A companion system desire

Blubster3000nrb18_ESO

So after playing at launch and on and off to now i've noticed that i always struggle to feel connected to a large portion of the games world, having a lacking of relationships with in game characters beyond reaccuring story based characters leaves me feeling rather dissconected, having a companion, someone we would meet and having them act as if they were a member of a player group, being able to gift them things and have them react to wether they like it or not would make exploring (atleast to me) alot more entertaining.

being able to set them to be at your house when dissmissed and being able to choose where they were to stand or a vacinity where they could roam, players who are either not socially invested in the community or just introverted would be able to attatch to the character and have a general feeling of companionship,

just something that has always bothered me and made me feel the game was lacking in a way that to me matters.

Elsonso

Hire another player to be your friend.

InaMoonlight

I kinda use the the npcs for that, The kitteh banker and the fence being my favorites... Just a bit annoying they go back to your regular pet when you change zone, but otherwise a good idea, albeit i think the level of interaction you're thinking of might be more then theyre willing to put the work in for as it would require coding in ALOT of responses for every different item, but something along those lines would be nice. For exampel a Senche-Raht (Snowleopard, cause my main is one ) companion with sarcastic humor and comments a la how the Augur reacted during the psijic quest line, that cost me a keyboard nosefountaining my drink into it laughing on the way to a questspot

VaranisArano

Her name will be Lydia. She will fight all the giants, eat all your sweetrolls, and stand in all the doorways.

Sylvermynx

I'd actually like to be able to "recruit" either some of my alts or some of the more interesting (to me) NPCs to live in my houses. I'm not sure I'd want them adventuring with me (think Lydia from Skyrim.... OMG NO! - but Inigo.... yeah....)

Unseelie

I do not mean this to be rude or even abrasive so if it is I apologize up front...but this is an MMORPG...building rapport with other players, interacting with them either in small doses or a guild situation. There are role play guilds built just around this, along with many many threads and websites and blogs.
Skyrim is a solo game, so npcs were a crutch.
Every town I go to in this game, most of the areas out of town have people running around.

max_only

I wouldn’t mind a cosmetic addition. Would be nice to finally populate our homes. The assistants we have sort of are like this if you pretend.

There are quest npcs that talk to you as you roam (Augur of the Obscure) so an optional continuation would be nice. Imagine setting a magical skull as your pet and it making relevant commentary as you adventure.

As far as “react” when you give them things... starting to sound like a waifu request

Nemesis7884

a companion system like SWTOR where every companion has their own quest (and maybe also replaces the guys that send you crafting material) would be A M A Z I N G...

difficulty in overland could be increased but you get the help of your companion... and companions get automatically dismissed when you enter a group. You unlock more of their skills by using them over time... some are healers, some are tanks, some are damage dealers etc...

This would allow for so much more depth and elder scrolls feel...would be REALLY cool... and all the pieces are already in place since we do have temporary companions... and combat pets for the matter...

But i doubt they are willing to mix up their formula and invest the time unfortunately...

But this would be the best addition to the game in a long while for me (and its also something that is monetizable for them - companion costumes, companion skill/unlocks, companions per se, companion skins etc.)

Hapexamendios

I don't see a need for it myself. I just group up with friends.

idk

In the two games I have played that have companions they are pretty weak as far as some sort of connection to the game. Their "conversation" was pretty limited and as such fairly lame. Their main purpose was to fight or heal for you and those games were balanced to that whereas ESO is not.d

Blubster3000nrb18_ESO wrote: »

being able to set them to be at your house when dissmissed and being able to choose where they were to stand or a vacinity where they could roam, players who are either not socially invested in the community or just introverted would be able to attatch to the character and have a general feeling of companionship,

As for being able to place them in ones home we already have that with the assistants. Granted that they do not move but I do not think Zos has designed anything we place there so it can move around.

Gilvoth

i would love to have companions with me in dungeons and also able to marry them and have them in my house walking around and stay there just like the banker and merchant.

Dusk_Coven

A cautious start (to avoid complications like for example what happened in SWTOR combat where everyone just puts their companions on heals...) is to have one that can be a furnishing. That way they isolate the impact from the rest of the game.
And basing it off the Assistants interface they could have certain interactions and be summonable into the game world.

