Soloeus wrote: »

Hireling 3 should be definitely better than hireling 2, just as Stage 3 of any other passive is better than Stage 2.

Actually, it is just like rank 1 of Unholy Knowledge giving a 3% increase and rank 2 giving a 2% increase. The total increase is greater if you add the second rank, but you experience diminishing returns as you invest more in the skill.

Enchanting hirelings vs the other three crafts' hirelings definitely don't work the same way.

I got 8 toons. All with 3/3 hireling in Blacksmithing, Clothing, Woodworking and Provisioning. 4 of those toons have 3/3 hireling in Enchanting.

Only one toon is maxed in any one craft. For example, one toon is rank 50 in Blacksmithing (with all passives maxes except Keen Eye) while he's rank 32 in the others... just high enough to get 3/3 Hireling and absolutely no points put into passives in those crafts.

It's been like this for me for quite a while now and I see absolutely no difference in my blacksmithing, clothing, woodworking and provisioning hirelings. The toons with rank 50 and maxed passives get the same stuff at the same regularity as the toons with rank 32 in a craft and no passives.

This relationship is NOT the same for Enchanting. 2 of my toons are maxed Enchanting with 3/3 hirelings and maxed passives. They get Kutas rarely. Maybe a couple a week in total. They get Rekutas regularly. Pretty much I'm hoping for Kutas from them and if I don't get one, I'll usually get a Rekuta instead. Possible to get a blue or white or no aspect rune but rare.

For my other 2 toons at rank 32 Enchanting with 3/3 hirelings and no passives, they get crap all the time. Maybe the occasional blue. For my other 4 toons at 2/3 hireling in Enchanting, rank 12 or higher (but less than 32) and no passives, they get even less crap. Generally just a rank 1 potency rune and an essence rune. Almost never an aspect and certainly NEVER EVER gotten a Kuta from those 2/3s.

So, it seems that the actual rank you have in Enchanting and/or the points you put into the passives is the key element in getting good hireling drops. This is completely different from the other crafts where a rank 32 clothing toon with 3/3 hireling regularly gets 2 waxes... sometimes 4 at a time.

I disagree with the OP. I don't think 2/3 or 3/3 hireling has anything to do with it. It's the actual rank in Enchanting, how many passives you got in extraction and potency whatevers that makes the difference for hireling drops. Since 3/3 hireling mails comes every 12 hours (after logging in to get them), it's just statistically better. You are going to get more in the long run. And, it's just one extra skillpoint out of hundreds. I don't see the opposition to spending another skillpoint... it's not like they are hard to come by.

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

RNG is involved, so even two weeks of data is kind of irrelevant. It's hard to make any conclusions from people's experiences as people tend to forget the bigger picture.....

Enchanting extraction, especially creation of runes and Rekuta extraction is way over buffed and Hireling delivarys are way NERFED... Every way i look at my enchanting, it is way down. i tracked it by adding up how much they would extract for with a level pot rune.... even if throw out my worst and best delivery days in a week i am way down.

I have been tracking my enchanting delivary's for months on a spreadsheet. normal week to week variances would be 5%, occasionally i would see larger variences of 25% but not often. With 1.4 delivarys, i am down 20% and my Kutu delivarys are down 85%.

its been all most 2 weeks and with lots of alts, and lots people seeing the same reductions i am seeing its not to soon to draw conclusions on enchanting hirelings NERFED with knife not adjusted with a scapel.

Rodario wrote: »

For those wondering about hireling timers and login requirements, there is already a thread on the subject with an official, albeit vague, response on page 4:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/93659/request-for-a-change-in-hireling-timer-mechanics

*reading it* .. so, it IS exactly every 12 hours then.
Well, and like most of the time, the mods are saying something like "we'll look into it". The thread is from July, and nothing happened so far.
I guess I'll stick with the 2 tier hirelings then.

Personally, what I think would solve all this is if the mail from the hirelings went into your mailbox.. you know like in pretty much every mmo ever where you receive daily items. Because it's a mailbox.

If say, just creating a scenario, say I have a really reliable friend. We'll say I give him/her 30k to supply me with a few mats a day for a month. Johnny B. Goode (idk if this is an actually player name, I just randomly picked it) true to it shoots a mail every day with some mats. Those mats would then go into my mailbox and sit.

I could go on vacation for a week, comeback, and I'd have 7days of items. With the NPC system I'd have 1 (or half a day depending).

The calculated loss with this system (which I'm not actually going to figure) is ridiculous. Originally if I recall, all your hireling mats came regardless of what char you were signed onto which was at least a little better until people abused it and ZOS broke it to "fix" it.