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Please let Companions level faster

  • whitecrow
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    I wouldn't expect them to get experience from writs, but they do actually participate in the quests.
  • Sarannah
    Sarannah
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    Got Ember to level 20 today, so all my companions are now max level.

    I did notice something strange, and am not sure if this is a bug, so maybe someone else can test this. But when leveling Ember, I noticed she got the same amount of exp when I was enlightened as when I wasn't enlightened. Which is strange, because the companion exp scales off of our own exp, so when I get more exp per kill so should our companion. Could someone else test this? ... I never used any exp scrolls, so maybe someone can test if those work as well.

    Tip: Do not waste enlightened on quests, but use it up completely with kills. Companions (should) get more exp that way!
  • kringled_1
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    Enlightenment only increases your own xp gain for the purpose of increasing CP, nothing else. Things like skill lines and active skills that require xp to level are unaffected by enlightenment. So it's consistent for companions to also be unaffected.
  • Mesite
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    ESO is going to last at least another ten years and the companions are supposed to last a lot longer than a month. If you level them all up straight away what are you going to do for the next 9 years?
  • Snamyap
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    Mesite wrote: »
    ESO is going to last at least another ten years and the companions are supposed to last a lot longer than a month. If you level them all up straight away what are you going to do for the next 9 years?

    Use them for what they are meant for: aiding in combat?
  • SilverBride
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    Mesite wrote: »
    ESO is going to last at least another ten years and the companions are supposed to last a lot longer than a month. If you level them all up straight away what are you going to do for the next 9 years?

    Besides using them to fight world bosses and Vents and in dungeons etc., they have to be max level to get the house guest.
    PCNA
  • Necrotech_Master
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    peacenote wrote: »
    One day I was farming the lead in vile manse and my companion got from 16 to 19. It's super fast ;)
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    the leveling system is fine- you might need to do an nBRP or craglorn grind. I got mirri to 20 i think in a day or two.

    And again - it's "easy and quick" if you "grind" and "farm". For those of us who don't mass-kill mobs constantly, it's a months-long task.

    "It's just a few DSA's!" I've never done DSA. I don't imagine I ever will. I don't do dolmen circles - I might join in one that's going on if I'm near it, but that's it. I might do one in a week. Only times I've gone in public dungeons recently is for "kill the PD boss" endeavors. In which case it's a direct line to the one in Deshaan, kill the boss, waypoint out. Not multiple laps of the whole dungeon killing dozens of groups to get some rare drop.
    You will not level your companion fast by doing main quest/storyline stuff, sorry it's just not going to happen in the current state of the game without changes.

    And that's the problem.

    (plus the part where I unlocked the companion on the characters who aren't combat gods and aren't capable of just grinding through public dungeons crowds with ease. The ones who quest & overland. Why would I need a companion on the stronger characters?)

    I would like to add to this that, while I am the the type of player that will grind - sometimes I find it relaxing and fun - I STILL feel that it is way too much effort to naturally level companions if you don't grind. I want companions to be able to level alongside me because they are supposed to be a companion to what I'm doing. PLUS it is way more fun when you get a leveling announcement when you are tackling content you want to do.

    Not everyone can bring their companions with them everywhere. I play 3 times a week but I have raid night and a dungeon group and the companions can't level when they aren't out. I would let them tag along but the game doesn't allow it. :p

    My companions are in this state:
    -Mirri is 20 and has her ultimate but needs a good amount of leveling in the guild lines.
    -Bastian is 19 but has the guild lines maxed out.
    -Isobel I just unlocked on Sunday
    -Ember I haven't stumbled across yet in High Isle

    Obviously no one has reputation maxed out with a single one of my characters. Caring about multiple characters is out of the question. The grind is ridiculous.

    I really wish the companions got quest xp, and that there was a way to work towards the gear you want. Perhaps we could deconstruct the drops and get tokens and there could be a vendor somewhere. I'm not paying a million gold for purple gear, which is yet another type of grind that's out there for the companions.

    I noticed the last event had guild advancement tokens to buy for companions, but I never have enough tickets as it is. That's the WORST place to put those and not very helpful.

    Anyway I agree with those of you who say they level too slowly. I was originally excited about Ember but when I realized the cost of gearing her up and how long it would take to level her, I realized it's going to be a long time until I actually get to use her. For the play time I have where I can actually bring companions out, there are times when I want a leveled companion which means the new one ones can't even level every play session.

