PTS Update 30 - Feedback Thread for Companions

Moloch1514

Leogon wrote: »

ZOS: Companions will be able to aid the player everywhere except for pvp and solo arenas.

Reality: They're pretty much useless everywhere except for questing but who needs help questing? I need them for vet dlc dungeons and vet 4-player arenas but they're terrible even on normal.

I just hope you guys will keep working on them until they become viable everywhere except for pvp and solo arenas as advertised.

That being said, I love the roleplaying side of companions with the rapport, etc.

This 100%. Not what was advertised for sure. Glad I learned my lesson from Greymoor and will wait to buy in July when it is on sale lol. Why do I get high hopes for this game still after so many letdowns?

Froil

I tried out Bastian as a tank, in all heavy armor, five Bolstered, two cooldown and jewels, mace and a shield and he nearly died to just an overland Wamasu's lightning breath only to die by the tail swing. Companions need, absolutely need, some base damage reduction, whether for AoE only or across the board.
With that, I feel we should be able to enchant Companion's gear to some degree. Perhaps "Companion Only" glyphs?

Nirntrotter

So I watched my team lead's stream of him tanking a WB and making Bastian kill it, and it looked like Bastian was... LA weaving? But without actually cancelling an animation, thereby completely missing the point of the weave? Most hilarious thing I've seen all week.

Xebov

Nirntrotter wrote: »

So I watched my team lead's stream of him tanking a WB and making Bastian kill it, and it looked like Bastian was... LA weaving? But without actually cancelling an animation, thereby completely missing the point of the weave? Most hilarious thing I've seen all week.

They have such high ability cooldowns that they will do light attacks for most of the combat. Especially on lower levels where tehy have less ability slots unlocked they easily spend 80% of their combat time just spamming light attacks while their abilities are on cooldown.

ExoY

Those Perks are a great Idea. But it would be nice to have some sort of indication for it.

So far i wasnt able to find any reference ingame towards those perks. So people who dont read the patch notes will never know about it.


I think a good place to put it as a buff in the character info screen.
Just call it something like "Mirri Elendis Favor".

or put it in the describtion for "Mirri's Almalexia Fidelity Idol" as well as a passive of Mirri itself.

phaneub17_ESO

1) Maybe they should share a portion of your character's own stats? Like roughly 20-30% of your Health, Resistance, Weapon/Spell Damage, and other stuff tacked onto the companion's base stats. That way they can have some additional growth on top of their own when they cap out, some of yours will fill in the rest.

2) Make them count as Pets with Pet rule mechanics giving them passive AOE damage reduction and ignore threat when in groups larger than 2 players. I get that people may want to use them as tanks in group settings, but I don't think that's ever going to be possible with their AI and lack of reading the fight.

3) Take away the Player rule, don't make them count as another player allowing everyone in a group to have their own companion out. To offset this change when there are 1-2 players companions have full stats, while in groups of 3-4 their potency is reduced by 50%, and in groups of more than 4 their potency is reduced by 75%.

ExoY

Apperently, the skill slots get unlocked with increased combat level.

On Level 1 only the first two slots seem to work.
I was able to slot more skills but got a message "Slot is not unlocked". However the skills stayed in the slot until the next level up. (I also posted this in the compagnion bug thread)

With Level 2 it seems I can use 3 skills now.

So if this is indeed intended (which is perfectly fine) i sugest adding a tooltip to the empty skill slots saying:
"This Slot will be unlocked with Combat Level x".

Caligamy_ESO

Companions feel very underwhelming in every way.

The healing was okay, when it wasn't casting heals at 100% health.

Equipping them with gear choices and maxing out their levels/skill didn't make much of any difference. He still died to trash mobs in a dolmen in less than a minute while set to tank role. Class skills didn't seem to heal him when I tried to cast them on him. Tested him out on Limbscather world boss for several fights and the only fighter type that even slightly performed at a usable level was the healer, and even then it only survived because I had to switch to a tank role just to keep him alive.



