@Griefer: Nobody objected to Vladimir's cheating, merely to the fact that he was boasting about his conquests from cheating as if he'd done something amazing in the game all by himself. It is fine to cheat if you want to, everybody is free to play the way they want to play, but it is NOT very fine to brag about accomplishments which can only be achieved through cheats.
I fully admit to tweaking the items file so I can get a couple of Netherworld Charges - noosers rags me about that all the time, and I used cheats in the betas to get where I needed to go fast enough to test what needed testing. Once the testing was done and the game released, cheats went off and have stayed off. And yes, I've had my butt regally kicked a couple of times already. But, I won the battles I won honestly.
You can get back on terms with the mercenary groups anytime the same way as in V 2.5 - help them out in a battle. I've done that in early stages and several of them don't attack me now. When you get to the mid-to-late game stages, you should have the opportunity to hire some lethal mercenaries yourself.