I would recommend it if you never had Partners before. Here is the benefits of partners:
-At high disposition you can request Presents from them (70+ Disposition to be able to get a present from partners)
-At 180 disposition they
will randomly give you an extra present when talking to them (no need to "Start a Conversation", just click them and end and repeat) This is included along with the "Request a Present" so you can effectively get 2 boxes a day.
-Why are the boxes important? Because they give stuff like SM Elite Passes and Potions. You may even have a chance of obtaining a
Special Box at max disposition from gifts. Alternatively when you max out Disposition you can request a gift and say "I Hate It!" and that's 50% chance of obtaining a Special Box but it isn't really that worth it because:
-As you know Partners help gathering stuff like Wool, Firewood, Ores ,etc (but sadly not Hillwen Ores/Shyllien Crystals, but then White Herbs can be double gathered!)
At Max disposition your partner may gather up to 2 extra items instead of 1 (that is 1 from you and 2 from the Partner)
-They're
portable shops. Although the stuff they sell isn't too great it may help you in some instances, for instance imagine you're in Cobh and you want to fish [S]but this damn fishing city does not sell Bait[/S]. Well then your good Butler is selling some so buy it from him.
*Also you can easily NPC stuff you pick up through your Partner
-Daily Quests. They give exp equivalent to an HM Daily Mission depending on what it is. Usually the "harder" ones give more and the cooking ones give less, but if you have time and can do it go ahead and get some extra exp (and more disposition for your Partner if you haven't maxed out)
-Maid's Accessory Repairs and Butler's Magical Clothing Repairs. This is good if you use Accessories and Magical Clothing so you don't have to go all the way to Fleta/Jennifer for Magical Clothing/Accessory Repairs.
Also they both repair Clothing at 99% when disposition is 180+
-[S]You can dress up your partner very prettily so you have a Fashionogi Partner[/S]
The only downsides I can think of is:
-It can be tedious to get high disposition for Partners
-
You must keep their Hunger level over 55 or else they will lose disposition
-A minimum of Rank 9 Cooking is recommended if you want to be able to cook anything your partner asks, also you must cook the dish yourself
-They don't come free with a mount. That's something separate that you have to buy
-Once you gift them equipment you cannot retrieve it without spending NX on the item to retrieve it