Honestly? I'm feeling buyers remorse for preordering and kind of sorry I hopped on PTS to test anything at all because I am not looking forward to anything I saw on there.

Thannazzar

Caligamy_ESO wrote: »

Honestly? I'm feeling buyers remorse for preordering and kind of sorry I hopped on PTS to test anything at all because I am not looking forward to anything I saw on there.

Based on last years chapter where the Vampire revamp feedback was ignored I don't have high hopes for any companion changes. Have been holding off on prepurchasing as a result. Not seen anything so far to indicate purchasing the chapter wil be worthwhile.

DreadDaedroth

The customisation of companions is lacking in the helm department.

Roztlin45

Too bad you can't cast guard on them from the support skill line.

Ancalag

General

Which areas or zones were you in with your companion?

Deshaan, Bankorai and Blackwood

What types of gameplay were you doing with your companion?

Killing mob in the overworld, traveling around, World Boss, Dark Anchor and setup builds for the companion.



Interaction

Was it clear how to access the Companions interface?

Yes

Was the Companion ability system clear and intuitive to use?

Yes

Did your companion use the slotted abilities as you expected them to?

Not really. The cooldown are respected but they don't use them at the moment it's ready again. I have no idea how it is programmed, but a good and easy thing could be use the first ability, if not available, do the second one... etc.
That way we can easily manage their skills rotation. For exemple for dps it's buff, aoe dots, single target dots and then spammable.
For healing, they should use it when needed and taunt again before it's over for tank.

Did you feel the companion talked too much or too little in various circumstances?

Sound fine for me, we'll see after a couple of month if it's not too repetitive. But in that case we have the possibility to mute them in the option.



Combat

What did you think of the Companion combat abilities in general? Were there any that felt too powerful or not powerful enough?

I test with best gear possible at max level and it's not particularlly powerfull. But the problem is more about the cooldowns than the abilities themselves in my opinion. The spammable ability should be no more than 2s cooldown, having the time to do one light attack in between and doing one between each ability. The buffs and dots abilities should have a cooldown not more than their duration and taunt abilities should have a cooldown lower than their duration to have the time to retaunt before losing it.
With reduce cooldown trait, the companion should be able to have a 1s spamable, reaplaying buff and dots before the end and taunt multiple ennemies.
That way you help new player learning rotation and how to perform correctly in the game.

Were you able to configure your companion to perform the role you wished?

Dependantly of what you mean by "the role you wished" I could answer yes or no. I was able to give them equipement and skills to do tank/dps/healer things, but they are not able to do it properly.
The DPS is way too low to be usefull. I do more dps just spamming light attacks. I don't know how many they could have with the changes on cooldowns I talked above, but a 25-30k at max lvl with best equipement will be enough to make them usefull in any PvE content. They will never replace a player (good dps start at 60k) but actually it's just terrible.
Even more because they dying all the time even with tanky equipement and self heal. You should make them moving more, like out of area of effects abilities when rolldodge cooldown is not ready.
For taunt as tank, learn them to taunt the biggest boss first, then the little adds if they can. Actually, taunts cooldows make them losing aggro and make them totally useless as tank. They also should not taunt mob already taunt by an other player/companion.

Were you able to effectively utilize keyboard/gamepad shortcuts to direct companion target behavior? (Hold Y and left click to attack vs Hold Y and right click to hold off)

Even if the shortcut is not easy to reach, yes.
I will probably assign it on one of my mouse button if I use it often.



Customization/Progression

How did the companion progression feel in terms of time to level up, advance skills, unlock abilities, improve rapport, or acquire equipment? Was the progress clear in terms of how to access everything?

Don't know, I used stuff to max them.

Was the companion cosmetic customization experience clear and function as expected?

No, it took me a while to understand we can't customize in our home. After that I discovered we can't use motif and individually dies on costumes. I'm pretty disapointed about that.



