Would you want Henchmen/Mercs for Private Instances?

[Ben K.6238]

I enjoyed trying to manage multiple characters at the same time in GW1, so I'd enjoy this as well. Bonus credit if the warband members from the personal story fill in the spots.

 

That said, I don't think it's necessarily a good use of resources.

[WinterSolstice.7829]

I feel like for certain instanced single player stuff it could be an idea for if you're under geared, but would be counterproductive to the merits of the requirements to get a lot of achievements as being too easy. In the current game the NPCs should be all the support you actually need with decent gear and attention for what you're doing.

[thepenmonster.3621]

> @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> Not only does he do terrible damage, if you're using a ranged class he will continuously flee combat to be near you!

 

That's how we found out about his soft fur.

 

But yeah, him and Canach aggroing half the map towards me was usually how I got downed in PoF's instances. I'm there doing divide and conquer and he's on his way back with three vets and a dozen trash mobs in tow...

 

[TheLadyOfTheRings.9148]

Yes, I would like that.

 

But I would love even more than that: my dream is to play with two characters at the same time; well, more like swapping characters :)

[Gehenna.3625]

Even though the idea is enticing, I do not believe it makes sense in the set-up of the game. Companions are meant to fill in a specific void that the game has. Now since this game doesn't really have the traditional trinity of tank, dps and heal and therefore combat is not set up for that, there is no specific role to fill. So that's one reason why companions would not make sense.

 

But then there is the issue of numbers versus scaling. The open world and story are set up in a way that content is either soloable or scales with the number of players. We know that some champions and of course world bosses, however, do not scale down to solo player levels. And I think this is the main issue in this discussion. However, if you are talking about private instances, I think it's easier for ArenaNet to scale all content to solo players rather than mess around with bringing in a companion system that the game doesn't have essentially. So for me that would be the most logical and reasonable solution. However, I think they will not want to do that as it will cut a fair number of players from the MMO version of the game. So I just don't see it happening.

 

There is of course a third element to this. Just enjoying to have some company along your travels. It's something I do miss in this game, but at the same time I realise the game hasn't been set up with this in mind.

 

All in all, the idea of having companions or mercs as you call them sounds nice but I think it's beyond the realm of possibilities for practical reasons, meaning the game simply hasn't been made with companions in mind. It would therefore be a significant investment for ArenaNet with more cost than benefit since it messes with a whole lot of things and private servers are not necessarily good for the population on servers, which would mean that the reason you want private servers will be made worse with this solution and that could be bad for the game overall.

[Jonny.6013]

Would prefer the ally NPC AI was improved in instances as sometimes their lack of sensible threat response is a bit immersion stretching.

 

Also, I'm the Commander. If I get spiked while watching Netflix on the other screen I expect to be revived!

 

Please?

[UnDeadFun.5824]

Yes with limitations. Like someone mentioned they should be restricted to instanced content and I think there should be a limit on the number of helpers 2-4.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Henchmen weren't that good, Mercenaries were a Gem Store item, and I suspect Heroes would be, as well.

The cries of pay-to-win would be deafening, so I don't think it would be a good idea.

 

Also, I felt the addition of Heroes completely changed Guild Wars, and not for the better. Where I had used to party up with other players all the time, it became a rare experience after Heroes. So sad.

[Chyanne Waters.8719]

Henchies were ok but limited in skills, Heroes you earned playing through Nightfall two you earned in prophecies and factions they could be customized but were limited by AI way better than henchies though, now mercenaries had everything including a great AI they were worth the price. I think that a party of two ppl doing a raid should be able to have 4 mercs or heroes each to complete the task but no more than 4

[GW Noob.6038]

Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

[Game of Bones.8975]

I would rather the team work on future content rather than AI to integrate henchies and mercs into all instanced content past, present, and future.

 

With this open-world content, imagine all the extra servers needed for just one extra AI per player. How many times are minis blocked because too many are on a map?

