Companion Outfitting and Skills --> Character-Specific Option Please!

Akylles

Overall, it's been great having a companion to tag alongside my chars while I'm rustling around in PvE overworld stuff (though having to redo the quests on each char -- when you have 2 full accounts [(18chars x2accounts) x 2companionsperchar = an obscene buttload of repetition] -- gets quite tedious.

Since messing around with them, there have been a couple things that I would reeeaaaallly love to see with respect to the companions. These are simply my own thoughts on the matter, and while I may speak in generalizations, I am in no way trying to speak for the whole ESO community. I am, however, hoping that there may be others who also desire to see these changes, and as such, see the ideas gain enough gravity to become implemented into the game.

1) Individual outfits.

Only being able to choose a single equipment motif for the outfit of each companion that will be displayed across all of your chars really reduces the fun for me. It severely reduces the customization of the companions for each of the characters I have. I think it's great that the companion progression in terms of skill lines and level is account-wide: this was a great idea! However, certain aspects, in my opinion, should be character-based. One of those is the ability to have a unique outfit for each companion on each character. I recognize that you can use costumes on each one, but many of us have spent a lot -- like a LOT -- of gold on the motifs that we like. It would be truly awesome to be able to match our companions individually with our characters in terms of their looks.

2) Individual skill bars.

One of the things I was most excited about in my anticipation of the companions was the ability to customize them to accent each of my chars. Some tanks don't need any extra heals, but would be great with more dps. Some dps can also self-heal well, but would be accented more with a tanky-dps hybrid, while others don't need any dps help, but could use a healer with some tankiness, etc. There's lots of different pairings that can go with lots of different playstyles. Instead, it's a "one-bar-fits-all" approach for each companion. Granted, there are two, and of course we are anticipating more in the future, which will help with this particular issue a bit. However, given that each companion has their own likes/dislikes and personality for your char to mesh with, Bastion/Mirri don't always fit with a particular character; having to share the skill bar account-wide is a further limitation then. As I've been going through getting the companions on all my characters, I've seen that I need to kind of settle on a role that'd be used account-wide for each comp. For my own uses, I've set Bastion as kind of a DPS with some tank-y aspects, and Mirri as a healer (with a splash of DPS thrown in). As an example of a clash, my nightblade healer is a bit of a criminal (dark brotherhood/thieves guild); normally I would pair her with Bastion to fill out her strengths, but as he is a prude about crime, I am somewhat forced over to Mirri instead, except that my NB healer doesn't need any more heals (naturally!). Thus, I just think it would be great if we could set up the ability bars to be character-specific (just like the outfits), rather than account-wide. Rapport, as others have posted about, is tough to gain! That's why I try to pair my chars with the comp that will fit with what they do in the game.

In recognition of the fact that not everyone will feel the same way about such suggestions, and that some may be much happier with an account-wide style "set-it-once, no-more-hassle" style approach, I think it would be awesome to simply have an option or options in the settings to be able to select companion outfits and skills as account-wide or character-specific. After all, several different addons allow for this type of setting to be adjusted (e.g., ActionDurationReminder, Combat Metrics, Inventory Insight, Dolgubon's Lazy Writ Crafter).

Those are my thoughts/requests! Thanks to the ESO team for the great content and all the hard work you put into the system.

Wolfshead

I have been posting about this, to be honest way the companion system work today it feels pointless to try to have run around with 3 types of gear on your for Companion takes way too much bag space same go for bank what if the point of steal space from our bag and bank.

colossalvoids

Is this really how it's working now? That's unfortunate, chances that I'd use them again after getting related achievements are already slim but getting them for some alt is a no go, apparently.

deyjasagus

@ZOS_GinaBruno can you look at Companions: Availability under the Help section?

According to this a number of things are supposed to be separate for each character, one of which is the costume. Now when this refers to costumes is it only taking the appearance items listed in collectibles into account or is it also factoring in the user customizable outfits we have available through styles and motifs?

I had thought companion outfits were to work like character outfits and would allow each characters companions to be outfitted separately from the others.

Any input you have on this would be appreciated.

ChickenSucker

I honestly thought each character's companion could have a separate outfit, you're telling me they can't? 😳

phaneub17_ESO

Because there's only two right now, this is a problem; however, its a short lived problem. Once we get more down the line, I'm expecting at least 6 total with one of each class at the very least, the problem goes away when you can do a specific companion to tank, another to heal, a ranged dps, a melee dps, and two support builds.

Akylles

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Because there's only two right now, this is a problem; however, its a short lived problem. Once we get more down the line, I'm expecting at least 6 total with one of each class at the very least, the problem goes away when you can do a specific companion to tank, another to heal, a ranged dps, a melee dps, and two support builds.

As I mentioned in my original post, we can expect more companions to be introduced, and this would lessen the issue. So, definitely, you're correct that as more companions are introduced, we have a larger roster to be able to assign a role to each. However, the problem doesn't "go away"; it still means you are assigning a companion to be such a role account-wide. In terms of where I'd like to see additions get made to the existing companion system, I would very much love to have the option to select character-specific outfits, gear and skills for the companions. The lack of such doesn't break the companion system, make it unusable, etc. The post is simply discussing a couple QoL improvements that can be made in order to increase the customization options (and, in my opinion, the intrinsic fun!), and allow the use of whatever companion you want on whatever character you want in whatever way you need for that character. I mean, hell, if you're gonna make me do the quest for every comp on every toon, then at least let me use each of them as I see fit on that char!

In terms of adding my two cents into the large conversation surrounding companions going on currently, this is where I'd love to see some additions get made to the companions system in future updates!

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/577231/your-ideas-how-to-improve-the-companions

And there are also other threads that point out folks who would like to see the same or similar changes as well.

ArchangelIsraphel

What would be great, is if we could lock the companion gear we decide to keep to a collection menu we could access on each character, instead of keeping it all in our inventory. From this collection menu, we could access all of the gear we have decided to bind on all characters, then equip what we want from this menu, letting us customize each companion individually while still retaining the mechanic where there gear can be accessed across the entire account without banking it or passing it from character to character manually. The menu could be accessed from the companion menu for conveniences sake. That way, we could collect all gear, and keep all gear, in a non "physical" manner that would still allow every trait type to be accessed and equipped across account. This in addition to changing the way the skill bar is handled across the account would allow me the individual experience on each character I really want.

Also totally agree that the problem doesn't "Go away" when more companions are released. The release of new companions to fulfill each role also doesn't change the fact that one might have a preference over one companion VS another and how they'd mesh with their characters personality. Companions are more than just tools, they are also an extension of roleplay. So this would enable that.

And I 100% agree with the idea that each individual character on the account should be able to utelize the companions outfit slot for a unique costume made to match each character. I was really disappointed that I couldn't use my motifs on each character to make a matching outfit for their individual styles. Using outfits just isn't the same as outfits can feel...really generic compared to coming up with your own costume.

RevJJ

My forecast is: cloudy with a chance of companion outfit slots that can be bought with crowns.