PTS Update 38 - Feedback Thread for New Companions

Necrotech_Master

Treselegant wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

are you guys that serious about forcing us to run the companion unlock quest on every character in order to be able to use them?

this is starting to get ridiculous

with the new update ill have to run these unlock quests 10 times each (20 quests for both companions), then when i make an arcanist ill have to run ALL SIX companion quests in order to be able to use them

please stop doing this and allow us to use the companion when its added to the collection menu (after you run the quest ONCE)

these companion quests are further increasing the laundry list of stuff you have to do when making a new toon, not to mention that the companion is already an account wide unlock because its in your collections menu

this is extremely alt-unfriendly and becoming a greater annoyance with every set of companions that get released

While I understand your frustration, first and foremost, you don't NEED all Companions on every character- if you want them, then it's your choice to unlock them on every new character. Personally, I have no plans to unlock Ember on any new characters going forward once Sharp is in the game. I probably won't even unlock Mirri because I'll be switching Isobel to healer and making Azandar my Tank.

Your comments make it sound like ESO is a 'race' and everything must be done all at once, which it isn't. Nothing is 'forced' upon you and everything you mentioned is a 'choice'. But yes, if you want to unlock all companions on every single character, then yes, you will have to complete their quest in order to use them.

Their rationale is simple, why would someone follow you if they don't even know you? It's part of the RPG aspect of Companions, don't like it, then don't use it. Not trying to be rude, but this was part of the purpose for adding them, to add an role play aspect to the game.

I have absolutely no problem with unlocking them and doing their quests on all 15 of my characters.

what i mean by "forced" is that i have already unlocked said companion in the collection menu, i SHOULD have access to it on all my characters after the first completion

running the same quest 10+ times is not fun, especially when it is time consuming and takes 15 min per character

i like to have options with my companions per toon, i have the companions set up individually as tank, or heal, or dps, im not carrying out extra gear for them to change 1 into multiple roles

i know its not a "race", but the only way i get access to the companion on my toons is to run the quest, because apparently account wide unlock in the collections menu is not enough, and its not something someone else can do for me

so im back to running the same quest 10 times in a row, twice, then when making a new character if i want the companion i still have to run the quests to be able to use something i already unlocked (this is the biggest gripe i have with running the quests multiple times)

i have never viewed the companions as "companions" but the equivalent of customizable sorc pets that wont shut up and dont take up bar space (i understand the rpg aspect, and im not saying that a person should not be able to complete the quest multiple times, but it should not be required to access the companion if you have already unlocked it)

i like having them around, cause they are still free damage and support even if they arent the most effective

this is a feedback thread, and that is my honest feedback, it is my LEAST favorite part about the companions

In the politest way possible - I have to ask - if something is this much of a trouble for you and you get very little benefit from doing so - then why do it in the first place? It doesn't make sense to me. I have things in game that don't appeal to me so I just don't do them.

I will say, my only frustration with the newer companion quests is that they are too long. Blackwood's companion quests are straight forward and don't take long to finish - why they didn't stick with this I don't know.

because i still want access to the combat pet lol

i agree that its just further annoying that the quests are longer, though i was still very annoyed at having to do mirri and bastions quests 10 times each (i did mirris quest "properly" on my first character and saved all of the people, on my other toons because nothing changes for the quest, i did as fast as possible in i purposely killed all the people you were supposed to save just because it needed to be completed)

i know that wanting to use the companion on any character is on me, but the only reason its frustrating is we have to run the quest on every character to use something already unlocked for your account

and i see this differently than say the psijic skill line is because the psijic thing is a skill line, skill lines are per character, i have no problem with that, is it annoying? sure, but skill lines have never been account wide

if something is in your collection menu it should be account wide unlock

it would be like if we went back to 2014 and had to buy the horse on every character (translated to today, it would be like you have the horse in your collection menu, but oh you cant use it on a 2nd character until you fork over more gold for it, nobody would like that)

phaneub17_ESO

Sharp-as-Night I suggest going melee early on as Char and Cold Snap are no target-slams meaning he'll cast them where he stands whether or not a target is in range. He has a lot of these such abilities in his kit making him free-standing to cast without the need to get into range or position requirements including his ultimate to some extent. This can both be a detriment where he casts and hits nothing or advantage to freely move around depending how you use him, if you choose to use his class abilities.

He does make a nice tank, we're still under the assumption that max companion armor caps out at 25,000 for 50% damage reduction. His Sleetmail (1802) and racial passive Survivalist (+3% Armor rating) can get him to the armor cap without using a Shield or with a Shield while not needing the assist of Blessing of Protection. This is advantageous if you plan on using him with Dual-Wield, Two-Handed, or Ice Staff tanking alternatives for higher outputs. The crazy thing is he can do very well with Soothing Heavy Armor for tanking, Dual-Wield is also an option for Razor Cape and to go along with Petals of the Hunter so he auto-attacks more frequently over the duration. Vigorous would be my second option having so much heal over time options, he can be a damage sponge.

7 epic Heavy Armor, +epic Shield, +Sleetmail = 25,002 armor before Survivalist.
7 epic Heavy Armor, No Shield, +Sleetmail, +Blessing of Protection = 25,076 armor before Survivalist.
7 epic Heavy Armor, No Shield, +Sleetmail, No Blessing of Protection = 22,765 armor with Survivalist.
7 epic Heavy Armor, +epic Shield = 23,200 armor for comparison.

