Hireling mail timers

EQBallzz · February 2016

Does anyone have any conclusive information from ZOS about how the hireling timers work? I know if you have 3/3 you can only loot a bag every 12 hours so that is clear but if you have 2/3 it seems to be bugged or random or I don't know what. Usually I log in around the same time in the evening and they are all there on 6 characters but lately it's not always been happening that way. Some characters get them much sooner and others later. One day I didn't seem to get them at all. Another time I had them on one character but not the other and after re-logging they appeared. WTF IS HAPPENING!? Is it bugged? Is it random? Are there hireling gremlins? Can ZOS do anything right? How hard can hireling timers be? Arrrrrrgh.

bryanhaas · February 2016

EQBallzz wrote: »

Does anyone have any conclusive information from ZOS about how the hireling timers work? I know if you have 3/3 you can only loot a bag every 12 hours so that is clear but if you have 2/3 it seems to be bugged or random or I don't know what. Usually I log in around the same time in the evening and they are all there on 6 characters but lately it's not always been happening that way. Some characters get them much sooner and others later. One day I didn't seem to get them at all. Another time I had them on one character but not the other and after re-logging they appeared. WTF IS HAPPENING!? Is it bugged? Is it random? Are there hireling gremlins? Can ZOS do anything right? How hard can hireling timers be? Arrrrrrgh.

2/3 is every 24 hours seems to work on my characters.

Nestor · February 2016

Timer Creep is most of the issue. And, yes 1/3 and 2/3 Hirelings are every 24 hours.

And, I have had sessions where I did not get the hireling mails until I logged to my next mule. This can happen if you log in about the time you should be getting the emails.

However, this thread is a perfect time to once again ask for some sanity with Hireling Timers and put them on a 10/20 hour schedule. Then none of this would ever happen.

EQBallzz · February 2016

Nestor wrote: »

Timer Creep is most of the issue. And, yes 1/3 and 2/3 Hirelings are every 24 hours.

And, I have had sessions where I did not get the hireling mails until I logged to my next mule. This can happen if you log in about the time you should be getting the emails.

However, this thread is a perfect time to once again ask for some sanity with Hireling Timers and put them on a 10/20 hour schedule. Then none of this would ever happen.

Yeah, I assumed it was 24 but like today I had one character that had bags much sooner while the others didn't. I don't know if it's just buggy or what but it's pretty annoying and yes..there needs to be a change to something less than 24 hours and less than 12 for 3/3. I don't even bother with 3/3 because I can't log in every 12 hours easily which is a stupid requirement.

Waffennacht · February 2016

I do the 3/3 not so I can get it every 12 hours, but to make sure I get it the one time I log in per day. Because my time is so random I can't guarantee every 24 hours.

Nestor · February 2016

EQBallzz wrote: »

I don't even bother with 3/3 because I can't log in every 12 hours easily which is a stupid requirement.

There is a significant difference between the 2/3 and 3/3 Hirelings. I frequently get 6 items on my 3/3, two of which are Tempers and those are almost always Multiples. Plus I get typically two different VR16 mats, one refined stack, one raw stack. Even if I don't get them twice a day, I do feel they are worth it.

EQBallzz · February 2016

Nestor wrote: »

EQBallzz wrote: »

I don't even bother with 3/3 because I can't log in every 12 hours easily which is a stupid requirement.

There is a significant difference between the 2/3 and 3/3 Hirelings. I frequently get 6 items on my 3/3, two of which are Tempers and those are almost always Multiples. Plus I get typically two different VR16 mats, one refined stack, one raw stack. Even if I don't get them twice a day, I do feel they are worth it.

There is no difference in the amount or quality of items between 2/3 and 3/3 as far as I know. If you read the description the only difference it mentions is the ability to collect them more frequently whereas if you read the description difference between 1/3 and 2/3 it explicitly states you get more/better stuff. I think whatever difference in items you see with 3/3 and 2/3 is the same randomness you see if you compare 2/3 to 2/3 or 3/3 to 3/3 on any given day. I wish that wasn't the case but everyone I have ever asked says the quality/number of items in each bag is the same with 2 or 3 points. If you have info that shows otherwise I would be interested to see that.

Waffennacht wrote: »

I do the 3/3 not so I can get it every 12 hours, but to make sure I get it the one time I log in per day. Because my time is so random I can't guarantee every 24 hours.

