Arcane Hirelings: rant, improvements & new ones

[Daemoneyes]

Rant part:
Arcane Hirelings are weak and have no damage output to make there weakness up.
But saying that alone without proof is useless and looks dumb so i have tested them while i farmed Ioun Stones.

Test subjects:
lvl 18, 19 and 20 Hireling Wizards

Testing grounds:
Dreaming Dark, run 15 times on Casual and 15 times on Normal to test them against boss
Flagging Quests of Dreaming Dark, run 15 times on Normal and 15 Times on Hard to test them against trash mobs
(yeah i really thought u have to run the whole chain for 3rd End reward... well anyway it was fun and i got lots of loot)

Results:
.) Scaling increases way more then the Hire does outweigh with his Damage.
best example for that is the DD boss, in all the 15 Normal runs with a Hire i had to use an SP pot to be able to kill him. In each Normal run i have done since that (with same equip, same strategic, same spells) i had not to use an SP pot, i even have around 20% of my SP left without an Hire.
Same is true for my Casual runs of DD, with Hire i had 20% SP left without Hire i have 45%+ left.

.) they die fast, all subjects seem to have dumped Constitution and have not invested in Toughness also have no self healing other then 0-3 cure pots which is not enough

.) they also have dumped there main casting stat and no Spell Focus / Spell Penetration, cause they could not land they're Instakill Spells, not even on Casual.. they fail 95% of the time against SR and if they beat it one time the mob saves cause they're DC is so low.

.) they seem to have not invested in Spell power cause they're damage from Evocation Spells is almost even with Scrolls.

.) positive they do not run out of SP

.) reason why they do not run out of SP is all they use without being commanded to use they're other spells, is Magic Missile.

.) they try to attack in melee all the time and when commanded to use they're spells they still try to attack in melee or spam magic missile instead of using the spell you command them to use.


Conclusion:
they do not carry there own weight and are not worth the Platin they cost,
instead they make the game even harder for you.
Cause you have to pet them all the time, buff them, heal them, raise them without getting much/any help from them and the dungeon scaling increases much more then they even could contribute if the KI was not set to Conan the Barbarian Mode..

(actually Player should become Platin and an Loot level increase if they use an Arcane Hire. )


Improvements:
.) Copy&Paste the KI settings from lvl15 FvS Hire Larafey Do'rret to them. She is an excellent Combat Caster who uses her attack spells all the time, yeah she runs out of SP a bit to fast but at least she casts her Spells.
.) Increase the HP and give them more cure pots, also give them some resists.
.) Increase the DC of they're Spells and give them Spell Penetration.
.) Make them use there Combat Spells. (see copy&paste)
.) Give them Self healing, either through making them Warforged with Reconstruct spells or give them Palemaster forms and Death Aura or give them UMD and some scrolls.




New Hires:

Palemaster Hires
Goal is to give PM a hire they actually would use,
not much PM out there use a hire for something other then

1) Divine Vitality Battery, take at least 3 different clerics with DV
run till you are low on SP -> DDoor -> summon -> DV till hire empty -> dismiss -> summon... and so on till you topped youre SP (way cheaper then SP pots)
2) Rogue hire for Traps
3) Any Melee Warforged for Str Lever and Beholder

but i am sure we would (well at least i would ^^) use an PM hire,
even if we have to buy them from the Shop.

Examples:
lvl 6,
Uses Undead form Zombie and lesser Death Aura, also has a mediocre melee attack
spells: Chill Touch, Ray of Enfeeblement, Ghoul Touch
lvl12,
Uses Undead form Wraith and Death Aura,
spells: Ghoul touch, Waves of Fatique, Finger of Death
lvl18,
Uses Undead form Lich and Death Aura,
spells: Enervation, Circle of Death, Necrotic Ray, Waves of Fatique
lvl24,
Uses Undead form Lich and Death Aura & Negative Energie Burst,
spells: Energie Drain, Wail of the Banshee, Necrotic Ray, Waves of Fatique

They are not well rounded, ive created them in less then 3minutes.
But i think you get the picture.


Utility Wizards
They specialize in Non combat spells and have only one or two Combat related spells but no Damage spells.
They give you some options to either evade combat or make it easier but will not add Firepower.
Also they should have 1 or 2 spells more then a normal Wizard Hire.

Typical Spells for them are:
Utility Spells like Masters Touch, Detect Secret Doors, Knock, Invisibility, Water Breathing, Jump..
Buff Spells like Resist Energie, Blur, Attribute Buffs, Stoneskin...
Combat Spell like Hold Person, Hold Monster, Sleet Storm, Grease, Break Enchantment

And please, if the Hire has Invisibility give him Move Silent and make him Sneak :ninja: when the Summoner does.



I have some more ideas about other hire but i wanted to keep this to Arcane.
So you may see another Rant in the next days ^^
And i hope it isnt to much :wall of text: to bother to read it.

Greetings Daemon


ps:
i guess we wont get an Autocast Toggle for Hire Spells and Abilitys?
even Anarchy Online (waaaaaay older then ddo) has Autocast toggle for pets and its considered standard since Warcraft2, just saying

[CaptainSpacePony]

I don't use them much, but the one arcane hireling I like is Barrage. GH, Haste, and Reconstruct are his selectable spells and he's 'usually' smart enough to self heal.