mine like to stand in my line of fire.. and say " hey watch it !" and then explode into flames and die .. As a fire mage I find followers more of a hindrance than a help

I do not think my most common hinderence of a conpanion is on there, which is get stuck on the stairs it seems like, but that might coincide with run 10 miles around a 3 foot drop cause after I am done with a fight that I actually need help with, they will finally show up of course.

Followers are best used as pack mules. Double your loot capacity.