Yep, with a mod in Oblivion, i was able to recruit followers, even hostile NPCs once i Calmed them. On my Vampiric Nord Warrior, If i found a particularly worthy unique NPC that i had just battled and killed, i'd resurrect them, cast Calm on them, and offer to let them join me. The way i saw it, i was basically offering them a chance at life once more, but only if they'd serve me. If they refused, i'd kill them again permanently. All of the NPC's i had "collected", i'd station them at Battlehorn Castle. It was basically a Keep full of my own personal army and mercenaries. Was pretty awesome.

My follower killed my dog and he shot me in the neck with an arrow.

This is why I don't use followers. They are stupid, can't be commanded and more importantly they steal your experience. Can't exactly level up my melee skill if a follower hits them now can I? Can't level destruction when a follower is up there standing right in front of the enemy your trying to burn. Can't have an epic cinematic experience either.

*walks into well made cave*
Player: Wow this place looks amazing, so surreal and the textures are so well done, that waterfall over there is perf-
Follower: DIE MILK DRINKER! *fighting a mudcrap*

The only Followers I've never had trouble with are the ones I shot in the back with my bow as some troll beat the carp outta them.... annoyance dealt with...

There is a mod out there to fix a lot of those issues

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9842

Thanks for the link. Maybe it is worth a try, but the description says about my follower: "Dungeon follower are kinda buggy. Best to avoid them..." Sigh.

They can`t give you fixed Followers, but they can give you zoomy Finishers in Magic or archer mode.

Will that help?

I really wish Bethesda could reprogram the followers to let us initiate the fight if we choose. I play as a robe wearing Destruction Mage that uses alot of Sneak to position myself for a killing spell. I recently came upon three Falmer in front of me while in Sneak....I let a dual cast Fireball fly and noticed my follower charging in to engage them and he ran right into the path of the spell. So much for my sneak attack, after the battle there was 3 dead Falmer, and one crisp follower in his loin cloth after I stripped him of everything . Think I'm done with followers and will use my skills to conjure Thralls...if they get in the way I'll just conjure another.

This one especially. Wabbajack isn't working for me to fix this.

Mods have fixed all of these issues, but I'd be very happy if Bethesda would put them in the base game.

Honestly, the only thing I want is to be able to push my [censored] [censored] [censored] dog out of the way. I swear I'll kill him if he blocks yet another doorway for me.

Being a console player, I'll admit to being a bit jealous of mods, but I mostly get frustrated when they fix -- apparently rather simple -- things that *should* be fixed by Bethesda. And by that, I don't mean any ill will towards modders, only that they're illustrating a certain negligence on the developers part for not fixing the problems.

I understand that the developers are focusing on, what they consider, major game-breaking issues now, but if some of these *minor* problems are so easy to fix, why can't they simultaneously include these in the patches along the way? I sometimes think Bethesda doesn't realize that these minor issues add up and really eat away at the experience of enjoying the game overall.

I totally agree. That is the right way to do followers.

All the more reason why this should be sorted by Bethesda, we PC gamers might have workarounds but they should surely fix this for console owners. The only problem is getting people to post in here to let Bethesda know we want a fixed Follower system.

I totally support and agree with the OP here, however, the mod listed by Gamya may have to suffice ( or another similar mod someone does ) since Beth is nearing it's patch completion cycle...and will soon be focusing on DLC....just like they did for FO3 and NV....leaving multitudes of fixes up to the PC Community to finalize. Thankfully....Kivan and and crew ( and you other great mod makers ) are working on so many things needing fixing, truly they are a blessing to us all

Would be nice if Beth did it though...since as already stated, 360 and PS3 users are left out of the mod loop, and will still have broken follower behaviors

The basic follower problems were still present in NV. They were better in some regards but still had major issues that are inherent to the game engine. That much cannot be denyed. They were far from being awesome. I did like their quest lines and general interaction much better though. There were certainly some things Bethesda could have learned from Obsidian. It is unfortunate that the two companies don't collaborate on these games. A blend of the two philosophies could really make the series much better overall.

Agree with the OP, followers definitely need to be fixed.

I play as an archer, sneaking around enemies and going slowly through the dungeons but followers are just reckless and rush into battle while I am trying to position myself to get that sneak shot on an unsuspecting enemy. They take no commands that allow me to set tactics or predetermined actions for them, something which makes them a loose cannon when going through a dungeon full of enemies. They also get in the way of my shots most of the time and I have to be constantly adjusting my position to get a clear shot on the enemy.

