PTS Update 30 - Feedback Thread for Companions

crjs1 · May 2021

Mysticman wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

Mysticman wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

Mysticman wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

When you say a quick tank build, what is the build you are thinking of, and while you were testing Bastion how many pieces of gear dropped for you, what traits and quality?
Finally what was the quality of the great you were using on Bastion while testing the quick tank build you are saying is possible to put together?

Hack The Minotaur has put out a new video featuring 7 companion builds including 2 tank builds you might find helpful. I tried his " Bastian Hybrid" build on the PTS yesterday and it performed well. I'm looking forward to trying out his other builds too.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DNirnovMHSI

I'm aware of that video, which is why I'm asking. Where are you going to get that gear in those traits outside of test?

That is the real question. This gear is like the new Cipher and Dust, and my guess is even when the rare drop does happen, it will be exactly what you don't need.

You would do what you do now with player gear, sell what you don't need and use the gold to buy the gear that you do need or trade the unwanted gear to another player in exchange for the gear you want.

Since they are rare drops and only specific traits really help, how much do you think they will sell for on guild traders? I'm betting purples will go for 200k+ expecially since Hack made that video and those traits will be in high demand. How many average players have 2 mil+ gold on hand? Also I'm willing to bet there will be a huge price disparity between preferred and off traits judging how the traders work now. Thoughts?

No one will have a level 20 companion wearing all purple gear the first week after the update goes live. Just like when the housing system was added no one started out with a 3M in gold house fully furnished. It will take time before your companions will be where you want them to be. But isn't leveling your companions, accumulating gear, learning how to efficiently use them part of the fun of having a new system in the game to master.

It would be part of the fun if 1. It wasn’t such an enormous grind (the drop rate for gear is horrendous and guild prices will therefore be unattainable for the majority of players). 2. It would be fun if companions had a decent base performance. Even fully levelled they are hugely underpowered DPS wise plus survivability wise - fully levelled, even with the roll changes they just stand in AOE red and die die die.

They need significant damage mitigation’s and more DPS or they will be a liability, especially for new players, who presumably are the group they are meant to help most. New players will have no fun trying to level companions that are dieing constantly to overland mobs.

jwellsub17_ESO2 · May 2021

Mysticman wrote: »

No one will have a level 20 companion wearing all purple gear the first week after the update goes live.

I really doubt that. I would not be at all surprised to see a couple L20s within the first 24 hours and all blue+ within the first 3 days, and all purple within the first week.

Companion gear is tradeable, which means it is also sellable, it will be expensive, but I see people running around with millions in gold.

Companion gear drops are rare, but you have thousands of people who are going to be hunting it for it not only for their companions, but because of the first statement.

Companions don't really level all that slowly when you are L50 and doing L45+ content, using XP pots and scrolls. When I tested, using +50% XP scrolls, my companions were getting +50% as well and while they were only getting a fraction of the XP I was, I still managed to get them to level 7 in a couple hours.

Mysticman wrote: »

But isn't leveling your companions, accumulating gear, learning how to efficiently use them part of the fun of having a new system in the game to master.

For me, yes it is part of the fun, but guess what? WAY TOO many people don't play that way, instead they power level / race to the top, have gold to spare, and want want it now. Within 2 weeks, 3 tops, those people will be bored and yelling about the lack of progression again. Some of those people will be talking to ZOS during the next pre-beta and they will be voicing their concerns, not yours or mine, but theirs and who is ZOS gonna listen to? Hint, not us.

EDIT: As evidenced by the fact that ESO is 7+ years old and we are just now getting companions.

Linaleah · May 2021

Mysticman wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

Mysticman wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

Mysticman wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

When you say a quick tank build, what is the build you are thinking of, and while you were testing Bastion how many pieces of gear dropped for you, what traits and quality?
Finally what was the quality of the great you were using on Bastion while testing the quick tank build you are saying is possible to put together?

