What can we do about companions?

Elsonso

ixthUA wrote: »

I crafted a set of training gear for myself, with +exp gained scroll it makes leveling companions very fast.
On PC, you can quickly find purple quality companion gear in stores, however it is very expensive. If we could change companion gear trait - there would be much less useless companion gear.

Interesting... so, the plan is to fast level companions is to use Crown Store XP scrolls. Hmmm. I suppose that is one way to use up the ones I get from Daily Rewards and free Crates.

oddbasket wrote: »

I am evaluating how the system doesn't respect my time as a player, and giving feedback how I think it can be improved. I was hoping for more constructive replies to be honest, instead of most players just saying not to use companions if I didn't like them which is plain assumption.

I don't think they level too slow.

I view companions as a long term thing that is not my primary goal in the game. If I need them to have a skill in Fighter/Mage/Undaunted, then I will level them up in that. They just follow along behind me leveling up at whatever pace they level up. When they level up something significant, I adjust their build.

I have a 20 Mirri and a 20 Bastian. I think. I really don't pay attention until they show up as house guests.

Gear, however, is a problem. ZOS random loot tables are a problem across the board, but with Companions, it feels like it is not on the good part of the spectrum. They need to have both random and assigned gear drops, like with overland set gear, so that if people DO need something, they can get it from places they know they will find it.

We need a companion gear "sticker book" so we can recreate gear we already found, and the ability to transmute it to change traits. It needs to use the same currency as the existing transmute system, not some special companion transmute crystal that has to be farmed.

oddbasket wrote: »

[I would prefer companions to unlock account wide after completing the quest once. I understand why the quest needs to be there as part of a story, but the quest can still exists for alts with the companion NPC still there despite companions unlocking account wide.

Yes. Once unlocked, they should be usable by any character on the account.

The quest to go rescue friends and companions, to win contests, find lost things, or fix mistakes that unlocks them should just pop as a new quest for the character that starts their rapport chain.

I agree that rapport should be per-character. It's an RPG. People should be allowed to play characters differently and I don't want one character ruining the rapport for the other characters.

Reverb

oddbasket wrote: »

You didn't read correctly. For players who have completed previous content, each year there's 2 new companions. My experience of finishing the year's content including the chapter and DLC zone wasn't enough to level 2 companions to their max.

<snip>

I'm saying that the time investment compared to the amount of new content isn't reasonable to be functionally enjoyable.

Are you saying that you only play new content? That in the course a year you will only play the newest chapter and dlc zone? You don’t do any repeatable content?

The companions aren’t intended to be power leveled. They are intended to be a character that adventures with you and develops expertise over time. If that’s not for you, so be it.

While I agree that the leveling is too slow, and every one of my companions has gotten to 5500 rapport months before getting to level 20 your expectation of getting a fully leveled adventurer in 2 zones of story quests is unreasonable.

Tandor

oddbasket wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I love companions and I think their introduction is WHY I'm still here.

For those who have been talking about how Companions shouldn't be in ESO because it's an MMO, you apparently haven't read the numerous articles talking about how MMOs are shifting from the outdated 'group' mentality to the more soloable content mentality; where players can group if they WANT TO, but are never forced to, which was the old format for an MMO.

Also, ESO devs have stated in many interviews about how ESO is not a traditional MMO.

This thread isn't about whether the companions system should exist, or if someone wants it removed. I am not woke enough to argue about personal feelings of how each person like or dislike having it in the game, or how they prefer to play or use their companions, although somehow most of the replies seem to go this way.

I am evaluating how the system doesn't respect my time as a player, and giving feedback how I think it can be improved.
I was hoping for more constructive replies to be honest, instead of most players just saying not to use companions if I didn't like them which is plain assumption.

You may have created the thread from a particular viewpoint, but posters are entitled to comment on other posters' comments as well as your own.

ADarklore

oddbasket wrote: »

TybaltKaine wrote: »

I think the next two companions should be the last two companions. Instead of creating new ones every time we get a content expansion, why not add to the stories of the ones that exist? Give us a reason to use Mirri in Apocrypha (where she would be having a blast being a daedrologist and all). Give us a reason to use Bastian in High Isle, where his political connections to Breton nobility could have come in handy in altering a quest outcome or opening up new dialogue paths.