Rapport

Did you understand how to influence your companion through the rapport system?

Yes, even if it didn't move so much.

Was it clear when rapport was being adjusted and why?

I didn't take attention about that, so I can't answer.



Do you have any other general feedback?

Out of what I already said about cooldowns and performance, I have a few things to say.
I do understand you don't want them to replace a player, but at the same take the place of one in donjons...
Don't need to make a super AI, just know that everything in this game is about positionning. To represent that you could add something to apply them a role (like with donjon finder) and will make them acting differently depending of their role.

- Tank: should taunt main boss first then adds. Turn around the mob to make him not facing the player. Block most of the time. Move out of AoE. Light attack less often. Bash to interupt when around and heavy attack sometime.

- DPS: move on the back of taunted mobs. Move out of AoE. Block/rolldodge when big damage will income.

- Healer: stay back to the player. Move out of AoE. Block/rolldodge when big damage will income.

Last thing about machanics, we could ask them activate/use things like levers, doors, pads... with the control shortcut pointing on it.
For boss mechanics, it will be too complexe to learn them all, so at least reduce income damage from these or just make them immune to them.

NoxiousBlight

Which areas or zones were you in with your companion?

Blackwood, multiple public dungeons, multiple 4 player dungeons (both normal and vet)

What types of gameplay were you doing with your companion?

I tried just about everything from overland mobs, public dungeon bosses, to regular 4 man dungeons.

Was it clear how to access the Companions interface?

Yes, clean and simple.

Was the Companion ability system clear and intuitive to use?

Probably just a bug, but there is no visual indication when the companion is low level that some of the ability slots are locked out. It tells you in the upper right but still lets you slot abilities, which seems odd.

Did your companion use the slotted abilities as you expected them to?

Kind of. I found melee abilities to be much worse since the companion seem rather slow when approaching an enemy. They run up then about 5 meters away slowly walk the last bit of the way. For ranged companions it worked better, but they stand at max range which feels VERY awkward. Then if they get attacked they roll dodge backwards which puts them at 40+ meters it seems. Makes the abilities feel clunky.

Did you feel the companion talked too much or too little in various circumstances?

I like that you started with less. I would like a little more at first, but in another 6-8 months I am sure I will enjoy the less chatty since we will have them out all the time. Appreciate the ability to increase or reduce in the options as well.

What did you think of the Companion combat abilities in general? Were there any that felt too powerful or not powerful enough?

Here is my main problem. I understand the companions DPS and abilities are weak. I get that. They felt weak which I expect. But my main problem is no matter how I geared or arranged my companion abilities, they spent 80% of the time DEAD. If I did literally anything except overland mobs they usually just died. They survived a few public dungeon trash packs, but any mini-boss, boss, world boss, etc., they were dead in 10 seconds and thus useless the rest of the fight.

I understand you don't want them to replace players, which is fine, but the crux of the problem is if companions are dead in most fights where you want to actually use them then IT IS NOT FUN. It feels like micro-managing a level 3 new player, which is just tedious. At the end of the day I don't mind that their dps is very low, I just want them to stay alive so it feels fun to play with them. If you expect them to act as a tank then it is even worse. They put down one taunt then generally just die.

SUGGESTION: Give companions a base 50% damage mitigation and adjust from there. They stand in every AoE possible and then get one shot. Having them just take 50% less damage would go a huge way in making them fun. Trust me, even with this a companion will never replace a player, but it would at least make them entertaining for a solo player.

Were you able to configure your companion to perform the role you wished?

Yeah I mean the skills were well rounded enough and seemed good on paper, but like I said, they just die too easily.

Were you able to effectively utilize keyboard/gamepad shortcuts to direct companion target behavior? (Hold Y and left click to attack vs Hold Y and right click to hold off)

Used a keyboard. Shortcut worked fine.

