Companions - When is it enough?

SilverBride · July 15

We don't "need" to do anything in game. We could log in and just stand in town all day but that's not how most people play.

I enjoy having things and completing things. I complete every quest in every zone on all my characters because that is how I choose to play. It reasonable to ask to make unlocking Companions less of a tedious chore, especially since they already have some account bound features.

And I honestly wonder if they plan to keep adding more and more Companions indefinitely or if there will come a time that they feel it's enough.

ghastley · July 15

I only unlock and raise rapport on one companion per character. Melee characters want a ranged companion, and vice versa. Tanks and healers have preferences, too, and don't need them all.

Once your account has leveled up a companion with an appropriate set of skills for a role, all the alts get the benefit. It's only really the one unlock, once you've chosen, and rapport doesn't affect how they support in battle, so that can take its time.

SickleCider · July 15

I still just want non-humanoid companions. I think a Blackfeather knight and an Alfiq mage would be awesome.

AzuraFan · July 15

I like using companions, but I feel like they'll eventually become like non-combat pets. I'll have a long list of them but only ever use two or three.

I'm fine with having to unlock them on alts and how long it takes. Would I like it if I only had to unlock them once? Sure. But I'm fine with how it is right now. However, if I had the choice between more shallow companions like we have now, or fewer companions with depth and better combat AI, I'd want the latter.

People have mentioned the followers in Skyrim. Well, the ones in the vanilla game are pretty lame, but some of the community-created companions are amazing in terms of personality and everything they comment on. If we could get companions like that in ESO, I'd be all for it. But if it's going to be more of the same, meaning pretty shallow in personality and dumb as mud in a fight, then I don't see the point.

Rishikesa108 · July 15

ZOS took 16 days off the listings of trade guilds to clear up server congestion... and then they would have to fill the server with useless companions again???
At least companions were of some use!!!
They die like boiled potatoes after 10 seconds of fighting a simple local boss; in the Infinite Archive they are perma-dead... Enough of them!

SilverBride · July 15

Rishikesa108 wrote: »

...in the Infinite Archive they are perma-dead...

Azandar tanks the Infinite Archive for me and he rarely dies. He is able to keep Tho'at occupied for the entire fight while I beat her down.

spartaxoxo · July 15

Rishikesa108 wrote: »

ZOS took 16 days off the listings of trade guilds to clear up server congestion... and then they would have to fill the server with useless companions again???
At least companions were of some use!!!
They die like boiled potatoes after 10 seconds of fighting a simple local boss; in the Infinite Archive they are perma-dead... Enough of them!

My companions do a pretty good job for all of those things. What gear are you using?

dcam86b14_ESO · July 15

I agree, one time unlock is enough

Fata1moose · July 15

When every race, class is represented and when Naryu, Razum-Dar and Darien are companions. I’d like to see them expand on existing companions too. Expand their story arcs and relationships.

TaSheen · July 15

When is it enough?

When a given individual decides she doesn't want to spend the time on more companions. If you are spending time on the whole companion system, and you aren't happy about it....

Just don't do it?

JemadarofCaerSalis · July 15

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Rishikesa108 wrote: »

ZOS took 16 days off the listings of trade guilds to clear up server congestion... and then they would have to fill the server with useless companions again???
At least companions were of some use!!!
They die like boiled potatoes after 10 seconds of fighting a simple local boss; in the Infinite Archive they are perma-dead... Enough of them!

My companions do a pretty good job for all of those things. What gear are you using?

Same here, and my companions are definitely not optimized for any particular build/area and aren't using purple gear (some might, but not consitently), nor are they all fully leveled.

To expand on my earlier post, I agree with Erickson9610. I want multiple companions of the same race/class/gender but with different personalities. Different stories.

I haven't unlocked either of the two necrom companions yet, but from what I can tell, their personalities aren't going to be to my tastes. I don't mind dark companions, but I prefer ones like Bastion.

I would also love a male khajiit, sort of like the one from Orsinium, where he was raised by orcs (so his behavior isn't necessarily 'khajiit' like). I would love a serious male sorceror.

There are so many different ways they could make companions unique and I probably still wouldn't find it 'enough'.

Regarding leveling/unlocking/rapport, I wouldn't mind if they did something like they did for pretty much everything else, give people an option to unlock them on alts through the crown store, you can unlock all the skyshards through the crown store, and several skill lines have the ability to max their levels through the crown store, provided you did it once in game.

Soarora · July 15

I'm indifferent on adding or not adding more companions. I just level them and then largely don't use them. That said, it could be cool if when we run out of classes ZOS goes back and adds more to existing companions. I also saw someone say here once something about the character we unlocked the companion on "telling" the companion about the other characters. I totally think there should be a quest skip dialogue option, or maybe a shorter quest for each companion where you meet up with them, triggered by clicking the companion in the collections menu instead of going to talk to them (thus giving everyone the option of a shorter quest or to re-do the usual quest).

