10th year companions?

phaneub17_ESO · November 2023

So we're missing just the Necromancer companion which means they have to double up on another class, but what if they added not two, but four companions for the 10th year? Two companions comes with the new chapter and two retroactively added to existing zones. Considering the four races we are currently missing from the roster I could see them doing it this way: Nord(m) Necromancer and Bosmer(f) Warden for the new chapter. In the same year they retroactively add Altmer(m) Sorcerer in Summerset DLC and Orc(f) Dragon Knight in Orsinium DLC.

LunaFlora · November 2023

that would be awesome yes.
i do hope for a bosmer warden girl to accompany my own bosmer warden girl

James-Wayne · November 2023

They need Werewolf and Vampire Companions as well, hopefully if they do Central Skyrim we get them as it's a perfect fit from Elder Scrolls Skyrim to have those kinds of companions.

The Necromancer could double as a Vampire

phaneub17_ESO · November 2023

James-Wayne wrote: »

The Necromancer could double as a Vampire

I've posted about that before, the Necromancer companion doesn't have enough skills since they can't have summoned pets and they can't utilize abilities that consume/generate corpses, they would only have 2 mainline abilities per tree. They would need to fill in Eviscerate, Vampiric Drain, and Mesmerize variants.

Lady_Galadhiel · November 2023

I wish for a male High Elf companion but I hope it won't be a Necromancer.

LunaFlora · November 2023

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

James-Wayne wrote: »

The Necromancer could double as a Vampire

I've posted about that before, the Necromancer companion doesn't have enough skills since they can't have summoned pets and they can't utilize abilities that consume/generate corpses, they would only have 2 mainline abilities per tree. They would need to fill in Eviscerate, Vampiric Drain, and Mesmerize variants.

Grave Lord has 2 yes:
flame skull and boneyard.

but Bone Tyrant has 4:
death scythe, bone armor, bone totem, and gravegrasp.

and Living Death has 3:
render flesh, expunge, and Life Amid Death.
Life Amid Death does have an extra heal for consuming corpses but it doesn't require consumption to use.

edited to add:
is blastbones a pet or not? i assume it's supposed to be as it has the follower symbol above its head but it only exists for a few seconds.

and one of the Bone Tyrant skills could be given to a necro companion's version of Grave Lord.

Ember also has skills in different skill lines than what our sorcerers have.

EF321 · November 2023

Likeable dragonknight companion would be awesome.

Michaelkeir · November 2023

I’m hoping for a vampire or werewolf companion as well. I’m interested to see how they’d implement it honestly. As someone else mentioned they could have a necromancer and vampire combo, that’d be neat. I just want a companion that’s geared towards a more dark play style. Ember and Sharp are close, but Ember is a little too bubbly for me, and Sharp, well he’s close, but him being a Warden kind of ruins it for me. If he was a nightblade he’d be perfect.

Treselegant · November 2023

EF321 wrote: »

Likeable dragonknight companion would be awesome.

Trouble is, what is considered 'likeable' is incredibly subjective. For me at least, the constant praise and enthusiasm from the newer companions drives me nuts. They toned it down from High Isle but it still feels way too over-done. Do I really need my companion yelling about how great I am every five minutes lest my self esteem drop for one moment? I find it so, well, patronising, like I'm playing a game for kids.

A good character is rounded, with their own motivations, they don't need to be stuffed up the Vestige's backside 24/7 to be appealing. You can't make an character appealing to every single player because you end up with dead boring characters who do nothing but provide heals/a distraction while telling you how great you are. Some people will love your characters and others won't but that's life. Better a devisive character that inspires discussion than one no one has any strong feelings about and is ultimately forgettable.

With some of the newer companions I find myself wondering what do they do in spare time other than sit around waiting for the Vestige to complete their lives. I can imagine Bastian, Mirri and Sharp having other things to do and being able to exist in the world without you because of their character backgrounds but the others? I'm not sure.
It's like that Patrick Star meme:

To be honest, I no longer care about them making new companions and would rather see improvements on what we already have. More dialogue, better reactivity and better ai for combat.

Erickson9610 · November 2023

In regards to Werewolf/Vampire Companions, I've made a mock-up of what I think those individual skill lines could look like. I think that these should be separate skill lines, rather than being integrated as part of a class toolkit (i.e., Necromancer should not have regular Vampire abilities within its damage dealing, healing, or tanking skill lines)

That being said, here is how I think the Necromancer Companion's class skill lines will look.

