How useful are the companions?

CleymenZero

I haven't found them to be of much use Tbh.

I geared Bastien as defensive as possible, skills included, and the first big mob on Rockgrove NORMAL 1-shot him.

It took about 5-8 minutes for Mirri to off a 300k (not sure) Haj Mota.

I know they're not supposed to be OP and I can solo clear a bunch of vet dungeons but I'm wondering what they can be used for.

If I want to have an NPC say useless random stuff all the time, I'll just summon the banker and he'll tell me about his horrible time in Whiterose...

MageCatF4F

I would recommend anything stated in replies here you test for yourself.

My experience with them parallels yours.

SeaGtGruff

I haven't done anything with the new companions yet, but I'm wondering if there might be some sort of content-scaling issue at play? In other words, maybe the companions are more effective when paired with low-level characters than with high-level characters? Has anyone tried that yet, or is everyone using them with high-level characters?

ThorianB

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I haven't done anything with the new companions yet, but I'm wondering if there might be some sort of content-scaling issue at play? In other words, maybe the companions are more effective when paired with low-level characters than with high-level characters? Has anyone tried that yet, or is everyone using them with high-level characters?

It wouldn't matter. They just can't take a hit. Even with Bastian having 22k HP he gets the full damage from normal mobs and it drops him 10-20% in one hit. That is from normal mobs. He can easily be 2-3 shotted by most weak bosses. He spent most of the time i was in combat in nFG1 dead...like 90% of it. It didn't matter if i was fighting trash or bosses they were killing him in a few seconds unless i constantly popped heals on him. But it is waste to heal him when i can just dps everything down and move on.

As companions are now they arent even as useful as running around with a level 3 character fresh out of a tutorial with no gear. They are not even a quarter as useful as any of the combat pets. Companions need some love that prevents them from dying constantly.

Mauin

They come across as being very much not helpful. Most use I can see from them is for RP stuff only. I've tried Mirri as healer and Bastian as tank, and both are just... Meh. They die far too easily to actually be useful in dungeons.

The biggest issues are, I think, the excessive cooldowns on their abilities, and the fact that they will not move out of ground AoE, so they just stand in red and die. Reducing the cooldowns on their abilities and either increasing their health, or otherwise reducing the damage they take might improve them a little bit.

I recorded this nDarkshade I run last night, with Bastian setup as tank:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKFerji0cPE

I can't recall the specifics of the setup I gave him, but he's got a mix of purple cooldown reduction gear, plus purple damage reduction gear, and his skills consist of a taunt, the buff to light attacks, the rune that reduces damage taken by 20%, a heal, and the heal that also reduces his damage taken by 20%. He's still incredibly squishy, and just keels over in AoE effects.

Dagoth_Rac

They should behave like combat pets. Pets take no damage in instanced group content. In overland and other public content, pets take highly reduced AoE damage because they have no AI to step out of red.

This was not always the case. Combat pets used to take player-like damage everywhere but it was stupid because they just died constantly. It will end up being the same thing with companions if this is not changed. Even casual players will lose interest in companions pretty quickly if there is no mitigation for their poor AI.

Danikat

I wasn't expecting much from companions but I wasn't expect them to be that bad, I thought they'd at least be comparable to an incompetent player.

I agree they should be improved, at least to the point where they're not dying constantly and more of an annoyance than anything, even if they're not supposed to be helpful for most players.

SirLeeMinion

Mauin wrote: »

They come across as being very much not helpful. Most use I can see from them is for RP stuff only. I've tried Mirri as healer and Bastian as tank, and both are just... Meh. They die far too easily to actually be useful in dungeons....

I can't recall the specifics of the setup I gave him, but he's got a mix of purple cooldown reduction gear, plus purple damage reduction gear, and his skills consist of a taunt, the buff to light attacks, the rune that reduces damage taken by 20%, a heal, and the heal that also reduces his damage taken by 20%. He's still incredibly squishy, and just keels over in AoE effects.

