Companions - Your first impression on our new friends

GreenHere

mwo1480 wrote: »

had a lot of fun with the male one, but damn so much annoying comments they make, and for some reason mirri keeps deactivating randomly so kinda dont use her now

In case you're not aware, @mwo1480 , there's a setting in ... I'm pretty sure it's the General settings submenu, but might be misremembering... that can alter their chatter frequency some. It only goes from Infrequent to Normal to Frequent (so there's not [snip] option), but it might help you enjoy your experience with them more.

[edited for profanity bypass]

SammyKhajit

If there is a quest where a temporary follower is required, that quest won’t work until you unsummon the companions. Happened in the werewolf quests in Glenumbra several times.

proprio.meb16_ESO

SilverBride wrote: »

proprio.meb16_ESO wrote: »

Hey! Bastian is the damn Vault Tech representative!

You should post that in this thread:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/575557/bastian-looks-a-lot-like#latest

Thanks man, just done

mwo1480

GreenHere wrote: »

mwo1480 wrote: »

had a lot of fun with the male one, but damn so much annoying comments they make, and for some reason mirri keeps deactivating randomly so kinda dont use her now

In case you're not aware, @mwo1480 , there's a setting in ... I'm pretty sure it's the General settings submenu, but might be misremembering... that can alter their chatter frequency some. It only goes from Infrequent to Normal to Frequent (so there's not [snip] option), but it might help you enjoy your experience with them more.

thanks, will check it out after maintaince

[edited to remove quote]

RedSwallow

My first impression is that I'm tired of Bastian constantly smiling like he's drunk. :0

RedSwallow

SilverBride wrote: »

ikepooleb14_ESO wrote: »

The prologue quest made me REALLY want an Eveli Sharp-Arrow companion. She was freakin hilarious and cute as a button.

I hate her more than Sai Sahan, and that's saying a lot.

I had to burn through half the chapter not even looking at the dialogues because I just wanted to get rid of her and stop being pressed to ask of her opinion after basically every breath I take. :')

Lugaldu

GenjiraX wrote: »

I haven’t encountered the companions yet but the forum is full of others’ opinions, almost universally negative, which leave me unenthusiastic about engaging with them. They seem to be at once an annoyance, an inconvenience and a liability. Is this a fair judgment?

No, it is not a fair judgment and it is not justified either. There were so many people in advance who had a negative opinion of the companions before they could even be tested. At first some were afraid that they would be too good and replace real players, then they were too weak ... Some people just like to complain, even if they could just ignore something they don't care about.
Everyone has to decide for themselves whether companions fit their play style, but should not be influenced by negative opinions beforehand. I find companions very entertaining.

AlgolStar

I'm not touching these things until they're...

Nevermind, I don't care about them.

Lauranae

just did Zenithar Abbey

I am lv 32 warden magicka, went with Mirri (bow) Lv 6 - my back bar had 1 barrier and 1 heal
My gear for now is a set julianos/newmoon lv 24

We completed all the bosses and what surprised me the most, was for the group boss.
Not only she never died, but moved out of the traps and was not static

And for those who did not do this public dungeon yet, some bosses are way more powered than on Tamriel, with more mechanics to avoid and more adds.

This was not easy and took me a long time to finish.

mague

Works nice. Mirri with bow works nice in solo key runs. Chamber of Madness was fun... Dual wield works on easier content too. Its all a question of itemizing ofc. And my Mirri is only level 8, there are some cool skills ahead to unlock. She is better at weaving then me

I like it that she has personality and i care for her like healing or slotting the taunt from undaunted skills.

But her red awareness is bad. She really should be aware of red and move.

We should be able to group with them. Otherwise a lot of skills and sets dont work. Almalexia for example dosnt proc on her (just as it does not proc on the bear pet) Just like any other set that procs /buffs the group or raid does not work.

Starlight_Whisper

Altaire wrote: »

Do companions get in you way like combat pets?

Yeah sometimes they are on same path.

AzuraFan

Is there a way to shut off the nagging and not lose rapport for doing stuff? I only have Bastian so far, and as others have reported, he nags every time I steal something (and I lose rapport or whatever it's called). Mirri will be worse for me because I fish and often harvest bugs for bait.

My bear (my main is a warden) is threatening to leave unless the nagging stops. Can't say I blame her. Not sure who thought being nagged in-game would be a positive player experience.

Other than that, I was enjoying having Bastian along. But unless I can turn off nanny mode, I won't be using the companions all that much.

Sinlar

It is also worth noting, as a sorcerer who has always fought alongside both Clannfear and Twilight.
That the synergies that are developing between them and Miri through all the various combat skills are definitely intriguing.