Hack The Minotaur has put out a new video featuring 7 companion builds including 2 tank builds you might find helpful. I tried his " Bastian Hybrid" build on the PTS yesterday and it performed well. I'm looking forward to trying out his other builds too.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=DNirnovMHSI

I'm aware of that video, which is why I'm asking. Where are you going to get that gear in those traits outside of test?

That is the real question. This gear is like the new Cipher and Dust, and my guess is even when the rare drop does happen, it will be exactly what you don't need.

You would do what you do now with player gear, sell what you don't need and use the gold to buy the gear that you do need or trade the unwanted gear to another player in exchange for the gear you want.

Since they are rare drops and only specific traits really help, how much do you think they will sell for on guild traders? I'm betting purples will go for 200k+ expecially since Hack made that video and those traits will be in high demand. How many average players have 2 mil+ gold on hand? Also I'm willing to bet there will be a huge price disparity between preferred and off traits judging how the traders work now. Thoughts?

No one will have a level 20 companion wearing all purple gear the first week after the update goes live. Just like when the housing system was added no one started out with a 3M in gold house fully furnished. It will take time before your companions will be where you want them to be. But isn't leveling your companions, accumulating gear, learning how to efficiently use them part of the fun of having a new system in the game to master.

and that is where you'd be wrong. plenty of people started out with a stockpile of gold. plenty of furnishings were available with crowns and even more were available with achievements that were in game PRIOR to the system going live. you could very easily have fully decorated manor or several first week of the system release.\

heck I personaly know multiple people who complete newest motifs within a day of their release, WITHOUT buying them off crown store. same for new gear sets. because unlike companion gear you can focus your farming, you can upgrade and transmute player gear. you can mix and match it. and it ACTUALY DROPS.

and yes we should be bring up concerns RIGHT NOW, 18 days before release PRIOR to release, while the system is STILL on public TEST server.

edited to add. all that aside, companion performance is so crappy even fully optimized, its just going to be not worth expending the effort to gear them in a first place. which is a shame. at least housing allows for expression of creativity. companions are what.. a dress up doll? a more limited dress up doll then just having a dress up character no less.

crazepdx · May 2021

Elsonso wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

When you say a quick tank build, what is the build you are thinking of, and while you were testing Bastion how many pieces of gear dropped for you, what traits and quality?
Finally what was the quality of the great you were using on Bastion while testing the quick tank build you are saying is possible to put together?

For the tank build I just eyeballed a gear split between damage reduction and health boost, all heavy armor, all purple. Sword and shield. I spent all of about 30 seconds on this build. Goal was health and damage mitigation, which is why I had to do all the healing. I am sure that this can be improved on, which is why I am not going into exact gear and numbers. To be honest, this was a little OP for what I was doing, but I think I proved to myself that a level 20 Bastian tank with top gear can carry a low level character if the player is skilled enough.

Do that same build and experiment using only white gear with mismatch armor and off traits for what you want to use it for in anything above white and only a few pieces above white with no purple. Then let me know the results.

Sable751 · May 2021

crazepdx wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

Do that same build and experiment using only white gear with mismatch armour and off traits for what you want to use it for in anything above white and only a few pieces above white with no purple. Then let me know the results.

My Mirri’s level 7, without a full skills bar or Ultimate. I down grade all her armour to white, brought from the merchants, and supplemented it with what I’d discovered, four mixed blue pieces. Her weapon is green, and she only has the one piece of jewellery, a green ring (couldn’t find where or if you can buy white companion jewellery).

Didn’t really have a lot of time to play last night, but did a Public Dungeon, I mainly played back-up, she didn’t die, and finished off mobs and bosses and we completed the Dungeon.

Since the last patch her performance has improved from my point of view.

crazepdx · May 2021

Sable751 wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

Do that same build and experiment using only white gear with mismatch armour and off traits for what you want to use it for in anything above white and only a few pieces above white with no purple. Then let me know the results.

