PTS Update 38 - Feedback Thread for New Companions

phaneub17_ESO

Azandar
Zone of Recuperation: Is this supposed to overlap multiple stacks? I've gotten him casting up to 3 at once, receive healing from all 3 and giving me 450 stat recovery.

Vigorous Tentacular Eruption: Even though this is 28 meter range, if a target is at too far a distance away the animation will play, but the target won't be affected by anything from the ability; no knocking up, no stun, and no damage while still draws the enemies attention.

Aisleyne

I agree with the others who noted something off about Sharp's speech. There really is something bizarre about the cadence. I honestly got the impression that it was computer generated which bothered me. It has that same strange rhythm to it and I hope that's not a direction they decide to go in in the future. I'd love to hear officially whether it was or not.

phaneub17_ESO

Azandar 9.0.2
Abor's Augmented Ward numbers still show it scaling with his weapon power not his Max Health for either value.

When unsummoning and resummoning, his action bar does not save, it reverted back to whatever he had before. Sharp-as-Night does not have this issue.

Sharp-as-night
Petals of the Hunter really feels like crap. Trying to make it work in different builds, automatic heal over times are just better. Companions don't generally auto attack enough to make use of this ability. Either he's casting too frequently or if you try to make it where he auto attacks often it doesn't compensate the difference. I can't make it fit anywhere; it doesn't work in a quickened build, nor in a moderate mix build, and a slow build that focuses on cast and forget with more auto-attacks is still not useful.

Can we have a version of Nature's Grasp? Either as Base effect granting him more ultimate, or Nature's Embrace version healing both Sharp and his ally target while moving towards them. It solves one of the bigger problems of companions who roll dodge away from you, if one of his heals can pull him back to you it reduces the chance of him leashing a target. It also directs him more to where you want him to be if your aim is to keep him near you while not necessarily charging at the enemy.

PrinceShroob

A bit of an odd request, but would it be possible to change Sharp's outfit as a houseguest to something more... casual? I think, after the content of his questline, it'd go a long way to showing he's more at peace. Perhaps the Fisherfolk Work Wear costume? Or, considering his alienation from Argonian culture, maybe one of the Argonian costumes? Or since he's in Vinedusk Ranger, one of the Bosmer ones?

I get that he's guarded, and the intention may be that he's always battle ready. But considering that the other companion houseguests aren't in armor, it also sort of gives the impression that he doesn't feel safe in your home. Which makes me just a bit sad.

PrinceShroob

Additionally, would it be possible to perhaps make Sharp perform the fishing animations when the player does? For some actions companions like, it makes enough sense that they don't join you--for example, although Ember likes harvesting runes herself, the animation isn't long enough to allow her to do it, too. But since fishing involves a lot of standing around, there's plenty of time for Sharp to do the right animation--particularly since his companion passive is functionally fishing with another person.

It ends up sort of looking like he likes watching you fish rather than doing it himself, which is a bit odd given the emphasis he places on it in his dialogue and letter.

Elvenheart

Have they announced who the voice actors are for these companions?

Maitsukas

Elvenheart wrote: »

Have they announced who the voice actors are for these companions?

Haven't seen any official announcements yet, but I keep thinking that Sharp sounds kind of similar to Garrus Vakarian (Brandon Keener) from Mass Effect.

tomofhyrule

Maitsukas wrote: »

Elvenheart wrote: »

Have they announced who the voice actors are for these companions?

Haven't seen any official announcements yet, but I keep thinking that Sharp sounds kind of similar to Garrus Vakarian (Brandon Keener) from Mass Effect.

Oh, I do hear that now that you say it. I'm usually not good at picking up with VAs at all, but every so often you catch one word or phrase and then you're doing that one meme with Leo diCaprio pointing at the TV

But if Sharp is Garrus... I may have a new BFF coming out.

That is strange that we haven't gotten anything about them yet. I remember Basti and Mirri's VAs were announced but nobody really made a big deal of it. And then we got High Isle where half of the companion marketing felt like "ISOBEL IS BEING VOICED BY LAURA BAILEY!!!!!"
... it did feel like the VA was the selling point there a little bit.

Let's give the new guys some love. @ZOS_BeckyIchnoski , is it revelaed yet who is voicing our new friends?

EDIT: I just went on PTS again to check. He sounds exactly like Garrus. Please let it be him - I didn't have enough fun running across the galaxy with my best bro because he was too busy doing calibrations; it's time for space bro to join me through Tamriel as well.

mdjessup4906

These are my thoughts on the companion's quests, story-wise. It's probably too late to implement most of this, but maybe it will help some future quest writer.

Sharp:

• Federo's clothes quest feels weird and unnecessarily drawn out. Ok he needs new stuff so he's not recognizable as Telvani and is spoiled for good ***. Makes sense, now why so mean? The guy didn't actually do anything wrong beyond being a dupe in the baddies scheme to get Sharp back. Why don't we just buy some *** from one of the in-game tailor npcs, with an "do you have anything for less" option for newbies with no coin. Maybe the tailor has some in back that were returned or something.
  Also, when we see Federo again in Rawkala, he's wearing the same stuff he ran away in, which makes zero sense. He's so fussed and eager to get out of that stuff only to put it back on even though he's even less safe than before? Give him a 3nd outfit already. One that doesn't smell like dead giant.
  
