Would it be a bad idea to allow players to hire NPC? Skyrim had mercenaries you could hire. I was just thinking it could be a happier medium. Harder content but allowing players with less than perfect builds to still get through it. I could see a player hiring two NPC, let's say they were having a hard time getting through one of the public delves. Could be easily tied in to the 3 guilds, just an idea. Mage guilds - mages and healers. Fighters guild - ranged and melee dps. Undaunted - tanks.
Should groups be able to hire NPCs? Say you had a group and all you were looking for is a healer, you could go hire one. Healing would be based on player's overall damage done unless they are the tank. Shouldn't be an automatic win with a NPC but a player is avoiding the mechanics of fight than the NPC heal could keep that player alive. But if they were just standing in the red every time, they would still die. No, matter what roll the NPC was filling in for, the better the group was doing, the better the NPC would do.