My Mirri’s level 7, without a full skills bar or Ultimate. I down grade all her armour to white, brought from the merchants, and supplemented it with what I’d discovered, four mixed blue pieces. Her weapon is green, and she only has the one piece of jewellery, a green ring (couldn’t find where or if you can buy white companion jewellery).

Didn’t really have a lot of time to play last night, but did a Public Dungeon, I mainly played back-up, she didn’t die, and finished off mobs and bosses and we completed the Dungeon.

Since the last patch her performance has improved from my point of view.

I'm glad. Also please don't take my comments as being against companions. I was really excited about them. For me, companion performance is the least of the problems with how they are being implemented.
- The insane front loaded bottleneck that is their gear is a much bigger problem.
- the fact that the gear isn't craftable is a much bigger problem let alone that we need companion specific gear in the first place
- the fact that the gear takes player inventory space and zos is known to randomly change gear up so it will need to be hoarded in anticipation of those changes, that is a much much bigger problem. It's not like they couldn't have added a tab like the craft bag or quest items have so they are inventory neutral
-
- the fact I can ONLY level guild skill lines by doing dailies, not by running dolmems(fg), books(mg) or pledges except the solo delve ones. Much more irritating issue.

The fact they have ok performance wouldn't really even be an issue to me, if I didn't have to jump through ALL the other hoops listed above, just to get a companion that doesn't suck as bad.

That ultimately is the biggest problem of all for me. So best option I am left with is I use them as a non combat pet I can dress up and any heals or dps they do is a bonus. It saddens me being left looking at what could have been a very cool feature, as that.

jwellsub17_ESO2 · May 2021

Someone???? wrote:

- the fact that the gear isn't craftable is a much bigger problem let alone that we need companion specific gear in the first place

I think, as a community, we need to stop thinking of it as companion specific and start thinking of it as companion only. The reason I say that is at present it really isn't specific to a companion. That is to say that there is no Bastian only gear and no Mirri only gear.

I have no doubt that someone at ZOS is already thinking of adding real companion specific gear and to you I say "just stop". All companion gear should be usable by all companions.

crazepdx · May 2021

jwellsub17_ESO2 wrote: »

Someone???? wrote:

- the fact that the gear isn't craftable is a much bigger problem let alone that we need companion specific gear in the first place

I think, as a community, we need to stop thinking of it as companion specific and start thinking of it as companion only. The reason I say that is at present it really isn't specific to a companion. That is to say that there is no Bastian only gear and no Mirri only gear.

I have no doubt that someone at ZOS is already thinking of adding real companion specific gear and to you I say "just stop". All companion gear should be usable by all companions.

What I meant when I said companion specific is the great is only for companions and only companions can wear the gear. Having 2 separate gear lines, 1 for player and one for companions is really bad design imo. Expecially when coupled with the fact that it isn't craftable and uses player storage.

As to your point about it being Bastion or Mirri only gear, uggggghhhhh, that is a horrible thought.

stefj68 · May 2021

1) please remove the quickening traits, thats the only one worth for healer and dps... we dont need 6 useless traits

2) mirri doesnt have any group buff utility...

3) a healer/tank can boost group dps with minor/majour courage, but companion's can't... would be great if we could use ingame item sets... please reconsider

companion ultimates range is too short should be at least 24 meters

xgoku1 · May 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC4XGpmNcsc

So Arzyel did a build video(with actual fight footage) so you can see how much DPS companions can do with the best gear and best traits...

TLDW it's 6k DPS against an "elite" monster such as a Troll.

dave_harter_ESO · May 2021

Companions feel under powered atm. Blackwood is shaping up to feel very underwhelming atm between companions not being very and most new mythic / other gear being underwhelming as well.

Integral1900 · May 2021

Quite frankly, I would much rather have an NPC like Lyris Titanborn than these companions. She does not generate aggro, she does not die, and every now and then she knocks opponents, trolls included, flying through the air... Reminds me of my wife 😁🥰

Also, everyone’s favourite battle axe wielding giantess never started whining about why we’re waiting for something!