Just a refresh of the companions so that they don't become stale, one note, get the max rapport and leave them in a house as furnishings, which is what they are now.

Yes please, give us a break from new companions. I would like to actually use them after fully leveling instead of moving on to new ones all the time.

Nobody is FORCING players to use new companions... it is a CHOICE on their part.

And yes, leveling a new companion is meant to take place over days or weeks, they are not meant to be akin to 'pets' even though that's how many players want to see them. However, I can level them in just a few days using XP scrolls and farming public dungeons or other mob-dense content. It's something I only have to do once per year, so IMO it's not a big deal.

Dragonnord

I have them max'ed out ant they work great for me.

They do their part helping not only in solo content but several times have saved the day in some overland, normal and even veteran group content, even performing better than some real players.

They're are also great for normal arenas and for Infinite Archive.
 

salander7

Ancient legends tell companions are the way Devs punished achievement hunters, forcing them to grind every year for 2 useless npcs that will get angry when you pick up a fly standing by a wayshrine.

Aside from that, they're kinda useless, but as a torture mechanism, I give them a mark of 8/10.

oddbasket

Tandor wrote: »

oddbasket wrote: »

ADarklore wrote: »

I love companions and I think their introduction is WHY I'm still here.

For those who have been talking about how Companions shouldn't be in ESO because it's an MMO, you apparently haven't read the numerous articles talking about how MMOs are shifting from the outdated 'group' mentality to the more soloable content mentality; where players can group if they WANT TO, but are never forced to, which was the old format for an MMO.

Also, ESO devs have stated in many interviews about how ESO is not a traditional MMO.

This thread isn't about whether the companions system should exist, or if someone wants it removed. I am not woke enough to argue about personal feelings of how each person like or dislike having it in the game, or how they prefer to play or use their companions, although somehow most of the replies seem to go this way.

I am evaluating how the system doesn't respect my time as a player, and giving feedback how I think it can be improved.
I was hoping for more constructive replies to be honest, instead of most players just saying not to use companions if I didn't like them which is plain assumption.

You may have created the thread from a particular viewpoint, but posters are entitled to comment on other posters' comments as well as your own.

I did not say otherwise. I simply choose not to partake in those discussion and focus on my thread.

oddbasket

Reverb wrote: »

oddbasket wrote: »

You didn't read correctly. For players who have completed previous content, each year there's 2 new companions. My experience of finishing the year's content including the chapter and DLC zone wasn't enough to level 2 companions to their max.

<snip>

I'm saying that the time investment compared to the amount of new content isn't reasonable to be functionally enjoyable.

Are you saying that you only play new content? That in the course a year you will only play the newest chapter and dlc zone? You don’t do any repeatable content?

The companions aren’t intended to be power leveled. They are intended to be a character that adventures with you and develops expertise over time. If that’s not for you, so be it.

While I agree that the leveling is too slow, and every one of my companions has gotten to 5500 rapport months before getting to level 20 your expectation of getting a fully leveled adventurer in 2 zones of story quests is unreasonable.

I did not say that. Like I've mentioned, older players may have near or already maxed out their character slots and repeated overland content multiple times prior to the introduction of companions. As compared to newer players, new content are the only ones that aren't stale. Furthermore, much of the repeatable content they do may not involve companions eg. group content like trials, dungeons, pledges and pvp.

oddbasket

Ok, I don't regret saying this thread focuses on evaluating the time investment of the companion system vs how rewarding it is, since the posts after that has been slightly more relevant to the sentiments I'm trying to understand.

I will continue to not particpate in discussions regarding how nobody is forcing anyone to use companions, how it should or should not exist or how and what each player prefer to use the companions for. I haven't stopped anyone from making or discussing them, but those aren't the relevant sentiments I'm trying to gather from my point of view.

I also don't discount genuine sentiments about grinding out companions because it's informative at least on the ways one can do it, neither the players who feel comfortable with just having companions around without leveling to their max potential, since I'm not critiquing anyone's playstyle here.

However, every system do need some form of measurement for which to improve on. That's how drop rates and rewards get adjusted, skills get balanced and so on. The 2 scenarios in the previous paragraph are probably less ideal yardsticks to measure the companion system on, which is why geniune feedback and sentiments matter. Including those 2 scenarios, gathering a sample size can help narrow down a reasonable timeframe that cater to more players instead.