• I think the text in Sondevals journal that we find in the delve should have remained unchanged. It makes sense for him to be extra creepy in his private journal that presumably no one but him is meant to read. The new one reads strangely and downplays sondeval's intentions too much.
  
• The second note we find in the cache, cutting the last part of the physical description was good, but the rest still reads awkwardly. The part where he says "he belongs to me" was good. Made sense, since you know, hes a former slave. I would put that whole part back. I'm a bit torn on whether the original or the edit is better overall. My first reading of it, I thought the tmi description was weird, but on second reading, it fits, so idk. Either one works.
  
• The flashback is very well made, really shows the nature of their relationship. Its also what those who have a problem with the quest seem to take issue with the most. There ought to be a way to skip that part for people who don't want to see it. There's also a perfect opportunity during the quest to do so:
  
  
  
  Instead of this dialog that has no real consequence, make this part where you can choose to see the flashback or not. Heck, it even reads like the writer tried to do just that but wasn't able to implement it for some reason.
  
  Another good time is right before we go in, when talking to Dimik-ei one last time.
  
  
  
  Put an option in to back out at the last second with an apology to Sharp for not being able to handle it. Let Dimik-ei or maybe Mevei do the flashback. It works with the lore mech too, since Dimik-ei says someone needs to be unattuned to do it. Neither she or Mevei is. She could say something like it will be difficult to cast the spell and channel the memories at the same time, but she can try if it's really necessary. Sondevel can knock us out with magic or something when he shows up after tracking Sharp to the location through the metal.

• The idea that Sharp can no longer get his memories back after Sondivel dies is both unsatsifiying story wise, and doesn't make sense with the lore presented. The metal is supposed to have some kind of collective memory, which is how Dimik-ei helped us see Sharps memory in the first place. She doesn't even mention Sondival as necessary. Maybe with some work she can get some more pieces back, if he wants. How much someone who's been through this kind of thing would want to remember is different for everyone, and the idea of having his past no longer accessible just like that feels like a cop out.
  
• Also personal pet peeve: don't make us destroy the notes, just give them to her and let her study them, or at least decide what to do with them. She states she wants to learn soul magic (*cough* necromancy) to help others with situations like this. Burning books, no matter how horrible, does absolutely nothing to help with that. Especially research that actually sort of worked.

Azandar:

• The idea behind the quest is cool, like the clockwork city mq. Presumably character wise, its supposed to be about how he's been running from his past and coming to grips with his own ego and self-esteem issues. Unfortunately 90% of that growth is crammed into some dialog at the very end. Both the action and his character growth needs to be spread more throughout the quest instead of all crammed into the last part. A whole 2/3 of it were giving me psijic fetch vibes which sucked.

• The dialogs with his former colleagues and how he was a less than great partner were excellent and gives us a deeper look into his personality, and the summoning scenes were great too.

• The adversary could have been more overtly like him beyond looks, since it is literally supposed to be him. Having the same voice as him without the stereotypical evil villain accent would go a long way. Also, lose the whole "om gonna destroy the world because reasons" thing. There's loads of ways to be a bad guy/antagonist without all the "muahahaa!" ***. Like, idk, wanting to kill off your [this universe] counterpart for a chance at life since it's apparently an unrealized fate that somehow gained sapience? Isn't that enough?

• The throw the key into the sea thing is kinda silly since its been established that he has really good tracking magic and telekinesis is a thing, and also magical diving bells (graven deep). I suppose it could be symbolic, but he takes the inaccessibility a bit too seriously for that.

• The kuta as a quest reward is a nice touch.

• I love gubbins 💖 Kinda made me sad I had to turn him into goo just to get the magic doodad out of him. Why was it even in there in the first place? Would be nice to have a reason for doing that beyond [required player interaction event]. (yes i know we rebuild him later, but still).

• He seems to be referring to Martina as both she and they. It s confusing using two different pronouns for the same person.
  
  

Overall I like them both, personality wise. Sharp is relatable in his down-to-earth, no nonsense attitude. Azandar took a bit of getting used to. I didn't like him at first, but by the end of the quest he grew on me, after seeing why he is the way he is, which is what's supposed to happen, I imagine.

Also: Apocryphia is so freaking cool:D

Maitsukas

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Maitsukas wrote: »

Elvenheart wrote: »

Have they announced who the voice actors are for these companions?

Haven't seen any official announcements yet, but I keep thinking that Sharp sounds kind of similar to Garrus Vakarian (Brandon Keener) from Mass Effect.

Oh, I do hear that now that you say it. I'm usually not good at picking up with VAs at all, but every so often you catch one word or phrase and then you're doing that one meme with Leo diCaprio pointing at the TV

But if Sharp is Garrus... I may have a new BFF coming out.