Thanks so much for the video! Just being able to see how they actually perform has 1) saved me a bunch of time on the PTS, and 2) confirmed that companions are absolutely useless to me in their present form.

omegatay_ESO

Almost like companions are a after thought. Just thrown in as fluff. I thought companions would be more like my battle bear. Now, it seems they might be worthless. *sigh*

Linaleah

at this point, my plan for them is to level them up once on one of my easiest to play characters - to unlock them as house guests and then promptly forget about them. they are not only not helpful in my experience, but can be an active hindrance at times.

luen79rwb17_ESO

I feel about them as a super sized Tamagotchi that you don't need to feed LOL

tsaescishoeshiner

Do they have buffs and debuffs? How much can they heal for? I feel like them playing support for your character would add more total DPS or survivability than relying on their independent contribution

Mojmir

Micromanaging and grinding is their purpose.

DarcyMardin

Unfortunately, having tried both low leveled and fully leveled companions in a variety of content (overland, WBs, dolmens, harrowstorms, Oblivion portals, public and group dungeons), I find them to be even less useful than pets like the bear and the sorc pets. Level 20 Mirri in full purple gear didn’t die quite as fast as level 3 Bastian with whatever gear he started with, but she was still dead long before the fight with any boss ended. Rezzing them doesn’t help since they just die again.

Instead of my character using them as healer, tank, or extra DPS, my character has to tank and heal for *them* if I care about keeping them alive (which I soon didn’t since they were little more than ornamental).

Plus, they level slowly and the gear that is supposed to drop for them doesn’t, at least in my experience. /Fail

Amottica

After reading this I wonder why I who should spend time on them.

remosito

went with both to shadowfen to hunt for leads. basti as a tank did pretty well up to all public dungeon bosses with just my templar aoe hot. even intrrrupted.

but failed miserably at all the wbs. cant take big hits. but mainly hefty enough aoe kills him.

dps spec was seriously underwhelminng. healer felt the least useless. felt like a lot less healing than pale order ring though. but shield and heal 50% synergies can give you a breather in tight spots. but they can grab aggro. so you loose a skill slot to taunt.

bastis 20% heavy attack group boost does gel nice with dk ha build i was running on 2nd char.

but all in all they are way to puny to be worth the money. or even the gear inventory nightmare.

maybe for somebody who struggles even in base public dungeons?

zos realky needs to do sth about aoe killing them. either make them immune. or teach them to walk out of it.

gear inventory needs to be loojed at too. maybe just make it not count towards limit when in bags?

and dont think there is a way around scaling them with difficulty of content. well.. if they wanna sell this chapter to anybody even mildly competent. . companions can already solo delve bosses. while getting two shot by wbs. make them strong enough to be useful in normal dungeons and wbs. and they 2 shot overland.

in a way zos messed up the order. pre pale order and heal cp. healer companion would have made more of a difference. companions last year and mythics this year.

doesurmindglow

I kinda agree with a lot of what's been said here, though with the added caveat I haven't done a tremendous amount of testing.

I have noticed two things likely to be persistent pain points though:

1. They seem to come at the expense of the banker, which means to summon one you have to unsummon the other, and vice versa; not a huge deal but coupled with the minimal utility of a companion definitely has you wondering why even bother...
2. Perhaps more importantly, they require specific "companion gear" that takes up space in inventory, and probably in loot tables also once they go live. I can see this getting irritating pretty quick to the point you'll just decon or whatever you have to do with companion gear and forgo the hassle. Could be easily solved by just. making. companions. wear. player. gear.

I don't think they're a bad addition to the game really but probably need a bit more work before they're truly exciting.

doesurmindglow

At the very least, I feel like companions should have their own inventory and carrying capacity for managing their companion gear such that the inventory and bank space alone doesn't become too vital an asset to sacrifice to a glorified combat pet that dies pretty easily if I'm not paying attention.

ArcVelarian

You know they're in a sad state at the moment when SWTOR, a ten year old game on a trickle of life support, does it better.

Chaos2088

They do need to have a power boost, they just don’t seem worth it in current state.

Again not on player level at all but as someone mentioned above it’s just like getting my banker out atm.