My input to the above was saying that with each new pair, the time investment was disaproportionate to the amount of new content, from my perspective of having many alts and completed previously available content. I've never claimed that it should be the one and only yardstick. Some even commented that I should not expect to level companions in 1 zone, but I've never said that, but I would have like to come closer to maxing out my companions with the amount of new content available for that year.

I liked that someone mentioned that leveling their companions can span leveling multiple characters and another sharing similar sentiments that having companions around lessen the chore of xp grinding. Different players have varying amounts of content left to do and different priorities regarding the game. I also liked how a couple of people suggested companions also receiving a percentage of xp from questing to better cater to play preference.

Basically just feel free to share how companions contribute to your individual playstyle and maybe even suggest how the experience can be improved for you. That is what I'm hoping for instead of posts criticizing each other.

Ugrak

Dragonnord wrote: »

They do their part helping not only in solo content but several times have saved the day in some overland, normal and even veteran group content, even performing better than some real players.
 

Yeah last dungeon run I was in, we wiped on Caluurion and the tank and one DPS left. I didn't even notice, meanwhile my tank companion auto-summoned to fill the spot and the rest of the run went smoothly.

Juju_beans

metheglyn wrote: »

I agree that, in general, companions level too slowly. I think it's a bit silly that they don't receive some amount of quest experience, especially for their personal quests or the quests to raise their rapport.

I love the companion system, have all of the companions recruited, max level, and max rapport. I use them on multiple characters to lessen the feeling of grinding XP, but there's still always a point where I feel like I have to take them into a dungeon or arena to get those last couple levels. I think having to focus so hard (or even at all) on getting them experience detracts from them as actual companions and npcs with personalities.

As for the gear, I don't fuss with it too much. I've had some purple quality gear drop, but mostly I get greens and blues. I give the companions what I think works best for them and don't worry about whether or not it's the best companion gear available.

See I don't think about that at all. I just take them out when I need them and don't think about the leveling. It just happens when it happens. I'm not in a rush..I play to relax and have fun. If they get annoying...I put them away, especially when stealing/

FelisCatus

You can power level companions in BRP. As for rapport that takes a month of dailies sometimes more. Companions are only good for their account wide perk that's it and maybe if you're just farming xp and need a damage sponge.

Alastrine

For those that say "if you don't like companions don't use them" it's not as simple as that.

I no longer even bother with Dolmens if there is a number of people with companions around. Suddenly you have a handful of 'real' players, each with a companion (who are constantly dropping ultimates it seems) and then there's bears, clannfears, those winged things (which I don't mind, they are part of skill lines and have been since day 1).
Get an event where it's necessary to do dolmens and such or delve bosses for boxes and good luck.

I am pretty much a solo player, have been since day 1 of the game coming out. I'm not a meta player and I don't go through multiple loadout changes to try and keep up with whatever is popular at the time. And I do just fine. There are a couple of group dungeons I can solo for endeavor things and event things. Couple of world bosses too. I do have a few friends and family that play if I want to try new dungeons etc and that's enough for me, plus guilds I'm in run them.

Currently I run 14 accounts (not toons, accounts) about 56 characters in all. Most are just for doing daily writs for mats but 5 of them are substantial accounts with many characters.
NONE have any companions, nor will they ever because I'd just as soon not add to the chaos. Personally, I can't stand them and think they are quite possibly the worst development in the game ever. I would certainly say they have added to my interest in ESO waning a lot in the past year and a half, though I am still playing daily. I have also lost interest in any events that involve world bosses, delve bosses, dolmens and such. Just because of companions.

So no, it's not as easy as just ignoring them. I really wish it were. I love everybody playing however the game is fun for them. Companions don't just impact the person using them, but at times everyone else as well.

LannStone

Vonnegut2506 wrote: »

In a game that touts questing as one of the primary features of the game, it is extremely illogical that companions don't gain xp for questing. That simple change would alleviate the majority of the leveling difficulty, and I say that as someone who only has Azander left to max.

I think this bears repeating
I've leveled several companions and think they are worth the time considering the value they add.
But I don't see why they only gain XP from me killing things
It seems they should gain the same XP from completing quests that I do.

FlopsyPrince

Alastrine wrote: »

For those that say "if you don't like companions don't use them" it's not as simple as that.