 

 

[Lexi.1398]

I didn't play GW1 so i don't know how they worked there....but...

 

I don't see how they'd function at all in a raid or fractal without being a) the best choice and removing any need for real-human allies at all (= has an AI actually capable of doing mechanics), or b) the worst thing to use and will die to any number of the big damage or instant down/kill mechanics and therefore be useless for most of the fight. Even if given direction, there are several raid bosses where the group is split between opposite arenas, and targeted special action keys which much be pressed (two things - using SAK, and then targetting that in the right direction).

Dungeons only have it slightly less extreme as there are far fewer OHKO mechanics in them, but still some, and things that require multiple people to do things at the same time (like the lazer jumping section in the infinity coil explorables).

 

Even if you give them a good AI capable of doing mechanics AND limit their numbers, people in raids would just relegate the most annoying role to cover to them- and thats even providing the AI was made for the roles used in current strategies which may not even align with the devs original vision of the fights.

 

Story instances largely lack these sorts of mechanics, there'd still be instances where a lack of complex AI would be useless - particularly in the final instance fights per expansion, as well as a few other major fights where incoming damage is pretty high and hard to avoid no matter what u do- like caudecus. I can only see them being useful at all in story instances. And since its limited to that, i don't really think it's worth the effort.

 

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Permanent versions of the consumable items that bring out those pets (sunspear soldier and raven) would be nice. A mystic forge recipe that demands a stack of them and other materials.

[Weindrasi.3805]

I would LOVE to have customizable henchmen of my other characters. I have backstories for each... some siblings, some friends, warbands, ect. It would be very immersive for them to 'travel' together.

[ChronoPinoyX.7923]

If we're talking early GW1 henchmen where the henchmen were built so that they don't replace actual players, then there may be some degree of possibility as we already see that, in a way, in GW2. They wouldn't replace anyone for fractals and raids because that's literally what happened with GW1. You run a Sorrow's Furnace or a FOW run with purely henchmen in early GW1, expect your party to get repeatedly wiped. They literally couldn't stand their ground against actual endgame content, they were made purely for progression and getting yourself ready for endgame.

 

If we're talking Hero/Merc level stuff, then that's a different situation entirely. Heroes/Mercs were created to slowly put GW1 into maintenance mode, which is why they could be micromanaged to the point of us actually being able to click on their skills so that they actually use it. Hero/Mercs were created to replace the upcoming decline in players in GW1 so that anyone who is interested in playing the game can actually play it without having to think they need to run with actual people due to population decline, GW2 isn't in that position as it's not in maintenance mode therefore it wouldn't need any form of Heroes/Mercs. Heroes/Mercs in GW1 can literally run extremely late endgame stuff as the endgame content was made with single player in mind to the point that mechanics in the endgame of GW1 can be done by one person.

[kharmin.7683]

> @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

 

Unacceptable? It's the definition of what an MMO is. Join a guild if you need others to help with content. That's kinda the reason they're there.

[GW Noob.6038]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

>

> Unacceptable? It's the definition of what an MMO is. Join a guild if you need others to help with content. That's kinda the reason they're there.

 

I'm here for the persistent world...I don't care about anything else. I'll take AI mercs over other players any day of the week.

[voltaicbore.8012]

Still a poorly worded poll. The question asks us for a prediction (do you think this feature will be added) but the potential answers are about our own desires (whether we want this feature to be added). Logic is hard.

 

So I'll give both answers here. Do I think they will be added? I don't think so. Do I want them to be added? Yes, but only when this game goes into maintenance mode and the population gets so low that you have to solo things like the Deepstone fractal (which requires at least a second person to open doors, etc). Even then, I don't know if npcs can be properly programmed to solve such problems - I personally don't think it would be too difficult to have them code something that matches "stand in this spot" objectives with the henchmen you have with you, but then again I know nothing about programming that sort of thing and it could be far more trouble than it's worth.