    My point is, I think there is an assumption that only solo players use the companions but that's not true... and the companions level EVEN SLOWER if you also participate in end game and can only use them periodically. It feels like quite the mountain to climb, made worse by the fact that they are "nice to have" not "must have."

    rapport is a different grind of its own, but one you literally only have to do with 1 character to unlock the companions keepsake

    companion skill lines for undaunted, mages guild and fighters guild are actually the "least" grindy thing about the companions (which is why i dont understand why they added those guild skill rank increasers as buyable with tickets outside of "milk more money")

    each daily quest is +1 rank and they max out at rank 10, so even if you only casually do 1 of each daily per day it should take 10 days to max out all 3 guild skill lines

    if you did for whatever reason have the companion unlocked on multiple toons, or you had someone sharing quests with you, then you could get all the guild skill lines to rank 10 in less than a week (in 1 day if you really had nothing but time to burn and 10 characters with the companion unlocked)
    plays PC/NA
    handle @Necrotech_Master
    active player since april 2014

    i have my main house (grand topal hideaway) listed in the housing tours, it has multiple target dummies, scribing altar, and grandmaster stations (fully filled out with current game), as well as almost every antiquity furnishing on display to preview them

    in progress: acquiring mundus stones (currently only have the thief)

    feel free to stop by and use the facilities
  • Dr_Con
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    mirri leveled to 20 in a day on nbrp runs
  • SilverBride
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    Dr_Con wrote: »
    mirri leveled to 20 in a day on nbrp runs

    That's fine if that is what you enjoy and how you play your game, but it's not what everyone does. There needs to be more than one avenue for leveling them.
    PCNA
  • Dr_Con
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    mirri leveled to 20 in a day on nbrp runs
    Dr_Con wrote: »
    mirri leveled to 20 in a day on nbrp runs

    That's fine if that is what you enjoy and how you play your game, but it's not what everyone does. There needs to be more than one avenue for leveling them.

    leveling is, in fact, a grindy experience.

    i've played the game many ways, through questing and through grinding and through pvp-only (after level 10). you will get exp slower if you go through all the quests, and you will level faster if you grind/kill mobs. that's just how it always has been with the exception of doing like a million alchemy/enchanting writs during a double exp event.

    companions only get exp from the mobs you kill during the quests on top of it all, can you imagine what it would be like if you could do a daily writ and your companion got exp from it? what about your undaunted dungeons and turning the rewards in on your 9 characters? or you turned in your battleground quest with your companion out and they got exp for that? and what about people with enlightened exp- should companions get that too? these are your quests, your exp. your companion's level is shared across characters on the same account. Since this is what they decided to do, it just needs to be noted that companion leveling is a grindy experience, not one you can power through with quests. Additionally, I don't like the idea of giving companions rewards for quests that were written before they were introduced since they really play no factor in the quest and are not accounted for in conversations with quest characters. If they changed that, and I'm not asking them to, then people arguing for leveling companions through questing may have a better case.

    i would be in favor of more companion quests to increase companion exp/level as you raise rapport though, but aside from that this isn't FFXIV where you can have multiple companions out and gear them up into a party and then do dungeons with them, this is still a player-driven game and companions are only there to provide that extra body.

    tldr: you want faster leveling? it exists, just your way of doing it is not there. advice: take a friend, do the first four rounds nDSR, press P-T-E, change from normal to vet back to normal, rinse and repeat until companion level 20, and your companion will be leveled forever.
    Edited by Dr_Con on September 6, 2022 11:55PM
  • CaptainVenom
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    My companions are getting a lot of EXP from Dragonstar Arena. Like, A LOT. I'm soloing normal mode.
    🌈 Ride with Pride🌈
    Magicka/Damage Sorcerer - PC - NA - DC
  • Amottica
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    The simple solution (meaning the likely solution) would be to sell an unlock in the crown store that would instantly level a companion to the highest level of existing companions.

    5-10k crowns should cover that.
  • Dr_Con
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    Amottica wrote: »
    The simple solution (meaning the likely solution) would be to sell an unlock in the crown store that would instantly level a companion to the highest level of existing companions.

    5-10k crowns should cover that.

    a controversial solution but i think people would understand, like alliance change tokens.
  • Amottica
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    Dr_Con wrote: »
    Amottica wrote: »
    The simple solution (meaning the likely solution) would be to sell an unlock in the crown store that would instantly level a companion to the highest level of existing companions.

    5-10k crowns should cover that.

    a controversial solution but i think people would understand, like alliance change tokens.

    I think it would be more than people would expect vs understand.

    It would be more like buying the unlock for a guild skill line or sky shards already earned on another character. I guess that is close enough to the alliance change token.
  • TylerDurden
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    I leveled Mirri quickly but seems like ember and Isobel don’t level as fast. Did they change at some point?
  • HerrKeinTipp_MrNoTip
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    When the others came along, or when i bothered to try that wuss Bastian, Mirri was l20. I never noticed it being a grind for her. Ember and Isobel seem to be perpetual teenagers though.

    I don't really see what ZOS made it *this* hard. You could get from CXP160 to 500 in the same time i reckon.
  • Leogon
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    And please make them stop aggroing everything. They should only aggro when using an aggro skill.
  • Snamyap
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    Leogon wrote: »
    And please make them stop aggroing everything. They should only aggro when using an aggro skill.