I don't use companions as healers, but his kit goes pretty overboard giving him a powerful self-burst and heal over time, 3 AOE heals that include himself in the cast where other companions are mostly single target that exclude themselves.

ADarklore

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Sharp-as-Night I suggest going melee early on as Char and Cold Snap are no target-slams meaning he'll cast them where he stands whether or not a target is in range. He has a lot of these such abilities in his kit making him free-standing to cast without the need to get into range or position requirements including his ultimate to some extent. This can both be a detriment where he casts and hits nothing or advantage to freely move around depending how you use him, if you choose to use his class abilities.

He does make a nice tank, we're still under the assumption that max companion armor caps out at 25,000 for 50% damage reduction. His Sleetmail (1802) and racial passive Survivalist (+3% Armor rating) can get him to the armor cap without using a Shield or with a Shield while not needing the assist of Blessing of Protection. This is advantageous if you plan on using him with Dual-Wield, Two-Handed, or Ice Staff tanking alternatives for higher outputs. The crazy thing is he can do very well with Soothing Heavy Armor for tanking, Dual-Wield is also an option for Razor Cape and to go along with Petals of the Hunter so he auto-attacks more frequently over the duration. Vigorous would be my second option having so much heal over time options, he can be a damage sponge.

7 epic Heavy Armor, +epic Shield, +Sleetmail = 25,002 armor before Survivalist.
7 epic Heavy Armor, No Shield, +Sleetmail, +Blessing of Protection = 25,076 armor before Survivalist.
7 epic Heavy Armor, No Shield, +Sleetmail, No Blessing of Protection = 22,765 armor with Survivalist.
7 epic Heavy Armor, +epic Shield = 23,200 armor for comparison.

I don't use companions as healers, but his kit goes pretty overboard giving him a powerful self-burst and heal over time, 3 AOE heals that include himself in the cast where other companions are mostly single target that exclude themselves.

I plan to use him as a tank, but will be using Quickened heavy with Telvanni Efficiency gear set. This way he can cast his abilities more frequently therefore keeping himself healed and shielded.

Fata1moose

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

[*] Do you have any other general feedback?

• I’d like to see dialogue options that can affect rapport during quests and general conversation. ESO dialogue trees are mostly questions and I’d like to give opinions that show your character through dialogue, while this could be improved in the overall game companions would be a great avenue to start off with.
• Going off of showing more character in dialogue trees with companions, where’s the romance system? When they were introduced in Blackwood it was stated that romance was something the devs wanted to do but they wanted to do it right. We’re now six companions in and the longer it’s put off the more work to add it to each companion (obviously it’s a system that would need variety for player preference and role playing elements it would be intended for). I guess it does not even necessarily have to be tied to companions it could be any character *cough* Naryu *cough* but just stating there’s still player interest for this.
• I’ve brought this up since Blackwood but I have continued disappointment that companions are brand new characters and not returning characters. I can’t speak for everyone but I was hoping to travel around with Razum Dar, Naryu, Eveli, Darien, etc. I think it would also serve the quests and character development better to have existing characters that you already know and don’t need to waste as much time introducing. Obviously there’s some complications with the system. If you’re traveling with Naryu in Deshaan and approaching her quest, at a certain radius a marker would appear over her head, the “vanilla” Naryu that’s normally there would be despawned while companion version is active.

phaneub17_ESO

ADarklore wrote: »

I plan to use him as a tank, but will be using Quickened heavy with Telvanni Efficiency gear set. This way he can cast his abilities more frequently therefore keeping himself healed and shielded.

Personal preference, I didn't list quickened as too much of it can cause problems for tanking companions. They can become too busy casting abilities that they miss the telegraph to block or interrupt their target. They won't stop mid-casting to block or interrupt, only when they have downtime between abilities auto attacking. Second problem is it ends damage over time and heal over time effects prematurely if the cooldown is faster than the duration can be a net loss. Telvanni Efficiency + 3% quickened gives enough to recast just as the duration effect ends and the next recast starts for abilities with base 16s cooldown. Isobel, Azandar, and the Ascendant Ring hit that perfect sweet spot.

If you do plan on going that route, I would avoid using Petals of the Hunter as its effectiveness is based on companion's downtime and auto attacks. It's an ability best in the 5th slot when everything is on cooldown, but if they're constantly recasting you won't see the benefit when they can't get auto attacks in.

phaneub17_ESO

Fata1moose wrote: »

I’ve brought this up since Blackwood but I have continued disappointment that companions are brand new characters and not returning characters. I can’t speak for everyone but I was hoping to travel around with Razum Dar, Naryu, Eveli, Darien, etc. I think it would also serve the quests and character development better to have existing characters that you already know and don’t need to waste as much time introducing.

Most notable characters have their own agendas to attend to and many are employed / sworn fealty to their nations, it wouldn't make any sense seeing them galivanting off the beaten path outside of their calling. Their code of ethics would be much more serious if your actions goes against their nation's best interest or bring harm to their people. Instead of just a scolding for stealing or murder they would attempt an arrest or turn on you and attack.

Aminatu

First of all THANK YOU for making a companion that fit what I asked for in another thread before. (I asked for Argonian male who loved fishing and was ok with stealing & killing). I don't think I was the only one who asked though, but I am happy about it. I also did want a Redguard male so that makes me happy too. I like the personalities of both.