To be honest, the difference in damage output is almost negligible LMAO 😂

One last thing, when you are out doing your questing and especially if you run into a world boss, make sure you have a taunt slotted, because even if you’re doing 20 times the DPS of one of these things, the boss will home in on them like nails to a magnet. Something of an issue when most DLC world boss characters can one-shot these things... along with at least three of the base game ones

MehrunesRazor · May 2021

Well i tried to read some of the stuff here but i couldnt, im too distracted, hopefully its ok for me to just post my feedback blind and hopefully if something ive said has already been said then it adds to the consensus, and that if it hasnt been said already then maybe it is considered from the perspective of someone who has defo not spent a lot of time trying the system yet (maybe 8-14 hrs) and as a first and second impression point of view.

This is the second time ive tried the PTS, mainly because BTC was massacring the market and i needed a place to escape for a while and ESO was there as always to make the world go away with ease.

I had a chance to retry both Bastian and Mirri, and the two things I can say about it are 1)If Bastian is supposed to be a tank, hes that squishy tank that nobody wants to say is squishy cause that's mean but hes squishy af and you wish he would not make you have to kick him. I dealt with the squishiness till he started complaining, then he got the permaboot and i tested Mirri.

The one thing I really have to say to you guys about Mirri is about the voice acting. On a scale of 1 to 10 the voice acting on Mirri is an honest 20. This is with the companion booster all the way to good friends status. btw, I would never have time to level her friendship naturally, I'm 100% sure of that, so it was very helpful to have that tool available. Put it in the crown store, pls and thx.

The most awesome thing is her attitude about everything. She's enthusiastic about mundane stuff like heading out toward an objective, she says little interesting things depending on what the surroundings are, she says its ok to grab a sandwich or make a stock trade or answer some emails if I need to, not in so many words but she's such an agreeable and pleasant companion to have along on any mission, mainly due to the exceptional voice acting from such an authentic sounding character whose personality just shines thru your adventuring experience. She adds commentary sometimes to the battle that remind you that you are on a main quest, with a major storyline NPC actively participating in the battle.

That, and shes the best pocket healer in the game. There's also that.

Overall, looking forward to having her with me to smash thru any new content u guys come up with. I like having access to support teammates without having to deal with toxic randos.

Bastian. bro. U squishy bro... Cmon, u know nobody wants to drag around a squishy tank, it aint personal. U need 50k health and some resist and the cooldown on your taunt is why your terrible tanking is not your fault bro.

@ZOS pls keep up the good work with the most beautiful Elder Scrolls edition ever, You've done a pretty good job so far and I'll be interested to see if we get either a bigger selection of companions in the future or if the ones we have will take any cool upgrades in further releases. Either way, I'm looking forward to the new update, since i dont have to do something RNG based like fish for a lead to get Mirri.

Hehe, thx.

ajkb78 · May 2021

Sigh. After all the feedback from everyone that companions were *far* too squishy, in the 7.04 patch notes you say you've reduced the amount they dodge roll to avoid damage?

I'll run my usual test, normal Cauldron see if they can stay alive tanking or healing the second boss. Perhaps you've made a ninja change so that they walk out of AOE instead. But I'm not hopeful.

Literally nobody was asking for them to be made worse at avoiding damage.

NoxiousBlight · May 2021

Companions can now Roll Dodge up to 2 times per fight, to prevent issues where they endlessly roll dodged away and leashed enemies.

Come on y'all. You only listened to half the feedback. The problem of companions is in no way solved by this.

Now instead of rolling dodging to stay alive they will roll away twice and then just die. At least when they were roll dodging all over Nirn they lived a touch longer. Why couldn't you tether them to the player and just have them roll towards the player? Or let them roll until they get more than 28 meters from the player so if the player moves they can roll again? Why couldn't you just have them not roll backwards literally every time and be able to roll in other directions as to not go so far away? This seems like the absolute worst "solution" to the problem of them rolling back so much they reset enemies.