That is strange that we haven't gotten anything about them yet. I remember Basti and Mirri's VAs were announced but nobody really made a big deal of it. And then we got High Isle where half of the companion marketing felt like "ISOBEL IS BEING VOICED BY LAURA BAILEY!!!!!"
... it did feel like the VA was the selling point there a little bit.

Let's give the new guys some love. @ZOS_BeckyIchnoski , is it revelaed yet who is voicing our new friends?

EDIT: I just went on PTS again to check. He sounds exactly like Garrus. Please let it be him - I didn't have enough fun running across the galaxy with my best bro because he was too busy doing calibrations; it's time for space bro to join me through Tamriel as well.

It was recently confirmed on ESO's Twitter:

https://twitter.com/TESOnline/status/1655656331280261123?t=9Fe9aWwyUKCkq-JaQ8PeEw&s=19

phaneub17_ESO

9.0.3

Abor's Augmented Ward now grants him a shield equal to 25% of his maximum health for 6 seconds, reflect damage is based on weapon power. At level 20 that is a minimum of 7,725 up to a maximum of 10,050 with full Vigorous. Compared to Shields of Erudition which scales with weapon power so using a staff, dual wield, or two-handed gives a 8700 damage shield to himself and 2 nearby allies for 6 seconds with a shorter cast time and shorter cooldown.

On Guard is better for half the cooldown if you plan on using 1h and shield. Shields of Erudition with other weapons for a difference of 1350 less absorption, but affects more targets. You could use both of them for double shields if you use maximum Vigorous and Ice Staff. You still want a source of 20% damage reduction so Ritual of Salvation is a must, if you go with Dual Wield then you can add Razor Cape.

Kelinmiriel

I know I'm late to this, but finally got around to doing quests to get both companions.

The quests are too long, require running all over the zone, running all the way through a public dungeon (past mobs and bosses), and one of them, a delve as well. If this was only being done once per account, that wouldn't be as much of an issue - assuming the player has a character that can handle pub dungeons, or friends to help them, or gets lucky in running into others there, or has enough soul gems to rez repeatedly when killed and run through dangerous areas as a ghost.

Azandar also has an issue with pronouns that I found particularly annoying - referring to Martina as both "she" and "they" (sometimes in the same sentence, even!), and Tem as both "he" and "they". Seriously, just pick one and stick with it! Especially Martina, who's someone he has known very well for a long time.

Example: Referring to Martina, when just about to leave her/them, he says: "If she thought they could twist fate itself, nothing would slow them down."

Story-wise, I felt that Sharp was unrealistically open about his past, given his personality and experiences, talking to someone he'd just met. I could have accepted better, finding out about his amnesia and backstory from the others around him than from him directly - or if he felt he was in a position where it was necessary to share the information with you.

On the plus side - I really like Azandar's default look.

ADarklore

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

9.0.3

Abor's Augmented Ward now grants him a shield equal to 25% of his maximum health for 6 seconds, reflect damage is based on weapon power. At level 20 that is a minimum of 7,725 up to a maximum of 10,050 with full Vigorous. Compared to Shields of Erudition which scales with weapon power so using a staff, dual wield, or two-handed gives a 8700 damage shield to himself and 2 nearby allies for 6 seconds with a shorter cast time and shorter cooldown.

On Guard is better for half the cooldown if you plan on using 1h and shield. Shields of Erudition with other weapons for a difference of 1350 less absorption, but affects more targets. You could use both of them for double shields if you use maximum Vigorous and Ice Staff. You still want a source of 20% damage reduction so Ritual of Salvation is a must, if you go with Dual Wield then you can add Razor Cape.

I'm curious... for those running Telvanni Efficiency, is it not better to go with full Quickened on every companion now? I run heavy Quickened on tank builds and medium Quickened on DPS builds.

In regards to Azandar as a tank... sure his shield won't be as strong without Vigorous, BUT, he'll be casting the shield roughly every 3/seconds which means it's basically a perma-shield. The way I have Bastian setup, using full Quickened with TE, running Bulwark, Kindle, Drake's Blood, and Basalt Barrier... both he and I have a perma-shield thanks to Basalt Barrier, and he can cast Drake's Blood every 3/s if he needs healing and Bulwark every six seconds. He's basically unkillable- which is awesome for a tank.

Granted, running TE we (the player) have to sacrifice our own stats... I've had to give up 10% crit and over 20% crit damage just to run this set... but it makes companions much more useful, so definitely worth it IMO. They still don't do massive damage even when running Medium Aggressive with DPS skills, which is why I slot Medium Quickened so they cast skills more frequently- including their heals.

Necrotech_Master

ADarklore wrote: »

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

9.0.3

Abor's Augmented Ward now grants him a shield equal to 25% of his maximum health for 6 seconds, reflect damage is based on weapon power. At level 20 that is a minimum of 7,725 up to a maximum of 10,050 with full Vigorous. Compared to Shields of Erudition which scales with weapon power so using a staff, dual wield, or two-handed gives a 8700 damage shield to himself and 2 nearby allies for 6 seconds with a shorter cast time and shorter cooldown.