Damage Dealing
- Some unique Ultimate that is relevant to Necromancer and the Companion's identity. Maybe the unused Bone Dragon Ultimate, who can say?
- Death Scythe
- Flame Skull
- Boneyard
Tanking
- Bone Armor
- Bone Totem
- Grave Grasp
Healing
- Render Flesh
- Expunge
- Life amid Death

Considering that the player Necromancer skill lines are thematic, like the original classes and the Warden are, and how the other Companion class skill lines have skills organized into distinct "damage dealing", "tanking", and "healing" roles, I expect that the same will be done for the Companion version of Necromancer.

Also, Ember's "Quick Fix" ability is actually derived from the heal part of Summon Unstable Clannfear. The Necromancer companion could also take advantage of skills morphing into other skills, where applicable.

Arizona_Steve · November 2023

Super hot female Nord and I will be happy

Onomog · November 2023

Treselegant wrote: »

To be honest, I no longer care about them making new companions and would rather see improvements on what we already have.

This. 100%

Treselegant wrote: »

More dialogue, better reactivity and better ai for combat.

And a romance option.

MashmalloMan · November 2023

I highly doubt they will add more than 2 companions in 2024, in fact, I think they will only do the 1 to complete the 7 classes then focus on other areas. If they couldn't do more than 2 companions during the chapter that specifically focussed on them, why would they be able to make 4 in a chapter that just adds them for free? The question also remains, do we really need more when the ones we have are lacking?

My thought process.. If you think about it, companions are very barebones. They've been the same way since they were released. A few side quests, 1 ultimate, 3 skills for each skill line. Thats a total of 1 ultimate, 9 skills. Meanwhile base game characters have access to 30 skills, passives and 6 ultimates due to morphs.

We also have item sets, companions arugbaly don't. Their sets are as minimalist as it gets.

Companions take resources on the dev team to create, resources that could be better spent elsewhere. I would prefer they entirely move those resources to other areas of the game because frankly, companions are only fun for role playing, they're pretty much useless for anything combat related thats remotely challenging..

But hey, if they're going to do something with companions and continue to support it, then they should be improving the quests, skill choices, set design, add inventory management for them.. Maybe tackle the ideas they originally proposed with introducing romance options for your companions, vastly improve their AI for combat. Etc.

TLDR: Stop making new companions, improve the 7 we have to actually be complete systems within the world of ESO, right now they're severely lacking. Not a single end game player I know cares about companions and the new players I know of, quickly learn how much is missing when they start to use companions in the content they want. Just look at all the players talking about Endless Archive and how quickly companions die in there. How about all the solo players that are asking for companions to count as a body to stand on pressure plates for some group mechanics?

BlueRaven · November 2023

MashmalloMan wrote: »

I highly doubt they will add more than 2 companions in 2024, in fact, I think they will only do the 1 to complete the 7 classes then focus on other areas. If they couldn't do more than 2 companions during the chapter that specifically focussed on them, why would they be able to make 4 in a chapter that just adds them for free? The question also remains, do we really need more when the ones we have are lacking?

My thought process.. If you think about it, companions are very barebones. They've been the same way since they were released. A few side quests, 1 ultimate, 3 skills for each skill line. Thats a total of 1 ultimate, 9 skills. Meanwhile base game characters have access to 30 skills, passives and 6 ultimates due to morphs.

We also have item sets, companions arugbaly don't. Their sets are as minimalist as it gets.

Companions take resources on the dev team to create, resources that could be better spent elsewhere. I would prefer they entirely move those resources to other areas of the game because frankly, companions are only fun for role playing, they're pretty much useless for anything combat related thats remotely challenging..

But hey, if they're going to do something with companions and continue to support it, then they should be improving the quests, skill choices, set design, add inventory management for them.. Maybe tackle the ideas they originally proposed with introducing romance options for your companions, vastly improve their AI for combat. Etc.

TLDR: Stop making new companions, improve the 7 we have to actually be complete systems within the world of ESO, right now they're severely lacking. Not a single end game player I know cares about companions and the new players I know of, quickly learn how much is missing when they start to use companions in the content they want. Just look at all the players talking about Endless Archive and how quickly companions die in there. How about all the solo players that are asking for companions to count as a body to stand on pressure plates for some group mechanics?

The problem with this argument is that you are looking at companions in a game mechanics way, while many players view them in a RP/aesthetic way.

Bobargus · November 2023

I want a Dark Brotherhood companion.

phaneub17_ESO · November 2023

MashmalloMan wrote: »

TLDR: Stop making new companions, improve the 7 we have to actually be complete systems within the world of ESO, right now they're severely lacking. Not a single end game player I know cares about companions and the new players I know of, quickly learn how much is missing when they start to use companions in the content they want. Just look at all the players talking about Endless Archive and how quickly companions die in there. How about all the solo players that are asking for companions to count as a body to stand on pressure plates for some group mechanics?