How did the companion progression feel in terms of time to level up, advance skills, unlock abilities, improve rapport, or acquire equipment? Was the progress clear in terms of how to access everything?

Felt okay. I don't mind that there is a bit of a grind. Although turning in the dailies for FG/MG doesn't seem to work at the moment. I can't comment too much because I then used the companion maxer on the test character so I could put them through the paces.

Was the companion cosmetic customization experience clear and function as expected?

This is the big win. Fashion Scrolls Online reigns supreme here. Now I get to play my main and still customize two characters. Had a lot of fun with this part. Seems pretty straight forward to me.

Did you understand how to influence your companion through the rapport system?

I might not have understood this as well had I not watched ESO live. But in general when you see the big sliding bar I think MOST players would figure out the basics.

Was it clear when rapport was being adjusted and why?

Not always. It also seems slow. I am not sure how much of a grind you all had in mind for this, so maybe just double check that it is working as intended.

Do you have any other general feedback?

Like I said, I want companions to be fun, and that mostly involves them not dying all the time. Overall I liked the system in theory, but I was pretty much disappointed with having to pick them up off the floor all the time.

NoxiousBlight

Do you have any other general feedback?

Forgot one thing - the gearing is a bit of a mess. I'm already planning on clearing out multiple storage coffers to deal with the companion gear, which seems like the opposite of how you all were moving with the collections menu.

SUGGESTION: Perhaps have companion gear divided into a few categories by individual piece so you can reconstruct it after you collect it. So that way you maintain the grind for gear, but since you would have to collect the EXACT piece you want to recon, you can still safely delete it after you collect it. If I eventually get full sets of everything (which we will need because gear is adjusted and then we want to swap to the new best thing) it will be hundreds of pieces. Seems like overkill. We really need a collections menu solution when it comes to companion gear.

TelvanniWizard

DreadDaedroth wrote: »

The customisation of companions is lacking in the helm department.

In all departments, I would say. Seriously, why can't we use all of our collections tab to make them just a bit more diverse? Clone fests are boring as hell, and not very immersive.

Coatmagic

Amusing comments, fun to play paper-doll dress up with, other than that only good for tank training.
In fact, if anyone expresses interest in tanking, I would def suggest this chapter for companions.
(Plenty of time to learn how to stack mobs/stay alive/awareness of group member under attack etc)

Parasaurolophus

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

DreadDaedroth wrote: »

The customisation of companions is lacking in the helm department.

In all departments, I would say. Seriously, why can't we use all of our collections tab to make them just a bit more diverse? Clone fests are boring as hell, and not very immersive.

Because companiens are full-fledged npcs with their own character and history. I think outfits there are enough. But yes, clone attacks are a problem. I expected that companions of other players should be replaced with standard warriors / mages, like quest NPCs.

code65536

It would be better if the "potent" health potion's bonus effect granted both magicka and stamina (perhaps at lower levels?) rather than just magicka.

ThorianB

After testing Bastian for a bit, i agree with most players here. I got Bastian up to level 8. He is still wearing his starting gear. He dies to pretty much everything. I have played him overland, delves, dolmens(solo), public dungeons(solo), and nFG1( solo). He dies anytime he is targeted by any mob. In FG1 he spent about 90% of combat time dead and the other 10% he stayed alive only because i focused on keeping him alive longer than the 3 seconds it takes any mob to kill him.

Also i ran mage's, fighters, and undaunted quests as instructed and these did not unlock his skill lines for those. Not sure if its bugged or just not active on PTS yet. Some things could be a little more intuitive like how/when certain things unlock.

Overall, right now, Bastian is slightly above a non combat pet and really far under a combat pet. He is basically a non combat pet that you can play limited dress up with. He isn't helpful in ANY combat whatsoever. Overland, delves dungeons. As others have said, he is going to only be useful for RP purposes at this point.

