Companions - Suggestions and Wishlist

phaneub17_ESO · July 2022

Maybe this can be a megathread where everyone can pile on their ideas for companions, I dunno. Anyway this is just a rough draft of what I like to see done with current Companion's abilities and traits, I'll make a separate reply for future companions I like to see so its not muddle up the suggestions.

Abilities
Isobel really sets a new standard on companion abilities that it feels like everyone else needs to catch up to her rather than taking her down a notch. I like to see some upgrades to make the other 3 companions to be more unique and desirable to use. There actually isn't a lot that needs to be changed, just a few tweaks to make them feel more personal.

Bastian
Crag Smash: When cast it launches a missile at his target and deals AOE damage to enemies nearby, 6 meters around Bastian. Stone Giant without the 2 extra missiles, the AOE splash comes after the missile.

Kindle: Continues to launch additional missiles healing for half as much every 4 seconds for 8 seconds. Cauterize with one less fireball and less healing.

Basalt Barrier: Damage absorption shield duration increased to 8 seconds. Healing received bonus persists for 6 seconds. Like with Ember's Shared Wards, both should be separate buffs.

Mirri
Life Absorption: Should heal herself and an ally nearby. Funnel Health, but one healing missile always target herself.

Ember
Crystal Blast: Deals damage to her target and half as much damage to enemies nearby her target within 4 meters. Make it like the original Sorcerer morph without the stun.

Quick Fix: Critical heals with Quick Fix heals an additional target, passively has double critical strike chance. At base it has a 6% chance to critical strike from Ember's racial passive, with full critical strike chance it doubles from the normal 34% to 68%.

Traits

Most traits are pretty decent, but there's a few that need some extra boost.

Augmented A: It only affects abilities that have durations and most abilities that do have durations are 4, 6, and 8 seconds with varying cooldowns; the only ones that have greater duration are Crimson Font, Provoke, and Savage Instinct. Quickened makes it obsolete as it affects all abilities and brings down the cooldown more than enough on most abilities with duration effects to be within 1-3 seconds downtime. Increase it to 4.2% per epic bringing its max bonus to 50.4%.

Augmented B: Alternatively instead of increasing the duration of buffs and debuffs, it increased the effectiveness of damage over time, healing over time, and damage absorption shields provided by duration effect abilities by 31%. Percentage based abilities like Drake's Blood, On Guard, or Solar Ward would be unaffected and still relies on health and Vigorous trait.

Focused: The maximum critical strike you can get with this is 31% (34% with Ember) and companion's critical damage/healing is at the base 1.50%. Add a secondary effect that also increases critical damage/healing by 1.7% per epic bringing it to 31% critical strike chance and 20.4% increased critical damage/healing.

Prolific: I like to see this get a secondary effect where it grants the companion a minimum starting amount of ultimate when entering a new area / changing zones. 3 points per uncommon, 6 points per superior, and 9 points per epic. So if you have full 12 prolific: uncommon starts with a pool of 36 ultimate, superior starts with 72 ultimate, and epic starts with 108 ultimate.

Jim_Pipp · July 2022

These are some really sensible changes. Its crazy that quickened will almost always give more uptime than augmented, or that quickened will almost always do more damage (through better uptime) than focussed.

All of Mirri's healing skills (soul thief skill line) should heal herself and another target - currently only life siphon does, and it has a 16 second cooldown. This makes Mirri very squishy even in a healer role.

My biggest request is that abilities with durations (e.g. DoT or HoT) should not be recast until they have expired. With too much quickened you can loose a third of an abilities effect (e.g. wall of elements)! More importantly it makes skills like Haste (reset cooldowns) mostly useless because skills may not use their full effect before they are recast.

And let companions wear hats, obviously.

Kurague · July 2022

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

These are some really sensible changes. Its crazy that quickened will always give more uptime than augmented, or that quickened will always do more damage (through better uptime) than focussed.

All of Mirri's healing skills (soul thief skill line) should heal herself and another target - currently only life siphon does, and it has a 16 second cooldown. This makes Mirri very squishy even in a healer role.

My biggest request is that abilities with durations (e.g. DoT or HoT) should not be recast until they have expired. With too much quickened you can loose a third of an abilities effect (e.g. wall of elements)! More importantly it makes skills like Haste (reset cooldowns) mostly useless because skills may not use their full effect before they are recast.

And let companions wear hats, obviously.

Idono about hats but it would be cool if they'd allow us to change the companion hairs. Just the styles, no colors or facial features, just hair style.

Companions are suposed to be mates(Not in the sexual sense, but in the friendly sense), so much so that they allow us to choose their clothes. I let my friends do my hair sometimes and I don't allow them to change my clothes, so I would say this much would be feasible.

