"The Help": Hired or Otherwise

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Tertium_Quid wrote:

One should try to be as multifaceted as possible without being spread too thin.

Well, that sounds nice, but in other ARPGs most people don't play like that. Instead they choose one single ability or plan and make it as powerful as possible, only investing elsewhere if absolutely nessecary, or if their chosen ability can not progress any further.

Mostly this is due to the use of percentage modifiers and increasing returns, which discourage hybrid and jack-of-all-trades playstyles.

It remains to be seen how things will turn out in PoE, since theoretically, a single character could max every (non-passive) skill, and swap them in and out of their gear as nessecary.
We don't know much about passive skills yet though, so it is difficult to speculate.

perhaps you mean "what a word means"... as it stands i have very little interest in discussing grammar and diction. you have a fondness for a particular obscure term. stupenfucious. but perhaps aiming for clarity in a discussion such as this would be the better part of valour?

having the advantage of you, i shall endeavour to explain the mechanics of ut2k4 i am referring to; the game being what it was, i was under the impression everyone would be familiar with it. its akin to saying "mario" or "zelda".

each team has a roster. your team consists of yourself and several npc players. you may hire new players (or fire them, which isn't really relevant atm) from a list of applicants, which changes match by match as the game's storyline progresses. additionally, you can attempt to trade players between teams, or outright bribe another player to leave their team and join yours. and yes, "credits" were the system of choice, though that's hardly relevant either, as "currency" is a fluid notion, and some method will be used to pay the mercenaries.

otherwise, they simply wouldn't be mercenaries, they'd be henchmen. as i alluded to previously.

as for "permanent contracts", again, why not just make the merc a summoned pet? it has become essentially a spell you can cast, modified by "casting materials" commonly referred to as "gear".

my suggestion is an alternative to such, wherein the "mercs" are actually treated as "real people" within the context of the game. they laugh, they cry, they get angry and go work for other people.

i might even consider having merc deaths be permanent, or if a merc comes to the conclusion you're trying to get them killed, the merc turns on you.

similar to fallout 2, when you unload with a burst weapon and clip your companions that one too many times.

nobody appreciates carelessness. that sort of thing.

and i didn't really like your idea about reduced drop chances, etc. sry.