Possible Inf Sink, and Lore Expansion Opportunity

A friend gave me an idea earlier today, and I thought I put it out to the wide world of the forums. This is a possible Inf Sink for the game, as well as a way to expand upon a very underused part of the game lore.

To wit - Hired Help. Using Inf to obtain a temporary pet to aid the players.

The way I figure it, this would only become available around level 20 or so. At that point, the character can choose to go to a special store (possibly just an NPC in every 20+ zone) to negotiate for the pet. And this will include more than just hiring a pet! There would be ranks of the pet (effectivly LT, Boss, and Elite Boss - Minions would die to fast to bother with. Each teir would naturally be more expensive) and possibly even choose the 'class' (Which, right now, I'm figuring will be limited to four - Melee, Ranged, Support, and Control, again, with varying prices for each.)

This pet would be 'hired' for an amount of game time, and... once that time limit is reached, would require an additional investment of Inf to remain. A character can only have one such pet at a time... maybe only one per team, but that I'm not sure about.

Sure, this isn't all that useful for the more solo-capable ATs (Maybe for the occasional particularly tough fight)... but for Controllers, Blasters, and other squishies? I think this would be very atractive indeed.

Now, about the Lore Expansion part... well, isn't it obvious? At least in Paragon City, there exists a group that SHOULD be much more active and visible, but instead we never see them in action - Hero Corp. Heck, 'Heroes for Hire' is their entire concept, so they would fit right in to this!

As for the Isles... possibly some kind of Arachnos contract? Or maybe a Minions Inc. representitve to broker the deal for your mercenary.

Praetoria - and specifically First Ward - I'm not sure. But I'm sure there's something that can be slipped into the lore without too much trouble.

Well, this is just an idea I had... What does everyone else think?

So basically a purchaseable, time-limited version of Lore pets?

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

What are all these threads about inf sinks about?? Do people truly think putting lil items in game that cost inf will reduce the cost of market items? I guess I am confused as to all these "inf sink" threads hehe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paladiamors I love you, I Burnt the Toast!

Inflation.

The more Inf in circulation, the less value it has. Inf is extremely easy to make in this game, but there doesn't exist nearly as many ways to get take it out of circulation. Buying enhancements or Inspirations from actual stores, the transaction fees of the Auctionhouse, and the crafting fee for IOs are really... it. I'm sure there are others I am missing, but really, those are the primary ways Inf get removed from the game. And the crafting fees of IOs don't remove nearly as much as regular enhancements, seeing as they don't get replaced nearly as often.

So, in a nutshell, too much inf = bad. A new way to take Inf out of circulation could possibly help bring the rampant inflation under control... if it brings something to the table that players would want to use.

How about if the choices of what pets you could summon were picked from the list of gladiators that character had unlocked? There have been a few ideas over the years as to what more could be done with those guys besides just arena fights. Two birds with one stone, kinda deal.