Starlock wrote: »

When you realize that playing solo is the default state in this game and that grouping of any kind is a highly optional activity that many don't partake in already, I think you'll become less pessimistic.

I wouldn't call it pessimistic to lose the ability to play with other people in an online game I enjoyed as an online game

I highly doubt that the AI is good enough to really replace a competent player in anything but base game dungeons. A nice back up for sure but nothing that carries you through tough stuff. But I'll better not bet on that.

I think people actually enjoy PLAYING this game less than they enjoy forcing people to play the game they want or taking away a game style that they do not enjoy. It's weird. I see the same thing in politics, where people care less about a rule they are attempting to enforce and rather love the act of enforcement. It's odd.

You do realize that those who want to group up will continue to group up?...its a social game and companions aren't going to fill that void. I am personally just thrilled that DPS can bring along their own personal buff monkeys and tanks and healers can focus on tanking and healing. You are looking at companions wrong...they are no different than pets, except unlike pets they are an extension of your slottable equipment.

Until you work at Zos and see what the stats say on their end, this business will always follow where the money goes. If this wasn't obvious to you that this is primarily roleplaying game first above all else... all you have to do is look at the crown store and crown crates. The online aspect was always just an option to link up with other players. We have over 7 years to show where ZOS wants to take their game. Players will always vote with their wallets.

You cant blame ZOS when they have the stats that prove what sells.

It's a harsh reality to accept but the RPers are what's keeping this game alive. Just like the RPers in Fallout 76. Once you accept that you can start to make informed decisions moving forward to what you ultimately want to do and where you want to spend your time.

Ahaha love it when people think grouping with random people is the only thing that makes this game great. Besides grouping with people will always exist but the crappy dungeon finder part of the game will possibly diminish over time and considering the state of the dungeon finder I wouldn’t be upset about it.

Maybe this will finally get people grouping up with guildies instead, I love grouping with guildies, they play their role, they share loot and it’s better than 80% of random queues.

Ban companions from group dungeons and trials and we‘re good. In an instanced setting that’s distinctively created for group activities companions just shouldn’t work.

The one thing that companions everywhere will kill is performance though.

Seraphayel wrote: »

Ban companions from group dungeons and trials and we‘re good. In an instanced setting that’s distinctively created for group activities companions just shouldn’t work.

The one thing that companions everywhere will kill is performance though.

One of the selling points of Companions is specifically that will allow people to do some grouped content without the need of a group.

How that will be balanced and which content, I don't know. But it's a selling point of the feature and specifically why I already pre-ordered so I'm gonna be very mad if doesn't work that way in some capacity.

I can personally see it being disabled in queues and vet mode, but allowed in preformed groups and normal mode.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Seraphayel wrote: »

Ban companions from group dungeons and trials and we‘re good. In an instanced setting that’s distinctively created for group activities companions just shouldn’t work.

The one thing that companions everywhere will kill is performance though.

One of the selling points of Companions is specifically that will allow people to do some grouped content without the need of a group.

How that will be balanced and which content, I don't know. But it's a selling point of the feature and specifically why I already pre-ordered so I'm gonna be very mad if doesn't work that way in some capacity.

I can personally see it being disabled in queues and vet mode, but allowed in preformed groups and normal mode.

@spartaxoxo Except they said on stream that it will be allowed in vet dungeons and I see no reason for it not to be allowed in performed groups of any difficulty tbh.

Seraphayel wrote: »

redspecter23 wrote: »

Seraphayel wrote: »

Ban companions from group dungeons and trials and we‘re good. In an instanced setting that’s distinctively created for group activities companions just shouldn’t work.

The one thing that companions everywhere will kill is performance though.

I have a feeling that companions may be banned in queue groups specifically. I just can't see how it would work if they were allowed. You wouldn't need to ban them from preformed groups though. If a friend and myself want to run a duo dungeon, I don't see the issue with that as long as we're not impacting the queue anyway.

I disagree on the second part. I can't imagine how companions will impact performance at all. They aren't much more than a glorified mob with a set script and they will be limited in most situations if they take up a group slot. 2 players and 2 companions in a dungeon shouldn't be any more impactful than 4 players would be in that same instance.

The second part is solely dedicated to overland content. Companions are not like pets that have only one / two attacks. Companions can be skilled and have priority lists etc. - I don’t want to know how much stress that puts on the already overloaded servers. Now multiply that by hundred, thousand or a hundred thousand players being online at the same time and having their very specific companion around. Sounds like a performance nightmare to me.

I don't believe it would be much of an issue with performance, its no different than having all those enemies on overland, they all perform their attacks and have set routes to move around, a companion will just be an enemy that is on your team and only attack when you are in combat and follows the player only. The only thing that may affect performance is proc sets but overland content never really had an issue with performance, at least I never had any issues. Also, my guess is they will account for performance by making a companion count as a real player, that way when an instance is full it will create an overflow instance for everyone else which may actually mean that overland will have less real players at one time.