I'm worried there isn't much of a future for companions. The system will stagnate without iteration, and there has been no shortage of suggestions, but the latest two show suggestions aren't being heard.

The two latest companions were announced in January as one of the highlights of the year, and the only change they brought was how they were purchased. There have been no meaningful improvements to the underlying companion system at all this year.

On these forums there are usually a couple of companion focused discussions on the front page, so I don't think I'm projecting by saying there is player interest.

I really love the companion system, and I like both the new ones, although it's been a chore unlocking them on multiple characters, again. I don't love that I will either grind to power level them, or be playing overland for many months before I can fully use them. I dislike that I need to do the guild skill grind again, so perhaps that is why Tanlorian dislikes going into the mages guild?

Suggestions.
A "Companions" category should be created on the forums, just like tales of tribute has.

Balance companion gear and skills. There are too many examples, but the fighters guild skill line shines as an example imbalance. Biting trap is pure awful, sniping silver is worse than any similar weapon/class ability, but ritual of salvation is so overpowered you could argue that a player should wear Telvanni Efficiency to give other players constant 40% damage Reduction!. There are almost no times that augmented trait is better than quickened, companions don't really benefit from crit modifiers, and the prolific trait is only useable when they reach max level.

Companions are dolls that player's use as accessories for their character, and the pretense that they have their own personality so can't wear hats is ridiculous. Let them were polymorphs, give us full customisation.

Decide if they are replacements for human players - if they are then they need the options a human player has, like access to a target dummy or combat simulator to test how they work, and a rework of their combat behavior so they can block more often, or roll dodge from ground based attacks.

If companions are not equivalent to human players, then using them in infinite archive should not put you on the team leaderboard - a third leaderboard for solo players with a companion would be ideal. Companions are a fun novelty in most overland content, but may occasionally be useful in group content when you don't have enough real players, so in either case we should be allowed to bring more than 1 companion... Having 2/3 companions won't suddenly make overland too easy (it already is), and if you need them in group content then you are already at a disadvantage.

In 2 months we will get a look ahead to 2025, and I am worried we will not even get new companions next year... I'm worried that what we have got is the finished companion system.

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

I'm worried there isn't much of a future for companions. The system will stagnate without iteration, and there has been no shortage of suggestions, but the latest two show suggestions aren't being heard.

The two latest companions were announced in January as one of the highlights of the year, and the only change they brought was how they were purchased. There have been no meaningful improvements to the underlying companion system at all this year.

On these forums there are usually a couple of companion focused discussions on the front page, so I don't think I'm projecting by saying there is player interest.

I really love the companion system, and I like both the new ones, although it's been a chore unlocking them on multiple characters, again. I don't love that I will either grind to power level them, or be playing overland for many months before I can fully use them. I dislike that I need to do the guild skill grind again, so perhaps that is why Tanlorian dislikes going into the mages guild?

Suggestions.
A "Companions" category should be created on the forums, just like tales of tribute has.

Balance companion gear and skills. There are too many examples, but the fighters guild skill line shines as an example imbalance. Biting trap is pure awful, sniping silver is worse than any similar weapon/class ability, but ritual of salvation is so overpowered you could argue that a player should wear Telvanni Efficiency to give other players constant 40% damage Reduction!. There are almost no times that augmented trait is better than quickened, companions don't really benefit from crit modifiers, and the prolific trait is only useable when they reach max level.

Companions are dolls that player's use as accessories for their character, and the pretense that they have their own personality so can't wear hats is ridiculous. Let them were polymorphs, give us full customisation.

Decide if they are replacements for human players - if they are then they need the options a human player has, like access to a target dummy or combat simulator to test how they work, and a rework of their combat behavior so they can block more often, or roll dodge from ground based attacks.

If companions are not equivalent to human players, then using them in infinite archive should not put you on the team leaderboard - a third leaderboard for solo players with a companion would be ideal. Companions are a fun novelty in most overland content, but may occasionally be useful in group content when you don't have enough real players, so in either case we should be allowed to bring more than 1 companion... Having 2/3 companions won't suddenly make overland too easy (it already is), and if you need them in group content then you are already at a disadvantage.

In 2 months we will get a look ahead to 2025, and I am worried we will not even get new companions next year... I'm worried that what we have got is the finished companion system.

Yea good points - time & time again, the issue is simply one of communication. I'd love to hear thoughts on this from @ZOS_Kevin . Are there any talks within the team of actually expanding companion capabilities? Or will we forever just add new companions to the system?

