Hirelings Delivery Times

P3ZZL3

Hi Guys,

Soooo...Hirelings. Putting aside the nerfs and drop rates etc that's obviously been discussed heavily in other threads, I have a question about whether you can reset them.

My understanding is that the hirelings make 2 runs a day, every 12 hours.

Now, it seems 90% of the time, I only ever get 1 delivery. How can I get the times changed on the hirelings so I know roughly when to expect them?

i was thinking if I fully respec the Char, will this reset the hireling delivery times?

Cheers
Pez

Faunter

There is no set time when the hirelings make all their runs. You simply get the new deliveries 12 hours after you have collected the previous batch. If you want to reset the time, just don't log in until you wish to receive their items.

Kragorn

This should be 10 hours, similar to horses being 20 hours, because what happens of course is the time steadily drifts later and later until eventually you're forced to miss one. ZOS 'got' the problem with horses, pity they didn't see HIrelings have the same problem.

Hirelings as they stand penalise those who have jobs or other real-life requirements and can't log in regularly twice a day, even sometimes at weekends: the unemployed and students clearly are the intended audience for this kind of content.

P3ZZL3

Kragorn wrote: »

Hirelings as they stand penalise those who have jobs

This is the main reason for the clarification

I can log in twice a day, that's absolutely fine, but the time MUST be pre-work 7am or after work, 7.00pm

Slurg

P3ZZL3 wrote: »

Kragorn wrote: »

Hirelings as they stand penalise those who have jobs

This is the main reason for the clarification

I can log in twice a day, that's absolutely fine, but the time MUST be pre-work 7am or after work, 7.00pm

Then you will not get deliveries twice a day other than possibly after a weekend, since picking the 2nd delivery post-7 pm means the next morning's delivery will not arrive until after 7 am due to the 12 hour timer.

Many of us have been requesting a 20/10 timer since, oh, the very beginning of the game, but there has never been even a response to my knowledge.

I console myself with the fact that at least I have a job to go to.

P3ZZL3

The problem ultimately lies with the relog aspect of it then.
I guess I'll have to just lose out then

Artemiisia

when I cared about the hirelings tremendous, I logged in once before work, and again when I came home, that way I got the two hireling mails everyday

firstdecan

Kragorn wrote: »

This should be 10 hours, similar to horses being 20 hours, because what happens of course is the time steadily drifts later and later until eventually you're forced to miss one. ZOS 'got' the problem with horses, pity they didn't see HIrelings have the same problem.

Hirelings as they stand penalise those who have jobs or other real-life requirements and can't log in regularly twice a day, even sometimes at weekends: the unemployed and students clearly are the intended audience for this kind of content.

THIS!

I am lucky in that my commute to work is only 10 minutes, so I can get the majority of my hireling mails before and after. But the time eventually skews, over the course of a week I can pickup 10-12 of them, depending on what I have to do IRL.

Not to derail the thread, but this is far from the only aspect of the game where you are penalized for being a responsible adult. It's a pet peeve of mine, the average age of a "gamer" is about 37 years old* which means the majority of gamers are established adults, not unemployed \ students (no moral judgment on personal situations). It would be nice if a game was designed for this demographic, meaning you can enjoy and be competitive in a majority of the game playing just 8-15 hours a week.

Bringing it back on topic, if you want to get the two hireling mails you basically have to adjust your IRL schedule so you are near a gaming machine at 12 hour intervals. Even then you will not pick up 14 hireling deliveries a week, the time skew means you'll get 12, maybe 13 at best. ZoS could easily fix this by changing the hireling timer to 10 or 11 hours instead of 12. They could offer a mobile client for basic game functions like mail, chat, bank, guild store, etc (basically treat the mobile client like you're at a bank). They could also just send the mails and let them pile up until your mailbox is at capacity (which would be great for people who can't login every day). I don't see any of these fixes coming in though, they've made it clear that their target demographic does not include people who have full time jobs.

*I saw a recently released statistic that the average age of a gamer just dropped down to 30. The 30 statistic includes toddlers and young children playing tablet games, which is probably not relevant to ESO.

Govalon

They should allow us to pile up something like 3 unopened mails from each hireling. It would fix the problem and you could not become inactive for a too long time.