I no longer even bother with Dolmens if there is a number of people with companions around. Suddenly you have a handful of 'real' players, each with a companion (who are constantly dropping ultimates it seems) and then there's bears, clannfears, those winged things (which I don't mind, they are part of skill lines and have been since day 1).
Get an event where it's necessary to do dolmens and such or delve bosses for boxes and good luck.

I am pretty much a solo player, have been since day 1 of the game coming out. I'm not a meta player and I don't go through multiple loadout changes to try and keep up with whatever is popular at the time. And I do just fine. There are a couple of group dungeons I can solo for endeavor things and event things. Couple of world bosses too. I do have a few friends and family that play if I want to try new dungeons etc and that's enough for me, plus guilds I'm in run them.

Currently I run 14 accounts (not toons, accounts) about 56 characters in all. Most are just for doing daily writs for mats but 5 of them are substantial accounts with many characters.
NONE have any companions, nor will they ever because I'd just as soon not add to the chaos. Personally, I can't stand them and think they are quite possibly the worst development in the game ever. I would certainly say they have added to my interest in ESO waning a lot in the past year and a half, though I am still playing daily. I have also lost interest in any events that involve world bosses, delve bosses, dolmens and such. Just because of companions.

So no, it's not as easy as just ignoring them. I really wish it were. I love everybody playing however the game is fun for them. Companions don't just impact the person using them, but at times everyone else as well.

I get at least Ember on everyone. Nice help to have my own small group.

My pet sorc probably annoys you a bit too (though you say not too much) but I main it because it is the closest thing we have to a hunter class in ESO.

I with I could tame and use real beasts in stead!

FelisCatus

moo_2021 wrote: »

They were useful when I struggled with craglorn delves. Since then they're just talkative travel companions.


If they can be allowed normal gears, I'd surely equip them with meta gears and make them useful again.

Having actual sets on them would be interesting.

Alastrine wrote: »

For those that say "if you don't like companions don't use them" it's not as simple as that.

I no longer even bother with Dolmens if there is a number of people with companions around. Suddenly you have a handful of 'real' players, each with a companion (who are constantly dropping ultimates it seems) and then there's bears, clannfears, those winged things (which I don't mind, they are part of skill lines and have been since day 1).
Get an event where it's necessary to do dolmens and such or delve bosses for boxes and good luck.

I am pretty much a solo player, have been since day 1 of the game coming out. I'm not a meta player and I don't go through multiple loadout changes to try and keep up with whatever is popular at the time. And I do just fine. There are a couple of group dungeons I can solo for endeavor things and event things. Couple of world bosses too. I do have a few friends and family that play if I want to try new dungeons etc and that's enough for me, plus guilds I'm in run them.

Currently I run 14 accounts (not toons, accounts) about 56 characters in all. Most are just for doing daily writs for mats but 5 of them are substantial accounts with many characters.
NONE have any companions, nor will they ever because I'd just as soon not add to the chaos. Personally, I can't stand them and think they are quite possibly the worst development in the game ever. I would certainly say they have added to my interest in ESO waning a lot in the past year and a half, though I am still playing daily. I have also lost interest in any events that involve world bosses, delve bosses, dolmens and such. Just because of companions.

So no, it's not as easy as just ignoring them. I really wish it were. I love everybody playing however the game is fun for them. Companions don't just impact the person using them, but at times everyone else as well.

Why the hell do you have 14 accounts and 56 characters? how the hell do you even have the time, motivation to use all of them or even money (to afford dlc or subs for all those accounts)?

FlopsyPrince

FelisCatus wrote: »

moo_2021 wrote: »

They were useful when I struggled with craglorn delves. Since then they're just talkative travel companions.


If they can be allowed normal gears, I'd surely equip them with meta gears and make them useful again.

Having actual sets on them would be interesting.

Alastrine wrote: »

For those that say "if you don't like companions don't use them" it's not as simple as that.

I no longer even bother with Dolmens if there is a number of people with companions around. Suddenly you have a handful of 'real' players, each with a companion (who are constantly dropping ultimates it seems) and then there's bears, clannfears, those winged things (which I don't mind, they are part of skill lines and have been since day 1).
Get an event where it's necessary to do dolmens and such or delve bosses for boxes and good luck.

