Suggestions for upcoming patch

[iwansquall]

One of old Laz idea for merc was to have 1 of the available merc (act 1,2,3) to be invulnerable and aura giver.

Then it break down into offensive, defensive and utility (the invincible with aura)
To make it more interesting, it also reward player that "trained" their hireling from early difficulty.
By number, you can have 9 x 3 (each difficulty) = 27 different type of hirelings
Remember cLoD have different aura on nightmare's aura than normal and hell? Some sort like that.

[Heathen]

One of old Laz idea for merc was to have 1 of the available merc (act 1,2,3) to be invulnerable and aura giver.

Then it break down into offensive, defensive and utility (the invincible with aura)
To make it more interesting, it also reward player that "trained" their hireling from early difficulty.
By number, you can have 9 x 3 (each difficulty) = 27 different type of hirelings
Remember cLoD have different aura on nightmare's aura than normal and hell? Some sort like that.

On the surface, this does sound like a good idea, but ultimately, I don't want this as a particular function for mercs.


If you chose between many different mercs for passive benefits, the mercs cease to be anything but an item you don't need to equip for functionality, or a free aura skill. And it would be incredibly hard to balance around the number of builds in Median (so, infinite?). But the main reason;

For me, mercs are almost like playing with someone, but that someone is a script AI instead of a person (forever alone blah blah lololol). I use them if I want to have an OP GG multiplayer experience, but without the hassle of them being like, real and stuff.

[archon256]

One of old Laz idea for merc was to have 1 of the available merc (act 1,2,3) to be invulnerable and aura giver.

Then it break down into offensive, defensive and utility (the invincible with aura)
To make it more interesting, it also reward player that "trained" their hireling from early difficulty.
By number, you can have 9 x 3 (each difficulty) = 27 different type of hirelings
Remember cLoD have different aura on nightmare's aura than normal and hell? Some sort like that.

IMO that's the best way to implement mercs, as long as they do no damage and are untargetable.

Here's my logic:

1. They shouldn't kill things, because that's the job of the player, and having some dumb AI kill things instead of you takes away from the satisfaction. That sort of thing should be limited to summoners, for people who really want that playstyle, instead of being available for all builds.

2. They should be tanky enough to survive in ubers because they're too dumb to avoid OHKOs and you can't easily order them to move (unless your class has spammable teleport *and* your build doesn't have timers). Having to resurrect them is annoying.

Therefore they have to be untargetable and do no damage. If they're untargetable and do no damage, then they only way to make them useful is to give them auras (or active buffs on attack, same thing).

You could have mercs grant res/hp/avoid/def etc.

To stick to the theme of mercs, A1 mercs could have buffs/debuffs that boost ranged attack builds such as Doom, A2 mercs could have defensive auras, A3 mercs could have buffs that boost mage builds such as Lower Res and A5 mercs should have minion-specific buffs (like a buff that gives you %summon damage/life/res?).

If you chose between many different mercs for passive benefits, the mercs cease to be anything but an item you don't need to equip for functionality, or a free aura skill. And it would be incredibly hard to balance around the number of builds in Median (so, infinite?). .

I think that's a step up from what mercs are currently. Having a new set of passive skill combos that you can select among to best suit your build would be nice.

And if we can add minion-specific stats to items (Like '+x to merc auras') then there'll be an additional feel of progression on top of leveling the merc.

For me, mercs are almost like playing with someone, but that someone is a script AI instead of a person (forever alone blah blah lololol). I use them if I want to have an OP GG multiplayer experience, but without the hassle of them being like, real and stuff.

But mercs are too dumb to simulate real players, and offer none of the other benefits of MP (like being able to trade gear). I don't think changing them is that big a deal.

[Heathen]

1. They shouldn't kill things, because that's the job of the player

This is subjective. You don't need to use mercs if you like to have all the kills. For me, it's about battlefield manipulation, and I like a passive playstyle because for me it translates into putting up a sail for a boat instead of rowing, and how effortless I can make the game be. Adds to relaxation.

I still firmly feel like turning mercs into a tool, instead of just an interesting gimmick as they are, would take away from the gameplay diversity. But I can see your point.

[Seekers]

Can we just keep mercs as an optional almost a player instead of making them dudu spirits?