A few thoughts:
On the way to the camp to find the lanterns where there are bad guys to fight (lack of sleep so I don't remember what they were called), but one of them is unkillable. It will lose some health and then can't be taken down the rest of the way. I encountered this with multiple mobs throughout Necrom & Apocrypha. It's very annoying because I'm trying to go do quests and this thing is attacking and after a certain appoint my attacks do nothing and my companion is distracted. Obviously this is something that will be fixed and has probably been reported, but unkillable mobs are annoying and make it a bit harder to reach the camp.
Once locating (via crouching and following the trail) the dead chick who betrayed the other chick it says to turn in the quest to Sharp, it shows the quest marker as being where I was standing but he was not there. I had to go back to the camp. The dialog should read "Go back to the camp and talk to Sharp-as-Night" or something and there should be a quest marker back at the camp.
Is it possible to enter Gorne via the little boat to the north of the normal entrance instead of going through the public dungeon? I've only ever found it while leaving and there didn't appear to be a way to go back in so I don't know if that is unlocked for entrance to sneak in.
Likewise, is there a similar way to bypass and enter the public dungeon for Azander? With max lvl Ember or Mirri I can make it to them (at least on test server) but lower level characters, people who don't already have companions, companions that are not high, different builds etc may not be able to do it. I've only gone after Azander on one character and she was able to turn invisible to sneak past things and then a max lvl friend with max lvl gear who was OP as hell came with me and made it easy. I haven't tried it on a character that can't stealth, but I did encounter at least one Ogrim in there that could not be killed because the health stopped going down after a certain point.

Also, could we please for the love of all the old gods, new gods, daedric princes and whatever get some sort of companion gear container that works sort of like craft bag where the gear goes in to not hog inventory space and no matter what character we are on we can still access it to put on our companions? Also, a "mark as junk" for companion gear would be greatly appreciated for stuff I want to get rid of when I go to a vendor. I don't know why that isn't already an option.

Another thing I noticed with the companions is that if I even look in the direction of a mob they will sometimes suddenly take off running toward it and attack when I have not attacked, it has not aggroed me, and I'm trying to do something else. I then have to chase after them and kill or be killed. Being able to set companions (and even combat pets) to passive so they don't go attacking without being attacked first or without me attacking first would be a nice feature. There are numerous other games where you can set pets/companions to passive (no attacking at all), defensive (only attacking when player is attacked), assist (attacking when player attacks), or aggressive (current behavior-- attacking anything that looks at them funny).

After my nap I'm going to resume fishing with Sharp again. I'm very much enjoying someone who doesn't get mad about fishing and who gains rapport from it sometimes. At one point I could have sworn I saw a second fishing line go in (no other players around) from Sharp's direction and I caught a blue quality fish. Not sure if it was a graphical glitch or what. Does he ever join in fishing? If so, what is the cooldown? Or was it just me needing more sleep?

phaneub17_ESO

Updated list further down, to prevent confusion I deleted this one.

ADarklore

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I plan to use him as a tank, but will be using Quickened heavy with Telvanni Efficiency gear set. This way he can cast his abilities more frequently therefore keeping himself healed and shielded.

Personal preference, I didn't list quickened as too much of it can cause problems for tanking companions. They can become too busy casting abilities that they miss the telegraph to block or interrupt their target. They won't stop mid-casting to block or interrupt, only when they have downtime between abilities auto attacking. Second problem is it ends damage over time and heal over time effects prematurely if the cooldown is faster than the duration can be a net loss. Telvanni Efficiency + 3% quickened gives enough to recast just as the duration effect ends and the next recast starts for abilities with base 16s cooldown. Isobel, Azandar, and the Ascendant Ring hit that perfect sweet spot.

If you do plan on going that route, I would avoid using Petals of the Hunter as its effectiveness is based on companion's downtime and auto attacks. It's an ability best in the 5th slot when everything is on cooldown, but if they're constantly recasting you won't see the benefit when they can't get auto attacks in.

I don't have the Ascendant Ring, unfortunately. I also didn't plan to use Petals in my build anyway, but good information to know. I never thought of the interrupt or blocking aspect, but it's a good thing they can keep casting their self-heals faster though, right?

Treselegant

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Can we update older companions to be on par with the new ones? Bastian especially I feel he is lacking in the utilities department despite having one of the best buffs available. The rest only need a minor change.

Bastian
Scorching strike heals Bastian for 50% of the damage done.
Blazing Grasp grants Bastian Major Expedition for 4 seconds (I don't know how others would feel if it also taunted).
Kindle heals a second time 4-5 seconds after casting.
Basalt Barrier let the 15% healing received persist for 6 seconds, not based on shield holding.

Mirri
Warp Strike applies Minor Vulnerability for 8 seconds.

Ember
Quick Fix heals herself AND an ally.

Isobel
Sun Brand increases her Critical Chance by 5% for 8 seconds.

Just to add to this and the previous request - I've noticed that on the PTS Bastian has more dialogue than on live. Considering he has the least dialogue of all the companions it was noticeable. There is some sort of bug preventing him commenting on Psijic portals on live which doesn't exist on the PTS. In the two years using him as companion I have never heard any of this dialogue on live.