I am pretty much a solo player, have been since day 1 of the game coming out. I'm not a meta player and I don't go through multiple loadout changes to try and keep up with whatever is popular at the time. And I do just fine. There are a couple of group dungeons I can solo for endeavor things and event things. Couple of world bosses too. I do have a few friends and family that play if I want to try new dungeons etc and that's enough for me, plus guilds I'm in run them.

Currently I run 14 accounts (not toons, accounts) about 56 characters in all. Most are just for doing daily writs for mats but 5 of them are substantial accounts with many characters.
NONE have any companions, nor will they ever because I'd just as soon not add to the chaos. Personally, I can't stand them and think they are quite possibly the worst development in the game ever. I would certainly say they have added to my interest in ESO waning a lot in the past year and a half, though I am still playing daily. I have also lost interest in any events that involve world bosses, delve bosses, dolmens and such. Just because of companions.

So no, it's not as easy as just ignoring them. I really wish it were. I love everybody playing however the game is fun for them. Companions don't just impact the person using them, but at times everyone else as well.

Why the hell do you have 14 accounts and 56 characters? how the hell do you even have the time, motivation to use all of them or even money (to afford dlc or subs for all those accounts)?

I have 2 accounts (PC and PS5) with both servers (NA/EU) on both. I probably have the same number of characters. I am barely keeping up with daily endeavors now and not hitting all characters. (Plus riding training on 5 newer characters.) Not sure why it is spread out otherwise, but this takes enough of my free time already!

salander7

LannStone wrote: »

Vonnegut2506 wrote: »

... I've leveled several companions and think they are worth the time considering the value they add. ...

Is that value they add in the room with us right now? Like, it takes almost the same time it takes to take one char from 1 to 50

Adremal

Yes, the leveling speed is too slow. It shouldn't require mindless grinding with XP boosts on for them to get to level 20 in a reasonable amount of time. My Bastian and Mirri are maxed due to having used them to level some alts by running around the Spellscar like a headless chicken, loaded in XP gear and scrolls going. It still felt slow and in both cases my characters hit 50 before the companions hit 20 I believe. Sharp got leveled to... 15 or something when I came back to the game for the Necrom chapter and leveled the Arcanist, same method, headless-chicken-in-Spellscar, because quite frankly there's no incenvite not to pick the quicker option when leveling unless you're a new player. I then forgot about his XP but kept him around and he reached 20 after... a month or something, but he got most of this XP in the Archives (and perhaps some public dungeons I picked skyshards and the skill point from, but I skipped most of the mobs come to think of it). So yeah the Archives are good for XP, even without boosts, I've long since stopped caring about CP level, so my scrolls are in the bank getting devoured by moths. Maybe I'll pop some doing master writs when an XP event is up for the sake of it but... yeah. For the sake of it.

Complaints about the XP aside, they have their uses, other than one and a half of them being likeable (which shocked me in a positive way, I love Sharp and to a lesser extent Azandar - Ember is not as horrible as I had initially though either). Well as to their uses, they can be backup tanks or healers when doing solo content, if your character needs a crutch. A tank companion can be a good crutch to have around when soloing some stuff, as is a healer. DPS companions are trash though, they barely beat bow LA spammers (I think, but I'm not too sure).

LunaFlora

salander7 wrote: »

Ancient legends tell companions are the way Devs punished achievement hunters, forcing them to grind every year for 2 useless npcs that will get angry when you pick up a fly standing by a wayshrine.

Aside from that, they're kinda useless, but as a torture mechanism, I give them a mark of 8/10.

it's funny that you call all companions useless for 1 companion's dislike and even got it incorrect,
Mirri doesn't dislike it when you pick up flies she even says "If you're going to kill bugs, at least kill fetcher flies." after you pick up torchbugs or butterflies.

AcadianPaladin

I fixed Mirri. I use the add on No Interact and have completely disabled any interaction with butterflies and torchbugs. Works perfectly.

