Hires: more A than I

[Bjond]

Hires die so often they really should just all be renamed "Kenny".

They're too dumb to move out of AE. They not only fail to heal the player, they can't even heal themselves or top up HP after a fight.

All requests to devs for the past decade to improve their AI has failed.

So, if we can't put more I into AI, let's work on the A: give all hires evasion and decent reflex. If you can differentiate between setting off an exposed trap v unexposed, give 'em a huge reflex boost v exposed traps (let's just pretend they avoided if it's too hard to actually path around). Hell, just make them stop and not follow when an exposed trap is near would work. Their "teleport to player" feature would catch them up automatically once the player moves past.

Unless it's a tank hire, it really should try to avoid standing in a pack of mobs. Archer NPCs can do it. Shouldn't be too hard to make a hire do it -- it's an NPC, too. If that's too hard, though, perhaps let the player set a "following distance" to keep squishy hires from snuggling up to a melee PC that's in a pack of critters.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

They can be micromanaged a bit. Like with "stop & go", or by adapting the AI - do a right-click on the hireling in the focus window, then through the gear wheel you can access a few functions.

[shmagmhar]

. remembering when and where to park your hire is part of the skill of using hires . for example if you are going to jump across a trap just remember to park them and then have them tele.
or if going into a room full of mobs parking them around the corner so they can still heal you but not be shot . im not saying you're wrong they do die very easily

[Kutalp]

I sometimes imagine this scenario where our avatar/toon/character is actually playing the role of a hire for the Hires themselves.


You: (Lvl 30 Elite Bodyguard with years of sweat and sets of supreme power items) ' Please stay back near the entrance sir ! I rush and stop these crowded team of Orthons and back you up when you enter that safe room and pull the lever sir '

Lord Hi(ghe)remore : '...' (Royally pulls the lever with his white gloves)

:rolleyes:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWRlD0IiFwQ

My life for HIRE !

[Bjond]

parking them around the corner so they can still heal you but not be shot

Parking seems to disable most automatic behavior. I have seen a parked hire heal, but it's a shockingly rare occasion. Parking also outright disables some buttons, such as Raise and Resurrection on healers, though you can still manually click their heals.

The point of the changes is to eliminate micro-management. Sure, I can park and move my way through a dungeon. It's a royal pain, though. Lately, I just park them at the entrance and summon them to raise or heal post-fight. Micro-managing is just too painful to bother with.

Every other game that has some kind of companion has no issues implementing features like minimal following distance or decent healing behavior. No, having a fantastic "hire" that heals in those games never replaces real healers, though for the one I'm thinking of with really outstanding hire-healer AI, also permits hires in groups, too (in addition to players -- doesn't effect the roster count).