Companion System

Hiusku

Hello there!
First of all, sry for my so so english. Second, if something simillar was posted, I'm sorry but couldint fint it.
So... companions. Some of us like this system, some of us don't. I find it fun to travel with someone (I'm mostly solo player, non of my friends plays ESO) but since Blackwood this system is... the same. We simply get more companions with each expansion. And there is my proposition / sugestion, why can't we send idle companions to do something? Like, we have treasure maps and Surveys for materials, why not just send companion to do it? Let's say, you can send one companion to do Enchanter Survey, he is inactive for an hour and when he / she returns you get mail with meterials. Or send them to do fishing. Or to gather some materials.
There is so much we can do with Companion System and it's the same as it was on realase.
Any opinions or sugestions?

Erickson9610

Some people have suggested this functionality before. I'm of the stance that if we were to get some system to automatically complete surveys or maps, that it should be relegated to an Assistant (not Companion) specifically designed for that purpose. We're told that Companions have their own lives when not traveling with the player, and having them do our busy work doesn't seem like it fits within the scope of their design.

If there's a feature I'd like to see added to the Companions system, it'd be something along the lines of having multiple Companions summoned — and most importantly, letting them interact with one another, like party members in an RPG. Maybe some further quests with the Companions, after we've completed their storylines.

Hiusku

Hmm, idea with Assistant is not bad. If Companions can't do that, then that might be the solution.
I'm not sure if more than one summoned Companion is good idea, not sure if it will make overland content too easy... but what if we can have some instanced contend where companions, alone without us, do something? Like some sort of easy (mechanics wise) dungeon with rewards depended on how far Companions went or something.

Erickson9610

Hiusku wrote: »

Hmm, idea with Assistant is not bad. If Companions can't do that, then that might be the solution.
I'm not sure if more than one summoned Companion is good idea, not sure if it will make overland content too easy... but what if we can have some instanced contend where companions, alone without us, do something? Like some sort of easy (mechanics wise) dungeon with rewards depended on how far Companions went or something.

I've seen games with similar mechanics, and usually they reward your units with experience for successfully clearing a mission. I think there should be more active activities added to the game, rather than passive ones — I just don't feel the need to "use" Companions when they're not with me, and I don't think getting passive rewards (aside from Keepsakes) just for knowing a Companion is necessarily great for this game. It's just free resources for doing nothing.


While I wouldn't argue that the issue with having multiple Companions summoned would be that it would make the overworld too easy, I would say that the biggest issue would likely be that the ability to summon multiple Companions would cause more server resources to be used. I mean, preferably it'd be great to adventure together with them as a party of four or so, but as this is an MMO, having to calculate the effects of multiple Companions per player would be costly.

Maybe TES VI will give us that sort of party experience? It's just lonely only traveling with one other party member at a time.

ADarklore

Wow... imagine doing that IRL. Tell your friends, "Hey, when you're not with me, I want you to go do my laundry, pick up my groceries, and detail my car." How do you think they'd respond to you??

Hiusku

This is game, not real life... Look at SWTOR (Star Wars The Old Republic). You can send like 10 of your "friends" to do something while you do anything. Besides, my point is that we have cool system and ZOS do nothing with it.

ADarklore

Hiusku wrote: »

This is game, not real life... Look at SWTOR (Star Wars The Old Republic). You can send like 10 of your "friends" to do something while you do anything. Besides, my point is that we have cool system and ZOS do nothing with it.

And... this is ESO. I don't care what OTHER games are doing, this is what ESO is doing and this is their system and they set the rules. The point is, ZOS created companions to be like IRL friends, not pets.

Hiusku

There are nothing alike IRL friends... but don't argue about that. Like I said, system is good but could use some updates, add something to it (not counting more companions each expansion). Like Erickson9610 said, some interaction between Companions, or some more content specific to them.

ADarklore

Hiusku wrote: »

There are nothing alike IRL friends... but don't argue about that. Like I said, system is good but could use some updates, add something to it (not counting more companions each expansion). Like Erickson9610 said, some interaction between Companions, or some more content specific to them.

You haven't met my friends!

Hiusku

ADarklore wrote: »

You haven't met my friends!

Fair point!
But you know, I believe that when you add system or systems to the game, you should expand on them. Adding more Companions did not count for me as expanding the system. Maybe you are right, that sending them to fetch items is bad idea but something can be done with this system.

Erickson9610

ZOS has mentioned that there might be a "romance" feature added to the Companions system in the future, so at least there's something planned for those who want extra functionality. Though, I imagine that's not quite what the original post has in mind in regards to new Companion functionality.


I'll also add that Companions have been expanded the same way other features like Tales of Tribute and Antiquities have been expanded. Every year, there are more Antiquities to unearth, and new Tales of Tribute decks to unlock. The same goes for all of the other base game features like housing, item sets, crafting, and so on. It's also probably easier to introduce, say, a new Mythic each year than it is to introduce new gameplay elements to the Scrying and Excavating minigames each year.

Once ZOS has made a Companion version of every Player skill line, they might not have quite as much work to do every year if they decide to repeat Companion races and classes while focusing primarily on the Companions as characters, as well as figuring out the passive bonus of their Keepsake.

Necrotech_Master

i like the different companions for the variety of skill lines to theme differently

my biggest problems with companion system would be:

1. needing to unlock each companion on every toon even though its an account wide unlock (this is absolutely by far my biggest complain with companions, everything else is minor in comparison)
2. better ultimates or more ultimate choices (isobels by far got the worst ult with a 3.8 sec cast time, and each companion only has 1 ult so theres no choice or variety, the guild skill lines dont even have ults)
3. better AI (so the companions try to move out of aoe or deal with mechanics instead of being the equivalent of a player who only started playing eso a week ago)

the priority i would want a solution for is needing to unlock the companions on each character, with how ridiculously long some of those intro quests are, and i just got tired of redoing the same quest nearly a dozen times when its NOT quick (with the current set of companions, i only have azander and sharp unlocked on 3 characters because i refuse to do their quests on any more, would i like to experiment and play with them more? absolutely, but im not rerunning their awful intro quests again and again and again...)

FlipFlopFrog

I really like the companion system and i hope in the future we'll get something similar for summonable pets too.