More importantly, why don't you just give them some damage mitigation (especially AoE) so they are not as squishy and die on 90% of fights where you actually need them? They are just dead all the time. Now you get two roll dodges before they die. Super.

I was looking forward to companions so much but after playing with them on PTS I am just sad. Despite near universal feedback that they need serious help staying alive to be even slightly useful, nothing was done the entire PTS cycle. I literally made a forum account so I could post companion feedback to try and support you guys to get them to where they need to be before live. Oh well. Maybe they will be cool in Q4 after the rest of the player base laughs at how bad they are in combat and they finally get some innate damage mitigation.

Blackwood: Never travel alone again! Drag the body of your dead companion on all your adventures!

Sigh. I'm so bummed out by this PTS cycle.

Elsonso · May 2021

ajkb78 wrote: »

Sigh. After all the feedback from everyone that companions were *far* too squishy, in the 7.04 patch notes you say you've reduced the amount they dodge roll to avoid damage?

While 2 may be not enough, there is a real concern with companions that hold taunt getting out of tether range and resetting a boss.

BalticBlues · May 2021

ZOS wrote:

Companions can now Roll Dodge up to 2 times per fight, to prevent issues where they endlessly roll dodged away and leashed enemies.

An absolute limit of only 2 might be fine for a Public Dungeon endboss going down in 10 secs.
But it is USELESS for a World Boss or vetDungeon boss going down in 60-120 secs.

Instead of a fixed counter, PLEASE USE A COOLDOWN.
Like "Companions can now Roll Dodge every 15 secs".

Moreoever, please let companions always roll dodge BEHIND THE PLAYER.
This way smart players can influence where damaged companions will roll and protect them there.

Elsonso · May 2021

BalticBlues wrote: »

ZOS wrote:

Companions can now Roll Dodge up to 2 times per fight, to prevent issues where they endlessly roll dodged away and leashed enemies.

An absolute limit of only 2 might be fine for a Public Dungeon endboss going down in 10 secs.
But it is USELESS for a World Boss or vetDungeon boss going down in 60-120 secs.

Agreed. I am not sure why they chose a metric of "per fight". That is going to get used up right away in a boss fight and then they are stuck for the rest of the battle.

ZOS... solo battles like this can go on for minutes.

crjs1 · May 2021

Yet another patch and despite universal feedback about the weakness of companions…. No mitigations, no buff to base health, no dps boost. What is the actual point in asking for feedback?

Thannazzar · May 2021

So, latest PTS Patch Notes out and as expected no substantive changes to Companion survive ability, customization (Helmets, Personalities, Polymorphs or Skins).

Hard pass from me, first chapter I wont be purchasing.

xgoku1 · May 2021

Limiting roll-dodges to 2 per fight severely limits their use-case even further.

The real problem here is that the Companion AI will simply roll dodge backwards (to whatever direction they are facing) -> with infinite roll dodge, they are gonna lead bosses away from their radius and reset. (companions don't have stamina limits to roll-dodges)

Maybe limit roll dodges with a cooldown but the real issue is the lack of directional control to the companion AI dodging (which I'm sure is not possible to implement in the current time-frame prior to release).

A hard limit is quite possibly the stupidest band-aid fix that could be implemented. But it makes sense, roll-dodging as a feature was added in last PTS week after all.

This is a complete trainwreck of a PTS cycle. Somehow none of the player feedback was addressed, but they actually managed to nerf them instead.

CaffeinatedMayhem · May 2021

Ok, Bastian's healing capabilities have increased greatly, as has his survivability. Both Quickened and Soothing max level armor are NECESSARY. He now can survive all but direct attacks by bosses (expected in light armor) but he no longer dies to ground AoE. Healing skills actually cast, and he casts defensive skills on himself properly. This is GOOD.

