Rogue hirelings for platinum

[Arch-Necromancer]

Lack of rogue hirelings is the main reason why I stopped playing this game back in 2013 when I started playing it.

When I was playing with my RL friend one of us had to be a rogue so that we could disarm traps and open locks.

That means one of us had to give up on playing a pure class, or multiclassing a non-rogue class that would better fit its character and take few levels of rogue. And that person would be very unhappy because of that.

And why? Because back then, on older threads like this one, rogue types complained that rogues are weak/useless in combat and no one would want them in a party if they don't need them just to disarm traps.

Well we already have rogue hirelings for platinum on epic levels! So why are heroic rogues still TP/AS only? And why are new players still forced to take rogue/artificer levels to be able to run through quests normally?

Back then people complained that these hirelings are bad for disarming traps. Now we have new quests that require very high skills to detect and disarm traps so these rogues wouldn't even suffice for these new quests. So player rogues would still be prefered over hirelings.

I don't think there is any strong reason nowdays to keep rogue hirelings TP/AS only. They should be available for platinum, just like epic level rogue hirelings are.

You could maybe make several artificer hirelings that would have much better trap detection and disarming skills needed for new quests and then make these new hirelings TP/AS only. But old rogue hirelings that are good enough only for old quests should be made available for platinum.

If there is a business reason behind keeping rogues TP/AS only, maybe you could sell this availability in the DDO store. Like 1000 DDO points for the permanent account ability to buy rogue hirelings.

People shoud be able to play without forcing them to ruin their build because they can't buy rogues as hirelings normally!

[Enoach]

Personally I don't see a reason for the lack of rogue hirelings outside the DDO store.

I would actually love to see every class represented at all 30 levels. Of course that might not be practical.

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As for each rogues ability to perform at its appropriate level, my answer is bring appropriate buffs.

[psykopeta]

lots of xp when soloing at heroic lvls for only plat? yay!

[Phoenicis]

lots of xp when soloing at heroic lvls for only plat? yay!

Seriously, +30% is huge on quests where it's available. And isn't the secret door one another +15? but that is achievable without a rogue so not as big a deal...

[Saekee]

if they do a rogue hireling, it will be dex-based with low INT and lousy trapping abilities. Halfling with dragonmarks which it will use on you when you have only 5hp damage

How about an Arti hireling that uses an xbow judiciously? At least you know it will have high INT although lacking evasion will have it croak in most traps

[Arch-Necromancer]

lots of xp when soloing at heroic lvls for only plat? yay!

If someone runs heroic with the intent of fast xp gain, he is going to take few levels of rogue or artificer and get the xp bonus with or without hirelings. Those few levels of rogue or artificer are not important if you build a character only for fast heroic run (heroic past life grind). But if you are playing for flavor and just want to enjoy the game with the build you want it is really horrible to either have to ruin the build with rogue/artificer levels or torture yourself without trap disarming and chest unlocking.

When you grind, you really don't care what race/class you grind with as long as it gets you to your goal fast. When you are playing for enjoyment, all of that matters.

Also now that we have Reaper difficulty that gives 120% bonus xp on first completion, which is 40% more then elite, removing or reducing that bonus xp from traps isn't really a big deal so if that is an argument against making rogue hirelings available for platinum I think it would be better to remove the bonus then to force players to take rogue/artificer levels just for that.

if they do a rogue hireling, it will be dex-based with low INT and lousy trapping abilities. Halfling with dragonmarks which it will use on you when you have only 5hp damage

How about an Arti hireling that uses an xbow judiciously? At least you know it will have high INT although lacking evasion will have it croak in most traps

Rogue hirelings already exist in game for every heroic level, they are just not on sale for platinum, but only for astral shards/DDO points.

http://ddowiki.com/page/List_of_Hirelings

I suggest to make them available for platinum.

I also suggested that they could (optionally) make artificers too with better skills so they could replace rogues as astral shard/DDO point hirelings.