On Guard is better for half the cooldown if you plan on using 1h and shield. Shields of Erudition with other weapons for a difference of 1350 less absorption, but affects more targets. You could use both of them for double shields if you use maximum Vigorous and Ice Staff. You still want a source of 20% damage reduction so Ritual of Salvation is a must, if you go with Dual Wield then you can add Razor Cape.

I'm curious... for those running Telvanni Efficiency, is it not better to go with full Quickened on every companion now? I run heavy Quickened on tank builds and medium Quickened on DPS builds.

In regards to Azandar as a tank... sure his shield won't be as strong without Vigorous, BUT, he'll be casting the shield roughly every 3/seconds which means it's basically a perma-shield. The way I have Bastian setup, using full Quickened with TE, running Bulwark, Kindle, Drake's Blood, and Basalt Barrier... both he and I have a perma-shield thanks to Basalt Barrier, and he can cast Drake's Blood every 3/s if he needs healing and Bulwark every six seconds. He's basically unkillable- which is awesome for a tank.

Granted, running TE we (the player) have to sacrifice our own stats... I've had to give up 10% crit and over 20% crit damage just to run this set... but it makes companions much more useful, so definitely worth it IMO. They still don't do massive damage even when running Medium Aggressive with DPS skills, which is why I slot Medium Quickened so they cast skills more frequently- including their heals.

the companions are definitely more bursty with their dmg

some of their better attack skills are the mages guild meteor (starfall), the fighters guild crossbow (sniping silver), and some of their class skills (embers crystal shards which has basically the same stats as starfall)

i have mirri slotted with the poison arrow that has a dot, but i think having the bonus with the new set would make her use this skill too fast since its like an 8 sec dot on a 12 sec skill

phaneub17_ESO

ADarklore wrote: »

I'm curious... for those running Telvanni Efficiency, is it not better to go with full Quickened on every companion now? I run heavy Quickened on tank builds and medium Quickened on DPS builds.

In regards to Azandar as a tank... sure his shield won't be as strong without Vigorous, BUT, he'll be casting the shield roughly every 3/seconds which means it's basically a perma-shield. The way I have Bastian setup, using full Quickened with TE, running Bulwark, Kindle, Drake's Blood, and Basalt Barrier... both he and I have a perma-shield thanks to Basalt Barrier, and he can cast Drake's Blood every 3/s if he needs healing and Bulwark every six seconds. He's basically unkillable- which is awesome for a tank.

I've tried all quickened with TE on multiple companions with my current builds, some worked well with it and others not so much. Ember for example I have as a single target burster using Starfall, Crystal Blast, Sniping Silver, Shocking Burst, and Shared Wards; she never got past Sniping Silver before it came back around to Starfall. Azandar/Isobel are even worse, if I put 8 second cooldown abilities up front in the first 2 slots then that is all they will ever use; you will rarely ever see the third ability get used and the last 2 will never cast. It also makes most Damage/Heal over time abilities obsolete especially those that don't have an upfront burst. There's a lot of damage loss if you're relying on them to stack the dots and refreshing them before the next tick.

An all Quickened Azandar starting with both shield abilities active is still not enough for him to survive a dragon's standard bite attack, since its not a heavy attack he isn't going to block it and absorb shields take full damage unmitigated. At full Vigorous Bastian, Isobel, and Azandar can survive a dragon's bite; Ember and Mirri still get killed, it was hilarious.

ADarklore

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I'm curious... for those running Telvanni Efficiency, is it not better to go with full Quickened on every companion now? I run heavy Quickened on tank builds and medium Quickened on DPS builds.

In regards to Azandar as a tank... sure his shield won't be as strong without Vigorous, BUT, he'll be casting the shield roughly every 3/seconds which means it's basically a perma-shield. The way I have Bastian setup, using full Quickened with TE, running Bulwark, Kindle, Drake's Blood, and Basalt Barrier... both he and I have a perma-shield thanks to Basalt Barrier, and he can cast Drake's Blood every 3/s if he needs healing and Bulwark every six seconds. He's basically unkillable- which is awesome for a tank.

I've tried all quickened with TE on multiple companions with my current builds, some worked well with it and others not so much. Ember for example I have as a single target burster using Starfall, Crystal Blast, Sniping Silver, Shocking Burst, and Shared Wards; she never got past Sniping Silver before it came back around to Starfall. Azandar/Isobel are even worse, if I put 8 second cooldown abilities up front in the first 2 slots then that is all they will ever use; you will rarely ever see the third ability get used and the last 2 will never cast. It also makes most Damage/Heal over time abilities obsolete especially those that don't have an upfront burst. There's a lot of damage loss if you're relying on them to stack the dots and refreshing them before the next tick.