If the problem is ohk, maybe a 1-5sec invul when they fall below 10% HP that can only happen every 5-10 min could atleast make them tank ONE ohk.

[Heathen]

Can we just keep mercs as an optional almost a player instead of making them dudu spirits?

If the problem is ohk, maybe a 1-5sec invul when they fall below 10% HP that can only happen every 5-10 min could atleast make them tank ONE ohk.

Can't cookie yet. Timer pls.

This idea is on the right track and I agree, but with instagibs, they'd need a shield which blocked any amount of damage on an enemy's first hit, with a cooldown. That would solve instagibs, and keep the mercs from being too sturdy.

[Solfege]

Kinda late to the party, but FWIW...

1. They shouldn't kill things, because that's the job of the player, and having some dumb AI kill things instead of you takes away from the satisfaction. That sort of thing should be limited to summoners, for people who really want that playstyle, instead of being available for all builds.

That may be just a bit short-sighted, IMO. Sure, for builds that are already OP by lvl 2, having passive-only mercs is fine, but for some builds that are weak in early game or ridiculously underpowered throughout the entire game, having a merc to supplement damage is not only helpful, it's necessary in some situations.

2. They should be tanky enough to survive in ubers because they're too dumb to avoid OHKOs and you can't easily order them to move (unless your class has spammable teleport *and* your build doesn't have timers). Having to resurrect them is annoying.

This I do agree with. It would be so nice if mercs could be smart enough to at least try to avoid all the OHKO nonsense. Personally, I'd kinda like to be able to issue basic commands to mercs such as follow, stay, defend, attack nearest, etc. I get there are limitations to what can be done, tho.

For me, mercs are almost like playing with someone, but that someone is a script AI instead of a person (forever alone blah blah lololol). I use them if I want to have an OP GG multiplayer experience, but without the hassle of them being like, real and stuff.

Sad to say, but I kinda feel this way too. I always play solo, so having a merc makes it feel less so. Hell, sometimes I even catch myself using my character to shield my merc when she gets into trouble. Yeah, it's stupid pathetic, but hey, I figure she's been with my character since A1 Hatred, it's the least I can do. C'est la vie, and all that.

[HechtHeftig]

A1 mercs could have buffs/debuffs that boost ranged attack builds such as Doom,

Just asking a (probably dumb) question: I think I was told that doom doesn't affect missiles. Could anyone please correct my if I'm wrong? Because I may have played the game wrong that entire time

Anyway: imho mercs are fine the way they are. Some builds that have a really slow killspeed early on (for example shuriken flurry assa) need mercs to dash out some damage. I usually use the gold signet from the beginning to gamble a short war bow from gheed (usually at level 12). That way my priestress merc has at least 147 max damage and kills everything single handedly in act 1, except for bosses. But those drop really fast as well, since the priestress merc can hit the boss multiple times in crowded areas.

I even use mercs (A5) to get to 120 while I do T baal runs, because with a jitans T6 they can simply withstand nearly anything of danger in the antechamber and onwards. Usually I don't need to do anything at all. But that's fine because even then some builds still lack both killspeed and tankyness before reaching 120.

Mercs do have their uses early on and later on as well. So the way they are now they are totally fine. The only thing that should be changed is the the loss of the mercbuff upon death/re-equiping items.

To make it more interesting, it also reward player that "trained" their hireling from early difficulty.

Wasn't it always the case in clod that players who trained their hirelings from early on had stronger mercs? Did Laz change that and make them all equal?

[Nitz]

Wasn't it always the case in clod that players who trained their hirelings from early on had stronger mercs? Did Laz change that and make them all equal?

Pretty sure that it never really mattered. What matters is hiring them in hatred not dest, which was not really relevant in clod since everyone used A2 nightmare dude.

[adamo68]

Sad to say, but I kinda feel this way too. I always play solo, so having a merc makes it feel less so. Hell, sometimes I even catch myself using my character to shield my merc when she gets into trouble. Yeah, it's stupid pathetic, but hey, I figure she's been with my character since A1 Hatred, it's the least I can do. C'est la vie, and all that.

100% with you. There will be times when Lief or Heremod get in trouble and I do everything I can to save them!