M1SHAAN

I agree that their leveling is too slow. When I pair a new character with a companion and level them together, the char hits 50 before the companion hits 20, though the companion usually has enough skills to be pretty useful even if not maxed out. It'd be more palatable for me to take that amount of time to level if there were more class skills and ultimate choices that didn't unlock at level 20 (though I also want this even if they do shorten the time it takes to get to 20).

salander7 wrote: »

Is that value they add in the room with us right now? Like, it takes almost the same time it takes to take one char from 1 to 50

I assure you companions have value, at least as tanks. My main runs Telvanni Efficiency in overland content with Bastian as a tank. I know my dps is taking a hit by doing this, but I think the duo is still overall stronger because of how much more survivability Bastian has with the set bonus. A couple examples:

• With this duo I was able to solo the harrowstorms down in Blackreach. Bastian kept the big stuff busy while my char took out the witch poles, and then tanked the final boss so I could dps it down. Nobody ever wants to do these harrowstorms, but I was finally able to get the achievement for doing all of them without assistance.
• Just this morning the duo "soloed" one of the Deadlands wandering bosses. It was basically like a parse with some dodging of AOEs. I don't run any selfless heals so Bastian kept aggro and kept himself alive without my help (note I don't recommend doing this, it was boring and the loot wasn't very good).

Are companions perfect substitutes for tanks? Of course not, there are countless situations where their level of programming just isn't sufficient. But they can perform very well in the right conditions, such as when you want to do a daily world boss quest in a newer DLC and don't want to ask for help in chat. Or, to go through a group dungeon at your own pace to experience the story.

Plus, it's nice having NPC friends! I'm not good at attaining friendships with real people so it's nice having a bucket of code that I can get emotionally attached to.

merpins

It'd be cool if they were treated as boss monsters that you can place in your house, which you could adjust the difficulty of by talking to them. Make them have unique fighting styles and have more things they do based on difficulty. For example, you can set them to delve and they'll be the power of a delve boss, all the way up to a hard vet trial version. Maybe even allow players to fight multiple companions at once like this.

Imo, it's the only way companions would be interesting to me. I don't really use them outside completing their stories and then placing them in my house. But if I could set up a gauntlet in my house, it'd be interesting from a testing perspective. Trial dummy? Nah, take the practical test and fight a companion to see if your build would work in a real setting.

Necrotech_Master

i like having companions around as its free dmg/support

like having a healer or tank companion is great for my dps, and having a dps companion is great for my tank

the main thing i dislike about companions is needing to do the intro quest on every character to be able to use them, this is incredibly frustrating, and the other annoyance i notice with companions is that none of their attacks or dmg is registered to our combat logs so its very difficult to actually tell what their dps is, as we also cannot use them inside of our houses on dummies

leveling a companion is easy, rapport is easy (it took me like 2.5 weeks tops to max out both azander and sharp after necrom released)

leveling a companion the method i prefer is pop a 150% xp scroll and go into normal dragonstar arena, the scroll is 1 hour and the arena takes about 1 hour, roughly about 6 runs of that to get to lvl 20

for rapport, you only have to focus on the big gains dailies, the rest is negligible

Foxtrot39

problme with them are 3 fold

-They can only equip dedicated companion gear which unlike player set have borderline negligible impact

-Rarity of purple and good trait combo (I got one of those combo gear and it sells for nearly 100k)

-Control, they spam skill at random, cant command them to stay ranged, go melee or keep agro. They only react, never act in a way that actually benefits you

Necrotech_Master

Foxtrot39 wrote: »

problme with them are 3 fold

-They can only equip dedicated companion gear which unlike player set have borderline negligible impact

-Rarity of purple and good trait combo (I got one of those combo gear and it sells for nearly 100k)

-Control, they spam skill at random, cant command them to stay ranged, go melee or keep agro. They only react, never act in a way that actually benefits you

they definitely dont spam skills at random

all of their skills are cooldown based, and prioritized to cast from slot 1 to slot 5, left to right

if everything is off cooldown, they will use slot 1, then slot 2, then slot 3, then 4, then 5

have to keep in mind the varying cooldowns and other trigger conditions (the companion or ally being under 75% health for a heal, or enemy being under 25% for an execute), if you slot a short cooldown item for slot 1, then they could hit slot 1, then slot 2, then slot 3 and then slot 1 comes off cooldown, so they would cast that again before trying to go to slot 4

if you have a healer companion and want them to benefit you, you want to slot the high burst heal skill for slot 1, so that they always prioritize that as soon as conditions meet, then say slot 2 for their equivalent of radiating regen (to keep the HOT up), and then slot 3 could be some kind of other longer cooldown buff or shield, etc

but they definitely dont cast stuff "at random"

Elvenheart

I enjoy all of the companions and have them all fully leveled and geared in blue quickened gear and purple weapons.

