You're assuming the troll knows it's being hired out. It's probably like buying the dog from the bloke outside Markarth. You give him the money, you get the troll.

Armored Trolls take up the same Follower Slot as Dogs do.

I am terribly excited with the armored trolls.

I have always thought that some trolls were able to show intelligence.

We know that http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:A_Poorly_Scrawled_Note#A_Poorly_Scrawled_Note are able to write (poorly) and had the notion of a monetary value, or at least tried to practise racketeering.

We also know that they sometimes have a clanic social behaviour, since Oblivion featured two http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Creatures#Troll, namely the Azhklan and the Kalperklan. It has already been observed that they obey a hierarchy, since a http://uesp.net/wiki/OBMobile:The_Troll_King has been reported as well as http://uesp.net/wiki/Dawnstar:Bestiary (in a place of Skyrim, near Dawnstar and in the South of it, called http://uesp.net/wiki/Dawnstar:South -- the Trolls here were called Trollkin, though It is not clear that it refers to a clan, a subspecies or a hierarchic rank).

They have also been able to use weapons at war, perhaps even to craft them : the game dawnstar featured http://uesp.net/wiki/Dawnstar:Weapons, as well as http://uesp.net/wiki/Dawnstar:Gift_Items. If Bethesda finally decides to add a hand-to-hand perk tree, the use of cestus would be great, and the presence of Troll cestus could be an awesome addition. I hope that both Troll armors and Troll weapons will be seen in Dawnguard, and lootable. They sound really badass.

I really hope that we'll be able to communicate with those hireable trolls, know their motivation, discover some parts of their culture and society (which is presumably embryonic, but we could be surprised). Personnally, I'd love some Troll questgiver. Maybe he would ask us to help him retake Frostheim, or to help in a religious ceremony, where some Troll female is transcended to become the new http://uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Agnar%27s_Journal? This kind of absolutely fancy and frenzy stuff would be awesome, and highly satisfying, in my opinion. Maybe some Troll crafter could also reveal to the player how to craft Troll weapons and armors, hence making new recipes available in the forge.

I also just realized that a Troll protected by an enchanted armor, allowing him to resist fire, must be some dreadful opponent.

If a cow can send hired mercenaries after me...

Seems like I remember a troll following a Briarheart around somewhere?

.....dafaq?

.....dafaq?

Usually if you're putting someone in a harness with a leash you're not paying them. If there's any money changing hands they're paying you but that's a totally different thread, forum.. site.

And why wouldn't it work? Leash keeps it from running away, cattle prod keeps it from turning on you. Worked for the goblins in Moria(sp).

How will you fight then if your hands are full, it leaves the Dawnguard volnurable. In the gameinformer it was already stat
ed you pay, so I'm thinking they can be intelligent if given the opurtunity.

im guessing theres like a handler at fort dg and you pay him to 'hire' a troll that has been trained, not pay the actual trolls themselves

Just a question--do you think Beth is going to release any new info between now and release?

you're overthinking it...wishful thinking is the path to disappointment