Tigertron

I think they will only tax the performance more. Mirri does a pitiful amount of damage and dies constantly like everyone states. Her banter is wearing on me. This shaping up to be a major fail.

crazepdx

From time to time I wonder if the devs actually play this game. None more then now with companions. They seem to require intense grinding to level skills, rapport and gear. The only problem is that it appears after all that intense grinding, you are just getting them to the point where they are meh. I actually pre-ordered the expansion just for the companions. After playing with them for almost a week, I wish I wouldn't have.

Anonx31st

Companions are not meant to replace average skilled players in dungeons. I will only be using my companions for solo questing.

CleymenZero

Anonx31st wrote: »

Companions are not meant to replace average skilled players in dungeons. I will only be using my companions for solo questing.

They can't even block a simple attack. Not asking for skills here, asking for just a successful block.

essi2

Currently the companions have zero survivability.

remosito

Anonx31st wrote: »

Companions are not meant to replace average skilled players in dungeons. I will only be using my companions for solo questing.

I do hope that was the intention. And ZOS didnt intend for more and failed the mark so completely.

But that is only the lesser part of the intention for companions. The much much more important part is they are intended to sell the next chapter.

I don't need help for solo questing at all. They don't really enable me to do things I wasn't able to do before. Unlike say pale order ring. Or get it done faster like wild hunt. Maybe if they were a free addition. And dont use any of my precious inventory. Heck if I dont want to let them die anytime I tackle sth harder. I either have to slot a taunt. Or an extra heal.

They use 3 of the four most valuable resources in game. Inventory. Skill bar slot. And a space in the rotation.

Compare that to mythic items. which feel more powerful (didnt test it with combat log addon. hence the feel). which uses only the 4th: gear slot.

I am far from a godmode soloist. I am probably at best mediocre. And they dont bring enough to my table as they are now. to be worth the price in money or ingame resources. And that will be similar for a big chunk of the community.

Unless you like the rp aspect. Or are truly not so great at games to the point basti or mirri actually do help..

they'll fail at selling this chapter

Alaztor91

I assume that ZOS didn't gave them the % damage reduction that the Scamp/Twilight/Bear have? Afaik the 3 permanent player combat-pets take 85% reduced damage from AoEs and DoTs in non-group zones and are immune to damage in Group Dungeons, Trials and Group Arenas.

Obviously don't make them invulnerable in group content, but if the AI they have is only slightly better than a combat pet then maybe they should receive a similar treatment.

crazepdx

Anonx31st wrote: »

Companions are not meant to replace average skilled players in dungeons. I will only be using my companions for solo questing.

I like to rp. I also spend most of my game time doing solo stuff. I am not an awesome player buy any stretch of the imagination. I am the target market for this, so much so I pre-ordered.
My bar wasn't set at being able to replace players. It was for them not to suck. The way they are designed now they don't even clear that bar. What's worse they require more inventory for gear farming, they are a liability in any content more then overland and they require grinding of levels, skills, guild skills and rapport to get them to a point they aren't as bad.

Sheuib

No one is forcing anyone to use them. Even if they have problems I am still looking forward to them. I mostly play with one other person and we actually do a lot of just overland farming while we are talking so the companions will provide some comedy relief I am sure. We already make fun of the banker and merchant. You have to find entertainment where entertainment is available.

Linaleah

crazepdx wrote: »

show previous quotes

Anonx31st wrote: »

Companions are not meant to replace average skilled players in dungeons. I will only be using my companions for solo questing.

I like to rp. I also spend most of my game time doing solo stuff. I am not an awesome player buy any stretch of the imagination. I am the target market for this, so much so I pre-ordered.
My bar wasn't set at being able to replace players. It was for them not to suck. The way they are designed now they don't even clear that bar. What's worse they require more inventory for gear farming, they are a liability in any content more then overland and they require grinding of levels, skills, guild skills and rapport to get them to a point they aren't as bad.

all of this.

I played on my sorc with companion out. they are significantly worse then my sorc pets. sorc pets are actualy helpful don't die as quickly and can be resummoned fast. and they seem to be doing more damage then companions as well.

companions are not even remotely helpful. even at max level with purple gear - they suck compared to existing class pets. their perks are honestly, not worth the grind.

Zorgon_The_Revenged

He got a "companion ice staff" drop on the final boss....🤔