Customize Hireling Behavior?

[palladin9479]

All the hirelings are fully rolled characters with unique AI scripts and a handful of abilities exposed on the bar. I've used Cleric / FVS hirelings extensively because properly managed they are a great source of HP and stuff like remove curse / restoration / ect. Anything outside of that and they are pretty bad, like when I was playing my DD Radiance Cleric, I summoned another cleric and would use their SP to heal and their DV to restore my SP. Out of all of them Larafay is my absolute favorite, not because of Comet Fall or Destruction, but because she will run around spamming Greater Command on everything. Right Click disable her offensive spells and she pretty much casts nothing but Greater Command and heals. There are some others, usually at least one half decent cure bot every level or two, just don't expect anything greater then "cure" out of them. I really wished they would give us more versions of Larafay cause **** she's useful.

Note on Offensive / Defensive vs Follow / Stay, if you have them on Stay and Defensive, they almost entirely shut down. You could be at 10% HP remaining and standing next to them and they won't cure, then you toggle Offensive or let them move and they suddenly decide to heal. Also status removals work the same way, you have mummy rot and they just stand there, toggle to Offensive and they will cast remove curse + remove disease. So there is some skill to actively managing your spare pool of HP and it's something you only get with practice and working with each Cleric / FVS hireling.

[Bjond]

Right Click disable her offensive spells

That's a VERY interesting tidbit. I'd previously attempted to alter hireling AI using the drop-down menu, which has no effect at all. You're altering behavior from the control-bar -- ie. grey-out that particular attack on the button bar? -- and they actually obey that restriction? That would help significantly with the other AE-spammers, like the free scarecrows. Not sure if it would keep them from breaking CC, but breaking only a single CC sure beats breaking an entire fascinated pack.

[Nite_Prowler]

I realize this is all a fantasy and would never be implemented--maybe even someone else said it already--but I would like to see fully customizable hirelings which leveled along with us. Get a hireling at level one, choose its race, class, sex, and look and fit it with your spare gear. And then it grows in experience as you do and you can choose what spells or moves best fit your own play style. I know this would probably never be implemented but other games have hirelings or companions that do work something like this so it isn't a pie-in-the-sky idea.

I think this is one of the best suggestions I've heard in a long time. Props for this

[Bjond]

Larafay D'Orret will go through her entire mana bar spamming Cometfall and Destruction in the first 2 fights. She absolutely owns quests with lots of shrines between fights, and I've seen her beat real humans in the kill count.

I've now got a spell-singer alt and have been considering using Larafay with her. I'm curious if the mana song would keep her going for more than just a few fights. I'll likely wait until epic to try hires that way, though. I'd want SLA Soundburst to quiet the herd, since hire+fascinate = pain.

[Drunkendex]

Those would all be lovely, especially spell control and leash length. How awesome would it be to have a Healing Hire who stays at range and just heals? I would add one more--the ability to control orientation to character--lead or follow. As a dedicated thief, I detest how hires always run up and block the trap control box. I agree that Trap Awareness will _never_ happen.

On this account I have pleasant experience with Garret the Sainted, not exactly stay back and heal, but he's not slow to heal my characters, unlike some other healer hires.