If anything I think the main issue would be people who actually want a feature like this then complaining about the range of looks available, and then wanting to customize.

DarcyMardin

I would love this!

Cireous

I vote YES.

dan958

I always liked in Guild Wars that you were able to recruit NPCs to join you. I'd love this option in ESO, even if it is just for dungeons so that I can spend time in them to learn the mechanics/read the lore etc. I don't know how it could be balanced outside of dungeons though.

AgaTheGreat

Wait, I thought this was a MMO, not a single player game. Just create relationships with other people. They're ten times the companion that whatever npc would be.

TheFM

Blubster3000nrb18_ESO wrote: »

So after playing at launch and on and off to now i've noticed that i always struggle to feel connected to a large portion of the games world, having a lacking of relationships with in game characters beyond reaccuring story based characters leaves me feeling rather dissconected, having a companion, someone we would meet and having them act as if they were a member of a player group, being able to gift them things and have them react to wether they like it or not would make exploring (atleast to me) alot more entertaining.

being able to set them to be at your house when dissmissed and being able to choose where they were to stand or a vacinity where they could roam, players who are either not socially invested in the community or just introverted would be able to attatch to the character and have a general feeling of companionship,

just something that has always bothered me and made me feel the game was lacking in a way that to me matters.

I'm all for a solo mode story mode, but we do not need even more clutter in this game until the servers and performance have been sorted. And we definitely do not need them to help with combat, maybe someone you can summon for instanced dialogue in your house, but 84829949294 companions walking around would just cause the hamsters to go on strike m

craybest

There are tons of mmos where you can have npc companions and helpers. I don't get why people use it as an argument, as if it wouldn't work here.

TheFM

craybest wrote: »

There are tons of mmos where you can have npc companions and helpers. I don't get why people use it as an argument, as if it wouldn't work here.

Most mmos have stable servers that dont bomb out 247 .

Maxx7410

yep 100% need companions but with a story and unique character

MurderMostFoul

TheFM wrote: »

Blubster3000nrb18_ESO wrote: »

So after playing at launch and on and off to now i've noticed that i always struggle to feel connected to a large portion of the games world, having a lacking of relationships with in game characters beyond reaccuring story based characters leaves me feeling rather dissconected, having a companion, someone we would meet and having them act as if they were a member of a player group, being able to gift them things and have them react to wether they like it or not would make exploring (atleast to me) alot more entertaining.

being able to set them to be at your house when dissmissed and being able to choose where they were to stand or a vacinity where they could roam, players who are either not socially invested in the community or just introverted would be able to attatch to the character and have a general feeling of companionship,

just something that has always bothered me and made me feel the game was lacking in a way that to me matters.

I'm all for a solo mode story mode, but we do not need even more clutter in this game until the servers and performance have been sorted. And we definitely do not need them to help with combat, maybe someone you can summon for instanced dialogue in your house, but 84829949294 companions walking around would just cause the hamsters to go on strike m

Agreed.

Neat idea, but with all the comments from ZOS about server load and trying to reduce it, I can't see this being good for the game.

Loulong

I'd like them for houses if they were obtainable in-game instead of for crowns.

I do NOT, however, want to see some sorc riding by on a neon disco pony with a banker, a clannfear, an annoying flappy thing, some sparkly non-combat pet, AND a wannabe waifu racing after them!

Iccotak

Or play with others.
This is an MMO

A companion system would actually discourage the social aspect of the game, which is an MMO.
Get Discord, Find a guild, invite a friend, etc.
That why they have the Ring of Mara bonus that allows you to get more XP when you play with another player character that you "married". To encourage to play with others.

redlink1979

AgaTheGreat wrote: »

Just create relationships with other people. They're ten times the companion that whatever npc would be.

This ^^

TheShadowScout

Blubster3000nrb18_ESO wrote: »

A companion system desire

ESO is an MMORPG.

Thats much like any computer RPG, just with lots of other people also running around in the same game world!

You are supposed to find some other player to do that with, the whole "companion" thing. Fron grouping to tackle dungeons to joking in chat, to roleplaying, to full-out ERP... whatever rings your bell.

Yes, it can be difficult, especially for us introverts!

