Are Companions useful to you?

YstradClud

Yes. I will use them regularly.

Think they are a great idea that have a lot of potential. If I remember correctly World of Warcraft was playing around with a similar concept nut it was half baked. It's not all about usefulness to me. It just nice to have another companion apart from my non-combat pet who is kind of boring.

poodlemasterb16_ESO

No. I do not find them useful at all.

No. My Snapping Turtle is great. His eating animation often has him chowing down on corpses I have scattered about the place. He seems to enjoy dungeons.

Arbit

Sometimes. I will use them occasionally, while Questing, doing Overland content, fill missing player slots for Dungeons etc.

I’m really looking forward to more diverse choices in companions. I want my argonian companion~ Can’t wait to level them up, gear them, and learn about them. Really excited.

Iccotak

Companions in Skyrim were great in fights when I was a lower level and the difficulty was at a higher setting. They provided necessary distraction so then I could take on a group of enemies.

So I have two questions

1. What use companions could be in Overland when it is so very easy to do.

2. If a major goal behind companions is to encourage people to play dungeons then shouldn't companions be more competent?

Those trying out Beta - how useful are companions in early dungeons?

crazepdx

No. I do not find them useful at all.

Iccotak wrote: »

Companions in Skyrim were great in fights when I was a lower level and the difficulty was at a higher setting. They provided necessary distraction so then I could take on a group of enemies.

So I have two questions

1. What use companions could be in Overland when it is so very easy to do.

2. If a major goal behind companions is to encourage people to play dungeons then shouldn't companions be more competent?

Those trying out Beta - how useful are companions in early dungeons?

If you can already solo the content, you will be able to solo the content. If it's challenging it will be more challenging with add management and keeping them alive also, or you can just let them die and concentrate on finishing. If you can't do it without the help they give, you won't be able to do it with their help either.

Iccotak

crazepdx wrote: »

Iccotak wrote: »

Companions in Skyrim were great in fights when I was a lower level and the difficulty was at a higher setting. They provided necessary distraction so then I could take on a group of enemies.

So I have two questions

1. What use companions could be in Overland when it is so very easy to do.

2. If a major goal behind companions is to encourage people to play dungeons then shouldn't companions be more competent?

Those trying out Beta - how useful are companions in early dungeons?

If you can already solo the content, you will be able to solo the content. If it's challenging it will be more challenging with add management and keeping them alive also, or you can just let them die and concentrate on finishing. If you can't do it without the help they give, you won't be able to do it with their help either.

What about this hypothetical

2 level 20 players, with their companions, do "City of Ash I" on Normal - has anyone tried that out?

crazepdx

No. I do not find them useful at all.

Iccotak wrote: »

crazepdx wrote: »

Iccotak wrote: »

Companions in Skyrim were great in fights when I was a lower level and the difficulty was at a higher setting. They provided necessary distraction so then I could take on a group of enemies.

So I have two questions

1. What use companions could be in Overland when it is so very easy to do.

2. If a major goal behind companions is to encourage people to play dungeons then shouldn't companions be more competent?

Those trying out Beta - how useful are companions in early dungeons?

If you can already solo the content, you will be able to solo the content. If it's challenging it will be more challenging with add management and keeping them alive also, or you can just let them die and concentrate on finishing. If you can't do it without the help they give, you won't be able to do it with their help either.

What about this hypothetical

2 level 20 players, with their companions, do "City of Ash I" on Normal - has anyone tried that out?

Depends on how skilled the players are honestly. Infernal Guardian would be sketchy with its aoe fire attacks. The companions will stand in the flames and let themselves roast, I don't know that I would want them for a primary healer and they do around 10k dps so maybe as a tank if you have a good healer. Except then you also have the warden where there's patches of fire the tank needs to move the boss out of, so you are back to using them range dps and doing very long fights. It is possible I guess. Not sure I would want to do it, but it's doable, I guess.

Linaleah

No. I do not find them useful at all.