An all Quickened Azandar starting with both shield abilities active is still not enough for him to survive a dragon's standard bite attack, since its not a heavy attack he isn't going to block it and absorb shields take full damage unmitigated. At full Vigorous Bastian, Isobel, and Azandar can survive a dragon's bite; Ember and Mirri still get killed, it was hilarious.

Yeah, that is why I do not spec any of them into any DoTs or HoTs when using TE, because they refresh too frequently and therefore are a waste of slot. I only use burst damage skills, which seems to work well. I've heard Bastian say, "I don't think I'm going to make it" or something along those lines, and then I look over and he's back to full health again.

I've also found the same problem where there are some skills that don't get used, so I try to slot "used when companion or ally is under xx health" or an execute skill in the first couple slots, that way they are only used when that threshold is reached, the other skills are all burst damage skills.

I have Bastian as main tank, Sharp as 2H, Azander as 1H/Shield DPS (not tank) since I use his class skills, I figured the shield would be a nice bonus defense, and he constantly casts Zone of Recuperation, although I also use Sniping Silver on both Sharp and Azander for the bonus damage against undead, daedra and werewolves (we're always fighting undead and daedra). Isobel is my DW DPS and I love it that she's always casting Penetrating Strikes like a true Templar! Mirri is my healer, and I tend to use her whenever I'm facing off against Dragons. Ember, she's great with a Frost staff, but I rarely use her except when I'm farming- as there's tons of thieves troves in the area.

I never use Starfall, I just hate the skill as it's cast so frequently but it also has a longer cast time compared to other skills. Probably why Ember keeps using it, by the time she's done with the cast time, it's ready to be used again. LoL! But I do think being aware of the cast time of each skill also plays a part in their rotation and skill use order with TE and Quickened.

BlueRaven

Kelinmiriel wrote: »

I know I'm late to this, but finally got around to doing quests to get both companions.

The quests are too long, require running all over the zone, running all the way through a public dungeon (past mobs and bosses), and one of them, a delve as well. If this was only being done once per account, that wouldn't be as much of an issue - assuming the player has a character that can handle pub dungeons, or friends to help them, or gets lucky in running into others there, or has enough soul gems to rez repeatedly when killed and run through dangerous areas as a ghost.

Azandar also has an issue with pronouns that I found particularly annoying - referring to Martina as both "she" and "they" (sometimes in the same sentence, even!), and Tem as both "he" and "they". Seriously, just pick one and stick with it! Especially Martina, who's someone he has known very well for a long time.

Example: Referring to Martina, when just about to leave her/them, he says: "If she thought they could twist fate itself, nothing would slow them down."

Story-wise, I felt that Sharp was unrealistically open about his past, given his personality and experiences, talking to someone he'd just met. I could have accepted better, finding out about his amnesia and backstory from the others around him than from him directly - or if he felt he was in a position where it was necessary to share the information with you.

On the plus side - I really like Azandar's default look.

Yup.

As I said on the first page, why going into public dungeons is part of these quests seems baffling to me.

ADarklore

BlueRaven wrote: »

Kelinmiriel wrote: »

I know I'm late to this, but finally got around to doing quests to get both companions.

The quests are too long, require running all over the zone, running all the way through a public dungeon (past mobs and bosses), and one of them, a delve as well. If this was only being done once per account, that wouldn't be as much of an issue - assuming the player has a character that can handle pub dungeons, or friends to help them, or gets lucky in running into others there, or has enough soul gems to rez repeatedly when killed and run through dangerous areas as a ghost.

Azandar also has an issue with pronouns that I found particularly annoying - referring to Martina as both "she" and "they" (sometimes in the same sentence, even!), and Tem as both "he" and "they". Seriously, just pick one and stick with it! Especially Martina, who's someone he has known very well for a long time.

Example: Referring to Martina, when just about to leave her/them, he says: "If she thought they could twist fate itself, nothing would slow them down."

Story-wise, I felt that Sharp was unrealistically open about his past, given his personality and experiences, talking to someone he'd just met. I could have accepted better, finding out about his amnesia and backstory from the others around him than from him directly - or if he felt he was in a position where it was necessary to share the information with you.

On the plus side - I really like Azandar's default look.

Yup.

As I said on the first page, why going into public dungeons is part of these quests seems baffling to me.

What people seem to be forgetting, is that the continuation of their quests take place over a long period of time. You have to level your rapport enough to continue the quests, it isn't like the entire questline is available from the start. Initially, you only get the quest that finishes when you acquire them as your companion. Then you have to level their rapport to get the continuation of their story, and the Public Dungeon doesn't occur until the very last of Sharp's quest... so by then you should be at least level 50 and Sharp should be leveled as well. That's the downside of the PTS, you can fully level your Companion instantly and have access to their entire questline, when on Live, you have to spend the time to level up their rapport first, which takes a lot of time, even though they are lowering the threshold of the required rapport to level your friendship up.

phaneub17_ESO

ADarklore wrote: »

Public Dungeon doesn't occur until the very last of Sharp's quest... so by then you should be at least level 50 and Sharp should be leveled as well.