They're dress up pets with customizable actions, that's all. I love them, but I'm not delusional about their capacity. As an altoholic playing all 20 slots while working on another 20 with a second account, having more companions to pair with is a plus. I like options and variety and don't care too much for what they contribute. I let them go off on their own and attack whatever they want while I do my thing.

loosej · November 2023

I wouldn't mind if the Augur of the Obscure got a complete body and became a companion, so far it's one of the few characters in the game with a dialogue I don't mind hearing over and over again.

SilverBride · November 2023

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

...what if they added not two, but four companions for the 10th year?

Not unless they give us the option to have them unlock on all our characters after we've done it once.

The quests to unlock the Companions have gotten longer each time and I don't want to have to do this the 28 times it would take for my 7 characters.

This should already be an option anyway in my opinion.

Alphawolf01A · November 2023

What if the Vampire and Werewolf skill lines could be added to ANY companion, just like for the player. You just have to get them bitten. Special quest perhaps and the reward is a bite for the companion.

The vamp skills could be slotted into their "rotation" just like the player can.

Werewolf would work the same as the player's skill line. Ulti activates the transformation and switches to the werewolf skill line.

Haywire30 · November 2023

Personally hoping that they don't fall into the old hat of, "Oh, we want an absolute evil *bleep* of a companion? Better make 'em a High Elf!" for the Necromancer.

jtm1018 · November 2023

Give me Naryu or Almalexia!!!!

And I will forever be thankfull!!

SickleCider · November 2023

I want non-humanoid companions. A Blackfeather knight or Alfiq mage would have me over the moon, but I'm losing hope for anything like that.

emilyhyoyeon · November 2023

I'm that guy who wants an altmer necromancer companion

Gray_howling_parrot · November 2023

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

So we're missing just the Necromancer companion which means they have to double up on another class, but what if they added not two, but four companions for the 10th year? Two companions comes with the new chapter and two retroactively added to existing zones. Considering the four races we are currently missing from the roster I could see them doing it this way: Nord(m) Necromancer and Bosmer(f) Warden for the new chapter. In the same year they retroactively add Altmer(m) Sorcerer in Summerset DLC and Orc(f) Dragon Knight in Orsinium DLC.

Once they get the classes done, they need to move onto things like vampire and werewolf 100% BUT - I’d rather them improve the system rather than create bloat with a ton of companions that aren’t super useful currently

LunaFlora · November 2023

they'll likely continue releasing 2 companions every year.
they can repeat classes or use classes that only npcs have.

and eventually they'll probably use races that aren't playable for us(at least currently).

i imagine maormer and reachfolk companions will happen first. and it doesn't even have to happen after we get companions of all the current playable races.

we could easily get bosmer and reachfolk companions next year.

Zodiarkslayer · November 2023

My money is on the Altmer Necro.
Basically a Mannimarco knock off.

Lugaldu · November 2023

There would certainly be many who would be happy if Serana appeared as a companion.
If there already will be something Molag Bal-themed for the event collectibles, then it would be an even better fit.

Zodiarkslayer · November 2023

Lugaldu wrote: »

There would certainly be many who would be happy if Serana appeared as a companion.
If there already will be something Molag Bal-themed for the event collectibles, then it would be an even better fit.

She is supposed to be in a crypt in Skyrim.
And stay there for two more ages ...
Just saying ...

Araneae6537 · November 2023

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

My money is on the Altmer Necro.
Basically a Mannimarco knock off.

I hope not! We’ve seen that type of character a LOT in ESO. I’ve been waiting so long for an Altmer companion (or even an assistant or houseguest), I want an Altmer companion like Verandis.

Or we could get both types as companions, to make up for the appalling lack of Altmer thus far, that would be just fine.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · November 2023

If we get a bosmer companion at one point I'm hoping it will be a male bosmer, and not some comic relief. Too often when a bosmer is added they are that or it's a young "quirky" female one.

Lugaldu · November 2023

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

Lugaldu wrote: »

There would certainly be many who would be happy if Serana appeared as a companion.
If there already will be something Molag Bal-themed for the event collectibles, then it would be an even better fit.

She is suppised to be in a crypt in Skyrim.
And stay there for two more ages ...
Just saying ...

I am confident that ZOS would find a logical explanation for her appearance. After all, they also raise the dead again and again.