Elsonso wrote: »

Linaleah wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Mirri is level 4. My character is level 7, I think, and only had an amulet, and three pieces of armor earned from skipping the tutorial. I should not be able to solo the oblivion content with a low level single bar naked magplar that does not even have an ultimate and win any of those battles. That is a different issue.

bolded. are you talking about overworld quests in new zone on pts? because if yes - you absolutely SHOULD be able to solo that content at your level. its kinda the point of the whole starting new characters in newest zone thing. new expansion is not designed to be harder then older content. its designed to be accessible to new player just getting into the game. you being able to solo it? is as intended. you are doing content that is meant for solo leveling player, NOT group content. that is no indication of companion helpfulness as this is the content that you should be able to do with or without companion.

No, I am talking about jumping into an oblivion gate in Blackwood, with no other players around. This is "public dungeon" content. If ZOS thinks that this content is intended to be done solo by a character that was created earlier this week, has no/poor armor, and doesn't even have a fully developed front bar...

(Edit: if we can be expected to solo the oblivion gate/deadlands content, then I shouldn't even need to bring a weapon to the delves. I generally don't do the delve content on PTS, but I should take Fenrald in there and see how he does on a naked run.)

gates are made to require relatively small group because they are random and you may not have people around to play them with (the only gate I managed to find on pts became an absolute joke once 2 other players showed up, to the point where we glitched the boss by doing too much damage. we literally had to light attack slowly just to make sure it doesn't glitch again - though i do believe that boss was patched since then, but you get the point). they are indeed a sort of mini public dungeon. and depending on your existing ability as a player (you do not sound like a new player to me) - yes, they are soloable even at low level (especially since the scaling at low levels makes your character hit harder and have more health, to compensate for lack of leveled up abilities, passives, backbar etc), with or without companions.

Orion_89

Yes. I will use them regularly.

I didn't asked or even thought about adding a companions in ESO, but it is defenetly what I was needed! I saw the videos from PTS and I think that after some polishings throughout the year they will become an ideal tool for RP/noob purposes. I'm pretty sure it will be one of the main things that will keep newcomers in game.

Bravo, ZOS!

P.S. I am pretty strong now and complete almost every quest in the game, but what the hell, I want to become noob again just to run the game with a companion!

Morgha_Kul

Sometimes. I will use them occasionally, while Questing, doing Overland content, fill missing player slots for Dungeons etc.

Linaleah wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Linaleah wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Mirri is level 4. My character is level 7, I think, and only had an amulet, and three pieces of armor earned from skipping the tutorial. I should not be able to solo the oblivion content with a low level single bar naked magplar that does not even have an ultimate and win any of those battles. That is a different issue.

bolded. are you talking about overworld quests in new zone on pts? because if yes - you absolutely SHOULD be able to solo that content at your level. its kinda the point of the whole starting new characters in newest zone thing. new expansion is not designed to be harder then older content. its designed to be accessible to new player just getting into the game. you being able to solo it? is as intended. you are doing content that is meant for solo leveling player, NOT group content. that is no indication of companion helpfulness as this is the content that you should be able to do with or without companion.

No, I am talking about jumping into an oblivion gate in Blackwood, with no other players around. This is "public dungeon" content. If ZOS thinks that this content is intended to be done solo by a character that was created earlier this week, has no/poor armor, and doesn't even have a fully developed front bar...

(Edit: if we can be expected to solo the oblivion gate/deadlands content, then I shouldn't even need to bring a weapon to the delves. I generally don't do the delve content on PTS, but I should take Fenrald in there and see how he does on a naked run.)

gates are made to require relatively small group because they are random and you may not have people around to play them with (the only gate I managed to find on pts became an absolute joke once 2 other players showed up, to the point where we glitched the boss by doing too much damage. we literally had to light attack slowly just to make sure it doesn't glitch again - though i do believe that boss was patched since then, but you get the point). they are indeed a sort of mini public dungeon. and depending on your existing ability as a player (you do not sound like a new player to me) - yes, they are soloable even at low level (especially since the scaling at low levels makes your character hit harder and have more health, to compensate for lack of leveled up abilities, passives, backbar etc), with or without companions.

Thing is, there's ALREADY plenty of content in the game that I won't/CAN'T do. Until more recently, it's all been stuff I can take or leave. Lately, though, it's been stuff in the actual game world... things like those Harrowstorms (which I've only really encountered for the first time recently). Nobody will tell me that's not Raid level content... sitting in overland areas.

