Hirelings may be limited, but they were never designed to be as good as players. They're just an extra pair of hands if you need it - a hireling cleric for instance, can help you beat that difficult encounter where before you were a bit lacking in the healing department. Or, you can just use a hireling to use a switch which you fear might spring a trap.. Plenty of opportunities to put them to good use I say! In short: I really enjoy having a hireling in our group, as I regularly play as part of a group of four friends, and sometimes that's not enough to pull through. With a hireling in tow however, we've been able to cope with situations more comfortably than before.

Furthremore, there's a lot more to D&DO than Hirelings. It's just one feature. Dismissing this game just because one of those features does not sit well with you, might be a bit hasty, don't you think?