Hirelings are removed from the game

[porkchorp]

Turbine has removed hireling vendors...


What do you think would happen?

More grouping?

[Sharktopus]

What do you think would happen?

More grouping?

Turbine would sell more cake.

[HastyPudding]

People would *gasp* learn to be more self-sufficient.

But overall, I think there would be more grouping and parties, sure. There would also be fewer barbarians and longer wait times to do some quests.

[moomooprincess]

Yes, you would have to group again so there would be more LFMs.

But I think the Djinni is out of the bottle and it can't be put back in.

[Uska]

I would do,the snoopy dance

[porkchorp]

I would do,the snoopy dance

Me too. my first month of playing I used to think hires were awesome.

Now I think they are cancer.

[dualscissors]

Me too. my first month of playing I used to think hires were awesome.

Now I think they are cancer.

Yes, someone who has only a few months into the game and is learning but still doesn't have good gear, past life boons, solid knowledge of the nuances in quests can continue to learn and challenge themselves in new ways with a hireling to reduce frustration.

It is also helpful for players that really enjoy playing/soloing purer builds that have a weak suit, be it traps, self-healing, CC. I wouldn't advocate that everyone should be satisfied with unsurvivable toons, just that not everyone should be expected to enjoy the game by playing a bard, tree form, pally splash, wiz18/rog 2, etc..

[Rykka]

Yes, you would have to group again so there would be more LFMs.

But I think the Djinni is out of the bottle and it can't be put back in.

Develloper's message: Hirelings are broken. We're looking into it.

[Rykka]

What do you think would happen?

More grouping?

Don't care.

But yeah, more grouping. Also more whining about "having" to wait for a healer. More whining about being excluded from a group for not having a self-healing destructobuild.

[porkchorp]

Don't care.

But yeah, more grouping. Also more whining about "having" to wait for a healer. More whining about being excluded from a group for not having a self-healing destructobuild.

Thanks for caring enough to reply :P

I totally see your point about whining. I think there would actually be more cool people to group with. Maybe the socially shy would come out of the solo zone.

[porkchorp]

I have a friend that will summon a cleric to both a static group that has a cleric, druid. Always tries to summon one in pugs... AND he is the paladin!

[Uska]

I have a friend that will summon a cleric to both a static group that has a cleric, druid. Always tries to summon one in pugs... AND he is the paladin!

Must be a wimpy paladin never need any hirelings for me from lvl 1 on

[soreslands]

people would learn to be better at the game sure lots of people would quit turbine would lose money and insane amounts of rage on the forums meaning this will probably never happen (turbine losing money is a big no i believe) but in time the game would be better for all who remained

[Rykka]

Thanks for caring enough to reply :P

I totally see your point about whining. I think there would actually be more cool people to group with. Maybe the socially shy would come out of the solo zone.

I only don't care because I'm on a kick to not use them. I don't like using them. I don't care if others do. It's their thing. I don't judge what they choose to run. Since there's rarely more than 2-3 PCs in any group I do it's not an issue.

But I do tend to run with raise scrolls, always raise fallen allies, so it balances out.

I did pop a hire last night but it was to provide addl support to a rogue, I was running a PM.

[General_Gronker]

I think there would actually be more cool people to group with.

You have no basis for that thought though.

Maybe the socially shy would come out of the solo zone.

Or they'd go find a game that doesn't try to force them to group up, like Neverwinter or something.

Personally, I'd play less. I'd certainly stop paying for anything. I tend to play when the servers are on the quiet side, and with 22 characters, there's a good chance I want to play in a level range that isn't drawing much grouping at the time.

[Kawai]

well...

1. Forums would blow up w/same peops crying about champions thread investing their time into zOMG IM GETTING TWO SHOT WITHOUT A HIRELING!!!!!!!
2. LFMs labelled NEED HEALER again. At least until everyone figures out how useless they were in the first place.
3. Forums would blow up w/same peops RageQuitting DDO. --Again.
4. Hireling Vendors @Market now slinking around back alleys selling contraband.
5. Forums would blow up w/ same previous RageQuitters now returning & asking "Hey, whats new?"
6. Larafay Do'rret pops a Jartina Sartosa & solo's EE in other games looking for work.
7. life returns to normal.

[Faltout]

People that need to solo things because of their real life, would complain because they will no longer be able to complete quests that require lever pulling etc. and thus cancel the devs' statement that they want the game to be also able to be played solo (at lower difficulties and not talking about raids).

[redoubt]

well...
[*]Larafay Do'rret pops a Jartina Sartosa & solo's EE in other games looking for work.
[/LIST]

Nicely done. Though I think Tanya and Barrage would level up and start a group with Tarlov. They might even let Andaro come along.

On a serious side, hires were brought in back when people were complaining that they could never find healers. The situation is no different today. Actual healers are still difficult to find (I'm talking the LFM, not guild or channel.) Same could be said for trappers. I know that I mostly use healer or rogue type hires for that reason alone. That said, most of my characters self heal anyway, so even the healer hire is just a convenience. My static duo group often runs with hires like Tanya and Barrage because they heal themselves and actually kill stuff.

What would happen if they were removed? I'm not sure much besides complaining would really take place. The champion system increased difficulty a little, but it has not resulted in additional LFMs (from what I can tell), nor has it resulted in a resurgence of healers. In EE quests the hires are not really useful so I don't see much change without them for the EE crowd. Maybe the EH and EN crowd might play with healers a bit more, I don't know.

To illustrate how odd the behavior with hires has become, I ran a group today and had a "battle cleric" join. (His bio actually said "battle cleric" and that he was heals and dps all in one.) He popped a cleric hire on me without asking (not that I really cared as no one else tried to join, just funny.) We had a newbie with us who liked being a soul stone. The newbie, the hire and the battle cleric accounted for all our deaths as we did the level 11 tomb series. But don't just look to this one person. I see all sorts of clerics and favored souls who never heal themselves (which I don't really understand.)

All that said, my personal preference would be to see the game move back to a situation where we grouped more often and worked as a team. This would likely require more deadly traps and more deadly monsters (not stupid HP bags nor one shot killers, but mobs that can be agro managed/tanked but are deadly enough to need a healer for the tank.) I know most people don't want this anymore and I won't try to force it on them; I just found it more fun than the current grouping method which is 6 solo'rs zerging in the same instance. I also realize that the game might not survive a transition back to such a setup; the time required for people to adjust and once again (because we used to) have alts who are trappers, CC'rs and healers, thus filling the LFMs. But hey, one can dream right?

[slarden]

What do you think would happen?

More grouping?

Doubtful. I rarely even use hirelings, but I am sure bad things would come from it.

[porkchorp]

Doubtful. I rarely even use hirelings, but I am sure bad things would come from it.

Besides the initial shock. What bad things do you think would happen?