Riding into town as our own horde is just a sweet moon sugar icing..
o.0

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

Just my two cents:
I haven't bought blackwood so I can't say about companions. I will perhaps buy it once all the bugs are filtered out.

ectoplasmicninja

On the PTS, in my experience, they sucked. They died in public dungeons, in regular dungeons, and to world bosses, even in purple gear. It was terrible and my opinion of them was low. But they have evidently received some stealth buffs not explicitly noted in patches, because I actually haven't seen Bastian keel over every five minutes since I got him. He is level 12 now in white and green gear, and I haven't taken him into vet content or group dungeons other than the first boss of Spindleclutch for the achievement, so all our adventuring has been overland and public dungeons, but if I recall correctly he hasn't died once.

That said, he is set up fully ranged and primarily with heals. If you want them to stay alive it is a good idea to make them keep their distance and focus on healing. They do block heavy attacks, but their ability to move out of ground AOEs is hit or miss, and of course they don't interrupt and they have a cooldown on dodge rolls so they may or may not get themselves out of danger effectively.

The gear drops are extremely slow to come, and their rapport is extremely slow to increase unless you basically just chain the relevant guild dailies one after the other, so evidently they will be a work in progress for some time. And they do have their likes and dislikes, which may or may not mesh well with your playstyle. You can always unsummon them if you want to do thieving runs, or grab torchbugs, or slaughter innocents...or take boats. And there are glitches - they sometimes unsummon themselves, or their gear disappears, or sometimes every follower onscreen gets a questgiver icon over their head.

But honestly, my main complaint about them is that they aren't as deep or interesting as I hoped they would be. That said, I have a high standard for such things, because I play Skyrim with the Inigo follower mod and he is absolutely amazing and feels very much like an individual and like a friend. I think ZOS has a lot of work to do if they want to craft a satisfying relationship between us and companions. But they aren't terrible or useless anymore.

Wolf_Eye

ectoplasmicninja wrote: »

And there are glitches - they sometimes unsummon themselves, or their gear disappears, or sometimes every follower onscreen gets a questgiver icon over their head.

I heard they unsummon themselves if their rapport is too low, but are they unsummoning themselves other times as well? Also, how are people getting the quest marker above all the companions' heads? I'm unsure how it happens or how to stop it....

ectoplasmicninja wrote: »

But honestly, my main complaint about them is that they aren't as deep or interesting as I hoped they would be. That said, I have a high standard for such things, because I play Skyrim with the Inigo follower mod and he is absolutely amazing and feels very much like an individual and like a friend. I think ZOS has a lot of work to do if they want to craft a satisfying relationship between us and companions. But they aren't terrible or useless anymore.

I agree. When you go to talk to them, they only have like three lines of conversation. They react to things, and that's great, but it still feels a little shallow. Definitely not as good as Inigo, or even as good as the Interesting NPCs mod. Heck I think Serana had more to her too, and she was a canon game follower not made by mod authors.

I guess I don't necessarily need them to be on the same level as Inigo, but it would be nice to have a little more to their conversations, maybe even have the ability to do emotes together sit in chairs together and stuff. Share a meal or so. Make camp to rest for a bit (I remember fondly the campfire mod from TES 5, and the support it had for followers).

GreenHere

Wolf_Eye wrote: »

ectoplasmicninja wrote: »

And there are glitches - they sometimes unsummon themselves, or their gear disappears, or sometimes every follower onscreen gets a questgiver icon over their head.

I heard they unsummon themselves if their rapport is too low, but are they unsummoning themselves other times as well? Also, how are people getting the quest marker above all the companions' heads? I'm unsure how it happens or how to stop it....

ectoplasmicninja wrote: »

But honestly, my main complaint about them is that they aren't as deep or interesting as I hoped they would be. That said, I have a high standard for such things, because I play Skyrim with the Inigo follower mod and he is absolutely amazing and feels very much like an individual and like a friend. I think ZOS has a lot of work to do if they want to craft a satisfying relationship between us and companions. But they aren't terrible or useless anymore.

I agree. When you go to talk to them, they only have like three lines of conversation. They react to things, and that's great, but it still feels a little shallow. Definitely not as good as Inigo, or even as good as the Interesting NPCs mod. Heck I think Serana had more to her too, and she was a canon game follower not made by mod authors.

I guess I don't necessarily need them to be on the same level as Inigo, but it would be nice to have a little more to their conversations, maybe even have the ability to do emotes together sit in chairs together and stuff. Share a meal or so. Make camp to rest for a bit (I remember fondly the campfire mod from TES 5, and the support it had for followers).