Like a lot of people, I wouldn’t mind if the leveling process went a little faster, but not too much. I greatly dislike how rare purple companion armor is and sell what few pieces I get instead of using it because I am fine with the much cheaper blue armor, and I really doubt that the purple armor would make that much difference. I’d like them to be wearing all purple armor “just because”, but at the current rates that it selsl for it’s just not worth it.

And I greatly dislike having to repeat the companion unlock quests. I think after we unlock them with one character they should be optional, like learning ToT for example. I think it’s important that they be at least optional so people who do want to redo them can.

Ugrak

M1SHAAN wrote: »

I assure you companions have value, at least as tanks. My main runs Telvanni Efficiency in overland content with Bastian as a tank. I know my dps is taking a hit by doing this, but I think the duo is still overall stronger because of how much more survivability Bastian has with the set bonus.

Great on a templar running telvanni efficiency and kagrenac in case they go down. Run it with guard active on the companion and it is very strong.

MashmalloMan

1. Dedicated inventory.
2. 15 skills instead of 9 for the class.
3. 3 ults instead of 1 for the class.
4. Allow use of player sets, but at like 20% the power.
5. Or.. Rework equipment to come with set effects you can mix and match.
6. Allow improvement of equipment via crafting, add gold tier.
7. Reduce xp requirements by at least 50%.
8. Allow them to earn xp from quests.
9. Add that Infinite Archive damage mitigation to all content in the game, maybe to a slightly less value.

Companions are definitely not what I thought they would be when they were announced. It was never what I wanted, but I can generally see the value in anything if it's implemented in a fun way.

It's really sad to hear they're going to be releasing another 2 this year instead of plans for improving how they function in meaningful ways. We're at 6 companions now, the only class without 1 is Necromancer. I expected 1 companion this year. 2 means they're going to start doubling up on existing classes, most likely covering the skills that were missing on the first pass. Do we really need 2 versions of the same class in a companion when they could spend that development time making the originals better?

There is a very slim chance, a sliver of hope and hype, that the 8th companion is actually a tease for a future class in 2025 or 2026. I think people would go nuts for all the theories regarding that, but I can't realistically see this happening.

Even if you absolutely adore the companion system, everyone is aware it could be improved.

The best value for companions I've found to date is farming overland content like.. 10% quicker because Ember cleans up ads that are a little far away from me or more recently, Infinite Archive for solo runs. The fact that she procs some of the verses/visions and is generally really hard to kill makes IA a lot more fun solo.

Necrotech_Master

MashmalloMan wrote: »

1. Dedicated inventory.
2. 15 skills instead of 9 for the class.
3. 3 ults instead of 1 for the class.
4. Allow use of player sets, but at like 20% the power.
5. Or.. Rework equipment to come with set effects you can mix and match.
6. Allow improvement of equipment via crafting, add gold tier.
7. Reduce xp requirements by at least 50%.
8. Allow them to earn xp from quests.
9. Add that Infinite Archive damage mitigation to all content in the game, maybe to a slightly less value.

Companions are definitely not what I thought they would be when they were announced. It was never what I wanted, but I can generally see the value in anything if it's implemented in a fun way.

It's really sad to hear they're going to be releasing another 2 this year instead of plans for improving how they function in meaningful ways. We're at 6 companions now, the only class without 1 is Necromancer. I expected 1 companion this year. 2 means they're going to start doubling up on existing classes, most likely covering the skills that were missing on the first pass. Do we really need 2 versions of the same class in a companion when they could spend that development time making the originals better?

There is a very slim chance, a sliver of hope and hype, that the 8th companion is actually a tease for a future class in 2025 or 2026. I think people would go nuts for all the theories regarding that, but I can't realistically see this happening.

Even if you absolutely adore the companion system, everyone is aware it could be improved.

The best value for companions I've found to date is farming overland content like.. 10% quicker because Ember cleans up ads that are a little far away from me or more recently, Infinite Archive for solo runs. The fact that she procs some of the verses/visions and is generally really hard to kill makes IA a lot more fun solo.

theoretically speaking, they could have a companion not based on a player skill line, and there could be like a WW or vampire style companion they could do too as a full class line

as the companions are NPCs they could be given a unique class/class skills that are not based on anything the player has access to