Maitsukas

I like how Azandar's outfit is mixed together from different motifs:

• Sapiarch Chest
• Psijic Order Shoulders
• Trinimac Legs
• Nighthollow Hands & Feet
• Scribes of Mora Weapons & Shield

But is it intended to have his belt (which according to the official render is the Nibenese Court Wizard belt) hidden by default (for all armor weights)?

FayJolyn

So last night I played through Sharp's questline completely and here are my thoughts. Took me a while to get my thoughts together on this as I feel the subject of his questline deserves it. This post focuses more on the story part of the quest. I did run into several bug related issues that I reported on from within the game so this post is dedicated to Sharp's story. I hope you find it useful. Major story spoilers below everyone! also trigger warning for mention heavy subject and uhhh long post. sorrryyy. I just have a lots of feels about this.

I think the subject of Sharp's questline is really interesting but at some points suffers from a meagre execution. I felt the writers really wanted to tackle the darker themes of the subject matter but maybe lacked time or permissions or whatever maybe to properly tackle it. On paper it sounds amazing. Have an Argonian companion tackle his dark past as a slave with a proper creep of a villain who has an obsessive interest in him bordering on sexual abuse. Yet the execution feels ehhh.

I think my overall feeling is that during the questline I couldn't help the feeling is that we're being told secondhand major plotpoints through side characters or notes without ever having proper sit down moment between the Vestige and Sharp. Since Sharp's character growth is sorta about learning to trust people again and not about expecting the worst of people. I really kept thinking to myself; Man, I would just like to have a sit down with Sharp somewhere at a campfire outside or at a table in a Inn somewhere, and carefully poke him about his feelings and becoming his first friend in a very long time that he can trust. Let it be up to the player character how deep you want to delve into the darker sides of the subject, but give players a change at least. I would gladly accept minus rapport with Sharp, because he doesn't like talking feelings in the first place but I really want to have a proper character moment with Sharp alone.

Maybe I am spoiled by Inigo the player made mod in Skyrim that is able to have quite deep conversations with the player character. But in the ESO companions feel really lacklustre in comparison. In the Skyrim mod the character Inigo also suffers from memory problems and an unknown past and by the end I really felt like I had a deep connection with that blue cat. Sharp in comparison doesn't really have a moment like that. There are always side characters around who talk/explain to you the plot but I never got to get through it with just Sharp alone.

Also we're told Sharp doesn't like to be touched he even writes about in in his letter, but I would like to have seen a moment maybe early in the story a moment where Sharp reacts badly to being touched. Maybe by an innocent move by the player character that gets an emotional reaction. Show the story to us, don't just tell.

The part where you end up in Reaper's March felt quite random and unnecessary, why introduce a copy paste villain that we kill in 2 seconds to obtain some mind altering rock. The location of Reaper's March felt random to me and I was also wondering why this copy paste villain was an Altmer, when altmer and Khajiit are currently allied withing the Dominion. It really felt like: oh hey, we need a bossfight here. Uhh, do we have some unused instanced location somewhere left that we can use? The whole soul rock magic plot felt kinda cheap and convenient, idk.

When we're in Eastmarch to find clothes for Federo, I kinda felt the Nord that gives the clothes to us was about to set us up for a trap for some reason. I kept expecting a plot twist here. The Nord talks about the elixer guy that we have met in Necrom city. and I was like hmmm is this a trap? But no the plot went nowhere.

Also, the kidnapping of the Argonian girl (sorry forgot her name) felt really abrupt and quite the story loophole It is never explained how Sondevel managed to grab her, and it also robs Sharp and the player a moment to swallow the memory what just happened. Again a missed moment here to talk about feelings. What we get instead of comforting Sharp and having the focus on him, we have to go rescue the girl. I really miss breathing room here. I do like that before the bucket scene we get somewhat warning beforehand, though.

The central villain wasn't that great. The last letter where he ends signing with Sondy felt really like a bad fanfic. It felt out of character because he doesn't come across before as a campy character before and that letter feels like a hasty rewrite or something. It does feel stereotypical to have him suddenly behave this way. I would suggest tone down the campyness in both the letter and his appearance. you can have a character who is a perverse creep and has obsessive sexual feelings for his former slave without making him look like a stereotype.

The story overall misses focus on Sharp in my opinion. If you want a good story about serious dark subjects there needs to be a good balance between the hurt and the comfort to be effective. this story suffers from having the hurt moments be either glossed over or the info be received secondhand (via notes or other NPC's talking about Sharp experiences but we rarely properly talk with Sharp himself. How often he just stand there saying nothing, while Mevei explains to us his past involving slavery. I was like OMG just let me talk to my buddy here now, please! Feels weird that a side character gets more time for the passing of her wife than we get with Sharp. This muddies the emotional beats in the story telling which doesn't help the overall phasing of the plot, and the journey of Sharp's character growth. If ya gonna do a Hurt/Comfort story you gotta do it good and focus on it. Dare to name it. Name the beast! Say it! This is a story about a former sexual abusive relationship and also slavery. And let it be Sharp who comes to terms with it.
I felt the writing was too afraid to go all the way here, while it could have made for amazing satisfying emotional rollercoaster. The way it was done now just makes for a somewhat lackluster journey overall. I kept wondering to myself if there was a lot of rewriting done or censoring or rule that we need to have a boss fight somehow or keep the questline a certain length so it felt reduced and limited in the emotional weight of the subject manner.
While I personally have no trauma, I have dealt too with unwanted attentions in various forms from men in RL, as many people unfortunately have. I am not put off by the story subject, just somewhat disappointed in the execution of it. I really wanted to connect with Sharp more and tackle this beast of a subject -you know - together. A good darker themed Hurt/Comfort story can be impactful and interesting, or beautiful even.
This one is both blunt in its phasing but also just barely touches the surface of it when it comes to Sharp himself. In the Hurt department of the story I wanted to see more of his trauma, make him lash out, get emotional, scared angry the whole range of emotions to show the contrast from his normally stoic self. And in the Comfort department I also wanted to be there for him as his new healthy first, after such a long time having to deal with it all alone. You know... be his companion too - as his actual friend.