I have a Dragonknight character who is about L20. He's decently equipped for his level, and can readily solo pretty well anything he comes up against, including some world bosses. The other day, I was in Blackreach trying to get to a quest that required passing an active Harrowstorm. There were already a few players there battling away. As I was running through, there were suddenly dozens or red AOE markers all over the ground. So many, that there was literally nowhere to go to get out of the areas of effect. With nowhere to go, I just roll dodged, and got hit by ONE of them. It did a bit of 41k damage. My character has about 20k health MAXIMUM. Now, I wasn't trying to participate, but if I was... what would I be doing? There's no way for me to survive, and I can't imagine my damage output is going to contribute ANYTHING if the enemies defensive abilities are similar to their offense.

I also have a maximum level Templar. This is more or less my main character, and he's pretty well equipped. Granted, he's a hybrid character, so he's not going to be top of the line... but he is more than decent. He can readily solo pretty well all the original zone World bosses, and could probably do most of the earlier group dungeons on his own. Public dungeons are no trouble for him at all, and I quite enjoy them. He came out of the Stillwater Retreat and found the werewolf Worldbosses in Western Skyrim had appeared. I lingered around until some people attacked, and then joined in. I was hitting them with everything I had. They were doing around 90% of his health every time they hit him, and that was THROUGH his damage shields. He's heavily armoured, and pretty darn tanky, but they were just obliterating him with every hit. When the battle was over, I wandered around looking for loot... but there was NONE. I got NOTHING from the battle; apparently I didn't do enough damage compared to what other players had done. That's an issue on two levels. First, there's the degree of power players have been allowed to develop. The discrepancy is SO HUGE now that there was literally NOTHING I could contribute. Second, the level of power newer enemies have been given is SO absurd now BECAUSE of the insane power creep, that it's become impossible for players like myself, who are more casual, more incapable, or less experienced in general to participate. This is the danger of allowing power creep to get out of control.

Now, there IS a place for content of that level of difficulty. Veteran Dungeons and Trials are designed for that, but that's where content that difficult needs to STAY. You can't put that kind of stuff in the open world (with the exception of world bosses, but even there there has to be limits).

Ideally, they should scale back the level of power of the players and these kinds of enemies. My character can do about 8-12k dps (according to the dummies I have). Other characters I have only do around 4-6k dps. They can ALL solo all the original content, including public dungeons and many world bosses. As such, I feel that this represents what I would say is the reasonable "average" capability of players... not merely because it's about where I am, and I consider myself a fairly average player... but because much more than that trivializes much of the game... which means producing more and more difficult content, to challenge the players with those higher values, but which excludes the more average players. I'm not expert enough to say for certain, but I feel that there are too many things that allow the absurd dps players achieve. If attack weaving is part of it, then something should be done about that. If specific gear sets are doing it, something should be done about that. Whatever it takes, I feel that the balance of the game is getting more and more out of whack and desperately needs to be brought under control before it's too late... if it isn't already so.

But then, I've said this before, as have many others. Nothing was done then, I don't imagine anything will be done now... but I feel the need to say it, regardless.

Ryuvain

Sometimes. I will use them occasionally, while Questing, doing Overland content, fill missing player slots for Dungeons etc.

Morgha_Kul wrote: »

Linaleah wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Linaleah wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Mirri is level 4. My character is level 7, I think, and only had an amulet, and three pieces of armor earned from skipping the tutorial. I should not be able to solo the oblivion content with a low level single bar naked magplar that does not even have an ultimate and win any of those battles. That is a different issue.

bolded. are you talking about overworld quests in new zone on pts? because if yes - you absolutely SHOULD be able to solo that content at your level. its kinda the point of the whole starting new characters in newest zone thing. new expansion is not designed to be harder then older content. its designed to be accessible to new player just getting into the game. you being able to solo it? is as intended. you are doing content that is meant for solo leveling player, NOT group content. that is no indication of companion helpfulness as this is the content that you should be able to do with or without companion.

No, I am talking about jumping into an oblivion gate in Blackwood, with no other players around. This is "public dungeon" content. If ZOS thinks that this content is intended to be done solo by a character that was created earlier this week, has no/poor armor, and doesn't even have a fully developed front bar...

