"Bastian Hallix Cannot Use Their Ultimate Right Now"

CaffeinatedMayhem · July 2021

Dear UI team... love you all but this message is driving me nuts. Can we change it to "Bastian Hallix AI cannot figure out how to run up to the boss and use his ultimate as requested."?

AI team - please please please - for those of us that chose to use a destruction staff with Bastian because that's his preference , his ultimate is useless. Why? Here's how the fight goes:

1. Bastian "plants" at about 12-28M, because he has a ranged weapon and all attacks on his bar (except ult) are ranged.
2. Ultimate is ready
3. Player commands Ultimate -
Most often: Message about "cannot use" is displayed, ultimate is never cast
Sometimes: random NPC will wander close enough and Bastian will cast his ult on that instead of the boss (something died at least...)
Rarely: player manages to drag the boss to Bastian (and Bastian does not roll out of leash range) and player keeps boss near enough to Bastian for at least 5-10 seconds until Bastian finally decides he can cast his ult.

Please fix this. Ideally, Bastian would run up to the boss (or targeted NPC) cast the ult, and run away or relocate. I'd settle for him casting his ult even at 28M, because the flame lines may hit something.

Also, it would be great if the "cross" of the flame lines HIT THE TARGET instead of nicely going around them.

ADarklore · July 2021

This isn't a 'bug' this is intended. I think the dev teams have more to worry about that reprogramming something that in the overall scheme of things, isn't that big of a deal... not using an ultimate isn't breaking the game nor adding much even when it IS used.

BalticBlues · July 2021

ADarklore wrote: »

This isn't a 'bug' this is intended.

WHAT? How should an unusable Ultimate be intended?

When I am doing difficult content solo with Bastian, like nBRP,
having to hit the Ultimate for like 20 times to release it decides about life and death.

btw: I already reported this bug one month ago and NOTHING has changed:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/577966/ps4-bastians-ultimate-cannot-be-used-99-of-the-time

Companions are THE MAIN SELLING FEATURE of this chapter.
I find it appalling that not even their Ultimate works reliably and bug reports are ignored.

FrancisCrawford · July 2021

In a related problem, when I try to use pet controls on a companion, they react like I'm asking them to cast an ultimate.

What might I be doing wrong?

ADarklore · July 2021

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

In a related problem, when I try to use pet controls on a companion, they react like I'm asking them to cast an ultimate.

What might I be doing wrong?

If you're on PC... the problem is the command is a HOLD and then click. If you just click, then it will cast their ultimate. So 'Y' is our command... so it's HOLD 'Y' then right or left click... but if you just click 'Y' then it will attempt to cast their ultimate.

Serenez · July 2021

I am also having issues with Bastian not casting his ultimate. I find it absolutely absurd this would be intended as there would be no point in having an ultimate if it was broken majority of the time. I thought I was having an isolated issue, but I do see that others are having the same problem. It was recognizing that I cast the ultimate but was telling me it could not be used right now. When is a good time? I mean during a boss fight in my opinion is a good time, and dropping an ultimate on a little wolf is not really beneficial. That is the only time I could get it to respond in testing. During boss fights ..nope. Why not? Is it because it needs to be in melee range? If so this needs to be clearly explained.

If the issue is that a Companion can only use ultimate in melee range than that in my opinion is a complete failure of gameplay mechanics with them. There should be other options for ultimate given, as players have an option to use an ultimate with a ranged weapon so the option should be there for companions as well.

If you have to reposition the companion closer to the target then cast the ultimate, that takes way too long and the opportunity may already be gone as the target may have moved, or while you are fiddling with the controls an enemy dot could be placed under you . . and in my case I died lol several times messing with the gamepad buttons which are so awkward to begin with.

When you have such small hands and having to push down directly and simultaneously on the two sticks and use a trigger to direct companions .. I am literally struggling to hold my controller still. I ended up almost dropping it a few times and it would have just been faster for me to kill the enemy myself then struggling with the buttons. I realize this will not be everyone's experience, as not everyone has such small hands, but using a controller the buttons can be wonky at times and not register with gamepad input lag so it just adds an extra complexity.

This one may need to purchase another controller that has extra buttons to re-program as the space between my first finger and thumb can only stretch so far lol. I have an Xbox One Controller.

CaffeinatedMayhem · August 2021

After update 32... Bastian STILL will not cast his ultimate unless you can get him to not roll away for at least 10 seconds. This is ridiculous.

Mooncake · July 2023

Serenez wrote: »

I am also having issues with Bastian not casting his ultimate. I find it absolutely absurd this would be intended as there would be no point in having an ultimate if it was broken majority of the time. I thought I was having an isolated issue, but I do see that others are having the same problem.[...]

If the issue is that a Companion can only use ultimate in melee range then that in my opinion is a complete failure of gameplay mechanics with them.

Glad I found this thread. I was about to post the same issue.

Very disappointing that one year later and it still hasn't been fixed.

phaneub17_ESO · July 2023

Originally if you commanded Bastian to use his ultimate before being in range of his enemies he would cast it where he currently stood. A lot of times he cast it right away, hitting nothing, then rush into combat. Because it only hit enemies in melee the change was made for him to require to be in melee range for 2 seconds with his target, then another 2 seconds to actually cast making it the longest cast time of 4 seconds. Fortunately if his target moved out of range midcast he would cancel casting and not lose any ultimate.

tomofhyrule · July 2023

Honestly, Basti's ultimate needs to be overhauled.

He's the only Companion with a specifically melee ultimate. Every other Companion has a ranged ultimate or one that travels in a line in front of them, but Basti's is radial around him. That's why he's the only one who is almost always 'out of range.' Even most of his skills are melee-only, so if you have him ranged you have to rely mostly on weapon/guild skills instead of his class skills.

The problem of course is that he can be equipped with (and his default weapon is) a ranged weapon, which leaves him permanently out of range. Companions take their range from the weapon.

I get that the original idea for Companions was that Basti was supposed to be your pocket tank (as much as they like to say that they were designed to do any role, it's pretty obvious what they wanted Bastian to be used for). Unfortunately, I am a tank so I don't need anyone trying to steal taunt from me. I needed the damage from him.

If they just made it so Companions would run in based on the range of their skills, that would fix things. Putting Basti at range makes most of his skills unviable, but he could be really strong if he would be able to run in and attack, and then his AI would get him back out.

Captain_Phasma · November 4

Nov 2024... Problem still exists. Annoying

ZOS_Icy · November 4

Greetings,

We have closed this topic as it was originally created in July 2021. In many cases, it's better to create a new thread on a topic that you want to discuss as opposed to bumping one that is rather old.

Thank you for your understanding.