AcadianPaladin · July 2022

Ability to use head gear: hats, circlets, hairstyles.

Small companion inventory so they can carry their own extra gear for role swapping. Failing that, at least the ability to lock companion gear so it can't be accidently sold if primary characters have to carry it around.

TheGreatBlackBear · July 2022

It’d be nice if they could have better AI. Like they have no sense if self preservation at all. They just eat aoes and die.

Sevalaricgirl · July 2022

Companions should be able to use all the customizations that we can use.

phaneub17_ESO · July 2022

While I'm not big on companions carrying their own excess items, I would like for them to have the option to Weapon Swap, equipping a second weapon and separate laid out action bar. The function would work in their skills menu where you manually choose which weapon is actively used along with its corresponding action bar and it can only be changed out of combat. This let's us do two completely different builds whether its with different or the same type of weapons without having to constantly rearranging their skill set.

I like having Bastian tanking, but when not up against anything major like a world boss I would like him to swap to using more offensive combat skills over defensive only ones. It would remove the hassle of moving things around only to have to do it again when confronting a stronger mob.

BretonMage · July 2022

Tanks really need to be able to block a LOT more.

Also, they need to stop roll dodging out of the combat area.

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

These are some really sensible changes. Its crazy that quickened will almost always give more uptime than augmented, or that quickened will almost always do more damage (through better uptime) than focussed.

I think they should just remove the Augmented and Focused traits. No one uses them anyway that I know of.

Heartrage · July 2022

Augmented would be better if there were abilities that increase their damage per tick. Adding 3 seconds to an ability that increase its tick damage by 20% per seconds can really make a difference.

Also, how hard would it be to add morphs to companions so we can really make builds? It’s not like they need to be balanced as closely as characters do. We can’t bring companions to pvp and they don’t get out of aoe or use mechanics enough to do harder pve content. It wouldn’t affect much but it would deepen the system.

Finally, I don’t think we really develop a relationship with our companions. They always say the same dialogues and it’s very surface level and they don’t feel very alive. I think it would be cool if they reacted more to some specific places or drop. Like you get into arteum and ember becomes excited and gets a special dialogue or you have a chance to drop an item while you have bastian that makes him give a quest. Heck, it would be really cool if we could meet unfollowing companions in the wild as Npcs at specific places (they wouldn’t spawn if they are summoned and you wouldn’t be able to summon while they are near as Npcs).

Heartrage · July 2022

Oh, also, we should be able to put companions gear in the stickerbook. I don’t care if we need to unlock specific quality for every trait. I want to unclog my inventory without feeling bad.

opalcity · July 2022

Companions should have a bag, even if it's only 10 slots, it would be an improvement.

francesinhalover · July 2022

increase their dmg resistance, so they don't die to a enemy sneeze

drsalvation · July 2022

TheGreatBlackBear wrote: »

It’d be nice if they could have better AI. Like they have no sense if self preservation at all. They just eat aoes and die.

two thumbsticks + left trigger (on consoles) will recall companions to you. But having a simple roll-dodge towards player when in a hotzone would be more than enough.

Anyway, all I ask for companions is to allow us to put helmets or change their hairstyles.
I think changing their hairstyles is less intrusive for their identity than changing their entire fashion.
I personally wouldn't have an issue with someone changing my hairstyle.
I personally WOULD have an issue with someone telling me to put on a metal bikini for armor.

The reasoning why we can't put helmets or change their hairstyles is poorly executed, and their sense of individuality is completely defenestrated once we see 3 Mirri's in the same location.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · July 2022

My biggest wish is just for them to be able to wear hats and head styles in outfits.

It's such a dumb thing I can't give them a helmet when they are wearing heavy armour to protect thier head or a hood to protect them from the rain for immersion. It's still Bastian, Mirri etc even if I can't see their whole head.

phaneub17_ESO · July 2022

Heartrage wrote: »

Augmented would be better if there were abilities that increase their damage per tick. Adding 3 seconds to an ability that increase its tick damage by 20% per seconds can really make a difference.

I took your idea and added a second suggestion to Augmented with a change, a 20% increase wouldn't be enough since it only affects abilities with a duration effect. I went with no longer increasing duration, but increasing output of duration abilities by 31% so it would affect damage over time, healing over time, and damage absorption shield effects.

Sheridan · July 2022

Romances with companions.