The player base was expecting companions to at least be as useful as sorc pets. They are not worth putting any sort of effort into at this point. They definitely aren't worthy of filling a spot in a group. They do very low damage so even when they are alive they contribute almost nothing to combat.

They need a severe damage absorption buff to make up for not being human and other flaws that cause them to take large amount of damage. I would start out changing the following:

• 90% AOE damage reduction.
• 25% single target damage reduction.
• The ability to self resurrect during combat if no enemies are within 10m for 10 seconds.
• Gear that is useful. So far i have only seen ability CD reduction gear. Ability CD reductions are not useful on a companion that is dead more than half the time in combat.

To expand on the gear here, i don't find the CD reduction gear or companion gear to be particularly exciting here. It is rather unimaginative and really goes against having a customizable companion. Instead i would have rather seen companion versions of player gear that still had the features of the player version but tailored to a companion. The companion versions would drop from the same place the player counterpart would. This could be rolled out in different expansions with multiple sets available with blackwood. I should note i have only got 3 pieces of companion gear to drop and they have all been ability cooldown reduction, so i am assuming this is the only stat on the gear.

Overall companions need a lot of work before even casual players would find them remotely useful. This is not a feature i would pay for right now as companions are not even as useful as a Necromancer's pet that you have to summon every couple of minutes.

coop500

General:

I took Bastian to two dungeons, Fungal Grotto 1 and Spindleclutch 1 (easiest dungeons in the game) but I also had to ride there so we did some overland in Glenumbra and Stonefalls, also the triple werewolf worldboss in Glenumbra.

For note I was using him as a tank.

Interaction:

The menu was clear enough, though I admitted I cheated and boosted him to max rapport and combat effectiveness because I mostly just wanted to see how good he was in a fight. Gave him purple gear from the coffer too.

My main complaint is the armor, it's hard to figure out what's heavy, light or medium, since it's all lumped together. But it only took me an extra 30 or so seconds to find what I wanted.

The skill menu part was pretty straightforward, though I would suggest at least letting us preview skills of the weapon lines they don't have unlocked yet, so we can see if it's worth bothering with or not.

As for using the abilities, more or less? Though it was barely noticeable. I quickly found his 'Chains' skill to be annoying as he used them on enemies I was already almost killing myself, so I removed that skill from his bar and replaced it with his talons, which were more useful.

He also seems to waste his healing skills like the fireball one, and then it's on cooldown so he dies cause his skills are not up.

I did find the companion talking setting under gameplay I think? Or combat, I forgot, it was late. But overall I think he talked the right amount when actively playing, though I am not a fan of the idle nagging. Everything else was fine talking wise, could almost use a little more chatter but I might not have bumped the setting up. (Though I admit I was expecting him to say something when I turned WW and ate some bandits but he didn't haha, so I guess he doesn't mind that.)

Combat:

Hah, no, none of them were too powerful. Most of the time they were wasted or not even used for some reason? Maybe cause he used them earlier when we didn't need them. When he did finally use them when we needed them, they were handy, but not OP.

I was yeah, but he honestly barely preformed the role (tank) in the most basic sense. Taunt and stay alive, that's all I geared him to do and he couldn't do the latter. Taunting was okay enough once I gave him sword and board with heavy armor and puncture. I even changed his skills to not have talons or the like anymore, just survival skills, but no amount of skills can save stupid. In Fungal Grotto 1, for the Goblin boss, I noticed he tried to block the heavy attack, but would lower his block for an attack too soon and get hit every time anyway. And of course he stood in all the red circles that he could.

With perfect gear, max level and best skills, he still died on basic Fungal Grotto 1 normal mode bosses. Not all, but about half of them and that was only cause I was helping him with heals and stuff between my damage.
Can confirm after playing with my IRL mother for her first 3 days of ESO, she plays X10 better than Bastian did. I really hope we see some AI improvements, because that's all they really need I think. The skills and gear and stuff seem decent? I mean I would always want them better but I know we're supposed to constantly suck so I would say they're passable, but without basic AI of blocking attacks and not staying in AOE, he died fairly often in both dungeons and even the world boss.

