Dungeons and Dragons Online offers another Hireling weekend for the Holiday
After the success of the first Dungeons and Dragons Online hireling preview, the folks at Turbine have opened the doors on their newest game mechanic for yet another trial. The second hireling preview began on Wednesday of this week, and will be going all throughout the weekend into Monday morning. The announcement of the program at the official forums includes a number of changes to the system as they hope to roll it out on live servers. This preview weekend still features limited functionality, and the newest changes aren't available over the course of this sneak peek.
Changes to the hireling concept surround the NPC's "usage". Hireling contracts are now one-use items that can be purchased from the appropriate vendors; because of this change, the contracts are now far less-expensive than the original 'timed' versions of the hireling contracts. A new 'defensive' mode has also been added to the creatures' AI, and hireling clerics have reprioritized the act of healing both themselves and their comrades. Full notes on the changes to the hireling system will be available in the patch notes once the feature is fully added to the game.