SilverBride · July 15

TaSheen wrote: »

When is it enough?

When a given individual decides she doesn't want to spend the time on more companions. If you are spending time on the whole companion system, and you aren't happy about it....

Just don't do it?

This isn't a matter of do it or don't do it. It's a question of what is going to happen with Companions in the future and how players feel about it.

Will there continue to be new Companions with every future chapter indefinitely? Or maybe one day they will cut down to one Companion per chapter? Or evenutally even say we already have 20 Companions now (or whatever number) and stop at that?

Araneae6537 · July 15

The more, the merrier! Not every companion will be to everyone’s taste and I like to use different companions primarily with different characters. I don’t want the way they are unlocked or how rapport is per character to change.

Just don’t unlock every companion on every character — why would you do that unless you really want to? And there is one or more companions that you want to unlock on most/all characters, I like to spread it out as that makes it more enjoyable for me. I unlock all companions with my main, then with additional characters as suits their stories, personalities, roles.

Monte_Cristo · July 15

How about this idea:
After doing a companion's (let's say Ember) intro quest on one toon, other toons can acquire a 'letter of introduction' from toon 1 to the other toons, introducing them to Ember, and allowing Ember to be recruited straight away. But she will always have her 1st quest marker on her, so you need to do her recruitment quest, with slightly altered dialogue, to remove it.

FlopsyPrince · July 15

Araneae6537 wrote: »

The more, the merrier! Not every companion will be to everyone’s taste and I like to use different companions primarily with different characters. I don’t want the way they are unlocked or how rapport is per character to change.

Just don’t unlock every companion on every character — why would you do that unless you really want to? And there is one or more companions that you want to unlock on most/all characters, I like to spread it out as that makes it more enjoyable for me. I unlock all companions with my main, then with additional characters as suits their stories, personalities, roles.

Because some of us want flexibility to adapt.

The grind is getting worse and worse as we go along. Mirri and Bastion were quite simple, 2 Isobel and Ember a bit more. With Azandar and Sharp being a pain in the rear length-wise.

Allowing the option to follow the "unlock quest chain" on an alt would like all those who love that to have that, but allow others to skip it (permanently as needed) to simplify things.

Yes, I don't need them on everyone, but the right one can be handy. 6 is plenty for me, but I would at least unlock any future ones, assuming I was still playing. Unlocking the full set of 6 now on both PC and PS5 has burned me out on them a bit, but I would prefer to have specific ones on more characters without the grind.

SeaGtGruff · July 15

I look at the companions as being entirely optional, and think of the different companions as being potential choices. In other words, if we decide that we want to play with a companion on one of our characters, then that character can collect whichever companion we feel goes best with that character, and ignore the rest of the companions. As I see it, there's really no reason why every single one of our characters needs to collect every single one of the companions.

IncultaWolf · July 15

I'm just very hyped for the necromancer companion later this year

They saved the best for last

LunaFlora · July 15

i hope zos keeps adding 2 companions every year.

especially hope for Khajiit and Argonian companions with a less stereotypical story than the first ones.
i love Sharp and Ember, but it's frustrating that the first Argonian companion was enslaved and the first Khajiit companion is a thief whose brother was enslaved.

an option to skip a companion's first quest if you're unlocking them for the second time could be fine.
though seems difficult for Mirri's quest as you can choose not to save the other characters in her quest.

Araneae6537 · July 15

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

The more, the merrier! Not every companion will be to everyone’s taste and I like to use different companions primarily with different characters. I don’t want the way they are unlocked or how rapport is per character to change.

Just don’t unlock every companion on every character — why would you do that unless you really want to? And there is one or more companions that you want to unlock on most/all characters, I like to spread it out as that makes it more enjoyable for me. I unlock all companions with my main, then with additional characters as suits their stories, personalities, roles.

Because some of us want flexibility to adapt.

The grind is getting worse and worse as we go along. Mirri and Bastion were quite simple, 2 Isobel and Ember a bit more. With Azandar and Sharp being a pain in the rear length-wise.

Allowing the option to follow the "unlock quest chain" on an alt would like all those who love that to have that, but allow others to skip it (permanently as needed) to simplify things.

Yes, I don't need them on everyone, but the right one can be handy. 6 is plenty for me, but I would at least unlock any future ones, assuming I was still playing. Unlocking the full set of 6 now on both PC and PS5 has burned me out on them a bit, but I would prefer to have specific ones on more characters without the grind.

Having several companions on each character is plenty to adapt — you don’t need every companion for that. I didn’t like Isobel and Ember’s intro quests while I quite enjoy Sharp and Azandar’s. You can unlock whichever companions as many or few times as you like, no reason to limit options for those of us who enjoy having them.