Erickson9610 wrote: »

I don't see why we can't continue to get more Companions as well as updates to the Companions system as a whole. I imagine they'll one day have better balancing for abilities and equipment traits, and maybe even an adjustment to how they react when standing in ground AoE.

I've really been enjoying the stories of the latest two Companions and I'd hate if ZOS stopped making new Companions altogether, especially if ZOS quits before making the particular kind of Companion I've been hoping for. I know several people would be upset if they never got a Nord, Orc, and Bosmer Companion.

While I agree, it almost feels like they can't multitask lol.

I don't know why we got a khajiit necromancer and not a bosmer, orc or nord for instance. But the over-formulation has become over-whelmingly stale.

Cooperharley wrote: »

The companion system, like much of the game, is VERY formulaic. Since their launch, we've gotten 2 each year, with their own stories, class, etc. That's great! But, what about expanding the actual system?

- Allowing for crafting of companion gear (upgrading via companion upgrade materials, researching companion traits, etc)
- Buffs - allowing for AOE taunting by companions alone, smarter AI to dodge ground AOEs at the very least, block projectiles once every X seconds, etc.
- Increased capabilities (go/stand there, follow, etc.)
- Ability to hold their own gear with a capacity of 25-40 slots for instance
- Allowing for use of 3 companions and their respective builds that YOU have put together to be used for story mode dungeons

There's a ton of stuff we could implement, but for whatever reason, we haven't heard anything from the devs about this or any plans for the future...

Several of these have been addressed by the devs... and clearly denied. Particularly the AoE taunt thing - the devs have made it eminently clear that they do not want AoE taunts in this game, and have systematically removed every loophole that allowed for an AoE taunt. The combat system is designed for tanks to take enemies one at a time so the tank needs to know who to prioritize, and the squishies need to realize they're squishy and wait for the tank. And as a tank main, I'm perfectly ok with it. I would not hold your breath for companions to get AoE taunts.
The design of a tank companion is that you'd give them more than one taunt, so they can taunt more than one thing, or to give them cooldown reduction gear so they can use them before the taunt expires. Each Companion has two taunts natively (from the Undaunted line and from either the SnB or ice staff line), and then some get an extra taunt in a class skill.

I would not be surprised to see Craftable/Transmutable Companion gear show up eventually however. Like with Jewelry Crafting, it didn't show at release, but it cam later.

It would be nice if we could issue 'go here' commands though, and I wish they would prioritize that for Companions (and any pets). It'd be nice to let them stand on pads or activate things, but that might not happen. But even just to say "hey, don't stand in that AoE like an idiot" would be a nice thing.

Companion gear I'd guess is in the same boat as Armory gear - it's be a nice QoL thing, but ZOS is constantly saying that people hoarding trash is a big reason that the servers have so much to hold, and I'm sure they'd love if we'd all not carry a bunch of gear. Craftable or transmutable gear would really help that the same way that the stickerbook let many people clear out their inventories of sets that "might be useful like 3 years in the future maybe."

As for the last point...

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Decide if they are replacements for human players - if they are then they need the options a human player has, like access to a target dummy or combat simulator to test how they work, and a rework of their combat behavior so they can block more often, or roll dodge from ground based attacks.

That's another thing the devs have made clear since Companions released. They are not designed as player replacements. They still want people to group with other people, just with a little help on the side. That's why the Companions are not intended to be a better DPS/Healer/Tank than a player DPS/Healer/Tank, but they're there to be a bit of help if you need it. I would not anticipate being able to group with just Companions to do a dungeon.

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

The companion system, like much of the game, is VERY formulaic. Since their launch, we've gotten 2 each year, with their own stories, class, etc. That's great! But, what about expanding the actual system?

- Allowing for crafting of companion gear (upgrading via companion upgrade materials, researching companion traits, etc)
- Buffs - allowing for AOE taunting by companions alone, smarter AI to dodge ground AOEs at the very least, block projectiles once every X seconds, etc.
- Increased capabilities (go/stand there, follow, etc.)
- Ability to hold their own gear with a capacity of 25-40 slots for instance
- Allowing for use of 3 companions and their respective builds that YOU have put together to be used for story mode dungeons

There's a ton of stuff we could implement, but for whatever reason, we haven't heard anything from the devs about this or any plans for the future...