I actually just respec'd my points to reclaim some unused points and went ahead and sunk 3 points into each hireling this time to do exactly what you said. Kind of stupid to have to waste skill points just to get the same effect of 2/3 but that's ZOS logic I guess.

Nestor · February 2016

EQBallzz wrote: »

There is no difference in the amount or quality of items between 2/3 and 3/3 as far as I know.

If you have info that shows otherwise I would be interested to see that.

I will take some screenshots and show you. I have 4 Alts with L3s and two with L2s. The L3s consistently deliver more and and better stuff. Unfortunately, I logged to my L2s this morning so it will be tomorrow. But, it will just confirm what I have posted.

EQBallzz · February 2016

Nestor wrote: »

EQBallzz wrote: »

There is no difference in the amount or quality of items between 2/3 and 3/3 as far as I know.

If you have info that shows otherwise I would be interested to see that.

I will take some screenshots and show you. I have 4 Alts with L3s and two with L2s. The L3s consistently deliver more and and better stuff. Unfortunately, I logged to my L2s this morning so it will be tomorrow. But, it will just confirm what I have posted.

I'll be interested to see if you can show that consistently over multiple days. If that is true they really need to change the description on those passives to reflect that because as it is now it says nothing about getting more/better stuff.

Sunburnt_Penguin · February 2016

Mate, they're all bugged.

I have 3x 3/3 hirelings and at the "reset" I have to log out and back in on all three characters to "push" the mails through otherwise they'll be pushed back by whatever length of time until I open them. However, sometimes when I "push" them through it'll only work on 2 and the 3rd comes anytime within the next 2 hours.

I've actually deleted all mails apart from the hireling mails and the receipt timings (note this isn't when it actually shows up in your mail as when I "push" them through they have a different receipt timing, but when ESO sends them) are never 12 hours from opening.

EQBallzz · February 2016

Timers are hard! You have to count and stuff.

helediron · February 2016

I just put three points and consider that as daily delivery, and then i don't have to watch clock. Having the times 10/20 hours would be nice though and would match horse timers.

An account full of crafters delivers one golden item per day on average. It is a small thing. Writs and farming are ten times more important.

EQBallzz · February 2016

helediron wrote: »

I just put three points and consider that as daily delivery, and then i don't have to watch clock. Having the times 10/20 hours would be nice though and would match horse timers.

An account full of crafters delivers one golden item per day on average. It is a small thing. Writs and farming are ten times more important.

Yeah, I'm working towards 3 points as well and I have that on 3 characters but I have 3 characters that don't have crafts leveled up enough so now I have to grind out 32 levels in all the crafts on 3 more characters just so I can get 3 points in the hireling just so I can get functionality equivalent to 2 points. Combine this with having to max out crafts just to harvest nodes and ZOS has really added in a lot of meaningless, expensive and time consuming busy work for no apparent reason.

BenevolentBowd · February 2016

I can't remember the source but if I recall correctly, when the hireling passives are maxed, they will make a new delivery after 12 hours when you logon to the character or fast travel.

EQBallzz · February 2016

BowD wrote: »

I can't remember the source but if I recall correctly, when the hireling passives are maxed, they will make a new delivery after 12 hours when you logon to the character or fast travel.

The source is the passive description. It's the main reason I'm putting all this effort into getting 3/3 so that the bag timer is reduced to 12 hours instead of 24. You *could* log in and get bags twice per day but only if you did so at exact 12 hour intervals. I work and sleep so I'm not going to be doing that. It does however make it possible to actually collect bags when I log in during the evening regardless if it's been 24 hours or 21 hours since I picked up my bags last.

SpAEkus · February 2016

I have 7 3/3 Hirelings.

Whenever I need to (Maintenance, Patches, RL) I can re-align all their timers to the same 2x12 hour by skipping one delivery completely past and into the next 12 hour timer.

Hireling mail has been kind of chunky lately and doesn't always deliver at exactly the moment the character is logged in. Before I could give just a 1 minute buffer to start the first hireling, but now it seems with mail sync slowness and character login buffering, I'm giving 3-5 minutes buffer at each timer.

I always reset when the timers get to 10AM/PM as I don't want to stay up that late.

Nestor · February 2016

EQBallzz wrote: »

I'll be interested to see if you can show that consistently over multiple days. If that is true they really need to change the description on those passives to reflect that because as it is now it says nothing about getting more/better stuff.

