Hireling bugs

[Elishia]

Ok I know I am not the only one getting frustrated with hirelings. Every since Update 11.1 (the supposed fix to hirelings) they have just gotten worse which I didn't think was possible.

First off hireling names and these are just the high level ones........
Aryon-17 cleric
Albus-20 FVS
Natasha-16 cleric
Jatrina-15 Cleric

All of these hirelings most certainly do not "follow their master more closely" instead they are running halfway across the dungeons to aggro mobs that are not even active. From what I read the patch notes said they wouldn't attack mobs not attack their master, however that is the complete opposite of what I see and it's worse than it ever was. These are supposed to be healers who shouldn't be attacking period much less running way ahead to aggro mobs you can't even see. I'll just give the last example that has led me to post here (I'll not worry about the other 100 cases of this sense update 11.1). Me and my fiance are running Ritual sacrifices on Normal with Aryon and Natasha, Aryon decided that he was now a "battle cleric" who wasn't going to heal and on the first red name/group that is there he is busy fighting instead of healing me causing me to die even though I told him to heal me. Then after that he was told to stay at the first curve on the east side of the quest where the first set of mobs is. I am standing back there getting dvs or trying to and he takes off all of a sudden to attack the mobs two rooms over that aren't even aggro yet and most definitely was not attacking me. Like I said this is just the last case but this has been repeatedly with all healer hirelings and yesterday on my lowbie I was running with the lvl 4 bard and had the same issue with the bard(a little more excusable since it's not an actual "healer class" but it is not acceptable with healers.

It's even less acceptable to have to keep telling these hirelings to res 4 times and instead of ressing they're busy running off to aggro more mobs. Please fix these stupid hirelings instead of saying you're doing something and nothing is done except they get worse. Things like them not pulling levers is a minor freaking issue with them, things like the clerics not using their weapons before was again a minor thing that obviously took precedence over fixing them to do what they're actually supposed to do.

Some may say to stop running with them it's not that easy since I'm on a double TR toon at lvl 17 and can't get groups to run lvl 16-17 quests with people who will not give me a xp penalty.

[MRH]

Change them back to the coding before you made them start healing everyone and their dog.

That was 2 updates back i believe.....

All you needed to change on Hirelings was the distance they follow the master.

But no , you couldn't even change one number in the code to make them stay away from you.

Last update you state in release notes that they will stay even closer to you ! REALLY?

Change them back to when they just healed the master, and when they got hit on defend... then they would fight back. Only thing that was wrong was they followed too close.

Maybe they did this on purpose to discourage solo or few friends with hire questing.

[Elishia]

If they wanted to discourage it then they should just remove hirelings period then there wouldn't be an issue of coding them and people expecting them to do something they won't do.
I don't care how they fix them but they really need to do something to fix hirelings, it isn't right to try and force you to have to get a full group because it's hard to find a healer and you take a 50-50 chance the healer you think you've found isn't actually a healer and thinks they should be trying to solo an epic boss from 50% to dead instead of raising dps.

Sadly this is what I see hirelings going........Funny thing is that update 12 says that "Arcane hirelings" will not charge into battle and fight melee close up yet what about the divine hirelings? Yea they melee when they go to attack but unless they are defend and they get attacked or their master does they shouldn't be attacking. Anymor eyou can't even put them on passive because they still rush in.

[VonAlmerth]

Is there any official response regarding this? An acknowledgement of the problem at least?

For people in small guilds like ours who rely on hirelings to see content - it's increasingly frustrating, even on the verge of pointlessness.

Hireling runs around the corner and pulls a group you haven't even seen yet. On defensive!

Hireling doesn't heal. Just responds "right away!" and stands there, looking at you.

Hireling runs off towards the next group and despite calling it back and telling it to stand it's ground it runs off again; repeatedly.

[LOOON375]

Try putting them in offensive stance. They seem to behave better. More like defensive stance is supposed to be. It works most of the time for me.

[danotmano1998]

Yep, they're buggy.

Yep, they run off 1/2 a mile away and aggro mobs that aren't even in the same zipcode. Level 10,11,12 cleric hires do this as well. Yep, they refuse to rez or heal you, even though you see their confirmation dialog above their head.

Change them back to the coding before you made them start healing everyone and their dog.
That was 2 updates back i believe.....

This ^^ would fix the problem.

Here's another suggestion I would like to offer: Turn off the cleric's attack mode. Completely. Forever. When I purchase a cleric hireling it is to:

1. Keep me alive, via healing spells, ailment fixes, or resurrection when necessary.
2. Give me Divine Vitality when I want it.
3. Stay the heck out of the way. You're a cleric hireling, not a raging barbarian. And mind the traps!