    I really wonder why this seems to happen to some people, it's hardly ever an issue for me. Maybe that is because I usually use gap closers to initiate combat and it takes a few moments for my companions to catch up. /shrug
  • Rikkadir
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    MJ202 wrote: »
    My take, from casual observation, rapport for Isobel and Ember seemed to level faster, while experience definitely seems to take much longer.

    I've had loads of rapport increase for Ember, but the bar hasn't moved higher.
    PS4/PS5/EU
  • HerrKeinTipp_MrNoTip
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    Rikkadir wrote: »
    MJ202 wrote: »
    My take, from casual observation, rapport for Isobel and Ember seemed to level faster, while experience definitely seems to take much longer.

    I've had loads of rapport increase for Ember, but the bar hasn't moved higher.

    I have her nearly maxxed and the High Isle dailies now offer a 'yellow' Rapport increase reaction from her. Not sure I have ever seen that. It's like we are hitting plateau and my return on likes is reducing as we get close.

    She does seem to rapport differently. But at least she lets me eat cheese.
  • Iselin
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    I hate mindless grinding but unfortunately, that's the only efficient way to level them.

    They really should at least get quest XP. The companion leveling experience just feels off and incongruous with how our characters level.
  • jaws343
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    I leveled Mirri quickly but seems like ember and Isobel don’t level as fast. Did they change at some point?

    Yeah, the patch right after Blackwood they fixed a bug that was causing companions to gain XP from the completion of a dolmen rather than just the kills. So if you were doing the fighter's guild dolmen dailies or just doing a lot of dolmens, you were getting a ton of extra companion XP when the dolmen completed.
  • Rikkadir
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    Rapport Status for Ember is definitely bugged.

    Got rapport from visiting Outlaws Refuge and collecting runestones, but rapport status has not moved at all from the default start position.
    PS4/PS5/EU
  • Necrotech_Master
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    Rikkadir wrote: »
    Rapport Status for Ember is definitely bugged.

    Got rapport from visiting Outlaws Refuge and collecting runestones, but rapport status has not moved at all from the default start position.

    the amount you get from those activities is almost negligible (like +1 from runes harvesting for example when you need about 5000 to "max" them out) and those are even on a cooldown

    at best those counter instances of negative rapport

    if you do mages guild daily, heist, and high isle delve daily you will get 150 rapport points for each of those (or about 450 rapport per day)

    ember so far was the easiest companion to max rapport because of having 3 dailies that gave +150, then like every 3rd day you would have enough to get the companion quest which was +500 rapport (and she has 3 of those)
    plays PC/NA
    handle @Necrotech_Master
    active player since april 2014

    i have my main house (grand topal hideaway) listed in the housing tours, it has multiple target dummies, scribing altar, and grandmaster stations (fully filled out with current game), as well as almost every antiquity furnishing on display to preview them

    in progress: acquiring mundus stones (currently only have the thief)

    feel free to stop by and use the facilities
  • SilverBride
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    I'm more concerned with their actual level than I am with rapport. It is painfully slow.
    PCNA
  • Ishtarknows
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    I'm really starting to wonder why companions don't gain xp from questing. That seems completely backwards. They get mob kill xp, but not quest xp. That might even be a bug that just never got noticed. If there was never a reason given why they don't get quest xp, that's a possibility. I might report it just to be sure.

    Because people like me, who have no interest in companions but want the achievements would stand next to Rolis and hand in a hundred master writs if it meant I didn't need to have them trailing behind me, getting in the way and not shutting up
  • jle30303
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    I would like to see companions gain XP just a bit faster. Not a lot, but maybe 1.5 or 2 times as fast... and also, experience in their weapon lines, so it's faster to actually level them up in a given weapon.

    I would also like to have the ability to improve companion gear, or change trait on companion gear.
  • Timorelle
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    Deter1UK wrote: »
    My bugbear is the requirement to fence a purple Item for the achievements as I don't recall ever getting one from stealing/pickpocketing in several years of playing...

    I get "Bottle, Liquor" (purple furnishing item) fairly often from pickpocketing drunkards in populated inns.

    Probably quicker and easier to do the "steal a white gear item and then improve it to purple" thing that someone else mentioned, but I just figured I'd put this one out there since that's the way I did it. *shrug*
  • deejayvee
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    Mesite wrote: »
    ESO is going to last at least another ten years and the companions are supposed to last a lot longer than a month. If you level them all up straight away what are you going to do for the next 9 years?

    Besides using them to fight world bosses and Vents and in dungeons etc., they have to be max level to get the house guest.
    I'm more concerned with their actual level than I am with rapport. It is painfully slow.

    Actually, the house guest is based on getting max rapport. Ember is the only companion that I don't have to max level, yet she is a houseguest for me because I have maxed her rapport on one toon.
    PC - NA
  • SilverBride
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    deejayvee wrote: »
    Actually, the house guest is based on getting max rapport. Ember is the only companion that I don't have to max level, yet she is a houseguest for me because I have maxed her rapport on one toon.

    Thanks for clarifying that. :)

    I was remembering wrong. :*
    PCNA
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