From Friday Night to Sunday night, here are the results. Just counting tempers. I have 5 3/3 and 2 2/3 Hirelings, characters are a range of levels. Friday was one pick up of all mails, Saturday was one pick with one or two others from character play, Sunday was two pick ups, so one more than the 2/3 Hirelings over the weekend. I did get a decent haul tonight, not a lot mails had tempers, but when they did, it was multiples.

2/3
5 Greens
6 Blues

Figure 13 Greens and 15 Blues to keep it in balance with how many L3s I have.

3/3
6 Greens
18 Blues
16 Purples
7 Golds

My Level 11 with Mat level 1 got 3 of the golds yesterday.

Level 3 Hirelings are worth the point, even if you don't pick them up twice a day. I will say that I do have days where I get little in the way of tempers from my hirelings, but I have more days where I get a nice selection.

(I also got another 10 Gold Tempers from writs or refining survey hauls, it was a nice weekend).

Duiwel · February 2016

I wish I knew OP, sometimes I get both mail sets ( x2 / 3/3 hireling ), but most of the time I only get 1. They shouldn't even have a timer for the 2 mails and just give you either more mats in one mail or send both at the same time. As I have read many people experience problems with the timers.

When I first got hirelings I use to just log in and sit in zone for like 5 mins and the mails would come or as soon as I logged off that char they'd arrive.
Lately that doesn't always work for me...

EQBallzz · February 2016

Nestor wrote: »

EQBallzz wrote: »

I'll be interested to see if you can show that consistently over multiple days. If that is true they really need to change the description on those passives to reflect that because as it is now it says nothing about getting more/better stuff.

From Friday Night to Sunday night, here are the results. Just counting tempers. I have 5 3/3 and 2 2/3 Hirelings, characters are a range of levels. Friday was one pick up of all mails, Saturday was one pick with one or two others from character play, Sunday was two pick ups, so one more than the 2/3 Hirelings over the weekend. I did get a decent haul tonight, not a lot mails had tempers, but when they did, it was multiples.

2/3
5 Greens
6 Blues

Figure 13 Greens and 15 Blues to keep it in balance with how many L3s I have.

3/3
6 Greens
18 Blues
16 Purples
7 Golds

My Level 11 with Mat level 1 got 3 of the golds yesterday.

Level 3 Hirelings are worth the point, even if you don't pick them up twice a day. I will say that I do have days where I get little in the way of tempers from my hirelings, but I have more days where I get a nice selection.

(I also got another 10 Gold Tempers from writs or refining survey hauls, it was a nice weekend).

That's interesting but not sure it's a large enough sample size to indicate a trend. I currently have 5 characters with 3/3 hirelings and 2 with 2/3 hirelings. I watched as I collected bags last night and I had a pretty even matching of tempers and trash on both. Would be nice if ZOS could comment on how it works.

Nestor · February 2016

Same thing last night. Blues and Purples on the L3s, Blues and Greens on the L2s. No Golds though from Hireling emails....

Thrasher91604 · March 2016

So is there any word from ZOS if they will ever fix the hireling timers at level 3/3?

I spent three points on a provisioning hireling a couple of days ago, and even when I log on just 13 or 14 hours after the last email received I still don't get the second hireling mail. It's seems stuck at 24 hours between emails. Should I submit a ticket, or do they never intend to fix this? It's been how many years now that this issue hasn't been resolved. About 2 years? After how many tickets by other players?

@ZOS_GinaBruno can we get an official response on this issue?

Jayne_Doe · March 2016

The main and obvious difference between each of the three hireling levels is the amount of raw materials that are provided (not sure about when your character is V15-16).

At hireling level 1, you always receive 3 ore/wood/cloth
At hireling level 2, you always receive 4 ore/wood/cloth
At hireling level 3, you always receive 5 ore/wood/cloth

Again, I don't know about V15-16, since I don't have any characters at that level and it sounds like you can get 1 or 10. I'm leaving that out.

In theory, you can get better stuff at higher levels, but I don't actually see that much difference in whether I get a temper from a 3/3 hireling or a 2/3 hireling. In fact, just last night, I received 5 voidstone ore and 1 sardonyx from one of my 3/3 BS hirelings.

Basically, I have 3/3 so that I can always get mail when I log in and play.