The bad part is gamepad UI can't cast his ultimate, and I'm not sure I can find a way to make that work. Not a big loss I don't care about the DPS, but very annoying. Even the small changes I've made to default gamepad mappings now breaks everything. Highly frustrating.

Update - this may have been due to ultimate auto-cast being on, but then Bastian never once cast his ultimate in combat (Sul-xan WB)

Update 2 - Bastian can now seemingly kill anything in overland with resto staff LA's. Interesting.

opaj · May 2021

@CaffeinatedMayhem -- What do you think changed? Is it that you built Bastian differently, or do you think there's been some other balance adjustment in today's patch that wasn't brought up in the patch notes?

CaffeinatedMayhem · May 2021

opaj wrote: »

@CaffeinatedMayhem -- What do you think changed? Is it that you built Bastian differently, or do you think there's been some other balance adjustment in today's patch that wasn't brought up in the patch notes?

I think there have been adjustments behind the scenes. he definitely feels much more sturdy, and actually using most skills appropriately (casting on "allies" too) Drake's blood never seems to trigger, but then if he's under 25% health, he's usually dead in a few seconds.

ectoplasmicninja · May 2021

I put Bastian in Alcast's recommended magDPS gear (full aggressive, 5 light 2 medium, lightning staff) and went into normal Fungal Grotto. After he died on the first boss I replaced destructive clench with his dragon blood heal because he clearly needed it. However, he continued to die on all of the boss fights. For context, I was on a level 22 magDK with full CP but in random gear drops and using one bar, so not as weak as a new player but not as strong as a maxed one.

So first I reiterate from my previous feedback - in my experience, he is squishy and hardly worth taking into battle. I enjoy seeing him use his starfall skill, it looks quite satisfying, but watching his health drop wildly in a fight with trash mobs is just depressing. It still feels like he will only be useful as a healer, if only because it means he will also be healing himself constantly in the process. He really needs more mitigation, because he lacks the situational awareness and reflexes of a player to get out of AOEs, block attacks other than huge telegraphed heavies (I did see him block those, which is nice), etc.

Some other feedback:

Sometimes he stays very far away. Too far for his blockade to reach the enemy. If I try to lead the boss a bit closer, he may roll away. On the other hand, sometimes he ends up very close and doesn't simply walk back to maintain a decent distance. His pathing was also wonky across the bridge to Broodbirther and at one point he turned around and ran back to the previous platform.

He seems to hate using his ultimate, and his ult resets to 0 after he dies. Given how often he dies, this means he rarely if ever gets to use it. If I want him to use it, I will definitely need to change that setting to manual and micromanage it, because he seems like an ult hoarder. I can't fathom why he will have a full ultimate, be up in the boss's face, and just...not. However his coding decides when to use his ult, it could be looked at again IMO.

I like their stories and the personality you can get from them, even if they do seem a bit bland somehow. I know we've just met them, but maybe their remarks could change or we could get more dialogue with them once we've fully maxed their approval? It seems weird to be Bastian's best friend and confidante but all he gives me is a generic "I'm glad we met" when I talk to him. Reference the quest I helped you with, tell me about your nephew, something.

I like travelling with NPCs and doing stuff with them even when they're useless in combat. It helps that I don't have to babysit any other NPC. Indaenir won't die if he gets swarmed by some feral Bosmer. He probably does a whole 1k DPS, but he doesn't require me to eyeball his health. Lyris occasionally smacks an enemy into the air, which is quite entertaining, but I don't have to worry that she will die. I like Bastian and Mirri, but entering combat with them is the worst kind of escort mission where your pet NPC is made of paper and dies to a strong breeze. And they only level by combat XP which makes it even more taxing.

