Further Companion Appearance Modification

WeerW3ir

Its a bit shame, that there is only outfit and mount modification on our beloved companions.
Wouldnt be better to have changable hair, skin, body marks... etc. on him and her?

zelaminator

No

They are characters, they are unique.. So no, you should not get to decide how they want to look

GreenHere

I can kind of understand both sides of it.

ZOS, as the "artist" in control of these characters, does deserve to decide how much of their characters they'd like to allow to be changed by the players. I'm generally cool with that, and am inclined to respect artists' decisions in situations like this. (Even though "artist" is a bit funky here, given we're talking about a corporation and not an individual, but... I'm just gonna gloss over that here.)

But on the other hand, as a player / consumer, I'd personally get a lot more mileage out of the whole system if I could tweak things to my heart's content. I'm guessing there's a really strong possibility that ZOS will never release a Companion that I could love as much as one of my own creations. Even if I could just customize their creations to a greater degree, that'd go a looong way to keeping / getting me invested in them more.



And I'll say this: I'm generally inclined to spend a lot more coin to customize things to fit my own preferences rather than buying pre-made stuff with limited/no tweakability. I'm buying less and less in the Crown Store all the time for this very reason. I can't imagine I'm alone here, either. ZOS would probably do well to stop trying to sell us things they think we'll like, and start selling us the ability to create our own things that we DO like. Just my 2¢.

gronkdamage

Yes

I'd be fine if we could put helmets on them.

But hey, they still haven't allowed for Wardens to buy other skins other than the bear (imagine a Tiger or a Wolf) - or figured out that if someone opens a chest, it should despawn and reset in 5 minutes... That way you don't get people leaving a rock in the chest....

WeerW3ir

Yes

zelaminator wrote: »

They are characters, they are unique.. So no, you should not get to decide how they want to look

well. personally i just would like to add her a different hair. she would be fine otherwise as she is -D

Raccoonmancer

Yes

Definitely yes on this. At the end of the day the game markets itself as an MMORPG. Let the players have the RPG aspect in it. I made a long winded post about this before and my stance on it wouldn't change. If they want to preserve the artistic vision that they have made, let it stay till the end of the companion's questline, then give us a companion token so that we can change them to our liking. Right now, with the two quests they have, I honestly couldn't care less about a preset set of characters as two quests aren't enough to make me care.

I would understand if they were forcing this system if they made truly deep characters, but they haven't. Giving us a token after we complete the questline however, would solve both problems. ZOS would have us see the questlines they prepared and at the end we could decide if we want to keep the companions as they are or not.

And if we can't change everything about them, at least give us the option to do hairstyles, otherwise this system is going to be a massive flop for many cosmetic enthusiasts like me.

ectoplasmicninja

Yes

I understand that they're supposed to be developed characters with backstories and personalities and such, rather than dolls to dress up, and I totally understand why we don't have the ability to customize them. And their aesthetics honestly aren't bad, even if Bastian's weird posture makes me eyelid twitch. Who stands like that? Doesn't his neck hurt?

That said, I'd probably still use the hell out of a customization menu if we had one. Not like 24 characters across two accounts is enough for me to fiddle with...

Starlight_Whisper

Just a helmet so many red heads everywhere now.

Danikat

No

I voted no because they're supposed to be specific people, like the other NPCs in the game. It's just that these ones happen to follow you around for longer. Expecting to change their hair, face, tattoos etc. would be like wanting to customise Razum-dar or Lyris or any other reoccuring character, it wouldn't make any sense.

Having said that I hope they give us more of a variety of companions to choose from over time, not just to have different looks but also different personalities, interests and backstories so we've got more of a chance of finding someone each of our characters would actually want to spend a lot of time with.

(I'm also hoping for a senche-raht who can be both companion and mount.)

Raccoonmancer

Yes

Danikat wrote: »

I voted no because they're supposed to be specific people, like the other NPCs in the game. It's just that these ones happen to follow you around for longer. Expecting to change their hair, face, tattoos etc. would be like wanting to customise Razum-dar or Lyris or any other reoccuring character, it wouldn't make any sense.

Having said that I hope they give us more of a variety of companions to choose from over time, not just to have different looks but also different personalities, interests and backstories so we've got more of a chance of finding someone each of our characters would actually want to spend a lot of time with.

(I'm also hoping for a senche-raht who can be both companion and mount.)

I find these kinds of answers interesting. Because I don't personally see a negative with giving people the ability to customize it should they choose to do so. No one's saying that you need to customize your companions for example. If people don't want to, they don't have to. But having an option, is better then having no option at all imo.