BXR_Lonestar · July 15

SilverBride wrote: »

I have found the Companions useful and feel the newer ones have gotten much more likable than the previous. But when is it enough?

I would be happy if we stop getting new Companions after the next set are released. But if we are going to continue to keep getting more Compaions with every new chapter, PLEASE at the very least give us the option to skip unlocking once we have done it once.

Unlocking the companion on one character should unlock them for all characters. You should also have the option to skip their quests. Nothing drives me crazier than running around with my companion with a quest marker over their head.

I actually wouldn't mind having new companions with the same class/roles as what we have, mainly because I don't like some of the existing companions. But if you don't want them, you should be able to at least decline their service after completing their quests, and their unlock status can go back to the upgrades page.

Araneae6537 · July 15

SilverBride wrote: »

We don't "need" to do anything in game. We could log in and just stand in town all day but that's not how most people play.

I enjoy having things and completing things. I complete every quest in every zone on all my characters because that is how I choose to play. It reasonable to ask to make unlocking Companions less of a tedious chore, especially since they already have some account bound features.

And I honestly wonder if they plan to keep adding more and more Companions indefinitely or if there will come a time that they feel it's enough.

I don’t find unlocking companions on each character to be a tedious chore. If you enjoy completing all things on all characters then do so. Some things I do, others I don’t, but I don’t request the option be taken away from others for things I don’t feel like doing again. I like to do the quests on each character that are integral to their story and companions are a part of that.

The more companion choices, the better! There is so much potential variety in species (or even construct), race, and personality. It’ great to have options to suit more people’s tastes and fit with different characters.

Syldras · July 15

Fata1moose wrote: »

I’d like to see them expand on existing companions too. Expand their story arcs and relationships.

They've already confirmed that earlier this year.

JemadarofCaerSalis wrote: »

I haven't unlocked either of the two necrom companions yet, but from what I can tell, their personalities aren't going to be to my tastes. I don't mind dark companions, but I prefer ones like Bastion.

It's your choice, of course, but I just want to say: Azandar turned out completely different than I expected from his class and from the way ZOS had announced it during the reveal stream. He's not dark, unless you consider a slightly grumpy old man dark

Not a creepy cultist either, just a curious and slightly quirky person (but, luckily, not quirky in an exaggerated way - that was what made me wary during the announcement).

ElvenOverlord · July 15

JustLovely wrote: »

We have too many companions now. ESO is an MMO and there are plenty of other people in game and guilds we can get together with to complete content. I question the logic of having a companion system in an MMO all together.

Reality is more single player elements are being added to MMO’s, that’s just a fact and there is a high demand for it. There are those who like going solo, those who prefer groups and those that switch between both. More options for people is a good thing. Companion system is fine for those players that enjoy solo content. I’m all for it, and the more companions the better. The beauty of it is they are optional

DenverRalphy · July 15

I don't mind the quest to acquire them. But if once a companion has hit max Rapport or you've acquired their Trinnket, the 3 other quests should be considered done on all toons.

SilverBride · July 15

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Some things I do, others I don’t, but I don’t request the option be taken away from others for things I don’t feel like doing again.

I never requested that, either. I stated that I personally would be fine if they stopped adding Companions after these next two, but I never once asked them to do that. I only suggested that they give us the option to skip the unlocking quest on alts after we complete them once.

Necrotech_Master · July 15

ive been suggesting since the 2nd set of companions that we should only have to do the quest to unlock them once and be useable on other characters

this would not stop players from doing the quests if they so choose, but it would also not block them from using the companions which are account wide unlocks, on each character

it boggles my mind how companions are both account wide and per character unlocks

by the 3rd set of companions i just stopped doing the quests on every character, my newest character (the arcanist) only unlocked 3 companions, a healer, tank and dps character and thats all ill ever bother with anymore

SydneyGrey · July 15

I like the companions. I want to have companions in the races we don't have yet (Orc, Altmer, Bosmer in particular). I don't care what classes they are, but I do want all of the remaining races.

I'd be happy to get a male Khajiit, too, esp. if he doesn't have those weird glowing eyes that Ember has.

Thysbe · July 15

I was already missing the companions coming with this chapter - so was happy to hear that they will be added

New companions add variety - I care a lot about fitting story, style, pets, houses, mounts for each character so a lot of companions to choose from is perfect to me

and yes - I hope in the future there will be at least 2 each chapter - they give nice new stories, I like their account bonuses and for me its enjoyable to befriend them and learn their stories. Its content I definitely look forward to.

An option to skip companion quest would be nice though - I dont bother with unlocking all of them on all alts - but sometimes when you need a specific role and it isn´t unlocked on this char its a bit annoying

ArchMikem · July 15

Ten Races, two Sexes, twenty possible Companions at least.

Course didn't take me long to get my Female Khajiit with Ember so I'm golden.