I see that no adjustments of this type have been made so far in this PTS cycle despite the feedback begging for it but I'll beg you again - please consider raising their health or at least adding more mitigation. Immunity to environmental damage like traps would help, because he gets caught in those and he really shouldn't. Significant mitigation when it comes to AOEs since he doesn't seem to have the ability to simply walk out of them if he's used up his dodge rolls (and he doesn't often use those appropriately either as I've said). You don't have to raise their damage if you think that's not in keeping with your vision for companions but please increase their survivability.

Mysticman · May 2021

MehrunesRazor wrote: »

Well i tried to read some of the stuff here but i couldnt, im too distracted, hopefully its ok for me to just post my feedback blind and hopefully if something ive said has already been said then it adds to the consensus, and that if it hasnt been said already then maybe it is considered from the perspective of someone who has defo not spent a lot of time trying the system yet (maybe 8-14 hrs) and as a first and second impression point of view.

This is the second time ive tried the PTS, mainly because BTC was massacring the market and i needed a place to escape for a while and ESO was there as always to make the world go away with ease.

I had a chance to retry both Bastian and Mirri, and the two things I can say about it are 1)If Bastian is supposed to be a tank, hes that squishy tank that nobody wants to say is squishy cause that's mean but hes squishy af and you wish he would not make you have to kick him. I dealt with the squishiness till he started complaining, then he got the permaboot and i tested Mirri.

The one thing I really have to say to you guys about Mirri is about the voice acting. On a scale of 1 to 10 the voice acting on Mirri is an honest 20. This is with the companion booster all the way to good friends status. btw, I would never have time to level her friendship naturally, I'm 100% sure of that, so it was very helpful to have that tool available. Put it in the crown store, pls and thx.

The most awesome thing is her attitude about everything. She's enthusiastic about mundane stuff like heading out toward an objective, she says little interesting things depending on what the surroundings are, she says its ok to grab a sandwich or make a stock trade or answer some emails if I need to, not in so many words but she's such an agreeable and pleasant companion to have along on any mission, mainly due to the exceptional voice acting from such an authentic sounding character whose personality just shines thru your adventuring experience. She adds commentary sometimes to the battle that remind you that you are on a main quest, with a major storyline NPC actively participating in the battle.

That, and shes the best pocket healer in the game. There's also that.

Overall, looking forward to having her with me to smash thru any new content u guys come up with. I like having access to support teammates without having to deal with toxic randos.

Bastian. bro. U squishy bro... Cmon, u know nobody wants to drag around a squishy tank, it aint personal. U need 50k health and some resist and the cooldown on your taunt is why your terrible tanking is not your fault bro.

@ZOS pls keep up the good work with the most beautiful Elder Scrolls edition ever, You've done a pretty good job so far and I'll be interested to see if we get either a bigger selection of companions in the future or if the ones we have will take any cool upgrades in further releases. Either way, I'm looking forward to the new update, since i dont have to do something RNG based like fish for a lead to get Mirri.

Hehe, thx.

Bastian makes a great tank. "7 BEST Companion Builds For ESO Blackwood"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNirnovMHSI

stefj68 · May 2021

they start to be a little little decent, when they are max, level, max faction, and purple quickening gear... im sure i will rezz my companion a million times before he get to level 20...

totally unhappy with them on pts

mirri doesnt have any group usefull buff

dps freaking too weak... 5-10k wtf i could do 30k more dps just popping a potion of weapon power!

their ultimate are in close range, while they have better survability in long range

list is too long!

and gear... oufff they should be able to use player gear!

NoxiousBlight · May 2021

Mysticman wrote: »

Bastian makes a great tank. "7 BEST Companion Builds For ESO Blackwood"

Does HTM pay you to post his videos? That seems to be all you do in response to the overwhelming feedback that companions are lackluster.

Bastian does not make a "great" tank and 15 seconds of footage and a build from a content creator doesn't change that. Even on the latest PTS, although companions seem a bit smarter on the back end of things, they still seriously lack survivability. And now with roll dodges limited to 2 per FIGHT, any fight that takes over 20 seconds is basically 100% kill rate for a companion no matter their build.