Guys, I don't mean to tell y'all what to do or anything, but...

Can we please stop talking about Inigo? I've already downloaded, deleted, redownloaded, and redeleted Skyrim I don't know how many times; not to mention how many times Tadd Haword has tricked me into buying the same game in different iterations over the years...

Y'all are making me want to go download Skyrim and mod in Inigo all over again, and I just don't think I have it in me right now! Stop tickling my nostalgia bone, please!



But yeah, once you've played other games with significantly superior followers, it really is hard not to hold these ESO Companions to a similar standard. I know it's not fair, but I can't help but feel they're just lacking in depth, as others have said. It's hard not to feel like these Comps are a bit "phoned-in" in some ways.

JTD

GreenHere wrote: »

But yeah, once you've played other games with significantly superior followers, it really is hard not to hold these ESO Companions to a similar standard. I know it's not fair, but I can't help but feel they're just lacking in depth, as others have said. It's hard not to feel like these Comps are a bit "phoned-in" in some ways.

I had high hopes...
Sadly they don't even come close to SWTOR companions... devs take a look and learn how they implemented this. I went through hell and back with my companions in SWTOR, romanced had fall outs... they helped me when i needed them I helped them.... nothing of the like with the ESO ones....

Wolf_Eye

GreenHere wrote: »

Can we please stop talking about Inigo? I've already downloaded, deleted, redownloaded, and redeleted Skyrim I don't know how many times; not to mention how many times Tadd Haword has tricked me into buying the same game in different iterations over the years...

Oh? Haven't you heard? They're going to release TES 5 for your smart appliances.

Now you can play Skyrim on your refrigerator door!

GreenHere

Wolf_Eye wrote: »

GreenHere wrote: »

Can we please stop talking about Inigo? I've already downloaded, deleted, redownloaded, and redeleted Skyrim I don't know how many times; not to mention how many times Tadd Haword has tricked me into buying the same game in different iterations over the years...

Oh? Haven't you heard? They're going to release TES 5 for your smart appliances.

Now you can play Skyrim on your refrigerator door!

ectoplasmicninja

@GreenHere - sorry not sorry, but...it might be time for you to go play Skyrim again. Just one more time. I know you can quit anytime you want, but...just once more. And this time next year you'll probably be able to play it on your calculator, which will definitely be good time for another playthrough...

Yeah, I didn't think they would be as amazing and immersive as Inigo, but I still hoped for more than three lines of dialogue under "tell me more about yourself" and another three under "how do you feel about our partnership". Three. Seriously. They're just not responsive enough to where we are or what's happening. Specifics are important. React to the desert, the forest, the goblins, the undead. Maybe even the weapon I'm using or what class I am. Recognize things I've done in the past as though I've told you about them, or at the very least make references to things we've done together.

I fully get that coding all this stuff must be complicated, but the dude who made Inigo is largely a one-man show. I know Bethesda has it in them to build this stuff in. This is the kind of stuff casuals and roleplayers and lorehounds enjoy, and the percentage of ESO players who fall in that demographic is enormous.

Dropstitch

I was unsure at first, but as companions level up and learn (moderately) useful skills a I am finding them a lot of fun. Two skills in particular improved my companion's effectiveness a lot:

Levitation:



and the ability to summon rock armour:

SammyKhajit

Agrees with Inigo comment. zOS please just hire the person who created Inigo and create a companion!

As characters, Mirri beats Bastion by a smidgen. She is pretty good with public dungeons and WB, die less and doesn’t mind if this one steals.

Bastion is not bad with healing, but the comments!

“Taste our steel!” Um, Bastion, you are using a restoration staff

“The days is ours!” Before promptly falls dead.

Whereas Mirri’s quite amusing with the fighting dialogues, such as joining the Buoyant Armigers after this or that she’s never fought so much until she met the player

Wolf_Eye

SammyKhajit wrote: »

“The days is ours!” Before promptly falls dead.

I feel that in my very soul.

"Seize the day!" I say, getting out of bed and then promptly falling back into bed and straight to sleep again.

FootprintsInTheAsh

Started testing my Mirri in normal dungeons.

Mirri 20 lvl, 7 pieces of white, green and blue heavy armor, 2h shovel (not the best choice, I just like to see when daedra and monsters freeze in fear when she suddenly appears with a shovel in hands next to them)



City of Ash II. Mirri died only once. Ash Titan burned her, but it was my fault.
Falkreath Hold. No deaths for Mirri. I've been killed twice by trash mobs.
Banished Cells II. No deaths for Mirri. I was killed once when I tried to disable the interface and take a screenshot during the battle with High Kinlord Rilis. So I can't show the process, just the afterparty.