Nor would they ruin the immersion imo. Because if anything, right now immersion is being ruined by everyone having Bastian or Mirri, as if there's an unlimited number of clones of them.

bmnoble

Yes

Was expecting it to be there already.

At the very least I want to be able to use the hair styles/adornments on them, if they are dead set on not letting us use helmets those should have been options at launch.

wolfie1.0.

Yes

If there not going to be good for 90% of my gameplay then I should atleast be able to play dress up with them as much as I want.

wolfie1.0.

Yes

Danikat wrote: »

I voted no because they're supposed to be specific people, like the other NPCs in the game. It's just that these ones happen to follow you around for longer. Expecting to change their hair, face, tattoos etc. would be like wanting to customise Razum-dar or Lyris or any other reoccuring character, it wouldn't make any sense.

Having said that I hope they give us more of a variety of companions to choose from over time, not just to have different looks but also different personalities, interests and backstories so we've got more of a chance of finding someone each of our characters would actually want to spend a lot of time with.

(I'm also hoping for a senche-raht who can be both companion and mount.)

Then why dont they give us a companion that is a copy of one of our alternative characters? That opens things wide up.

Raccoonmancer

Yes

bmnoble wrote: »

Was expecting it to be there already.

At the very least I want to be able to use the hair styles/adornments on them, if they are dead set on not letting us use helmets those should have been options at launch.

I expected the same when I went into Blackwood almost completely spoiler free. Was super disappointed when it wasn't there.

Thannazzar

Other

There are 2 elements to this:

1.Variance of appearance and avoiding 10 identical Bastians gathered round a quest giver. Swtor did this welll by having variant appearances for companions, companion x was always companion x, but you got to chose a pack that reflected minor changes in their hair and face. This would not take away from the personality of the companion, nor would equipping a helm.

2. Personal Preference - a companion in game is a very personal choice, unless you release a mass of them at once you are never going to please all players in matters of aesthetics or player character background. So ZOS either needs to add a lot of companions quickly, which still won't meet everyone's tastes, or allow full customisation.

I played through both companions levelling and Story on the PTS. Neither companion appealed to me and this was a large reason for my choice not to buy this chapter.

If I could have equipped a zombie personality and skeleton Polymorph on Bastian and had a perma pet on my Necro I might have gone a different way.

Like it or not players get more invested in companions if they are unique and complement the character they accompany. Honestly I was more likely to Blade of Woe Bastian than adventure with him.

Hanokihs

Other

I kind of understand that the companions are meant to be unique individuals with their own looks and personality, but at the same time, this is definitely getting in the way of my aesthetic pleasure.

So maybe they should implement a feature like, once you build X amount of relationship with them, and the companion views you more as a friend and all, they'll be willing to take your suggestions and change their appearance. "I think this hairstyle flatters you better," or "Have this awesome helmet that goes with your outfit," or "Hey you know what would be cool? If you wore this polymorph - we can have a whole theme going!" The people I play with sometimes set up themes across specific characters, so I see no reason why the companions wouldn't ever want to play along.

Raccoonmancer

Yes

Hanokihs wrote: »

I kind of understand that the companions are meant to be unique individuals with their own looks and personality, but at the same time, this is definitely getting in the way of my aesthetic pleasure.

So maybe they should implement a feature like, once you build X amount of relationship with them, and the companion views you more as a friend and all, they'll be willing to take your suggestions and change their appearance. "I think this hairstyle flatters you better," or "Have this awesome helmet that goes with your outfit," or "Hey you know what would be cool? If you wore this polymorph - we can have a whole theme going!" The people I play with sometimes set up themes across specific characters, so I see no reason why the companions wouldn't ever want to play along.

Honestly, this is a very good solution to the existing problem imo. Lore friendly and a good way to make the companions feel more like people at the same time instead of just NPC's

jlmurra2

Yes

Yes, please. There has been way too many clones everywhere since the launch of Blackwood. Adding this would help.

NoireJin the Witchking

Yes

its jarring af seeing Bastian clones everywhere. Helmets would go a long way, you can have it so he takes it off in cities as i'm aware only you can see your own companion in cities (?)

Morgha_Kul

Yes

It's something of an issue, as we see dozens of the same character standing about, all looking pretty much exactly the same.

They should remain their own race, of course, but some tweaks to hair, tattoos, helmets and so forth would be very welcome.

Lord_Wrath

Yes

Wether or not companions are "supposed" to be unique, its not very unique that everyones companion has the same hairstyle.

So yes, this should have obviously been an option.

Evil_Rurouni

Starlight_Whisper wrote: »

Just a helmet so many red heads everywhere now.

^ THIS.

We don't need to alter the facial apearance of the companions.
We need to get rid of the clone army that happens whenever multiple players summon the same companion.