(Edit: if we can be expected to solo the oblivion gate/deadlands content, then I shouldn't even need to bring a weapon to the delves. I generally don't do the delve content on PTS, but I should take Fenrald in there and see how he does on a naked run.)

gates are made to require relatively small group because they are random and you may not have people around to play them with (the only gate I managed to find on pts became an absolute joke once 2 other players showed up, to the point where we glitched the boss by doing too much damage. we literally had to light attack slowly just to make sure it doesn't glitch again - though i do believe that boss was patched since then, but you get the point). they are indeed a sort of mini public dungeon. and depending on your existing ability as a player (you do not sound like a new player to me) - yes, they are soloable even at low level (especially since the scaling at low levels makes your character hit harder and have more health, to compensate for lack of leveled up abilities, passives, backbar etc), with or without companions.

Thing is, there's ALREADY plenty of content in the game that I won't/CAN'T do. Until more recently, it's all been stuff I can take or leave. Lately, though, it's been stuff in the actual game world... things like those Harrowstorms (which I've only really encountered for the first time recently). Nobody will tell me that's not Raid level content... sitting in overland areas.

I have a Dragonknight character who is about L20. He's decently equipped for his level, and can readily solo pretty well anything he comes up against, including some world bosses. The other day, I was in Blackreach trying to get to a quest that required passing an active Harrowstorm. There were already a few players there battling away. As I was running through, there were suddenly dozens or red AOE markers all over the ground. So many, that there was literally nowhere to go to get out of the areas of effect. With nowhere to go, I just roll dodged, and got hit by ONE of them. It did a bit of 41k damage. My character has about 20k health MAXIMUM. Now, I wasn't trying to participate, but if I was... what would I be doing? There's no way for me to survive, and I can't imagine my damage output is going to contribute ANYTHING if the enemies defensive abilities are similar to their offense.

I also have a maximum level Templar. This is more or less my main character, and he's pretty well equipped. Granted, he's a hybrid character, so he's not going to be top of the line... but he is more than decent. He can readily solo pretty well all the original zone World bosses, and could probably do most of the earlier group dungeons on his own. Public dungeons are no trouble for him at all, and I quite enjoy them. He came out of the Stillwater Retreat and found the werewolf Worldbosses in Western Skyrim had appeared. I lingered around until some people attacked, and then joined in. I was hitting them with everything I had. They were doing around 90% of his health every time they hit him, and that was THROUGH his damage shields. He's heavily armoured, and pretty darn tanky, but they were just obliterating him with every hit. When the battle was over, I wandered around looking for loot... but there was NONE. I got NOTHING from the battle; apparently I didn't do enough damage compared to what other players had done. That's an issue on two levels. First, there's the degree of power players have been allowed to develop. The discrepancy is SO HUGE now that there was literally NOTHING I could contribute. Second, the level of power newer enemies have been given is SO absurd now BECAUSE of the insane power creep, that it's become impossible for players like myself, who are more casual, more incapable, or less experienced in general to participate. This is the danger of allowing power creep to get out of control.

Now, there IS a place for content of that level of difficulty. Veteran Dungeons and Trials are designed for that, but that's where content that difficult needs to STAY. You can't put that kind of stuff in the open world (with the exception of world bosses, but even there there has to be limits).

Ideally, they should scale back the level of power of the players and these kinds of enemies. My character can do about 8-12k dps (according to the dummies I have). Other characters I have only do around 4-6k dps. They can ALL solo all the original content, including public dungeons and many world bosses. As such, I feel that this represents what I would say is the reasonable "average" capability of players... not merely because it's about where I am, and I consider myself a fairly average player... but because much more than that trivializes much of the game... which means producing more and more difficult content, to challenge the players with those higher values, but which excludes the more average players. I'm not expert enough to say for certain, but I feel that there are too many things that allow the absurd dps players achieve. If attack weaving is part of it, then something should be done about that. If specific gear sets are doing it, something should be done about that. Whatever it takes, I feel that the balance of the game is getting more and more out of whack and desperately needs to be brought under control before it's too late... if it isn't already so.

But then, I've said this before, as have many others. Nothing was done then, I don't imagine anything will be done now... but I feel the need to say it, regardless.