That is part of his acquisition quest to become a follower, at least it was at the start of PTS. I went through it solo on my own copied character not a template, he starts at the docks and you go through half the public dungeon to get catch his target, talk with his sister then becomes your companion.

I tried it again with a starter character and got killed multiple times, had to go pick up Isobel first for some heals and AOE damage to make it through it with both of them by my side. Someone engaged a boss early in the public dungeon and has long range missile attacks that weren't apparent to me as I started losing health rapidly.

First few weeks its going to be fine with a flood of people running it for the same thing, clearing the trash and the bosses in their way. Once it gets into deserted content, it's going to be a pain.

Treselegant

ADarklore wrote: »

BlueRaven wrote: »

Kelinmiriel wrote: »

I know I'm late to this, but finally got around to doing quests to get both companions.

The quests are too long, require running all over the zone, running all the way through a public dungeon (past mobs and bosses), and one of them, a delve as well. If this was only being done once per account, that wouldn't be as much of an issue - assuming the player has a character that can handle pub dungeons, or friends to help them, or gets lucky in running into others there, or has enough soul gems to rez repeatedly when killed and run through dangerous areas as a ghost.

Azandar also has an issue with pronouns that I found particularly annoying - referring to Martina as both "she" and "they" (sometimes in the same sentence, even!), and Tem as both "he" and "they". Seriously, just pick one and stick with it! Especially Martina, who's someone he has known very well for a long time.

Example: Referring to Martina, when just about to leave her/them, he says: "If she thought they could twist fate itself, nothing would slow them down."

Story-wise, I felt that Sharp was unrealistically open about his past, given his personality and experiences, talking to someone he'd just met. I could have accepted better, finding out about his amnesia and backstory from the others around him than from him directly - or if he felt he was in a position where it was necessary to share the information with you.

On the plus side - I really like Azandar's default look.

Yup.

As I said on the first page, why going into public dungeons is part of these quests seems baffling to me.

What people seem to be forgetting, is that the continuation of their quests take place over a long period of time. You have to level your rapport enough to continue the quests, it isn't like the entire questline is available from the start. Initially, you only get the quest that finishes when you acquire them as your companion. Then you have to level their rapport to get the continuation of their story, and the Public Dungeon doesn't occur until the very last of Sharp's quest... so by then you should be at least level 50 and Sharp should be leveled as well. That's the downside of the PTS, you can fully level your Companion instantly and have access to their entire questline, when on Live, you have to spend the time to level up their rapport first, which takes a lot of time, even though they are lowering the threshold of the required rapport to level your friendship up.

If I remember correctly both new companions require you to go into public dungeons as their introduction quest. If you've got a low level character, which I was when I tested a new arcanist trying to get both companions, you spend a lot of the time running through the public dungeons trying not spend all your time dead because the mobs inside makes getting through harder than it should be. The introduction quests are far too long and involve travelling all over the map as well. It doesn't make sense to put this spike of difficulty in something like a companion introduction quest and it might put off a lot of players from picking up these companions.

It's a strange decision considering the feedback from Isobel's quest last year - that it was too long and involved too much back and fore. Story-wise it makes the quests long and meandering in a way that it doesn't necessarily make the quest better and made me wish for an editor. Going into a public dungeon might have been fine as a later quest for the companions but as part of a long introduction quest I imagine it's going to a problem for some.

ADarklore

Weird. I haven't run these quests yet, but I had just watched an hour-long Youtube video of all Sharp's quests and the only Public Dungeon they did was at the very end. Hence the reason I thought it was only at the end. The video showed all his quests, but there was some editing, but I figured it was only the 'traveling' that was edited. I'll have to run it on PTS and see for myself.

UPDATE: So just completed Sharp's first quest, and yeah, totally didn't expect that awful public dungeon!! However, at level 25 with whatever gear PTS gives us, I was able to get through it fine... although, I did venture to Blackwood and collect Mirri, as she's my healer companion. Not sure how I would have fared otherwise. WHY did they think this was a good idea?!?

UPDATE 2: Just completed Azandar's first quest and UGH... a public dungeon AND a delve?!? This is so NOT going to be fun doing this quest on all my alts!! If people thought Isobel's quest was bad, at least it took place roughly in the same area. I could knock her quest out in less than 15/mins but Azandar's quest, there really is no way to do it faster because of the dungeons.

Kelinmiriel

ADarklore wrote: »

UPDATE: So just completed Sharp's first quest, and yeah, totally didn't expect that awful public dungeon!! However, at level 25 with whatever gear PTS gives us, I was able to get through it fine... although, I did venture to Blackwood and collect Mirri, as she's my healer companion. Not sure how I would have fared otherwise. WHY did they think this was a good idea?!?

UPDATE 2: Just completed Azandar's first quest and UGH... a public dungeon AND a delve?!? This is so NOT going to be fun doing this quest on all my alts!! If people thought Isobel's quest was bad, at least it took place roughly in the same area. I could knock her quest out in less than 15/mins but Azandar's quest, there really is no way to do it faster because of the dungeons.