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

 

Yes because having dead weight around you is gonna be a lot better. Why exactly do you fail at soloing group events, dungeons and fractals?

[kharmin.7683]

> @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > > Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

> >

> > Unacceptable? It's the definition of what an MMO is. Join a guild if you need others to help with content. That's kinda the reason they're there.

>

> I'm here for the persistent world...I don't care about anything else. I'll take AI mercs over other players any day of the week.

 

Perhaps MMOs are the style of game that you prefer? This isn't a "leave!" comment; rather, just pointing out that you appear to be advocating for things that go against the genre/style of GW2

[GW Noob.6038]

> @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

>

> Yes because having dead weight around you is gonna be a lot better. Why exactly do you fail at soloing group events, dungeons and fractals?

 

Why? Because I have large hands/fingers, plus I'm not very dexterous, so executing rapid keystrokes is very difficult for me.

[maddoctor.2738]

> @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > > @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > > Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

> >

> > Yes because having dead weight around you is gonna be a lot better. Why exactly do you fail at soloing group events, dungeons and fractals?

>

> Why? Because I have large hands/fingers, plus I'm not very dexterous, so executing rapid keystrokes is very difficult for me.

 

I guess the better question would've been why do you think having an NPC helper would allow you to finish group events, dungeons and fractals.

Hint: they aren't going to be better than any kind of player

[SoulGuardian.6203]

@"voltaicbore.8012"

Alright.

I removed the extra question.

I just left the ones related to player wishes and thoughts.

Just wanted to broad the question a bit for more elaborate answers.

But it's probably unecessary.

 

Do tell me if any further adjustments are necessary.

I want the poll to be as meaningful as possible.

Nice to see the variety of answers.

[GW Noob.6038]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > > @"kharmin.7683" said:

> > > > @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > > > Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

> > >

> > > Unacceptable? It's the definition of what an MMO is. Join a guild if you need others to help with content. That's kinda the reason they're there.

> >

> > I'm here for the persistent world...I don't care about anything else. I'll take AI mercs over other players any day of the week.

>

> Perhaps MMOs are the style of game that you prefer? This isn't a "leave!" comment; rather, just pointing out that you appear to be advocating for things that go against the genre/style of GW2

 

So, you're saying that all activities outside of guild activities are not valid parts of an MMO? For example: doing meta events has nothing to do with being in a guild...I've done hundreds of meta events without guilds being present as an organizing factor. Also, being in a guild doesn't guaranty that I'll be able to accomplish my objective on the spot, like I want to...with AI mercs I can do that; indeed, with AI mercs I can, more often than not, have my objective completed before my guildmates ever show up.

 

Like I said: I'll take solo-play and AI mercs over regular players any day of the week.

 

ps...most people don't belong to actual guilds, they are soloing their guild.

[GW Noob.6038]

> @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > > @"maddoctor.2738" said:

> > > > @"GW Noob.6038" said:

> > > > Mercs? Yes please! One of the worse things about this game is being forced to wait around (sometimes for days) for people to do content with...meta events being the obvious exception. That is unacceptable...I should be able to do group events, dungeons, and fractals the very moment that I decide to do them.

> > >

> > > Yes because having dead weight around you is gonna be a lot better. Why exactly do you fail at soloing group events, dungeons and fractals?

> >

> > Why? Because I have large hands/fingers, plus I'm not very dexterous, so executing rapid keystrokes is very difficult for me.

>

> I guess the better question would've been why do you think having an NPC helper would allow you to finish group events, dungeons and fractals.

> Hint: they aren't going to be better than any kind of player

 

I'm not saying that AI mercs would be better than other players, from a tactical point of view, I'm saying that for me and my playstyle AI mercs are superior because I can employ them right there, on the spot. Like I said before: I don't want to have to wait around for people to come and help me with events, dungeons, or fractals...more often than not, I could have the content completed long before any players show up.