Hi everybody!

This is Genasi, a systems designer on DDO. You might have heard from me before in the "Ask the Devs" segment on DDOcast, in which I answered a few questions some of you had about future development. I've only been on the project for a short while but I've already had the chance to tinker with a lot of different things. From the creation of new spells to fixing bugs and adding new loot for upcoming quests, I've grown increasingly familiar with the complexities and inner workings of DDO. It's been both exciting and challenging!

Take, for instance, one of my earliest tasks: fine-tuning DDO's hirelings. While these helpful NPCs are very functional and can turn an impossible-to-solo quest into something your character can easily handle, we recognize that there's a lot that can be done to improve and expand on them. I've had the chance to really examine some of the behavior systems that our hirelings use, and while I don't have control over everything, there are certain aspects I can tweak to make these adventurers-for-hire considerably more useful.

I started with making the hirelings use their healing potions a bit less compulsively, then moved on to making greater distinctions between the hirelings' defensive and aggressive states. I've gradually begun to discover what I can alter to make things easier when using hirelings. Did you ever use a cleric before Update 3? Since that update, you'll notice that in defensive mode, they no longer charge into melee range like they used to, endangering their lives (and yours!) in the process. They'll hang back and fire some conservative ranged spells to aid you in combat instead, while continuing to keep you healed. I've also made some changes to the arcane hirelings' spell commands. Now their hotbars have a greater diversity of elemental damage choices, as well as more of the spells we all love... Haste, Displacement, Greater Heroism, Wall of Fire. I hope that if you had trouble with hirelings before Update 3, you'll try them out again and notice these changes, and let me know what still needs to be done! I'll do my best to keep improving them. 

My tasks have not been limited to just improving our existing hirelings, either- by creating new ones I've learned a lot about how they work. In the near future you'll be able to use the Favored Soul hirelings, who will operate much like clerics, and even Bard hirelings, who can heal but are more oriented towards keeping you buffed with beneficial songs and spells. Depending on the specific hireling and his or her specialties, each of these classes can contribute to physical combat as well- but you'll still have the option to keep them out of harm's way if you so desire. These hirelings have their own unique new behaviors and I hope they prove useful to you in your adventures.

Finally, we do frequent the community sites and read as much feedback as we can about hirelings and anything else we’re working on, so rest assured that we’re taking your thoughts into account as we work. Those of you who heard or read Ask the Devs 10 may recall my comments about the Summon Monster spells, which we hope to improve soon, both in terms of the monster AI and the choices you'll have in summoning them. There are some interesting similarities between the hireling system and the summoned pet system, and we hope to eventually be able to improve each of them.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to helping the dev team refine DDO in a way that makes all of your play experiences more rewarding!

- Genasi