Yes, now you know what I was talking about. Plus both quests require you to travel all over the map - so if it's a new character that doesn't have a fast mount yet, better hope you can get someone to port to who has the shrines. Or it's just going to miserably long.

I could get Mirri or Bastian on alt characters in about 8 minutes. Ember or Isobel, about 11 minutes (and both of those quests are almost always bugged for me, still, which is really annoying. No matter how many times I report them.)

I hate to think how long it's going to take to run these new quests to acquire the companions on additional characters. (Not to mention how long it takes to get to Azandar in the first place!) Although - Azandar is the first companion I'm not sure I want. I don't like him. He annoys me too much.

"I'm an arse," he says. He's not wrong.

ADarklore

It seems at @phaneub17_ESO was right about Bastian, slotting Heavy Vigorous is definitely the way to go, even when using Telvanni Efficiency. I tried a few more World Bosses and found Bastian dying, in particular to encounters that have multiple 'bosses'. So I swapped out all the Heavy Quickened armor for Heavy Vigorous but kept Quickened weapons and jewelry. I also removed Bulwark and slotted Ritual of Salvation, and returned to those same World Bosses and he didn't die at all.

I'm now wondering if a mixture of Quickened with other traited gear might be better for the other Companions as well, when using the TE gear set. I know they have a big problem with spamming DOTs due to the very short cooldown, which totally negates even using them, so perhaps swapping in a couple pieces of other traited gear might be a better option??

phaneub17_ESO

As much as I like watching Azandar pop 3-4 Zone of Recuperation giving me massive recovery, when at max level I'll be putting him down with two-handed so he stays in melee range, light armor, and all Prolific. Zone of Recuperation, Shields of Erudition, Tendrils of the Colorless Sea (...who comes up with these names), Parallel, and Haste. He'll be blasting Minor and Major Vulnerability on everything in front of him while providing shields and recovery in the meantime. The rate I got him casting his ultimate is pretty insane almost like a regular ability.

One thing to note about Azandar's ultimate it doesn't work at long range despite being 28 meters to cast. At a certain distance his ultimate will still cast, but won't deal any damage, won't knock targets into the air, won't stun, and unfortunately won't apply Major Vulnerability; basically a complete ultimate dump with no effect.

Sharp-as-Night is a mixed bag of sorts, he makes a decent tank that he can reach armor cap without the need for Blessing of Protection/Combat Prayer, has a powerful self-heal, and like Isobel makes for a great hybrid healer while tanking or doing damage. But I'm going the DPS route with Dual Wield, Medium, 7 Shattering, and 5 Aggressive. Snow Squall, Char, Razor Cape, Cold Snap, and Spinning Steel. Two cast and forget abilities in the front, Char is a little deceptive as it plays the cast animation at each wave so it looks like he's casting it more frequently than he actually is. This gives him a lot of AOE and damage over time.

Sharp-as-Night's ultimate is okay not outrageously good or bad in any way. It's a single target attack, I don't know if he targets the closest thing to him or it runs in a straight line and hits the first thing it runs into, I need to play around with that. While being single target it packs quite a lot of damage, stuns the target, and has an execute. This will make him useful on boss fights when they drop below 50% health as it starts to smack his target with a Kagouti Truck turned into a Bullet Train.

ADarklore

I only use Bastian for boss fights, so I don't need major damage out of my DPS companions, I much prefer them to be distractions than worrying about them actually contributing to damage. Hence the reason I either slot them with a taunt or with AOE attacks to start the fight off and draw aggro. Never really considered anything other than Quickened trait for usefulness previously, but seems Telvanni Efficiency opens up doors to trying new things. Might throw a few pieces of Prolific on Azandar and some Shattering on Sharp.

I have Sharp running 2H and with the quick cooldown of Sever, once an enemy hits execute range they're pretty much toast as he'll swing it over and over.

Currently I have Azandar running 1H/Shield but as a DPS, might switch him to DW so he does a touch more damage.

BlueRaven

To be clear I don’t mind the delve part too much. The Blackwood “companion dungeons” were essentially delves, and I don’t mind those “dungeons” having a second purpose as delves.

But the public dungeon parts seems a bit mean spirited for a companion quest. The designers need to understand they might be asking a level 5 or so to go in there. I feel companion quests should not be harder than a common delve.

phaneub17_ESO

Petals of the Hunter: It looks like they took my comments into consideration and doubled the amount this ability heals, it used to be static around 1808 now it ranges anywhere from 3154 to 4506 depending on the weapon that is equipped.

