Hirelings

[Alodar]

In "The Wizard of Wines" downstairs I have to race the Hirelings to flip the switches, they are running around flipping switches while I am fighting trees all alone. BTW, by level 10 I have 5 hires: Cleric, Froggo, Muse, Teal, and Scarecrow

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1662809470433472513

 

[ProllyDidItWrong]

It's a pain without a /follow or target pass through feature but my hires are all multiboxed characters.

 

[Phoenicis]

If you don't set them to active they won't automatically heal you. Set to active doesn't mean interact with everything in sight, it means a healer heals and a fighter fights.

Offensive

This is incorrect. My wife and I duo with generally a pair of healing hirelings all the time. And, with rare exceptions, we leave them on defensive. While they don't always immediately heal, and sometimes you have to run back towards them to get them to heal. The do heal on their own.

 

[Br4d]

It's a pain without a /follow or target pass through feature but my hires are all multiboxed characters.

I used to duo with a fleshed out Spellsinger on a second account. Once my main got to the point that r1 was no longer challenging I stopped doing that. Adds too much time to the runs and time is the most important factor when I'm running the past life grind.

 

[Buddha5440]

It happens a lot in WaterWorks now. First level, The room where the key is above in the rafters. Frigging hirelings close the door after you enter and there is no switch to re-open it. Worthless to call a DM anymore so you just have to restart the quest. Many other quests happens too.

Never seen that happen...what status do you have your hire on (passive/active/defend)? and have you tried different hires? Their AI is certainly buggy.

 

[Alodar]

Never seen that happen...what status do you have your hire on (passive/active/defend)? and have you tried different hires? Their AI is certainly buggy.

All active aggressive, see picture above.

 

[Buddha5440]

So are the standard hires doing this or the special ones? I have still never seen a standard hire open a door or attack a breakable in my ~15 years of playing.

 

[Alodar]

So are the standard hires doing this or the special ones? I have still never seen a standard hire open a door or attack a breakable in my ~15 years of playing.

I hadn't either for many years, but they just started doing this in the last 6 months. The bought cleric and the special hirelings all do the same. It has really gotten irritating and I have to change my strategy a lot, like making them stand outside a room while I go in and get a key for instance.

 

[Phoenicis]

So are the standard hires doing this or the special ones? I have still never seen a standard hire open a door or attack a breakable in my ~15 years of playing.

one of the bard hires goes ham on some breakables.

 

[Alodar]

I have played for hours today and not one Hireling has done anything I didn't tell them to do. Maybe TPTB have heard my rantings and read my BUG reports! Of course I only played on HardCore today, but this is promising.

 

[FaceDancer]

My Dark Hunter critter really loves to break stuff... not a hireling per se, but a summon-able and I've seen it do this many, many times...

 

[Fhrek]

Agree with all the OP venting.
I most solo and forego self-healing to use Cleric Hires. My issue is that there isn't too much option for Hireling Clerics/FvS with Heal after level 20. We need to wait till level 24 to get Andaro.
Really, what is the use for a Hire Cleric/FvS without Heal? If we want another DPS/Utility better get a Bard.

 

[Buddha5440]

Agree with all the OP venting.
I most solo and forego self-healing to use Cleric Hires. My issue is that there isn't too much option for Hireling Clerics/FvS with Heal after level 20. We need to wait till level 24 to get Andaro.
Really, what is the use for a Hire Cleric/FvS without Heal? If we want another DPS/Utility better get a Bard.

Exactly... Every hire that is of level to cast them should have Shield, Nightshield, Deathward, Restoration/Greater Restoration, Heal (BUT NOT MASS as it takes too freakin long), etc.

 

[Fhrek]

Heal (BUT NOT MASS as it takes too freakin long)

It is kind dumb hire have Mass Heal.
1 - It takes too long to cast
2 - Generally ppl whom uses hires are soloing
3 - Hires are dummy enough to not even heal themselves in time... imagine cast mass

Devs really boarked the cleric hires, all casters hire should have at least the Quicken Meta Feat

 

[C-Dog]

It happens a lot in WaterWorks now. First level, The room where the key is above in the rafters. Frigging hirelings close the door after you enter and there is no switch to re-open it...

I hate that door that has no interior lever. I always check the spider room first, then go in the far door - that one stays open.

when you say active, do you mean offensive or not passive?

Hirelings have 3 settings for the AI, determining what sort of autonomous actions you want them to take. (These are the terms used in the mouse-over description...)

• Active: Healers will automatically heal those who "need" it (~50% or below???); all hirelings will engage in combat (although very few are "combat worthy"). This is a good way to get your hireling to die in combat, and/or for healers to use all their spellpower in offensive spells.
• Defend: Hirelings will only attack mobs that attack you; healers will not heal (even you, even if you're at negative Hit Points).
• Passive: Hirelings will follow, but otherwise take no actions unless specifically commanded to do so.

Note that hirelings seem(?) to have different personalities, which are sometimes(?) reflected in their descriptions found on the contract. This has never been fully investigated afaik.*

(* I think there is room for a "hireling yelp" to be developed, as some are clearly superior to others. The problem would be that many players have very high expectations for any hire, and believe they all simply suck. That is only relatively true.)

 

[Fhrek]

as some are clearly superior to others

Lv. 8 Fergus - Rocks
Lv. 20 Wyoh - Weeeeeeeeeeeeell...

 

[Alodar]

one of the bard hires goes ham on some breakables.

Oh yeah, I remember seeing him. I was like what is with this dude, it's like a Pyro with only a hammer.

 

[Zokathra]

I was doing the Waterworks, at the part where you have an underwater tunnel with a lever to alternate raising and lowering gates to get through to a completely optional chest.

I parked my hireling at the lever underwater, hard-targeted the lever to get the hireling to interact with it. So far, so good.

I was about halfway through the tunnel, having instructed my hireling to pull and re-pull the lever three or four times, when all of a sudden the hireling appeared next to me, and we were both trapped in the underwater tunnel between two closed gates.

I had to recall before I drowned.

 

[Alodar]

Well, it looks like they quietly fixed the Hirelings "doing too much on their own" problem. They seem to be back to their own selves again. I walk near a switch and they just stand there now. I walk near a shrine when the cleric is nearly full mana and they just stand behind me. Glory days!

 

[TrinityTurtle]

The level 21 to 24 rogues you can buy from the hire venders can't find the boxes. X_X You know, the entire purpose of thier existance. In quests at proper level to them. The hirelings desperately need overhauls on their actual builds to be updated to the current game, it's not just ai issues with them.