Several of these have been addressed by the devs... and clearly denied. Particularly the AoE taunt thing - the devs have made it eminently clear that they do not want AoE taunts in this game, and have systematically removed every loophole that allowed for an AoE taunt. The combat system is designed for tanks to take enemies one at a time so the tank needs to know who to prioritize, and the squishies need to realize they're squishy and wait for the tank. And as a tank main, I'm perfectly ok with it. I would not hold your breath for companions to get AoE taunts.
The design of a tank companion is that you'd give them more than one taunt, so they can taunt more than one thing, or to give them cooldown reduction gear so they can use them before the taunt expires. Each Companion has two taunts natively (from the Undaunted line and from either the SnB or ice staff line), and then some get an extra taunt in a class skill.

I would not be surprised to see Craftable/Transmutable Companion gear show up eventually however. Like with Jewelry Crafting, it didn't show at release, but it cam later.

It would be nice if we could issue 'go here' commands though, and I wish they would prioritize that for Companions (and any pets). It'd be nice to let them stand on pads or activate things, but that might not happen. But even just to say "hey, don't stand in that AoE like an idiot" would be a nice thing.

Companion gear I'd guess is in the same boat as Armory gear - it's be a nice QoL thing, but ZOS is constantly saying that people hoarding trash is a big reason that the servers have so much to hold, and I'm sure they'd love if we'd all not carry a bunch of gear. Craftable or transmutable gear would really help that the same way that the stickerbook let many people clear out their inventories of sets that "might be useful like 3 years in the future maybe."

As for the last point...

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Decide if they are replacements for human players - if they are then they need the options a human player has, like access to a target dummy or combat simulator to test how they work, and a rework of their combat behavior so they can block more often, or roll dodge from ground based attacks.

That's another thing the devs have made clear since Companions released. They are not designed as player replacements. They still want people to group with other people, just with a little help on the side. That's why the Companions are not intended to be a better DPS/Healer/Tank than a player DPS/Healer/Tank, but they're there to be a bit of help if you need it. I would not anticipate being able to group with just Companions to do a dungeon.

Where were they clearly denied? And how long ago? Genuinely curious.

There are many things that used to be denied vehemently by the devs that have made it into the game (new animations, alliance change, etc)

Cooperharley wrote: »

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

The companion system, like much of the game, is VERY formulaic. Since their launch, we've gotten 2 each year, with their own stories, class, etc. That's great! But, what about expanding the actual system?

- Allowing for crafting of companion gear (upgrading via companion upgrade materials, researching companion traits, etc)
- Buffs - allowing for AOE taunting by companions alone, smarter AI to dodge ground AOEs at the very least, block projectiles once every X seconds, etc.
- Increased capabilities (go/stand there, follow, etc.)
- Ability to hold their own gear with a capacity of 25-40 slots for instance
- Allowing for use of 3 companions and their respective builds that YOU have put together to be used for story mode dungeons

There's a ton of stuff we could implement, but for whatever reason, we haven't heard anything from the devs about this or any plans for the future...

Several of these have been addressed by the devs... and clearly denied. Particularly the AoE taunt thing - the devs have made it eminently clear that they do not want AoE taunts in this game, and have systematically removed every loophole that allowed for an AoE taunt. The combat system is designed for tanks to take enemies one at a time so the tank needs to know who to prioritize, and the squishies need to realize they're squishy and wait for the tank. And as a tank main, I'm perfectly ok with it. I would not hold your breath for companions to get AoE taunts.
The design of a tank companion is that you'd give them more than one taunt, so they can taunt more than one thing, or to give them cooldown reduction gear so they can use them before the taunt expires. Each Companion has two taunts natively (from the Undaunted line and from either the SnB or ice staff line), and then some get an extra taunt in a class skill.

I would not be surprised to see Craftable/Transmutable Companion gear show up eventually however. Like with Jewelry Crafting, it didn't show at release, but it cam later.

It would be nice if we could issue 'go here' commands though, and I wish they would prioritize that for Companions (and any pets). It'd be nice to let them stand on pads or activate things, but that might not happen. But even just to say "hey, don't stand in that AoE like an idiot" would be a nice thing.

Companion gear I'd guess is in the same boat as Armory gear - it's be a nice QoL thing, but ZOS is constantly saying that people hoarding trash is a big reason that the servers have so much to hold, and I'm sure they'd love if we'd all not carry a bunch of gear. Craftable or transmutable gear would really help that the same way that the stickerbook let many people clear out their inventories of sets that "might be useful like 3 years in the future maybe."

As for the last point...

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Decide if they are replacements for human players - if they are then they need the options a human player has, like access to a target dummy or combat simulator to test how they work, and a rework of their combat behavior so they can block more often, or roll dodge from ground based attacks.