Quickened (Light)
1H + Shield: 3368
Dual-Wield: 3478
Two-Handed: 3988

Vigorous (Heavy)
1H + Shield: 3154
Dual-Wield: 3257
Two-Handed: 3734

Aggressive (Medium)
1H + Shield: 3154
Dual-Wield: 3257
Two-Handed: 3734

Soothing (Light)
1H + Shield: 3772
Dual-Wield: 3895
Two-Handed: 4506

On a side note there is a display error on companion weapons on the PTS doubling trait stats, but not actually having an effect. Such as Aggressive weapons on Live are 1.7% for one-hand and shields, 3.4% for two-handed; PTS one-handed are 3.4%, shields are 1.7%, and two-handed are 6.9%. It did help me to understand how Aggressive actually calculates, its not 1.7% it's actually 1.725% which drove me nutz wondering why I couldn't get the numbers right. How I know the numbers aren't actually buffed is via Quickened and Augmented, despite having higher numbers are not changing values vs Live.

Edit: huh, that weapon trait thing is affecting Live too.

ADarklore

@phaneub17_ESO

The only downside of Petals of the Hunter, is the cooldown conflicting with the 8/s duration as you had mentioned before. So it comes down to, are heals more important than DPS? Because you'd get more DPS the more quickly he can cast his burst damage skills vs running any DoTs or HoTs. Depends on what a person wants his focus to be. Personally, I plan to have him as my main companion, which means mostly open world quests and delves, so I won't really need much of any healing in that content- I've actually just slotted his Fungal Forage skill which works great with a short cooldown build.

I have taken your advice and given Azandar some Prolific gear to boost his Ultimate generation, I also did the same with Isobel, since her Ultimate is pretty useful too. Sharp I added a couple pieces of Shattering, so increasing his cooldown but not by a whole lot. I'm still playing around with builds and cooldowns, but your information is greatly appreciated and always gives me something to consider.

I do have a question tho... what about healing from Medium (Soothing) for Petals?

UPDATE: I went into PTS and tested Sharp with a full set of Medium Soothing, and found that I had to slot two long cooldown abilities, otherwise he kept firing off skills and not doing any light attacks to make the Petals skill useful. I ended up slotting Undaunted's Savage Instinct and Skeletal Aegis, and then he would do enough light attacks between skills to make slotting Petals worthwhile. Otherwise, I would have to leave a couple skill slots empty just to force him to light attack while the other skills were on cooldown.

Necrotech_Master

ADarklore wrote: »

@phaneub17_ESO

The only downside of Petals of the Hunter, is the cooldown conflicting with the 8/s duration as you had mentioned before. So it comes down to, are heals more important than DPS? Because you'd get more DPS the more quickly he can cast his burst damage skills vs running any DoTs or HoTs. Depends on what a person wants his focus to be. Personally, I plan to have him as my main companion, which means mostly open world quests and delves, so I won't really need much of any healing in that content- I've actually just slotted his Fungal Forage skill which works great with a short cooldown build.

I have taken your advice and given Azandar some Prolific gear to boost his Ultimate generation, I also did the same with Isobel, since her Ultimate is pretty useful too. Sharp I added a couple pieces of Shattering, so increasing his cooldown but not by a whole lot. I'm still playing around with builds and cooldowns, but your information is greatly appreciated and always gives me something to consider.

I do have a question tho... what about healing from Medium (Soothing) for Petals?

UPDATE: I went into PTS and tested Sharp with a full set of Medium Soothing, and found that I had to slot two long cooldown abilities, otherwise he kept firing off skills and not doing any light attacks to make the Petals skill useful. I ended up slotting Undaunted's Savage Instinct and Skeletal Aegis, and then he would do enough light attacks between skills to make slotting Petals worthwhile. Otherwise, I would have to leave a couple skill slots empty just to force him to light attack while the other skills were on cooldown.

isobels ultimate is useful? first time i heard that lol

from my experience with it, it was so bad i even took the ultimate off her bar so she couldnt cast it because of that ridiculous 3.8 sec cast time, and it felt very non-impactful if it did connect with the enemy

many cases the enemy either 1) died before it fired, 2) interrupted her before she finished casting it, or 3) straight up killed her before she finished casting it

from the 4 existing companions the only ones ive found with decent ults are ember and mirri (mirri has a 3 sec cast time but applies a unique 20% dmg taken debuff to the target while the cast is going) (ember has virtually no cast time, aoe dot ult, that even has execute scaling)

ADarklore

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

isobels ultimate is useful? first time i heard that lol

from my experience with it, it was so bad i even took the ultimate off her bar so she couldnt cast it because of that ridiculous 3.8 sec cast time, and it felt very non-impactful if it did connect with the enemy

many cases the enemy either 1) died before it fired, 2) interrupted her before she finished casting it, or 3) straight up killed her before she finished casting it

from the 4 existing companions the only ones ive found with decent ults are ember and mirri (mirri has a 3 sec cast time but applies a unique 20% dmg taken debuff to the target while the cast is going) (ember has virtually no cast time, aoe dot ult, that even has execute scaling)

Ok, you got me. It sounds good on paper but I never really paid attention to it until I went onto PTS and threw a few pieces of Prolific and Parallel on her to see how well she did. You are absolutely right about the long cast time and being interrupted, saw that several times, but also the fact that it seems to hardly do ANY damage, I was shocked. Considering it is themed on 'Dawnbreaker' I expected more out of it. I think you have a point about just removing it, with how badly it performs.