Unlocking Companions Multiple Times

HalfDragoness

Hello, I really love the companion system, the ocmpanions themselves, and their storylines. I love having them with me on my journey, setting them up how I want, and being involved in their lives via their questlines. However, could we please have one of the following options:

• Really quick, or in a small area, quest to initially unlock them, but one or two more story quests for them in total.
• Once you've unlocked them on 3 characters they are just unlocked on all characters.
• Once you've fully completed a companions story with one character, your other characters have an option to 'skip' the initial quest.

I have a main character but a total of 14 characters. I will regularly swap between them for some variation in how I play and what will happen is I will decide I want to work on getting Ember to max level but I want to take a break from my main. So I log into my bow/bow stamcro and remember he doesn't have Ember or any companions unlocked. He's also never been to High Isle so now getting there is slightly more a trek than just teleporting. This eats into my evening playtime by 15-20 minutes just to acquire Ember of whom I've already completed her story quest with and have max rapport with on my main. Another evening I want to play on my sneaky theif and remember that if I have Azandar with me I have way more chance to find good stuff from his portfolios while I'm stealing and pickpocketing. But this means I have to get my character to central Apocrypha and then play through the whole of Azandar's quest (which is so long and spread out for a starting quest) She doesn't have any wayshrines in Apocrypha, and I haven't played her enough for her mount speed to be good, so this is now a huge slog of 30+ minutes. I've also already unlocked Azandar for his passive for about 4 other characters so this is now the 5th time I'm doing his long quest. I've also done Sharp's quest about 6 times... I love Sharp but do I really need to do his quest again?

Just to reiterate. I really do enjoy playing through their stories, but the quest to unlock them should be so much shorter.

SilverBride

I think we should have the option to unlock the Companions on all our characters after just one character has completed it. Especially since we now have Account wide achievements and so many things are account wide. We could be given the option to skip this on each character like we can do with the ToT tutorial.

Tandor

SilverBride wrote: »

I think we should have the option to unlock the Companions on all our characters after just one character has completed it. Especially since we now have Account wide achievements and so many things are account wide. We could be given the option to skip this on each character like we can do with the ToT tutorial.

I wouldn't have a problem with that for those who want it, but so much has already been made account-wide that I strongly feel that any further concessions in that respect must be made optional.

haelgaan

there have been complaints since Companions released about unlocks and rapport being per character but the Companion themselves having stats across the account. I agree, it should be across account, but i've unfortunately neither seen any traction whatsoever for these requests nor any hint of a justification from ZOS of why to force pieces of the Companion experience per character.

AcadianPaladin

My concern about unlocking companions on each alt is similar to that of attunable crafting tables. It is clear that more companions will be added - just as more attunable sets have been added. It took Waaayyy too long to get action on the fact that the attunable 'sea of tables' situation had dramatically outgrown its ability to scale. With a handful of companions, unlocking on all alts is not a big deal but at what point does it become too tedious? For me, I have already stopped trying to unlock companions on alts after four companions. Starting with the Necommites, I unlock them on one character, evaluate them for a week, and, if they don't beat Mirri, that's all I do with them. A shame I think. Tedious grinds like Psijic and horse training discourage creating new characters. I would happily apply a change class token to a couple alts I have that are fully trained up but didn't work out. I won't create any more alts though.

Kite42

Can you unlock companions via crowns? If not, then ZOS doesn't make money on the unlocks and there is zero reason to torture us.

Make an innkeeper that you can speak to for an introduction or something.

YffresTrill

haelgaan wrote: »

there have been complaints since Companions released about unlocks and rapport being per character but the Companion themselves having stats across the account. I agree, it should be across account, but i've unfortunately neither seen any traction whatsoever for these requests nor any hint of a justification from ZOS of why to force pieces of the Companion experience per character.

I have no opposition to giving people the option to unlock companions on alts instantly, even increase their rapport instantly if they so choose, but I hard disagree on making it account-wide by default.

If you are using companions for roleplay purposes, as I do on my alts, it makes no sense for the companions to be instantly unlocked and their rapport set to max.