I also lost count of how many times Lydia and now Eola has blocked my path as I am wandering around in houses, dungeons or caves/tombs. It is very annoying and disruptive that as I enter a room and finish looking around or taking the loot, I clash with my follower as I am heading out and then I have to keep walking until she decides to get out of the way.

They also lag behind when walking around the world, don't like jumping down from any place after I do and sometimes go away in dungeons to do their own thing (like trying to hit an unreachable enemy) even after I am far away and had told them to follow me.

Yeah, I am about to give up on followers and just wander alone. Hope they fix them.

All the follower issues you state ( like not jumping down when you do, or trying to hit an unreachable enemy ) have been around in this game engine since Oblivion at least, and it usually takes a properly scripted Community made follower to work for the most part correctly ( Vilja anyone? To name one...a mod made, awesome follower for Oblivion )...almost like Beth just throws companions into the came from some pre-made, cookie cutter type utilty....without any true regard to how well ( or badly ) they actually work in game...

Maybe they'll ( Bethesda ) will surprise us and actually implement a follower fix *fingers crossed*

I also wish followers wouldn't start attacking my dead thrall Forsworn Pillager mage everytime she steps infront of the thralls ice storm. Lydia gets her clock cleaned and I have to hope she gains her senses when she finally stands back up. My thrall just stands there like, "What! You want some more of this? I dare ya."

May have to let Lydia go and only use the thralls or find another follower that will stay out of the way, in ranged.

Once we on followers please remove level cap on all of them

i want them level up as long as i do and not to being capped for some unknown reason

So it would appear we think they should have fixed followers instead of creating killcams for arrows? Lol

• The FollowerHuntingBow is unplayable, and hunting bows are prefered for non-magical ranged combat; this is, technically, a bug.
  
• This is not a bug.*
  
• This is not a bug.**
  
• This is an issue with any level-offset NPC, and may not be a bug, per se, but it does have unintended consequences (for example, Ulfric Stormcloak and General Tullius are both encountered at Helgen at level one, and their statistics are set at those of level 10 NPCs for the rest of the game). As for level cap, the majority of NPCs that are level-offset have level caps, and the use of such caps is not a bug.***
  
• This has to do with the hunting bows added when they join you; Cicero and the Dark Brotherhood initiates are unaffected.

There are a number of misconceptions about followers; they do not receive a copy of their "default" equipment when you dismiss them, and they will always use the best melee weapons you give them -- their "inferior" weapons do not reset.

I believe that the issue with the hunting bows should be fixed, but the rest of your complaints are not bug and therefore do not require "fixing." As they are not bugs, you should not expect a change via patch, although this is not to say that such content may not be added "by popular demand."

Also, if a follower or any other NPC is standing in your way, you can sprint at them to push them.

*Why does this bother you? The majority of followers are not in a location that would entail their demise and require such armor for their survival. Aside from Housecarls and hirelings, followers are people who have chosen to risk their life fighting for you -- they are not your slaves, and I see no reason you should dictate their dress at all times.

**Aside from Kharjo, all followers live in locations easily accessed by carriage or fast travel, and you can congregate three followers of your choosing (minus Cicero and the Dark Brotherhood initiates) at Sky Haven Temple by inducting them into the Blades. Is it truly so much trouble to go to their home to get them?

***The caps do serve a strategic purpose; most followers cap at level 30 and as such are still affected by the Disarm shout. Therefore, a hireling (or special quest followers, like Erandur or Mjoll, or Cicero) have an advantage because they will eventually be too high level to be disarmed.

Misconceptions or not, people do not want them like that because it breaks immersion so if the following system ain't bugged the design meeting at Bethesda HQ was lol

Yeah,OP, we all agree with you... There was a similar thread a while ago on this. I would love to see a simple "Watch my back" command that would put your follower in ranged attack ONLY, and keep them out of your way!

The easiest solution I can see is giving us complete control of their inventories, let us remove all their base armor and weapons, and don't give them any bull [censored] 'hidden armor' that's bugged as hell. Who cares of we remove all their armor?!

The only thing they should always have is an unlimited supply of iron arrows, only for the archer followers. Fix the levelling problem and change all their caps to 50.

I don't agree about moving them though, they should go back to where they were originally when you dismiss them.