It is even more difficult since the game is not very favorable to tiny "circle of friends" type of guilds (you would need to let in lots of strangers to unlock guild stuff - a total no-no for any true introivert! I wish they would add a secondary way to get there...), and its not like any of us would dare just yell "looking for friends" - heck, most of us would run the other if someone offered out of the blue!

But in the end, finding a friend you can actually connect with is worth a lot more then any NPC "companion" that would only add to lag for little usefulness, or have no usefulness because they are just part of the gamescape like any NPC that everyone interacts with to sell their stuff, bank their stuff, or whatever...

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

a companion system like SWTOR where every companion has their own quest (and maybe also replaces the guys that send you crafting material) would be A M A Z I N G...

No, it wouldn't.
I played that, and yeah its interesting at first... and then you get bored from it, and everyone has the same companions, and... eh.
The most interesting things were the missions, and you can easily have those without the companions, just add missions featuring a "known face" like naryu or razum-dar or stibbons or any of the dozend other memorable NPCs the developers dropped into the game... I mean, I totally would love it if we got a few "extra missions" from those "acquaintences" now and then.

Not to mention, KOTOR has -always- been a "companion" series of games, and SW-TOR is based on that. The Elder Scrolls series though has -always- been a "solo hero" type of games... so it only makes sense that ESO based on that has no companions (summoned daedra and bears aside)

And really, combat wise... do you think the effect you get from those questings where you DO get an optional "plus one" (often dependent on your available speech skills) is worth doubling the lag game-wide???

Worse, the powers that be would have to add more balancing options to make sure PvE and PvP doesn't go iffy, meaning they would have to add some drawback that means everyone "with companion" is at he same effectiveness as anyone playing without as to not upset PvP balance and leaderboards and other things where some might cry "foul"...

All in all, I don't really think it'd be worth the trouble.

Agalloch

Some housing new features would be awesome.

Look at Aion housing

https://aion.fandom.com/wiki/Housing

They have companions in the house

SpacemanSpiff1

Sounds like you want a single player RPG. Players are your companions in ESO.

Ye_Olde_Crowe

Yes please.

The 'go looking for real friends' argument is neat, but I personally cannot be online around the clock or at prime time or during certain time corridors due to my work, so while I have in-game and even RL friends who play ESO, they cannot offer me what an NPC companion could*.
Mind you, I wouldn't necessarily need combat companions - just companions to accompany some of my characters OTHER than Nuzhimeh, Tythis and the kittens, companions I might also place in my home and who would have some specific dialog.

________
*it's real fun to go dungeoneering with real people, but I personally wouldn't like my main char, for example, to be mara'd to one of their characters.
I think.

Inaya

Just. . . NO! This is not a single player game and it should NEVER cater to those who want to play single player or with an NPC.

And no, I don't do many dungeons or trials and when I do I do it with guildies. Most of my play is solo, or jumping in random WB or domen groups.

Coppes

Inaya wrote: »

Just. . . NO! This is not a single player game and it should NEVER cater to those who want to play single player or with an NPC.

And no, I don't do many dungeons or trials and when I do I do it with guildies. Most of my play is solo, or jumping in random WB or domen groups.

A common misconception of MMOs is that it always has to be multiplayer which is false. MMO simply means that it’s always online with multiple people playing in your world/area at any given time.

Not that you have to play with them. If the game was truly like you say it would be know as a Co-op game.

Inaya

Spaceroamer wrote: »

Inaya wrote: »

Just. . . NO! This is not a single player game and it should NEVER cater to those who want to play single player or with an NPC.

And no, I don't do many dungeons or trials and when I do I do it with guildies. Most of my play is solo, or jumping in random WB or domen groups.

A common misconception of MMOs is that it always has to be multiplayer which is false. MMO simply means that it’s always online with multiple people playing in your world/area at any given time.

Not that you have to play with them. If the game was truly like you say it would be know as a Co-op game.

Multiple PEOPLE not companion NPC's. That is a feature that should be left in single player games. Misconception or not, this is NOT a single player game. There is a lot of soloable content but if you want to do the GROUP content, which most definitely IS designed to be done with other PEOPLE, than you need to find friends, acquantances, a guild or a random group as you pass by.

While similar, neither MMO's or Co-op games were desingned to play solo. Co-op is a subcategory or game mode of Multiplayer. Co-op mode is commonly found in shooter games as a way of playing the story mode in multiplayer.