Julia_Nix

I'm really sick of running all the way to Doomvault Vulpinaz on every alt I made.

redlink1979

Don't worry ppl, a monetized shortcut will be created at some point.

FayJolyn

Am I the only one who don't mind the intro quest to get the companions on alts? I don't to to unlock them on all characters on the same day but just when I feel like it. I don't mind if there will be a future shortcut for those who want it but I would find it dissapointing if the oppurtunity to unlock them in the original way to be completely removed.

YffresTrill

FayJolyn wrote: »

Am I the only one who don't mind the intro quest to get the companions on alts? I don't to to unlock them on all characters on the same day but just when I feel like it. I don't mind if there will be a future shortcut for those who want it but I would find it dissapointing if the oppurtunity to unlock them in the original way to be completely removed.

Nope, you're not the only one, I agree.

DarcyMardin

For those of us with a lot of alts...and the few crazy people like me who also have multiple accounts with multiple alts...the process of unlocking the companions gets very tedious very quickly. And as they keep adding new companions, which I actually like, the process gets out of hand...and worse with every expansion that has new companions.

I'm beginning to feel as if I'm being punished for buying all the expansions on all my accounts! Companion quests do not scale. Please change it so we do the initial quest once per companion per account.

DinoZavr

i understand that different players have different views, but i, personally, hate the repetition. This is why most of my characters have no Companions unlocked. Doing exactly the same routine again and again.. who even decided for that?

tomofhyrule

The problem is that the original Companions were connected to the completion of their respective Quest Hubs. People wanted more interaction with them, but that got translated into "oh, let's make the intro quest longer" instead of "let's make the subsequent quests longer."

Companions should have quick and easy intros s you can unlock them easily. The Rapport system (and the fact that they're quests and therefore unique to character) does make it so each character needs to do them, but ZOS should recognize that the quests should be shortened so the intro is a quick 5-min affair. Maybe this massive 'intro quest' should be their first quest, and then push everything back.

I'd be okay if they added a way to essentially hire companions for a mercenary gold fee just to unlock them, but definitely they shouldn't start building Rapport from anything until you actually do their first quest and get to know them. This is still an RPG at heart, and it's not fun to see all of the RPG elements (like having individual characters!) being thrown away completely.

EdjeSwift

FayJolyn wrote: »

Am I the only one who don't mind the intro quest to get the companions on alts? I don't to to unlock them on all characters on the same day but just when I feel like it. I don't mind if there will be a future shortcut for those who want it but I would find it dissapointing if the oppurtunity to unlock them in the original way to be completely removed.

I don't mind Az and Sharp's unlocks because when I do them, I do the public events in the dungeons for the skill point too. I often whinge about the length of their recruitments, rightfully so mind you, especially compared to Ember's. But I get the whole unlocking per character for RP purposes, but it is a chore, especially when you have 20 characters.

Dojohoda

Perhaps a special book could be placed at each location of the previously unlocked companion. The alt could open the book to unlock the companion or ignore the book and pick up the quest instead.

Ezhh

ESO is a huge game; even after years playing, there's so much I have left to do. I don't want to use my in game time to repeat the same quest 20 times. The end result is that I barely engage with companions, because they usually only get unlocked on the character I use for questing.

If they want everyone to engage with what is clearly meant to be a big system within the game, it shouldn't be so tedious to access.

Four_Fingers

I know one thing as we get more and more companions and house guests, we need more special collectable slots in our houses for them.

HalfDragoness

ComradeBiscuit wrote: »

I have no opposition to giving people the option to unlock companions on alts instantly, even increase their rapport instantly if they so choose, but I hard disagree on making it account-wide by default.

If you are using companions for roleplay purposes, as I do on my alts, it makes no sense for the companions to be instantly unlocked and their rapport set to max.

I agree, I don't think it should be an account-wide thing. I think there should be an option to skip the quest but you can still play through it if you want. Obviously you have to earn the 'Skip' option by either unlocking them with at least 3 other characters or completing their storyline.

SilverBride

HalfDragoness wrote: »

Obviously you have to earn the 'Skip' option by either unlocking them with at least 3 other characters or completing their storyline.