In general, first impressions are good.

SammyKhajit

Today, Bastion did a good thing. He dodge rolled and immediately blocked an attack. This one was so proud, had to wipe a tear off with paw.

Mirri also gave Sammy a personal/family quest after countless fighters guild and Ashlander relics quest in Aldruhn

Starshadw

I'm enjoying the Companion system, and see the potential in it. It certainly does need some tweaking:

1. As others have pointed out, if they truly are intended to be useful in more difficult content (as in, anything that isn't overland) for anyone other than a healer main, they are going to need to be a bit stouter in terms of the amount of damage they can take. As a templar, I can keep an eye on them and heal as needed, but not everyone is going to be able to do that. And in more difficult battles, it's not viable to just keep healing them - battles would take too long because they don't do enough damage.
2. Related to item 1, this means making their AI smart enough to realize that standing in ground AOE (or in a boss' aural AOE) is BAD and that they need to re-position out of the damage area. I watched repeatedly as Bastian simply stood in ground AOE, letting it damage him. I also noticed that when wielding a staff, once he goes into combat, he often never moves position at all unless it's to roll-dodge backwards when a mob gets too close and he thus wants to be at range. This can be bad - several times, he came dangerously close to resetting a boss because he was backing out of the area. The other thing this "moving backwards" has caused several times is Bastian backing up to a wall, and then, with the mob in front of him, he is effectively "stuck" until that mob dies, because he's not smart enough to roll-dodge forward or to the side. On the flip side, I tried equipping Bastian with a sword and shield because I got tired of having to chase mobs backwards to him because of the aggro pull issue (see Item 3 below) and while they helped a little with overland mobs, he promptly killed himself by standing in Havocrel's aural AOE.
3. Companions need to not draw aggro unless the player has given them taunt skills, or unless they happen to be attacking a mob the player hasn't damaged (which can happen in large fights). As others have pointed out, it's incredibly strange to have mobs I'm damaging decide they want to run to the Companion. It's great that they want to give dps/healers a tank, but the player needs to have more control over when that happens. Basically, aggro needs to default to the player, not the Companion.
4. We absolutely need more customization options - it's too jarring to see Bastian / Mirri clones everywhere you look. It's nice to be able to put costumes on them, yes, but it's not enough. We also need a better / faster way to visually locate them. In world boss / Havocrel / Harrowstorm fights, I've occasionally wanted to give "my" Bastian a heal, but had difficulty in finding him quickly amongst the dozens of other Bastians because at some point during the fight, he had to re-position to attack.

GreenHere

Starshadw wrote: »

We also need a better / faster way to visually locate them. In world boss / Havocrel / Harrowstorm fights, I've occasionally wanted to give "my" Bastian a heal, but had difficulty in finding him quickly amongst the dozens of other Bastians because at some point during the fight, he had to re-position to attack.

Especially when he does that DK heal that makes him virtually invisible to players in the thick of combat (but -- unhelpfully -- not at all invisible to NPCs!).

I've always kind of disliked that Dragonknight heal that turns you into a shadowy silhouette aside from the cartoonishly bright heart due to looking kind of... well, stupid. But players use it seldom enough in group content that locating them when I'm the healer is hardly ever a problem. Now that Bastian needs to rely on it, at least in the earlier levels, I really wish they'd tone down that skill's visual effect to make things less see-through.

aipex8_ESO

FootprintsInTheAsh wrote: »

Started testing my Mirri in normal dungeons.

Mirri 20 lvl, 7 pieces of white, green and blue heavy armor, 2h shovel (not the best choice, I just like to see when daedra and monsters freeze in fear when she suddenly appears with a shovel in hands next to them)



City of Ash II. Mirri died only once. Ash Titan burned her, but it was my fault.
Falkreath Hold. No deaths for Mirri. I've been killed twice by trash mobs.
Banished Cells II. No deaths for Mirri. I was killed once when I tried to disable the interface and take a screenshot during the battle with High Kinlord Rilis. So I can't show the process, just the afterparty.



In general, first impressions are good.

I'm interested in seeing more pics of your character, lol. He looks like he's from Portland.

Galbsadi

SammyKhajit wrote: »

Whereas Mirri’s quite amusing with the fighting dialogues, such as joining the Buoyant Armigers after this or that she’s never fought so much until she met the player

Mirri amuses me. I took her as a last DPS slot into a normal trial when we couldn't find a 12th the other day, and the entire time she's all "FETCH! FETCH! FETCHING FETCH YOU FETCHER!"