Hirelings and Scaling

[TechNoFear]

Do hirelings contribute the same weight in scaling as a player?

That is; is a quest scaled to the same difficulty with 3 players + 3 hirelings versus 6 players?

[Uska]

I think they do after all they are party members although not usually very smart party members but you can get that with live party members to.

[Valandilus]

i've been wondering this too. the hireling ai is (at times) so poor they are worthless or (at other times) they are at best slightly better than having a trained monkey playing a character. however does it make more sense to run a quest on normal with 3 players (healer/tank/dps) or take the scaling hit and add in 3 hirelings if they do infact contribute to the party weight of the dungeon difficulty?

[Tolero]

Hirelings do count towards scaling, however, they do not count as heavily as a player character though.

[Solmage]

Hirelings do count towards scaling, however, they do not count as heavily as a player character though.

It would be rather nice (and would make them significantly more useful) if they didn't count towards scaling at all, or if at least their deaths didn't count at all. Perhaps a future feature for gold-seal ones?

At low levels having a barb (if you're a healer) or a caster on aggressive (if you're an intimitank) are good solid additions, but at higher levels the only hireling that remains of any use at all is the cleric, and even then you have to keep him far away from battle or in complete manual mode. (The fact he tries to attack anything at all with his melee weapon is just a good way to get killed - fast)

[Angelus_dead]

(The fact he tries to attack anything at all with his melee weapon is just a good way to get killed - fast)

Whats bad about him attacking is that it can interrupt spells he's been commanded to cast.

[Sabatha]

It would be rather nice (and would make them significantly more useful) if they didn't count towards scaling at all, or if at least their deaths didn't count at all. Perhaps a future feature for gold-seal ones?

At low levels having a barb (if you're a healer) or a caster on aggressive (if you're an intimitank) are good solid additions, but at higher levels the only hireling that remains of any use at all is the cleric, and even then you have to keep him far away from battle or in complete manual mode. (The fact he tries to attack anything at all with his melee weapon is just a good way to get killed - fast)

I would give up all my Muckbanes for a "heal me" AI button for the clerics. I don't want the cleric to attack, that's what I'm there for. I don't want the cleric to use up all its MP within 3 minutes in Delera's because it's busy casting cure spells on the undead. I want the cleric to HEAL me.

[Chaosprism]

Cuurently we have AGGRESSIVE, DEFENSIVE, PASSIVE.


I'd like to see a second behaviour toggle on the hireling toolbar also.
One that revolves around how close the hireling should be to enemies.

A proximity behaviour:
One that rotates from:

1) Stay Away, do not attack enemies, Buff self and allies only
2) Stay far, use ranged attacks only
3) Move randomly, use appropriate attacks based on range to target
4) Get Close , Use melee, Short range attacks


Currently we have a setting 4 for everyone.

Most Hireling Clerics would be on setting 1.
Most Sorcs/Wizards would be on setting 2 or 3
Most Paladins, Fighters, Barbarians would be on setting 4

But given the situation you may well want to change their behaviour.

[TechNoFear]

but at higher levels the only hireling that remains of any use at all is the cleric, and even then you have to keep him far away from battle or in complete manual mode. (The fact he tries to attack anything at all with his melee weapon is just a good way to get killed - fast)

If I tell the hireling NOT TO MOVE the hireling should NOT move, under any circumstances.

This is not the case unless you also turn the hireling passive, which means he will let mobs kill him (or me) without fighting back or even healing themselves.

[Sulkar]

I agree hirelings need more AI settings, it is annoying when you tell them to stand ground and defend you they usually rush in and die before getting a chance to heal.

Stand ground should mean do not move at all and should override all other AI settings. If you have it set for stand ground and defend, the hireling should not move but cast spells on enemies it can reach and heal party members it can reach and defend itself if it can attack the enemy without moving.

[jsaving]

Hirelings do count towards scaling, however, they do not count as heavily as a player character though.

Does the level of the hireling matter? In other words, if a level 20 party summons Breven Boulderfist to top off their health bars knowing he would be useless for any other purpose, does Breven count as heavily as a level 20 hireling would? Or is the scaling affected by how strong the hireling is?

One other question -- at what point in time do hirelings count toward scaling? Is it the moment you enter a quest with a contract in your inventory, or the moment you actually summon the hireling? The reason I ask is that I've seen a fair number of people summon a hireling at the beginning of a quest and then leave the hireling sitting at the dungeon entrance until needed. If the act of summoning a hireling makes monsters tougher, wouldn't it be better strategy to do without the hireling for as long as you can?

[Viccoo]

Does the level of the hireling matter? In other words, if a level 20 party summons Breven Boulderfist to top off their health bars knowing he would be useless for any other purpose, does Breven count as heavily as a level 20 hireling would? Or is the scaling affected by how strong the hireling is?

One other question -- at what point in time do hirelings count toward scaling? Is it the moment you enter a quest with a contract in your inventory, or the moment you actually summon the hireling? The reason I ask is that I've seen a fair number of people summon a hireling at the beginning of a quest and then leave the hireling sitting at the dungeon entrance until needed. If the act of summoning a hireling makes monsters tougher, wouldn't it be better strategy to do without the hireling for as long as you can?

Can anyone answer these questions? /bump