Vaoh · July 2022

Prolific may be a bit underrated. Can someone with the Parallel companion Mages guild ability unlocked test if the Prolific gear increases the Ultimate provided?

katanagirl1 · July 2022

I would like more than one ultimate per companion.

phaneub17_ESO · July 2022

This post are the companions I like to see in the future:

A brawny, female Bosmer Warden, using the "by Kyne its Humid" hairstyle with the Beast personality.
Found in the wilderness cliché who knows nothing of the Green Pact and is a vegan, no meat, it disgusts her especially the smell of it being cooked. What makes her backstory even weirder is her ultimate is 'Werewolf' transformation... who doesn't eat meat, so her transformation is weaker than the average werewolf and cannot maintain the form for too long.

Class Skills
Beast Friends: Dive, Scorch, Swarm.
Dive - Calls down a flying squirrel to bite for physical damage and setting her target off-balance for 7 seconds.
Scorch - Summons a boar to charge into her enemies dealing physical damage and knock down for 4 seconds.
Swarm - Calls a flock of birds to peck dealing bleed damage to her target and nearby enemies over 8 seconds.

Nature's Command: Fungal Growth, Healing Seed, Nature's Grasp.
Fungal Growth - Frontal Cone Heal her and her allies, no cast requirement.
Healing Seed - Plants a pod beneath an ally that blooms after 1.5 seconds, AOE heal, cast at <75% health.
Nature's Grasp - Swings to an ally healing her and her ally over 8 seconds. cast at < 75% health.

Cold Resolute: Frost Cloak, Crystalized Shield, Frozen Gate.
Frost Cloak - Reduces damage taken by 20% and heals over 8 seconds.
Crystalized Shield - Damage shield for her and her allies for 6 seconds.
Frozen Gate - Places frozen patch, enemy walking over is immobilized and chilled for 4 seconds.

Ultimate: Werewolf form, lasts 16 seconds. Contributes to Call of the Pack passive.
Racial Passive: 3% Augmented, 3% increased critical strike chance.

An androgynous, male Altmer Necromancer with the Duchess personality.
He is quite the womanizer who is also a Vampire... these stupid tropes just don't go away! Attempts to woo Gwendis whenever he can, but is always ignored as if he wasn't there!

Class Skills
Play with Bones: Ruinous Scythe, Bone Armor, Bone Totem.
Ruinous Scythe - Deals poison damage to all enemies in front and sets them off balance for 7 seconds.
Bone Armor - Reduces damage taken by 20% and increases his health by 15% for 8 seconds.
Bone Totem - Generates a corpse every 2 seconds for 6 seconds.
*Valid targets for Werewolf Devour, Repentance, or Necromancer skills.

Grave Digger: Ricochet Skull, Boneyard, Shocking Siphon.
Ricochet Skull - Deals poison damage and deals half damage to 2 additional enemies nearby.

Night is Young: Resistant Flesh, Enduring Undeath, Restoring Tether.

Ultimate: Vampire form, lasts 16 seconds.
Racial Passive: 20% increased Ultimate generation, 3% increased damage done.

A spelunking, female Argonian Dragon Knight with the Treasure Hunter personality.
You fall into a pit with no way out, only to meet certain doom when this Argonian comes in to rescue you and helps lead you out of a maze of ruins. She now believes you are indebted to her for saving your life, allowing you to accompany her travels.

Class Skills
???: Venomous Claw, Noxious Breath, Empowering Chain.

???: Spiked Armor, Protective Scale, Inhale.
Spiked Armor: Reduces damage taken by 20% and deals physical damage to nearby enemies over 8 seconds.

???: Obsidian Shard, Shattering Rocks, Ash Cloud

Ultimate: A combination of Dragon Leap + Corrosive Armor, so she always in range to use it regardless of weapon.
Racial Passive: 3% increased healing done, 3% reduced cooldown.

A short, scrawny young male Nord Nightblade with the Scholar personality.
A curious and well educated fellow with a fascination over Dwemer ruins. Though ridiculed and laughed at by his peers, he believes that all the Dwemer facilities are connected in some way and is determined to find proof of it.

Class Skills
???: Swallow Soul, Crippling Grasp
???: Refreshing Path
???: Blur

Ultimate: Combo of Consuming Darkness and Soul Siphon, reduces damage taken and heals all in range.
Racial Passive: 3% increased health, 3% reduced damage taken.

Mascen · July 2022

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

My biggest wish is just for them to be able to wear hats and head styles in outfits.

It's such a dumb thing I can't give them a helmet when they are wearing heavy armour to protect thier head or a hood to protect them from the rain for immersion. It's still Bastian, Mirri etc even if I can't see their whole head.

This by a long shot. Not a big fan of Ember's hair.

EdmondDontes · July 2022

My request would be to NEVER be able to use more than one companion at a time.