Tbh harrowstorms aren't balanced well at all. For example a high level can facetank 5+ bosses and live. But if a single shrike shows up, all of a sudden most players are dying to 45k damage a tic.

TelvanniWizard

No. I do not find them useful at all.

Their customisation is SO lacking that they are useless to me, from a cosmetic and rp perspective.

Morgha_Kul

Sometimes. I will use them occasionally, while Questing, doing Overland content, fill missing player slots for Dungeons etc.

Ryuvain wrote: »

Morgha_Kul wrote: »

Linaleah wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Linaleah wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

Mirri is level 4. My character is level 7, I think, and only had an amulet, and three pieces of armor earned from skipping the tutorial. I should not be able to solo the oblivion content with a low level single bar naked magplar that does not even have an ultimate and win any of those battles. That is a different issue.

bolded. are you talking about overworld quests in new zone on pts? because if yes - you absolutely SHOULD be able to solo that content at your level. its kinda the point of the whole starting new characters in newest zone thing. new expansion is not designed to be harder then older content. its designed to be accessible to new player just getting into the game. you being able to solo it? is as intended. you are doing content that is meant for solo leveling player, NOT group content. that is no indication of companion helpfulness as this is the content that you should be able to do with or without companion.

No, I am talking about jumping into an oblivion gate in Blackwood, with no other players around. This is "public dungeon" content. If ZOS thinks that this content is intended to be done solo by a character that was created earlier this week, has no/poor armor, and doesn't even have a fully developed front bar...

(Edit: if we can be expected to solo the oblivion gate/deadlands content, then I shouldn't even need to bring a weapon to the delves. I generally don't do the delve content on PTS, but I should take Fenrald in there and see how he does on a naked run.)

gates are made to require relatively small group because they are random and you may not have people around to play them with (the only gate I managed to find on pts became an absolute joke once 2 other players showed up, to the point where we glitched the boss by doing too much damage. we literally had to light attack slowly just to make sure it doesn't glitch again - though i do believe that boss was patched since then, but you get the point). they are indeed a sort of mini public dungeon. and depending on your existing ability as a player (you do not sound like a new player to me) - yes, they are soloable even at low level (especially since the scaling at low levels makes your character hit harder and have more health, to compensate for lack of leveled up abilities, passives, backbar etc), with or without companions.

Thing is, there's ALREADY plenty of content in the game that I won't/CAN'T do. Until more recently, it's all been stuff I can take or leave. Lately, though, it's been stuff in the actual game world... things like those Harrowstorms (which I've only really encountered for the first time recently). Nobody will tell me that's not Raid level content... sitting in overland areas.

I have a Dragonknight character who is about L20. He's decently equipped for his level, and can readily solo pretty well anything he comes up against, including some world bosses. The other day, I was in Blackreach trying to get to a quest that required passing an active Harrowstorm. There were already a few players there battling away. As I was running through, there were suddenly dozens or red AOE markers all over the ground. So many, that there was literally nowhere to go to get out of the areas of effect. With nowhere to go, I just roll dodged, and got hit by ONE of them. It did a bit of 41k damage. My character has about 20k health MAXIMUM. Now, I wasn't trying to participate, but if I was... what would I be doing? There's no way for me to survive, and I can't imagine my damage output is going to contribute ANYTHING if the enemies defensive abilities are similar to their offense.

I also have a maximum level Templar. This is more or less my main character, and he's pretty well equipped. Granted, he's a hybrid character, so he's not going to be top of the line... but he is more than decent. He can readily solo pretty well all the original zone World bosses, and could probably do most of the earlier group dungeons on his own. Public dungeons are no trouble for him at all, and I quite enjoy them. He came out of the Stillwater Retreat and found the werewolf Worldbosses in Western Skyrim had appeared. I lingered around until some people attacked, and then joined in. I was hitting them with everything I had. They were doing around 90% of his health every time they hit him, and that was THROUGH his damage shields. He's heavily armoured, and pretty darn tanky, but they were just obliterating him with every hit. When the battle was over, I wandered around looking for loot... but there was NONE. I got NOTHING from the battle; apparently I didn't do enough damage compared to what other players had done. That's an issue on two levels. First, there's the degree of power players have been allowed to develop. The discrepancy is SO HUGE now that there was literally NOTHING I could contribute. Second, the level of power newer enemies have been given is SO absurd now BECAUSE of the insane power creep, that it's become impossible for players like myself, who are more casual, more incapable, or less experienced in general to participate. This is the danger of allowing power creep to get out of control.