Let players put a helmet on their companions so other players aren't seeing the EXACT SAME head on every third person in the crowd.


In fact, I'd go further and say that the current system used for quest allies should be applied to other players companions if they're unhelmeted.

If you run a quest that has a specific NPC follow you around and meet another player running the same quest, your follower will usually look like a generic NPC to them, and theirs will look generic to you, specifically to avoid having a specific named character visible in multiple locations simultainiously.

It shouldn't be too hard to recycle an existing feature's code like ZoS recycle mounts by repainting them and selling them again and again.

SammyKhajit

Yes

Yes to some changes (eg hairstyle, jewellery, major adornments) but no to body shapes and size.

Also change their posture/personality. The side way judging look that Bastian gives is very unnerving.

It’s also a bit confusing to see all the Bastians and Mirris in places like Fargrave, and in a specific quest where you are supposed to meet at Madame Whim’s house, this one had some trouble finding the NPCs to talk to because the room was full of companions. Having customised companions would help greatly.

TelvanniWizard

Yes

I couldn't care less about Mirri and Bastian as "developed characters". To me they are nothing. Would buy a blank, mute companion modelled after one of my alts, though. Now that would let me play "as I want".

rexagamemnon

Other

Why cant we place helmets on our companions?

Lygatto

Yes

From what I understand, in the past, ZOS has voiced that they wanted to limit alterations to companions because they wanted them to feel like actual, living characters rather than faceless conscripts who help you in battle... but ironically, not allowing us to even dress our companions in helmets has had the exact opposite effect.

Even when other players' companions are listed as "[X]'s Companion" in the UI, it's hard to feel as though Bastian or Mirri are unique when they're standing next to thousands of their identical twins. Even with our ability to customize our companions' costumes/outfits and weapon choices, sometimes it just isn't enough. Just the other day, I was running Dolmens in The Rift, and I ran into another player who had a bow-wielding Mirri in Naryu's Morag Tong costume, just like mine. In the heat of combat, I was confused why I couldn't see a marker over her head until I read "[X]'s companion." I jokingly said that one of our Mirri's would have to change.

I'm not against the "living, breathing character" concept—I don't think we need the ability to completely change our companion's race, or facial structure, or body shape, because just how weird would that be? "Mirri, I need you to be an Argonian for my RP." "Bastian, I need you to put on some weight so that I can pretend you're my drunken brother." Things like that aren't necessary, because they drastically alter the character, and remove their individuality; though, having dozens of look-alikes sporting the same face and hair as your supposedly one-and-only "companion" doesn't do much for individuality either.

I understand if being able to alter our companions' body/facial markings might be a bit too much to ask for under the same premise of "Mirri, just get this permanent tattoo etched on your body, it'll be cool, I promise." But at the very least, allow us to alter their hairstyles—and if not that, allow them to wear helms. Neither of those would be permanent changes to their character in terms of the game's world and lore or from a gameplay perspective.

Facial expressions are relatively limited in the game as it is, so it's not essential for us to see their faces at all times to understand their emotions. Their voice acting and gestures do far more to convey that than their faces ever will.

I don't think I'm asking for much. Please. :') I know Mirri comes from a big family, but 100,000 identical siblings is too much.

vivisectvib16_ESO

zelaminator wrote: »

They are characters, they are unique.. So no, you should not get to decide how they want to look

Characters can't get haircuts? Give me a break.

BretonMage

Yes

zelaminator wrote: »

They are characters, they are unique.. So no, you should not get to decide how they want to look

I often change my hairstyle IRL. Men can and do shave. In fact it's unusual to wear the same look one's entire life.

SammyKhajit wrote: »

Yes to some changes (eg hairstyle, jewellery, major adornments) but no to body shapes and size.

Also change their posture/personality. The side way judging look that Bastian gives is very unnerving.

I think Bastian is being unassuming and reserved; he's looking down, but his expression is open/neutral, not contemptuous. Also, their personality is core to their identity, it's the last thing I think they should change, though I think a greater variety of idles would be welcome.

Elvenheart

Yes

Every now and then, let the ai choose a random new hairstyle for the companion, and when summoned that time, the companion can say, “Like my new look?” Limit the list of choices to something that could reasonably happen, like Bastian just combing his hair differently that day.

DreamyLu

Other

I have no need for that. I'm used to the henchies and heroes of Guild Wars who had zero customization and it was very much OK. Also, I prefer to identify companions at first sight, like it is now. So, all in all, I would have no problem if it should be added, because it's nothing big, but if I can chose, I prefer without.

Monroe585

Yes

Let them be able to wear helmets. Customize personality. Not talking at all. Remove the rapport system.