The scene with the bucket wasn't too bad, but ends soo abruptly. I noticed this cop out several times during the story Sharp waives away his feelings or some other NPC gets the focus again. While this is partly because of his introverted character, I kept trying to press E on Sharp at various parts of his journey again hoping he had more to say, but no he closes off, and off we go to the next plot point.
At the very end where you help Sharp confront the big bad of the story and kill him is not even his high hero point where he overcomes his past trauma again it's robbed from him because gotta save the girl too. And Sharp himself gets sidelined again. It's such a shame, really. I was left feeling wanting more time. Too much secondhand storytelling and maybe too many characters to have the proper focus on the central character of the story; Sharp.

To end positively, I loved the little easter egg dialogue that Sharp gives once you obtain him as a house guest. The subtle shout out to a certain famous Argonian player who like to sleep on certain structures was really, really cute. I cheered & I saw what you did there. ^_^
I also thought Sharp's animal companion searching spell were adorable in contrast to Sharp's overall stoic character.
Last but not least I REALLY LIKE Sharp, his overall demeanor and introverted character and grumpiness about being in cities for example make me chuckle. Overall I think his character is a great addiction to the diversity of character types, I just wish we got to see more of him and experience him. Let me connect with him! I want to be his friend soooo badly.

TL;DR: I liked that the writer team wants to tackle darker themes, but I wish they would go through with it properly. The problem it lacks focus on the central character. Sharp himself is great btw. Despite his stoic grumpiness he is very Friend Shaped and I love him. He has a dark past that lacks the emotional focus and thus satisfying ending. I am left feeling wanting more time with Sharp to touch upon the subject matter. I don't mind darker themes in stories, but when you do you do actually be brave and go for it and give players the change to tackle possible feelings that come with it. Dare to name the beast of the subject and deal with it. Too many times feelings where glossed over to make room for the convenience of the plot. I felt there were too many side characters, which also didn't help the focus. The villain felt cheapened by the last letter he wrote which does a disservice to the darker theme of the story central theme. Too much notes or side characters telling me the plot (example where you get told that Sharp doesn't like to be touched.)
Also, while I liked the friendly side characters that we get to know during the plot. I felt they got the spotlight too much over Sharp himself and impacts the overall focus of his journey. They tell me the plot too much, rather than it's shown through me through Sharp actions or reactions. And when we finally get to be Sharp in the bucket scene it's ended so abruptly it feels like a hanging thread. It cheapens the emotional beats of the subject matter overall. Which is a shame. The supposed emotional moments feel glossed over for the sake of the next plot point. Sharp is a A++ character, he deserves more than he's given.

I want to hug him so badly but the tension why it's better not to hug/touch him just told through us secondhand and barely shown.. so much a missed opportunity here! Needs less boss fights and more character moments.

Edit for typos and grammar. Gosh, I am rambly tonight.

ADarklore

I'm curious to know, how does Azandar as a tank compare to Isobel?? It would be nice to make Isobel a permanent DPS and move Azandar to main tank role.

phaneub17_ESO

ADarklore wrote: »

I'm curious to know, how does Azandar as a tank compare to Isobel?? It would be nice to make Isobel a permanent DPS and move Azandar to main tank role.

Despite having his own ranged taunt with Minor Maim, he lacks a power heal if he gets into trouble and doesn't have any personal damage reduction effects. He has two Damage Absorption shields, but with 1h+shield they are relatively weak as they scale with weapon damage. Its doable, but don't expect him to do well on fights with multiple enemies hitting him, those damage shields will be consumed quickly. That's where stacking multiple damage reduction abilities or multiple heal over time effects have the advantage.

He works better as a support role having both Major and Minor Vulnerability, Minor Berserk, and a resource recovery field. I'm likely to use either Prolific for faster Major Vulnerability or Augmented to keep the 2 minor buffs active longer, Zone of Recuperation is not affected by Augmented however.

HackTheMinotaur

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official feedback thread for the two new Companions, Sharp-as-Night and Azandar al-Cybiades. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• Did you run into any issues unlocking or acquiring either Companion?
• Which areas or zones did you play with your Companion? What types of gameplay?
• How did the Companion progression feel in terms of time to level up, advance skills, unlock abilities, improve rapport, or acquire equipment?
• Do you have any other general feedback?