One character is enough. That is how it is with the option to skip the ToT tutorial. There is no reason to have to do it with more than one character.

MrGarlic

I fully support the OP.

I've unlocked 2 companions on each of 33 characters across 3 accounts and it was incredibly tedious.

Still, it was a bit less tedious than 'maxxing' the Psijic skill line on all 33 though.

I wouldn't pay crowns for it though.

YffresTrill

SilverBride wrote: »

One character is enough. That is how it is with the option to skip the ToT tutorial. There is no reason to have to do it with more than one character.

Yeah, don't see any reason why you'd have to do it with more than one to unlock the ability to skip. There is enough grind in this game as is; if one finds replaying a quest to be a grind, then three times each will still be a grind, albeit a shorter one. It just seems unnecessary.

kargen27

I'm going to say this is a bad bad idea simply because I think it would be screwed up the way account wide achievements was screwed up. Any changes to making something account wide should have an opt out option. I lost so much of what I like to do when we were forced into account wide achievements. I don't want to chance losing anything else.

Bobargus

In my opinion, if a companion is shown to be unlocked and visible in your collections list, that should be enough requirement to summoning them without the quest requirements, on any character.

disintegr8

MrGarlic wrote: »

I fully support the OP.

I've unlocked 2 companions on each of 33 characters across 3 accounts and it was incredibly tedious.

Still, it was a bit less tedious than 'maxxing' the Psijic skill line on all 33 though.

I wouldn't pay crowns for it though.

I've unlocked all 6 companions on all 20 characters, with companions all now at max level.

Psijic line only needs level 1 to see portals, so not maxing that out on all characters. Scrying on the other hand needs level 7 to unlock seeing shiny chests, so 18 characters are at least to level 7, with the last 2 on their way.

Would still do it all again rather than pay crowns for the progress.

Elsonso

SilverBride wrote: »

I think we should have the option to unlock the Companions on all our characters after just one character has completed it. Especially since we now have Account wide achievements and so many things are account wide. We could be given the option to skip this on each character like we can do with the ToT tutorial.

Yes, but this is just one of many things solved by having one, and only one, character per account/realm.

disintegr8

Elsonso wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I think we should have the option to unlock the Companions on all our characters after just one character has completed it. Especially since we now have Account wide achievements and so many things are account wide. We could be given the option to skip this on each character like we can do with the ToT tutorial.

Yes, but this is just one of many things solved by having one, and only one, character per account/realm.

I would have stopped playing through boredom inside 12 months if I only had one character.

Elsonso

disintegr8 wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I think we should have the option to unlock the Companions on all our characters after just one character has completed it. Especially since we now have Account wide achievements and so many things are account wide. We could be given the option to skip this on each character like we can do with the ToT tutorial.

Yes, but this is just one of many things solved by having one, and only one, character per account/realm.

I would have stopped playing through boredom inside 12 months if I only had one character.

I can't say that you are wrong. I sent most of my characters packing almost 2 years ago, and my in-game time is a fraction of what it used to be. Spending has been slashed, too. Tamriel Once means that I only do new stuff on my mains (NA/EU, PC/XBox) rather than making a new character and replaying the game, which I have done more than once.

Still a fan of the game, but there is much less to do here. This year was almost exactly the opposite of fixing that.

ApoAlaia

One can only hope that they will implement this feature if they are bringing new companions with the next chapter.

After unlocking all six current companions 29 times it does feel like I've done this 27 times too many...

Veinblood1965

This exactly. I actually just don't unlock them on alternate characters for just this reason. Why repeat the same lengthy quest over and over and over. I'm starting to think that many "features" of this game are an intentional time sink and its just me waiting for a new game to come out that gets rid of this time sink attitude, like unlocking riding skills for instance omg that is so lame.

karthrag_inak

Khajiit had no problem unlocking the first 4 on all characters (original 18 and then 2 new ones when they arrived) but Sharp is kind of long, and Azandar is really grueling. This one has Sharp on 19 of 20, and Azandar on 15 of 20. Just don't have the stamina for another Azandar drudge.