That's another thing the devs have made clear since Companions released. They are not designed as player replacements. They still want people to group with other people, just with a little help on the side. That's why the Companions are not intended to be a better DPS/Healer/Tank than a player DPS/Healer/Tank, but they're there to be a bit of help if you need it. I would not anticipate being able to group with just Companions to do a dungeon.

Where were they clearly denied? And how long ago? Genuinely curious.

There are many things that used to be denied vehemently by the devs that have made it into the game (new animations, alliance change, etc)

Evidence 1: No taunt skill in the game (Puncture and morphs, Inner Fire and morphs, Frost Clench, Runic Jolt and morphs) is or has ever hit in AoE.
Evidence 2: There are ways to get an AoE taunting skill since Update 42 (Gold Road) by using the Bow or 2H Scribed Skill with a taunt focus. These state in the tooltip that the taunt is only the first enemy hit, even though the attack is an AoE. U43 (Home Tours) also made Werewolves using the Roar morph only able to taunt one enemy at a time with a heavy, and U44 (Battlegrounds) made Focused Charge also taunt only a single enemy despite hitting multiple.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

(before you ask, this does not allow for an Area of Effect taunt).

Evidence 3: U41 removed the ability to do an AoE taunt from the only source in the game: the Tormentor set.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

This set has flown under the radar at allowing an Area of Effect application of a taunt for quite some time, but like all things in life, it must come to an end. While this is a very old functionality of the item set, Area of Effect-damaging movement abilities were spread few and far between during its introduction to the game, so its AoE taunt capabilities went effectively unnoticed. Over time, however, we've added significantly more of these ability types and this item set has enabled behavior that goes against one of our core philosophies for tanking - where taunting should be an individual action meant for one specific target in the moment of activation. To prevent a complete loss to this set, it now works with blinks and we added a new healing functionality to help ensure chain activating the abilities still provides something fun and impactful.

So yes, they have been (recently! These are all from this year!) ensuring that AoE taunts are not a thing. See also the emphasis added (emphasis mine) in the U41 dev comments.

On another note, I don't think "well, ZOS changed their mind about X so obviously everything they ever said no to is fair game!" is a good argument. There are good reasons that they managed to get some of those other things working, but we shouldn't expect that they will be willing (or able!) to do that to everything.

That's one of the reasons I think that U43 was such a general disappointment - so many people heard ZOS say "we can't increase housing limits because we're trying to compatible with older hardware and last-gen consoles," (there was an interview saying this a week or two before the reveal!), but everyone gaslit themselves into thinking that the 'Housing Feature" simply had to be increased limits. And then it wasn't, and people were mad at... ZOS for promising it was coming and misleading them? So ZOS said "we can't do this because old hardware" and people were like "ok, that means we're 100% getting it!"

Honestly, for a MMO.... I think the companion system is fine as is. I'd even actually like them to slow down on releasing companions so that maybe then they could put more resources into designing other new/highly requested features and updates.

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

No amount of improvement can be done until ZOS extends the capability of its script engine. It is as simple as that.

Any AI behaviour is incredibly limited by this obsolete engine. And this is not only the case for companions. There is a reason why Bosses and monsters do NOT roll out of your ground AoEs.

Anyone who played Skyrim on PC and installed the SKSE mod should know what I am talking about. We basically need something like that for ESO before anything can improve significantly.

And things like no craftable/improveable companion gear is a deliberate gameplay decision in order to not elevate companions to be equal to real players. That will (under current management) never change.

I don't think improving companion gear from blue to purple equates to them being better than players? It bypasses the low drop rates and exceedingly high price of purple companion gear.

Cooperharley wrote: »

I don't think improving companion gear from blue to purple equates to them being better than players? It bypasses the low drop rates and exceedingly high price of purple companion gear.

Exactly. This is a deliberate gameplay decision! They want it to be just like that. Low drop rates, high effort. And the impact that purple gear has on combat effectiveness over blue and green gear is massive.
It is only natural to limit access.

However, I have to admit that there is a golden tier and it has not been implemented yet. We have one golden ring as proof of concept.
Maybe it is intended for release in a future update. Then again, maybe not.

Cooperharley wrote: »

Mount training take 180 days is a deliberate decision. Doesn't mean it feels good for the player..

Which will keep new players active daily for a full 180 days. Or so they think ...

Being able to take the point of view of somebody else and understanding their reasoning and motivation isn't silly.
It is called empathy and occurs when truly selfless peronalities get honed by years of life experience.
I am sorry, if you cannot relate.