Hey @ZOS_GinaBruno, here's some feedback related to combat and skills:

Both: I noticed that neither Companion has any tank abilities that make use of percentage based heals or damage reduction. Was that intentional or an oversight? From my testing Azandar Tank can sort of deal with it and still survive because he has a decent shield and heals from his Healing skill tree, but poor Sharp Tank has nearly no chance at survival having no damage shields and worse healing.

Azandar: No major complaints here after testing as Tank, Healer and DPS. The amount of named buffs he has access to was a nice surprise and they synergize well with each other and the different roles he can play.. However I do think the tank spec is weak defensively at early levels without proper gear and a full kit of skills. Augmented Ward is the main problem. It's not worth running compared to Shields of Erudition, which has over double the shield size and can hit allies. This could be saved by adding some damage reduction to the skill as other companions have (see above), plus having it increase in size based on health percentage.

Sharp: Sharp's skills are very plain, either straight damage or healing and not much else in terms of useful buffs or effects especially when compared to Azandar above who has a lot to offer (Major/Minor Vuln, Minor Berserk, Group shields, Minor Maim & Taunt). As mentioned, the lack of a percentage based heal and damage shield really hurts when trying to tank as his other skills don't do enough to offset that weakness. Here are some suggestions:

1. Char: this should probably be the 8 second cooldown skill and it would also do well with Major Breach or a unique Pen debuff of 3-5k. Again, Sharp has almost no unique buffs or debuffs so this would help a lot.
2. Sleetmail: this currently gives a version of Major Resolve with around 1800 armor that does NOT stack with player sourced Major Resolve. Also a 5 second duration is extremely bad and needs to be increased. I would prefer to see this change to a Damage Shield with damage reduction (20%) and 8 second cooldown as most other companions have. He needs it!
3. Verdant Growth (all skills): everything here is extremely plain and could benefit from some additional buffs. For example, Fungal Forage could apply minor recoveries or a static recovery value to allies, Petals of the Hunter could give 5% bonus Crit Chance, etc.

phaneub17_ESO

HackTheMinotaur wrote: »

2. Sleetmail: this currently gives a version of Major Resolve with around 1800 armor that does NOT stack with player sourced Major Resolve. Also a 5 second duration is extremely bad and needs to be increased. I would prefer to see this change to a Damage Shield with damage reduction (20%) and 8 second cooldown as most other companions have. He needs it!
3. Verdant Growth (all skills): everything here is extremely plain and could benefit from some additional buffs. For example, Fungal Forage could apply minor recoveries or a static recovery value to allies, Petals of the Hunter could give 5% bonus Crit Chance, etc.

Sleetmail has a few quirks about it, I agree it should have 20% damage reduction effect and increased duration to the standard 8 seconds. The "Major Resolve" it provides is unique in that it can bring him to the (NPC level 50) Armor cap of 25,000 with a full epic armor and epic shield equipped. Alternatively if you choose to go without a shield, Sleetmail combined with Minor Resolve from player sources like Blessing of Protection can bring him to that armor cap as well. At least that's what I think the intentions of this ability was meant for; however, it does not outweigh the benefits of a direct 20% damage reduction effect.

Cold Snap needs to be a ranged ability not at his feet with slow movement not immobilize.

Perennial Bloom also needs an added effect to apply either Minor Cowardice or Minor Maim to enemy targets standing in its field, otherwise its just a neutered version of Holy Ground. Agree with the other two healing abilities.

Elsonso

I have only attempted to unlock Sharp, so far, and have abandoned the attempt.

1. The choice of the director or voice actor in how to vocalize the Argonian feels wrong. It just isn't pleasant to listen to. The cadence feels off. This is not my normal reaction to other Argonian voices in the game.
2. The unlock quest is tedious and covers too many locations for a single purpose. I don't mind running around, but to go half way across the Telvanni Peninsula just to talk to one person is tedious.

I stopped at the entrance to the public dungeon, as this is not content I want to preview on PTS. Besides, it seemed silly to progress down a quest path that was wasn't having fun doing, and listening to an NPC that I knew I would not be unlocking when the chapter is released.

RaddlemanNumber7

Elsonso wrote: »

I have only attempted to unlock Sharp, so far, and have abandoned the attempt.

1. The choice of the director or voice actor in how to vocalize the Argonian feels wrong. It just isn't pleasant to listen to. The cadence feels off. This is not my normal reaction to other Argonian voices in the game.
2. The unlock quest is tedious and covers too many locations for a single purpose. I don't mind running around, but to go half way across the Telvanni Peninsula just to talk to one person is tedious.

I stopped at the entrance to the public dungeon, as this is not content I want to preview on PTS. Besides, it seemed silly to progress down a quest path that was wasn't having fun doing, and listening to an NPC that I knew I would not be unlocking when the chapter is released.

I took that to be a designed-in part of Sharp's character, evidence of a life-long slave's alienation from native Argonian culture, amongst other things.

FayJolyn

Elsonso wrote: »

I have only attempted to unlock Sharp, so far, and have abandoned the attempt.

1. The choice of the director or voice actor in how to vocalize the Argonian feels wrong. It just isn't pleasant to listen to. The cadence feels off. This is not my normal reaction to other Argonian voices in the game.
2. The unlock quest is tedious and covers too many locations for a single purpose. I don't mind running around, but to go half way across the Telvanni Peninsula just to talk to one person is tedious.