I didn't even know that was a thing, but I honestly wouldn't be able to use it anyway, I can barely keep up with doing damage, keeping myself and him alive with heals and buffs. His ultimate also seemed bugged, the number never went up, but I dunno if he ever used it or not. It's very hard to see him in fights, so I guess I better dye his outfit PINK haha. (Actually that won't even work cause I gave him the dragon blood skill which made him even harder to spot).

Customization/Progression
N/A, I skipped this and was wanting to experience it on Live in my own time, so I'll leave this part to other players, sorry.
Yes! I was happy to see he can use my costumes and mounts, I didn't take him to an outfit station so I didn't delve into that, but I assume it works as expected. I have so many costumes and mounts I'll never use, so it's nice to see them get a use outside of my addiction to making alts.

Rapport:
Also skipped this and maxxed it with pie, though I did notice he said... something? Like he got a lead or, basically it sounded like he had something to tell me, but when I talked to him nothing new showed up so I dunno what that was about.

All in all, I do LIKE the companions and will probably use them, but I can't rely on them to get me past content I wasn't already able to solo, so that does disappoint me a lot. I was hoping they could at least be as good as my mom with 3 days of ESO experience haha. But yeah, she blows them out of the water, hell I think she did better on day one.

The biggest points is: Somehow make them MOVE out of AOE damage! This could get annoying if they're tanking and move the boss around, but at least they're alive (hopefully). And blocking, I saw him try to block heavy attacks but he lowered his shield before the attack fired, so he still got hit full force and it made no difference.

I feel like a companion max level with purple gear and all skills unlocked should be able to effectively tank (in the most basic sense, taunt and stay alive) Fungal Grotto 1 or Spindleclutch 1, but he just couldn't, not without a fair amount of babysitting.

I haven't tried the dark elf chick, might try her out today but I doubt she'd be any better.

As a final note, PLEASE let crafting be viable for companions somehow! Let us make gear for them, or enchant it, or even just give them buff food. SOMETHING, please.

Ilsabet

Thannazzar wrote: »

Caligamy_ESO wrote: »

Honestly? I'm feeling buyers remorse for preordering and kind of sorry I hopped on PTS to test anything at all because I am not looking forward to anything I saw on there.

Based on last years chapter where the Vampire revamp feedback was ignored I don't have high hopes for any companion changes. Have been holding off on prepurchasing as a result. Not seen anything so far to indicate purchasing the chapter wil be worthwhile.

They're going to need to do something if they don't want this to be an unmitigated disaster. If companions can't stay alive, they're literally useless for anything combat-related.

Vehlir

A sentiment I'd like to echo that has already been mentioned was the companions inability to wear any form of headwear.

Enabling the ability to equip hats & other costumes with attached head pieces doesn't detract anything from the experience while simultaneously allowing for much more customization options.

I'd even go so far as to say players should be allowed to equip adornments as well if they've purchased the Hair & beard packs, but I'd gladly settle for just Hats for now.

deleted008293

BUG: When you go to a transmute station, it will allow you to select companion gear to be transmuted.

Allow companions to automatically loot items, gold, coffers around player. Except for chests, heavy sacks, quest items and harvesting materials.
Companions should have their own fixed inventory space.
Bank space need to be increased to at least 300/600. Pretty please?

BlueRaven

I like the system although I wish I can craft them gear, even if it is of the "special companions only" variety.

OR at least have a sticker book style collection system for the gear?

I also would like to be able to configure the gear load out and outfit of the follower depending on the character I have loaded.

