Just some thoughts on what I would could be cool with DIII mercs. This is more of a brain dump than a fully thought out topic, so arguments welcome
Special Merc equipment - Sets aimed specifically at particular merc classes with relevant bonuses.
Merc team - While retaining the limit of 1 merc currently active, allow to to have a team back in base, which can be swapped at camp depending on your particular need.
Named Mercs - As well as generic merc classes, have special 'named' merc warriors, who will have special bonuses (and perhaps weaknesses to balance them out). Perhaps a special 'summoning stone' or similar object could be found which could summon this special merc (or transform your existing one).
Instructions - Without overdoing it, having a few orders to give to the merc would be useful - pull out (send him/her back to town), back off (run away), charge etc. would help keep them alive.
Variety in skills - rather than having pretty much attack/some auras. have more supporting skills - such as heal/mana refill etc. This could be linked to the instructions i.e. tell the merc to prefer healing/mana refilling or all out attack.
More AI - Have the merc a little more concerned with their well being i.e. if they are taking a thrashing they may decide to pull out of their own accord - different classes could have different 'bravery' attributes (braver will stay in an attack, less brave are more likely to survive longer (but you might not!)).
Auto-pickup - Possibly a controversial one, but having a merc pick up gear for you would save a lot of fuss. Again, you could set what (screen something like
Normal Magic Set Unique Item
[x] [x] [x] [x] Gauntlets
[ ] [ ] [ ] [x] Axe
[ ] Gold
When fill they can be sent back to town with the command empty, to stash everything and return (usefulness would depend on the amount of chest space available). The obvious argument to this is pickup 'stealing' in multiplayer games - but a) I don't think there is such a thing (how can you steal an unowned item?), and b) this can be handled by putting a delay in to the mercs pickup, so a player cannot just charge through the dungeon expecting his merc to pickup everything nice, you will still need to keep an eye on the drops and make sure it is picked up or you pick it up yourself.
Auto-identify - Your merc might be specialised in particular equipment i.e. barb merc knows his axes, so all axes on the ground around him become identified.
Variety in types - Rather than all human characters, throw in a couple of other worldly types for example, a genie, which could use the command system to differentiate it from others (rather than 'pull out' sending back to town, it returns to the lamp). Or a spirit, which can be on its own as a weaker type of merc, or take possession of the player character to boost its stats.
That is all my brain fart for now, flame away!
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