I stopped at the entrance to the public dungeon, as this is not content I want to preview on PTS. Besides, it seemed silly to progress down a quest path that was wasn't having fun doing, and listening to an NPC that I knew I would not be unlocking when the chapter is released.

I had that feeling too, there was something off about Sharp's voice in his beginning quests, but it gets better once you progress his questline. My guess the actor was still trying to find Sharp's voice and that why is sounds so different from the later stages.

BlueRaven

Sharps voice was odd. I thought at the time that originally the characters race was different, and changed later. Probably not, but that was my first impression.

ADarklore

I think Sharp's voice is fine... I'm glad he doesn't sound like a typical Argonian... mainly because I honestly find their typical ways of speaking to be annoying.

phaneub17_ESO

I put it between Jack Smith from American Dad and McGruff the Crime Dog. I'm guessing the personality type is supposed to be a stoic, stern detective type with a no nonsense demeanor. He is a waste not, want not type of character which is why he's so on you when you do upkeep and is against you putting things to waste or vanity.

ApoAlaia

Sharp's 'boon', Sharp’s Patience, the bonuses cancel each other.

- Slightly reduce reel time, good.
- Improved chance at finding trophy fish, not so good if you fish for roe.

The latter incentivises NOT completing the companion achievements thus preventing the 'boon' from becoming account-wide.

With AwA there is little to no benefit to catching trophy fish. Once the relevant achievement has been obtained they sell for a pittance and get in the way of 0.5% chance of getting a perfect roe.

I certainly do not need or want further hindering my ability to obtain roe, the odds are already pretty poor.

I'd suggest either changing the second effect to something else or making the 'boon' only active when Sharp is summoned (as opposed to previous companion's boons which become permanently active account-wide once the relevant achievements are completed).

ADarklore

HTM posted a video showing the good and bad for the new companions. He said he passed this feedback along to ZOS, but I'm posting it here for players to see who may have missed.

In short, Azandar is a jack of all trades, master of none. He has buffs/debuffs galore, but no real strengths in any one thing.

Sharp, in contrast, has absolutely NO buffs/debuffs, has a passive that is detrimental to fishing for Roe, and overall is pretty bland- making older companions seem more impressive.

He offers some suggestions for ZOS to make them better. I think it's a shame that Sharp got the short end of the stick with absolutely NO buffs/debuffs or really any strengths of any kind. Hopefully they will change that so at least make the newest companions have some advantages or distinctions over older companions.

Synaryn

ADarklore wrote: »

Sharp, in contrast, has absolutely NO buffs/debuffs, has a passive that is detrimental to fishing for Roe, and overall is pretty bland- making older companions seem more impressive.

He offers some suggestions for ZOS to make them better. I think it's a shame that Sharp got the short end of the stick with absolutely NO buffs/debuffs or really any strengths of any kind. Hopefully they will change that so at least make the newest companions have some advantages or distinctions over older companions.

My friend has a theory that Sharp is a Spite Character intended to be a hate sink after so many people were asking for an Argonian companion.

BoloBoffin

In Sharp's questline there's a rather pointed mistake in the dialogue.

When you first find Federo (in the second quest), he sends you on a fetch quest to Adept's Retreat in Windhelm.

However, the dialogue screen and the voice actor says that the next place is Adept's Retreat... in Whiterun.

When I tell you my heart jumped! But of course it's in Windhelm. You might be able to fix the dialogue screen, and the actor, I believe, is one of ESO's regulars.

Maybe next year in Whiterun... .

Treselegant

So, having spent time with the new companions I'm ready to give my impressions.

Did you run into any issues unlocking or acquiring either Companion?
Sharp's unlock quest had a moment where the icon for 'speak to Sharp" was in the wrong location. It indicated the air until I went back to the mercenary camp by the two lamps where Sharp was where it reappeared over his head. A big problem for me was trying to unlock the two companions on a low level character due to the quests ending up in public dungeons. When trying out a baby arcanist I spent a lot of time dead before I reached the spot where the story continued.

The introduction quests in general were far too long. Longer isn't necessarily better. Blackwood's companion quests are perfect length for me - both get the companion character across, explain the story in a short time and stay in one location. My baby arcanist took an hour to do Azander's quest. I was in no rush to do these quests again even with my max level character.

Which areas or zones did you play with your Companion? What types of gameplay?

Travelling the new zones, harvesting, fishing, delves and tried a few world bosses. Travelled a bit outside of the Necrom zones to see if the new companions reacted to various places. I ended up unsummoning them for the world bosses as their level on both of my characters meant that they spent the fight dead. Replaced them with my usual companion Bastian. Interestingly a few of the World Bosses ignore companion taunts (Walking Nightmare and Prime Cataloger were the ones I noticed).

Enjoyed fishing with Sharp for while but I'm not that big on fishing. Might use his fishing related boon to finally finish the Master Angler achievement.

How did the Companion progression feel in terms of time to level up, advance skills, unlock abilities, improve rapport, or acquire equipment?

I found Azander easier to get rapport for as his larger sources of rapport (enchanting writ and daily delve) were straight forward to get. It didn't take me long to trigger all his quests and I did so without the rapport booster.