SoulScream

I miss my 2nd hireling mail all the time because the mail system is still bugged. I forget to relog or zone to trigger the mail.

AlnilamE

They totally should change it to less than 12 hours. Even 11h30m would work. That way you don't get people trying to get extra weekly deliveries like you could in a 10 hour system, but it would allow those of us who can't be at the computer at the exact same time every day to make up for it.

Govalon wrote: »

They should allow us to pile up something like 3 unopened mails from each hireling. It would fix the problem and you could not become inactive for a too long time.

That could fill up your inbox really quickly...

P3ZZL3

Even a clock/timer notification would suffice for me right now.

I'd happily spend the gold to reset the skills if this would reset the clock? Anyone knows if this works? I'll try it tonight on one of my Chars if not.

Heruthema

If they would make it every 11 hrs it would be great. At least once or twice a week I have to miss a morning delivery because I have to leave for work. The time creeps forward everyday. Why did they have to set it at 12hrs when feeding horses is 20hrs.

Nestor

P3ZZL3 wrote: »

Even a clock/timer notification would suffice for me right now.

I'd happily spend the gold to reset the skills if this would reset the clock? Anyone knows if this works? I'll try it tonight on one of my Chars if not.

Yes, the initial timer is set to when you put the points into Hirelings, so 24 hours after you assign the first two points, and 12 hours after you assign the third point is when you should see your first delivery. I try to spec mine at say 4 or 5 PM on the weekends so I have a chance to get a delivery before work and after work.

reften

Why is there the feeling that you're entitled to get two deliveries a day? Not understanding this. Some days I'm able to get two, which is nice, some days I only log on once in a 12 hour period and get one.

If the counter was set to 24 hrs, there would be days where I'd get none. But luckily, I can spend an additional skill point and move that to 12 hrs, to basically guarantee me at least 1 per day. Nice perk!

Just not following the reasoning here of why the feeling is, if I can't log on, I should still get my mail every 12 hours.

It's kinda like, there was a defense tick at Nikel at midnight, but I logged off cause I have to get up for work the next day, I request that eventhough my character is not on, I still get that defense tick. Doesn't make sense.

Merlin13KAGL

Just pick up the delivery at the desired time.

After, at most, once 'missed' package, the others will always be in your box 12 or less hours later.

Rook_Master

The solution is clear: it is already in place with the Horse Timer.

Even reducing the timer to 23/11 hours would allow me to set a schedule I can keep to without it creeping forward by a few minutes every day.

Unfortunately, if that time creeps past 7AM, I have to either choose between missing work and missing my hirelings, and guess which one a responsible adult chooses?

Merlin13KAGL

@Rook_Master, you can be responsible (Kudos) and be clever at the same time:

You forgot about option 3.

Remote software is your friend, long enough to log in and log out. After a while, the sheer volume of hireling mail will make you glad you don't receive mailings every hour, on the hour.

Shift your pickup schedule just slightly and you'll miss at most one delivery every 6-7 days or so, assuming you have a 30-60 minute check window.

Log in during a break, feed your horse, check your mail, then back to IRL...

Kaizxen

How about if the hirelings would just send your materials regardless of whether you're online or not, just like any other player sending me mail or the guild trader sending gold after selling my items.

If ZOS wants hirelings to be a reward for daily play, they could simply have hirelings only send mail if the player has been logged in at all within the past 24 hours. None of this having to schedule real life around an absurd timer.

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

Remote software is your friend

While it is a good idea, not everyone has the ability or opportunity to use remote software while at work. Some would be jeopardizing their jobs just by installing it.

DeLindsay

We've been asking ZoS to change the Hireling mechanic to 10/20 hours or at the very least a specific set time each day, like 12 noon and 12 midnight (or w/e arbitrary time) and they simple don't care. It's been a topic since a few weeks after launch and not one thing has been done about it.

Epona222

oren74 wrote: »

Why is there the feeling that you're entitled to get two deliveries a day? Not understanding this. Some days I'm able to get two, which is nice, some days I only log on once in a 12 hour period and get one.

Er... because I spent skillpoints in a perk to get 2 deliveries a day, that's why - it's really quite simple.