Regarding Thelanis that is having trouble all the time, introduce free server emigration to any other server. If players can just move characters with all they have to another server it should alleviate Thelanis a bit. Heck, even give an incentive to unpopulated servers like a free +2 tome. Caveat: if you move a char from Thelanis you cannot create another char there for 1 month (or the duration of the emmigration policy).

And hirelings, if you have played Come Out and Slay, that bugbear fighter and kobold witch doctor are GREAT. And being able to hire them makes the quest pretty fun. They can fight well and stand up to the heat of battle, unlike the hirelings that just get killed. If fighter/wiz hirelings were like that it would be a tough call between a cleric hireling and any of them. Right now getting any hireling other than cleric is almost certainty of -5% xp.