I spent a lot of time fishing with Sharp until I was sick to death of fishing because I wasn't sure what his other sources of rapport were. There are two world bosses I've given up trying to solo (Walking Nightmare and the Prime Cataloger) so I missed out on the rapport from the world boss daily for Sharp when they were object of the quest - meaning I wasn't getting that big rapport gain every day. Apparently he also gains rapport from an Ashlander daily but I only had characters that hadn't done anything else on the PTS so I couldn't do that either. I got to his first companion quest after fishing my time away but gave up and used the rapport booster to trigger the rest.

Skill wise. Nothing really stood out to me but I have them still at fairly low level. It does seem slightly easier to level them and it appeared quicker with Azander when I had him with higher rapport.

Do you have any other general feedback?

I'm not sure what to think about these two companions. They didn't stand out to me much.

Azander is an academic who loves his studies and bargins with daedra with the casualness of someone popping to the shops for milk. I'm not really a friend but a research associate. His quest is fine but I didn't really find myself engaged. I'm not sure who he really is beyond his studies and his quest for knowledge. Voice acting was good but the enthusiasm of his battle cries can seem to come out of nowhere at times.

Sharp-as-Night on a surface level gave me outdoorsy dad vibes - desperate to tell me about his love of fishing and being prepared. If they'd paired that with a different backstory I might have felt more positive about him.

In regards his quests:

My initial impression was not far off the mark as to the problems with this quest. Fair play to the voice actor for Sondivel who tried to inject some gravitas into the dialogue but a lot of it was very hammy and uncomfortable (and not in a engaged in the story kind of way). Sharp felt like more of a side character in his own story and I ended up letting him kill Sondivel by himself (which wasn't difficult for him even at a low level). I think having Sharp finish off The Reformer in dramatic fashion similar to the cut scene execution at the end of The Dark Brotherhood storyline would have gone a long way. As it is, he's something of passenger in his own revenge story.

Other comments:
Those who prefer Bastian as their companion are having to deal with their preferred companion falling further behind in terms of skills, quests, dialogue and bug fixes (Bastian and Mirri also lack the letter furnishing all new companions come with now). Trying out the new companions just hammered this home.

Fata1moose

BoloBoffin wrote: »

In Sharp's questline there's a rather pointed mistake in the dialogue.

When you first find Federo (in the second quest), he sends you on a fetch quest to Adept's Retreat in Windhelm.

However, the dialogue screen and the voice actor says that the next place is Adept's Retreat... in Whiterun.

When I tell you my heart jumped! But of course it's in Windhelm. You might be able to fix the dialogue screen, and the actor, I believe, is one of ESO's regulars.

Maybe next year in Whiterun... .

Yeah I reported this as a bug lol. I also wonder if Next year is Whiterun but nothing in the quests clued into the next chapter’s location.

SatanicSister

Having unlocked both of the new characters I can definitely say that Sharp is my new favourite companion now. He is a lot like me: hates cities, antisocial and feels very uncomfortable talking about "mushy stuff". Very straightforward guy, can't wait for the chapter to go live.

His voice seemed a bit off at first. Not your usual male argonian but then I got thinking. Every time I think of argonians, I remember that man near Mournhold mages guild: "Do you believe we have to register to enter the city?" Very typical voice but something like that would probably get very annoying really soon.

Mainly I've been fishing with him. Never done that before, I've always thought it's boring, but I really like it with him around.

Done first two story quests for him. I don't think it's worse than anything we've done before but that's my personal opinion. For people who think the memory reliving part is too offensive there should be an option to skip the memory. After reading the other thread on it I thought there was something explicit in there but (again in my opinion) not really. It reminded me of vampires controlling other people.



Azandar seems a lot more annoying. I've only unlocked him and done one daily with him. Don't really like him much but I might still change my mind. I don't think I'll do anything with him before Necrom goes live.

phaneub17_ESO

Gathering up feedback from others, updated list of wanted changes for companions.

Sharp-as-Night
- Char: gives him a personal 2600 penetration to enemies hit for 4 seconds each time it strikes.
- Fungal Forage: Add 150 Magicka recovery and 150 Stamina recovery per second over 8 seconds.
- Perennial Bloom: Enemies standing in the field are afflicted by Minor Maim.
- Petals of the Hunter: Add 5% critical chance for 8 seconds.
- Sleetmail: No longer affects allies, grants him 20% damage reduction and 1802 armor for 8 seconds.
- Cold Snap, 28m range targeted like Ember's Shocking Burst, slow movement instead of immobilize.
This should make Sharp unique that he can achieve the maximum penetration and maximum armor cap available to companions with the appropriate gear setup.

Azandar
- Abor's Augmented Ward: change to 20% damage reduction for 8 seconds, reflect damage scales with max health.
- Fear of the Unknown: This ability seems really lacking and he's missing a self-only power heal, can we change this to casts at =< 75% health, heals himself for 25% of max health and fears his target for 4 seconds.
Azandar is well balanced for most roles, but missing the two most crucial aspects for tanking.

Bastian
- Scorching Strike: Heals him for 50% of the damage dealt.
- Blazing Grasp: Add a soft-taunt and grants him Major Expedition for 4 seconds.
- Kindle: Heals a second time after 4 seconds.
- Basalt Barrier: 15% healing received persists for 6 seconds regardless of damage shield.

Mirri
- Warp Strike: Inflicts Minor Vulnerability to her target for 8 seconds.

Isobel
- Sun Brand: Add 5% critical chance for 8 seconds.

Ember
- Quick Fix: Always heals her and a nearby ally.