Mercenary integration

You could use the system of having a companion, when not in a group to make solo content more enjoyable and customizable. Basically you could have a few slots of items on the merc, only these items would give increased bonus to stats, say a weapon could give 2-3 times more dmg since the merc only has 4-5 items to benefit from stats. We could make a new use of aura characters and supportive characters! Thank you for reading.
-Noluckinvolved420

Yes, I'm missing D2 hirelings too... Setting them up with extra-care was as enjoyable to me as setting up my own characters.

Even crappy D3 has hirelings...

Did you guys not get the memo where there are minions in PoE already?

If not, then don't worry, you'll be even happier when 'Animate Guardian' comes out!

"

dudiobugtron wrote:

Did you guys not get the memo where there are minions in PoE already?

If not, then don't worry, you'll be even happier when 'Animate Guardian' comes out!

I suppose the complaint is that Animate Guardian is like a hardcore merc: once it's dead, you lose all the gear you put in.

Also, a companion could be even more customisable: you could give him not just weapons and armour, but also skill and support gems, so he becomes like a full-blown Exile under friendly AI control. You'd want to figure out the balance though so that it doesn't become standard play for everyone to have an aura horse following them around.

NO
-1

Why are people so against hirelings/mercenaries? IMO it has nothing to do with minimizing another ARPG and more about giving squishier builds a chance at actually making progress through this game without constantly trying to group with people. I love that many people's responses are "There's already minions and totems in this game you don't need a merc" but in reality those spells are only useful if you're fully spec'd into them ie passives/support gems that boost them.

** edit **
mimicking not minimizing, stupid autocorrect

and also if you're so against the idea of a hireling (players, not GGG) then just dont use the mechanics, its really that simple. No one would be holding a gun to your head saying "You must use one" if it were indeed implemented.

Although I definitely agree that there should be a way to get that mercenary feel in Path of Exile, I think the best vehicle for doing so would be making the Animate Guardian skill more viable. I have a more detailed thread on that subject here.

imho it would be enough to make "animate guardian" a support skill for spells or attacks, that would be great.

AG + heavy strike + melee splash + multystrike

AG + ice spear + gmp + faster casting

AG + shock nova + knockback + faster casting

AG + reave + knockback/blind + life leech + multystrike

and, since there are no animate guardian passive tree nodes

AG + AG + AG + ...

to have multiple animated guardians, like

AG + AG + reave + life leech + multystrike

and imagine you casting all the dmg auras, with 3 spirits "proj immune aura", a few zombies, and a skele totem

BEST SUPPORT EVER.

edit: didn't notice the upper linked thread... meh

I'm strongly against multiple Guardians.