BUT my chief issue is with the guild skill lines, it keeps saying "complete a daily" to unlock them. I have done two dailies for the fighters and mages guild with no movement. What am I doing wrong? Is it bugged?

cyberjanet

Mirri interaction is broken.

cyberjanet

[quote="maximusrex45;c-7220693"

This sounds like the companion will look the same across all of your characters if you try to use the outfit station system to modify their gear. This should be a per character setting so I can customize them per character, or it will be really boring really quickly.

[/quote]

It's per character. The outfit I made on the companion of one character wasn't there when I called him up on another character.

cyberjanet

Sju wrote: »

Will companions unlock after you do the first quest, or is there a series of quests? It didn't make sense for Mirri to say "you can count on me for help...", then just disappears, and the system doesn't notify like "hey, you've unlocked companions, you can do this and that, etc..."
I don't know if this is because it is already unlocked or you run into them later and do more quests? Any info on this? Possibly bugged?

They are already unlocked on the PTS, so you don't have to quest, and a lot of stuff won't make sense. It may be totally different when live. Well, I made a max level character very first of all, so he may have unlocked everything.

Sju

cyberjanet wrote: »

Sju wrote: »

Will companions unlock after you do the first quest, or is there a series of quests? It didn't make sense for Mirri to say "you can count on me for help...", then just disappears, and the system doesn't notify like "hey, you've unlocked companions, you can do this and that, etc..."
I don't know if this is because it is already unlocked or you run into them later and do more quests? Any info on this? Possibly bugged?

They are already unlocked on the PTS, so you don't have to quest, and a lot of stuff won't make sense. It may be totally different when live. Well, I made a max level character very first of all, so he may have unlocked everything.

Right, I already acknowledged that, my question was more of a possible bug. It'd be silly to not have it notify you, it should be part of pts if it does.

Cireous

• Companions are seemingly not considered a group member, at least not in the Overland, so player buffing and healing item sets cannot buff or heal companions. I would love for the group component to be removed from these sets (and skills such as Barrier) and reverted back to ally healing/buffing, but short of that happening, could we at least use these sets on our companions?

Chaos2088

General
Which areas or zones were you in with your companion? = Blackwood
What types of gameplay were you doing with your companion? = Questing, Combat, Exploring

Interaction
Was it clear how to access the Companions interface? = Very Clear
Was the Companion ability system clear and intuitive to use? = Not really, seems abit too basic.
Did your companion use the slotted abilities as you expected them to? = Yes, abit clunky tho.
Did you feel the companion talked too much or too little in various circumstances? = No, was perfect and funny in places

Combat
What did you think of the Companion combat abilities in general? Were there any that felt too powerful or not powerful enough? = Really underwelming, like they are too weak. To the point there is no use for them
Were you able to configure your companion to perform the role you wished? = Yes, but did not function even 8th what a player can do. really need to up the power of them. Not full like a player as dont wnat to replace people, but they are too weak there is no point of having them out.
Were you able to effectively utilize keyboard/gamepad shortcuts to direct companion target behavior? (Hold Y and left click to attack vs Hold Y and right click to hold off) = Didn't do enough combat with them as they died far too often to notice or use/target them.

Customization/Progression
How did the companion progression feel in terms of time to level up, advance skills, unlock abilities, improve rapport, or acquire equipment? Was the progress clear in terms of how to access everything? = Didn't really level any up, used the tools to see what they can do at max level.
Was the companion cosmetic customization experience clear and function as expected? = Yes

Rapport
Did you understand how to influence your companion through the rapport system? = Kind of, wasn't clear at 1st but just did random stuff and found out what worked for each of them. Did like they were different and expressing personality.
Was it clear when rapport was being adjusted and why? = Yes

Do you have any other general feedback?

They need abit of a power raise, they die way to often and not really do much dps or healing at all. I solo content alot and dont think will be slotting these guys to help me in their current state, as they have hold agro on a boss for like 5 seconds or feeling like they are bitting the ankle of any boss and not going any dps. Not wanting them to replace players at all, this is an mmo at the end of the day. But I do not see any use for them at the moment.