatures (NPCs monsters Hirelings etc.) smarter, make them stronger!

e.g. In Diablo III, there are items with which you can make your companion immortal.
In DDO something similar could also work, if you cannot make the Hirtelings smart enough that they dont run headless into visible traps, then make them invulnerable to trap damage!

Of course, it would be much better if a hireling would act smart but I think this needs a really BIG investment in AI programming and I doubt that SSG is going to do that.
And if the best solution is not particularly available, the second best and much cheaper solution is still better than the current obviously very bad situation!

[Dejvid]

It's simple logic, we see also for monsters in DDO and also in other games.
If you cannot make AI-driven creatures (NPCs monsters Hirelings etc.) smarter, make them stronger!

e.g. In Diablo III, there are items with which you can make your companion immortal.
In DDO something similar could also work, if you cannot make the Hirtelings smart enough that they dont run headless into visible traps, then make them invulnerable to trap damage!

Of course, it would be much better if a hireling would act smart but I think this needs a really BIG investment in AI programming and I doubt that SSG is going to do that.
And if the best solution is not particularly available, the second best and much cheaper solution is still better than the current obviously very bad situation!

indeed. and the worst part is that we pay good money for the ultimate fan bundles from expansion to get hires, but ultimately they are kind of not that usefull :(

i just wish my owlbear and shieldbreaker could beat that raidboss called "doorway"