Now, there IS a place for content of that level of difficulty. Veteran Dungeons and Trials are designed for that, but that's where content that difficult needs to STAY. You can't put that kind of stuff in the open world (with the exception of world bosses, but even there there has to be limits).

Ideally, they should scale back the level of power of the players and these kinds of enemies. My character can do about 8-12k dps (according to the dummies I have). Other characters I have only do around 4-6k dps. They can ALL solo all the original content, including public dungeons and many world bosses. As such, I feel that this represents what I would say is the reasonable "average" capability of players... not merely because it's about where I am, and I consider myself a fairly average player... but because much more than that trivializes much of the game... which means producing more and more difficult content, to challenge the players with those higher values, but which excludes the more average players. I'm not expert enough to say for certain, but I feel that there are too many things that allow the absurd dps players achieve. If attack weaving is part of it, then something should be done about that. If specific gear sets are doing it, something should be done about that. Whatever it takes, I feel that the balance of the game is getting more and more out of whack and desperately needs to be brought under control before it's too late... if it isn't already so.

But then, I've said this before, as have many others. Nothing was done then, I don't imagine anything will be done now... but I feel the need to say it, regardless.

Tbh harrowstorms aren't balanced well at all. For example a high level can facetank 5+ bosses and live. But if a single shrike shows up, all of a sudden most players are dying to 45k damage a tic.

Perhaps, but they're not the only example.

Morgha_Kul

Sometimes. I will use them occasionally, while Questing, doing Overland content, fill missing player slots for Dungeons etc.

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

Their customisation is SO lacking that they are useless to me, from a cosmetic and rp perspective.

Ya, it would have been great if we could recruit almost any npc... or design our own companions.

As I mentioned, Morgha Kul would be travelling with Sergeant Seyne, if he had the choice.

Suna_Ye_Sunnabe

No. I do not find them useful at all.

Unless I can design one as I do my own characters for RP purposes, I have zero interest in them.

Lugaldu

Yes. I will use them regularly.

colossalvoids wrote: »

I’ve actually been wondering about that. If we CAN buy Crown Store companions at some point, wouldn’t that mean they would be selling things that can help with damage, healing, and tanking, especially if companions get better? I would think that if they do this, they would only do it after a companion representing a certain class has already been put into the game for free, i.e., now that we have Bastien and Mirri, they could sell us Dragonknight and Nightblade companions with access to the exact same skills as the two companions we already have, making the Crown Store companions cosmetic/story upgrades only.

Maybe they would sell them rather like a questline/dlc, what would fit since there are quests connected to them.

Elsonso

Sometimes. I will use them occasionally, while Questing, doing Overland content, fill missing player slots for Dungeons etc.

Linaleah wrote: »

gates are made to require relatively small group because they are random and you may not have people around to play them with (the only gate I managed to find on pts became an absolute joke once 2 other players showed up, to the point where we glitched the boss by doing too much damage. we literally had to light attack slowly just to make sure it doesn't glitch again - though i do believe that boss was patched since then, but you get the point). they are indeed a sort of mini public dungeon. and depending on your existing ability as a player (you do not sound like a new player to me) - yes, they are soloable even at low level (especially since the scaling at low levels makes your character hit harder and have more health, to compensate for lack of leveled up abilities, passives, backbar etc), with or without companions.

My point is that they should not be that easy to solo.

The description that they have verbalized suggests that, like world bosses, some people will be able to solo them. I have not rewatched the video, but my recollection of the tone is that what they meant was that most people will not be able to solo it.

I expect that I can solo these, at minimum to the first boss, especially when using my normal characters.

However, when running a character that is essentially crippled, I am finding it easier than what I would expect from the premiere event in the zone. This leads me to believe that these gates are solo-able to a much broader range of player skills than I gathered from that statement on ESO Live.

To be clear, my reason for being in there is to see how the companions perform with a similarly low level character, not to solo the oblivion gates.