Summons/pets/hirelings are really disappointing

[Pofro]

This has been the biggest disappointment for me as a new player. I don't want to seem like I'm whining, but gosh is it disappointing, enough to make me write a feedback thread about it.

I can work around the poor pet/hireling AI most of the time, but the huge lack of hirelings that exist at higher levels(especially in diversity in terms of class), and the lack of scaling for summons & hirelings at epic/legendary levels is just disappointing.
Hirelings not being a full replacement for a real person is fine, but they're basically paper at epic levels with how fast they die, and outside of the cleric/fvs (and sometimes rogue) they're nearly useless.

Maybe I'm missing something but I went from "Wow, Byron is awesome!" a few weeks ago to basically not even using hirelings beyond the first few levels because they're a waste of time. With how much fun I'm having with the rest of DDO, this really stood out as the biggest feature that disappointed me the most.

[Memnir]

You're not missing something, unfortunately. This has been an oft complained about aspect of DDO for a very long time.

[Pofro]

Just found out the "Customize AI" panel doesn't work at all, at least for hirelings.

[Gljosh]

Summons kinda works with a LOT of investment, 3 Druid Past Lives, 2~3 Feats, and Several AP.

They can make nice meat shields, distractions, and pocket healers (even though wands-pots-scrolls work almost as well).

Now comparing the investment and the return (ROI), you are better off not doing it, unless you solo quite a bit and don't intend on soloing reaper.

[rabidfox]

There comes a point while leveling where hirelings are just a 1-up token. You park them at the entrance to a quest and summon them when you need a res. Anything shy of that and they're just a liability.

[apocaladle]

hopefully they get buffed at some point

[Pofro]

I notice that a lot of the damage my hirelings/pets take is from them standing right on top of me, caster hirelings especially so. Having ranged hirelings follow at a longer distance would probably help.

[Pandjed]

Hires weren't made for current content, and I think to make them work halfway decently, they needed some big overhaul. Mostly technically, as it would make it easier for future updates.

We recently got a whole overhaul of the random loot system, and my idea would be to tie hirelings up with that. System reads hire with random gear of that level should have spellpower x, so hire has a bonus to spellpower x. Things like that.

Pets need some more love, especially as they only have two item slots. Balancing them is a pain though, but for me it'd be enough if they scale by difficulty like dungeon monsters, and get the same reaper enhancements as you, tbh.

[Gljosh]

I would love too see a system closer to Diablo 2, you buy a henchman at a given level.

They level with you, have a basic enhancement tree and some equipment slots.

Now if there was ever a way to bring Golemancy into DDO, it could be an incredible addition.

Here is a video I did before Filigrees showing a near perfectly buffed arti dog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dIp...ature=youtu.be

[elvesunited]

There comes a point while leveling where hirelings are just a 1-up token. You park them at the entrance to a quest and summon them when you need a res. Anything shy of that and they're just a liability.

Not entirely true. In situations where you can dominate the aggro and there is limited splash damage they can be quite useful. Just don't expect them to be effective following you around.

Examples:

High HP bosses: You killed the trash and only the boss remains. He's got a hundreds of thousands of hp or more. summon your hire and park him. Then move so the boss in between you and the hire. Assuming the boss doesn't have some sort of "reset aggro" mechanic your hire should be fine.

Bring the fight to them: You know a big fight is coming. You summon your hire and park them a fair distance from where the fight will be. You go ahead and start the fight. After doing some damage you retreat back to where the hire is. The enemy follows but by this time they are all aggroed on you.

[Captain_Wizbang]

Yup,

However, in defense of lvl 8 Flare hireling, he actually took down the Living Pool in ToEE pt1 solo. I put him on attack mode, I died but didn't release and witnessed history in the making.

[SlowDM]

Hirelings should make a morale check and run away, certainly not just stand there and die. Hirelings aren't meant to be a 2nd character, they're just meant to help. The most correct advice is park a healing hire away but not too far away and use them to help between fights. You should run away sometimes too.

Now onto paid for pets arti-dog and druid-wolf. These need to be improve a lot. Personally I don't care how much damage they do because I do that. However, I really do want it to hang around and be my companion. I do care somewhat about their enhancements like bluff or intimidate but, only at low level.
A Epic level. I'd love to see my trusty companion rejoin me. For that I'd pay for may be a book of EPIC PET FOR INSTANCE.
OR
The quick and easy way would be to make some off the scale magic items for them. For example, collar or armour 'pet' only: 200% fortification, 100-200 MMR and PRR. Con, Wis, Dex +50, Elemental absorbtion 50%+, Spell saves +50, Heal/repair amp +200. I'm not joking because that's seriously what they need to be. I just want my companion that I paid for.
Weapon slot. I really don't care. I just want my pet .

Also paid for 'companions' black panther, owlbear, scarecrow and the sharn 1. Need a big 'not dying too easily boost". The scarecow was a step in the right direction but needs a giant leap.

All of them take up a party slot, so I don't see any problems. The 1st ever 'pet' raid !!!!!!??????

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

I don't do questing ithout a Cleric Hireling anymore. Having them to place their banners is often mandatory in front of traps.

So far i have seen only 1 excessively stupid Hireling. A Favoured Soul, or was he a Cleric ? he always wanted to fight those Fire Elementals in "Taming the flames" on elite.

[merlinfire1]

OP: I wanted to make a summoner, and so I went summon-heavy. I went a pale master wizard to get the skeleton knight, ran summon monster spells, and hirelings. Sometimes I even ran hirelings who had summon monster. I took the augment summons feat. I took the leadership enhancement in Harper. I am in a guild whose airship buffs include summon buffs.

With all that in place, I will say that my 3 summons are kind of middle of the road in quality. They can usually handle stragglers from groups (letting me run ahead while they finish), they provide alternate targets to soak up hate and damage, and the healer hireling keeps me alive (and rezzes me if I die).

The buff to summons in magister will help somewhat, and once i have 3 druid past lives, I will get to see what max summoner looks like. I expect it will be basically what it is now, just a little more efficient.

Ultimately summons are going to be meatshields and secondary damage dealers/support at best.

Which is not horrible. I still enjoy it. But they are not as optimal as they could be, that's for sure. Maybe one day we'll get a universal summoner tree or something.

I still enjoy summoning. But I still have have to do most of the damage.

[LOOON375]

There comes a point while leveling where hirelings are just a 1-up token. You park them at the entrance to a quest and summon them when you need a res. Anything shy of that and they're just a liability.

For the most part yes.
I use them for rezzes and casting deathward.

[NemesisAlien]

Hirelings kind of work below 20, above 30 no way at all, they just die, fast, no matter what you do.

And they should be helping you, not you helping them.