Further feedback for ZOS: Ultimates are still janky and do not appear to work consistently. In addition, are companions losing their ult gain upon death? Is this intended? They really should retain it if so. They die so much you can almost never get an ult off.

jwellsub17_ESO2 · May 2021

stefj68 wrote: »

they start to be a little little decent, when they are max, level, max faction, and purple quickening gear... im sure i will rezz my companion a million times before he get to level 20...

My testing says their level is irrelevant beyond giving them access to different skills. From my testing a L1 Bastian (Not counting skills) in an L40 zone has the same survivability / DPS as a L20 Bastian (not counting skills). I suspect that is an artifact of the One Tamriel changes, instead of reasoned balancing decisions.

Gear quality does appear to have an outsized effect on them though. To be fair, I am not mixing and matching their sets the way Hack is, so I am not getting their set synergies

Kesstryl · May 2021

Mysticman wrote: »

MehrunesRazor wrote: »

Well i tried to read some of the stuff here but i couldnt, im too distracted, hopefully its ok for me to just post my feedback blind and hopefully if something ive said has already been said then it adds to the consensus, and that if it hasnt been said already then maybe it is considered from the perspective of someone who has defo not spent a lot of time trying the system yet (maybe 8-14 hrs) and as a first and second impression point of view.

This is the second time ive tried the PTS, mainly because BTC was massacring the market and i needed a place to escape for a while and ESO was there as always to make the world go away with ease.

I had a chance to retry both Bastian and Mirri, and the two things I can say about it are 1)If Bastian is supposed to be a tank, hes that squishy tank that nobody wants to say is squishy cause that's mean but hes squishy af and you wish he would not make you have to kick him. I dealt with the squishiness till he started complaining, then he got the permaboot and i tested Mirri.

The one thing I really have to say to you guys about Mirri is about the voice acting. On a scale of 1 to 10 the voice acting on Mirri is an honest 20. This is with the companion booster all the way to good friends status. btw, I would never have time to level her friendship naturally, I'm 100% sure of that, so it was very helpful to have that tool available. Put it in the crown store, pls and thx.

The most awesome thing is her attitude about everything. She's enthusiastic about mundane stuff like heading out toward an objective, she says little interesting things depending on what the surroundings are, she says its ok to grab a sandwich or make a stock trade or answer some emails if I need to, not in so many words but she's such an agreeable and pleasant companion to have along on any mission, mainly due to the exceptional voice acting from such an authentic sounding character whose personality just shines thru your adventuring experience. She adds commentary sometimes to the battle that remind you that you are on a main quest, with a major storyline NPC actively participating in the battle.

That, and shes the best pocket healer in the game. There's also that.

Overall, looking forward to having her with me to smash thru any new content u guys come up with. I like having access to support teammates without having to deal with toxic randos.

Bastian. bro. U squishy bro... Cmon, u know nobody wants to drag around a squishy tank, it aint personal. U need 50k health and some resist and the cooldown on your taunt is why your terrible tanking is not your fault bro.

@ZOS pls keep up the good work with the most beautiful Elder Scrolls edition ever, You've done a pretty good job so far and I'll be interested to see if we get either a bigger selection of companions in the future or if the ones we have will take any cool upgrades in further releases. Either way, I'm looking forward to the new update, since i dont have to do something RNG based like fish for a lead to get Mirri.

Hehe, thx.

Bastian makes a great tank. "7 BEST Companion Builds For ESO Blackwood" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNirnovMHSI

Hack the Minotaur is a content creator and an elite player, he does not represent the majority of people who will get nothing out of these companions. He is using fully leveled, all purple gear with ideal traits, the majority will have level 1 companions in mismatched gear from whatever they can rarely find while grinding. They will not be viable for most of us. Seriously, listen to the majority and not just one dude who has an APM the rate of a nuclear explosion.