Honestly I'm scared that Companion's will break the game more than ever, adding new bugs on a system full of problems.

I will use them, but not all the time and not on all characters.

I tend to be a solo player, so my builds are designed for DPS, self-heal, and recovery. My design goal is not to DPS a crater in the ground but to outlive my opponents. This means I favor classes like the Warden, which has the bear to tank distract the bosses while I deal with them.

Bastian can provide DPS(Melee)+Tank distraction roles for my characters that really work best at range. Yes, he does die. You can't just toss him in and forget about him.

I have not settled on a preferred role for Mirri. DPS(Ranged)+Healer would seem to be the best bet. This mirrors a lot of my own characters, so I am not sure whether I will use her or not. Used at range, she may not require as much attention.

Of course, on PTS, I am not taking the companion above Level 3 or 4, and I am only using low level test characters created just for this testing. Both companions will have to be developed before they can really be of assistance with my established characters.

I find the rapport system quite interesting and am anxious to see how the companion progresses.

No, I will not use them. I'm a magsorc and I don't even like my class pets.

perfiction wrote: »

I guess I'll use healbot build on Mirri in overland (farming WBs, hunting chests etc) to profit from the passive:

Mirri’s Expertise: Treasure Chests found through Treasure Maps and in the Overland have a 30% chance to provide additional loot from hidden compartments. The treasure from these hidden compartments may contain additional gold, sellables or recipes.

Other than that I don't find companions useful. Maybe they will be hepful for low level players or for masochists questing and clearing map markers with tank toons tho.

I tested that passive on PTS, seems to be a 40% chance of proc. And also seems to proc even when the companion isn't active (hope this makes to live).

But I gotta say, the drops from Mirri's lootbags are mostly worthless treasure type items, I think about a 25% chance at another set piece drop. Pretty meh, but FOMO is pretty real

I don't expect them to be helpful in combat, but meanwhile I am really looking forward to the companions as an enrichment to the RP. It was always fun to have a companion in TES V, I loved the mod-companion Sofia and it quickly felt lonely without her or Serana.

hrothbern wrote: »

For me the question is primarily not whether they are useful, but whether they are fun and enjoyable to have them with you.
And I look forward for having them around.

have fun losing rapport with Mirri every time you accidentally loot a bug.

Goregrinder wrote: »

They will be like running a proc set as your 4th gear set. Free damage. Can't really be any worse then a player who just spams LA or doesn't ever weave, so they will have their uses.

you need to actualy try them on pts, before you say that. their damage is all but nonexistent even when they are alive... which they are not very often. moreover, they constantly habitually pull mobs out of your ground AoE's, somehow draw more threat than anyone else even without any taunts equipped and the moment a mobs runs to them, they start backpedaling - which i guess is something newer players also do, but at least you can tell a newer player to stop backpedaling and run to the tank/group instead if something is on them, so that it actualy dies. companions will ALWAYS backpedal and you cannot teach them otherwise.

they are worse then class pets. so.... much worse.

I haven't had time to try them out on the PTS enough to really make up my mind, but I'm not expecting to use them much.

I'm not interested in having them trailing around after me all the time, so I'll probably only use them for their own quests, and then only because I want to do the quests.

I'd like to be able to use them for soloing dungeons so I can take my time going through them, doing the quest, reading notes I find, deliberately going the wrong way to look around etc. but it sounds like they're not going to be good enough to make a difference if I can't already solo dungeons (which I can't) so it looks like I won't be doing that. I'll finish their quests and then forget about them.

I like having my stuff around me, like my pet, and my summoned pets, so would be nice to have another thing to accompany me even if they help a little in combat. I’m wondering if they talk when visiting older zones 🧐

Yep, plan on using them all the time. Played around with them on the test server and already miss having a buddy when back on live.

They seem about as "helpful" as I expected (kind of similar to a TES single player companion). I play amost exclusively solo (WBs and easier dungeons are some of the hardest stuff I do), and the help was noticible but not like having another player with you, more like an extra pet or summon ability. I'm not elite whatsoever, but it seems a majority of people can't solo things like WBs (based on zone chat, etc) so I think they will be helpful to a large number of players.

AoE damage mitigation is my only gripe, but I'm sure they will do something similar to pets and quest followers for that before release... maybe?

Netheniel wrote: »

Hack the Minotaur has done some excellent videos showcasing the capabilities of these companions. From what I've seen, they're not as dead weight as most proclaim. So I don't think companions are a matter of "will you use them", but rather it's a question of "when will you be able to use them".

AFAIK, ZoS hasn't changed the dungeon finder system to support 2 players with companions. As a Warden healer, I generally don't have any problems with finding a group and I'm not about to resort to text chat and spending time hunting down one other random just to run a dungeon with companions. So that is content I won't be able to use my companion.

I can't see companions being used in a serious capacity for Trials, but they're certainly an option if experienced pug groups just want to get normal trial run going with 10 or so people with 2 leftover companions to offer a small dps boost.

Where I see companions being most useful is during solo world boss fights, including bosses at abyssal geysers in Summerset and maybe group content like harrowstorms in western Skyrim. I've soloed most of this open world content and some of them boringly easy while others require a bit more attention and care. If I could get a little extra support during the harder content, then that's a plus and that's where I will be able to use my companions. I would be a fool not to use them under such circumstances.

What Hack is doing here is more like parsing on a dummy than using the companions the way 99% of players will do it.

For his healer video, he chose a specific world boss with walls so Mirri wouldn't run 28 meters away. He trapped her against the wall so her combat prayer would hit him. When using Mirri in public dungeons and the like she stands so far away her combat prayer misses every time. In addition, this boss doesn't shoot AoE all over the place so she remains relatively unscathed. In any dolmen, harrowstorm, dragon, oblivion portal, 75% of group bosses (you know, the stuff most players want them for), they actually just die rather quickly. In addition in comparing her against the ROPO there is a key element missing: the ROPO will always win because when Mirri inevitably dies you lose all your healing.

For his tank video I was even less impressed. He spent most of his time trying to keep Bastian alive. On vFG1 he had to rez his tank multiple times as well as drop heals on him. Basically he was dead on every single AoE. Hack is a good player - you know what would have been easier? Just burning the boss and ignoring the companion. If you can't solo the final boss already then having a tank companion in the mix isn't going to help at all. That is the crux of the problem: companions don't seem to help you clear any content you couldn't already clear on your own. They don't even really make it easier when they pull enemies all over the place if you are trying to AoE everything down.

As for the world boss he chose for Bastian - once again, it was a boss with just direct damage and no knock downs, no AoE, no stuns. So yeah, it was kind of "best case scenario" for that one. But it does not apply in most cases.

I have run around with these guys on the PTS for hours. I have tried just about everything with them. And they really do spend most of their time dead in everything but overland content.

I like Hack, but what he is doing here is not indicative of regular play. He is creating optimal conditions to see if it is even possible for companions to work in those roles. And in optimal conditions they can function, albeit poorly. In non-optimal conditions they are just dead.

The only way I have found companions even remotely useful is to make sure they are at range (so bow or staff only) so they avoid most of the AoE. Prioritize 3 self heals and 2 dps skills. Armor is all heavy/quickened. Then they at least live a little bit in order to give you that sweet, sweet 5k dps. Even spec'd out for DPS Mirri could barely take down a Haj Mota.

Look, I like companions. They are cool. I want them in the game and I am still excited about them. But unless ZOS gives them some serious innate damage mitigation, especially AoE, they will be pretty laughable when the rest of the player base gets ahold of them on launch. They don't need to do 20k dps or know the mechanics to trials, they just need to stay alive. That's it. If they are alive you have a happy player. When they die 10 seconds into every world boss, dragon, etc., you just get a player sighing and rolling their eyes wondering why they even bothered.