[2024] Here's all the abilities which have been given to Companions. Which ones should be next?

Erickson9610 · December 9

I put together a chart to illustrate which abilities were given Companion versions as of now in 2024, and which ones were not. Which abilities would you like to see be given to Companions next?

I'll list a few insightful observations I found when making this chart:

Mirri Elendis has the only Class ability which isn't based on an existing Player ability for her Class. Her ability "Blood Transfusion" uses an icon that is reminiscent of both Malevolent Offering and Cripple, but the function and icon don't quite line up with either of them exactly.
Thanks to Tanlorin introducing new Companion Dragonknight abilities, Dragonknight Companions are only missing equivalents for 3 non-Ultimate Player Dragonknight abilities. Of course, Tanlorin and Bastian have different versions of the Player's "Molten Weapons", which are called "Volcanic Arms" and "Searing Weapons", respectively. This makes Molten Weapons the ability with the most variations between Players and Companions.
Sharp-as-Night seems to be the first Companion to have a non-Ultimate Class ability's icon portray the character himself with his ability "Petals of the Hunter", rather than simply copy the generic humanoid from the icon for the Player equivalent skill. Zerith-var and Tanlorin continue this trend by having themselves replace the generic humanoid in the icon of a few of their abilities, implying that those particular "morphs" of Companion abilities will be exclusive to them. Actually, Ember's "Second Wind" ability appears to use her clawed hands, rather than the standard hands shown in the icon of the Dark Exchange skill.
Azandar's Arcanist abilities always lack the Crux symbol in the top left, even when every morph of the Player equivalent has it.
The 3 DLC Classes have equal Companion representation in their skill lines, as opposed to certain Companions like Isobel Veloise and Ember. This is likely due to the fact that DLC Class skill lines were designed around damage dealer/healer/tank roles, rather than general themes like the base game Classes were.
Mages Guild and Empathic Fighter are the only skill lines where a Player's Ultimate ability is made into a standard Active Ability for Companions.
Tanlorin takes the Soul Shatter Passive Ability from Soul Magic and upgrades it into an Active Ability.
The Player's Armor abilities do not line up with the Companions' Armor abilities at all.
Tanlorin's ability "Internal Conflict" uses a modified icon of the Player's "Soul Splitting Trap" ability despite being single target.
All variations of Dark Exchange and the Companion version Second Wind have a different colored orb from one another. The colors are blue, green, red, and purple.
Since Companions cannot summon pets of their own, Ember's ability Quick Fix isolates the healing component of Summon Winged Twilight and Summon Twilight Matriarch, despite the icon using the visuals from the non-healing morph, Summon Twilight Tormentor.

Let me know what you think!

Cooperharley · December 9

I want more functionality out of the system, not more skills personally.

They still stand in red all the time and die, they still can’t hold their own gear, we still cannot upgrade their gear or transmute traits, we still cannot command positions or interactions for them, etc.

The skills are cool for future companions sure, but the system is showing its age without any true innovation. Having Tanlorin share similar skills to bastion rather than committing to fully soul magic or something else was a big letdown in my opinion, especially because they’re charging separately for them. I’d also like to see more story content for previous companions too if possible with each update.

IncultaWolf · December 9

I'd like Zerith's bone totem ability as it's better than the player version, it fears on cast with no delay.

The_Meathead · December 9

I'd like to Uno Reverse this concept and have Izzy give the players back the original Jabs animation.

Please.

Pleeeeeeease.

Erickson9610 · December 9

Cooperharley wrote: »

I want more functionality out of the system, not more skills personally.

They still stand in red all the time and die, they still can’t hold their own gear, we still cannot upgrade their gear or transmute traits, we still cannot command positions or interactions for them, etc.

The skills are cool for future companions sure, but the system is showing its age without any true innovation. Having Tanlorin share similar skills to bastion rather than committing to fully soul magic or something else was a big letdown in my opinion, especially because they’re charging separately for them. I’d also like to see more story content for previous companions too if possible with each update.

I can't even begin to imagine how we'd get a fully Soul Magic Class without creating new abilities the way Mirri has her original Nightblade ability. Even counting the two Scribed Soul Magic abilities and the Soul Shatter passive made active, there'd be 5 abilities when we would need 9, with 3 for each role.

I wish Empathic Fighter was a separate skill line that Tanlorin had in addition to the Ardent Warrior skill line, if ZOS is going to continue with the analogy that Companions pick different skills and morphs from one another. But if they continue mixing skill lines, then I'd like to see a multi-class Companion, such as one with the Dragonknight healing line, the Sorcerer damage line, and the Warden tank line, for instance to make an "elementalist" who uses fire, lightning, and ice — basically doing what Tanlorin is already doing, but mixing Classes together rather than mixing World and Class skills.

Taril · December 9

Personally, I don't care about Companions getting player skills. In fact, I'd rather see them get unique skills (There's TONS of NPC abilities that can be reused/repurposed for a companion without needing to actually create new animations and effects)

For example, Sharp's ultimate is not a player ability. Players cannot summon a kagouti.

Not only does this make them more interesting (Especially if a player is using the same class, so you aren't both just using the same skills), but it provides more freedom in designing skills that are useful companion skills at their core, rather than having to try and morph existing skills to be not trash when converted into a companion skill.

Erickson9610 · December 9

Taril wrote: »

Personally, I don't care about Companions getting player skills. In fact, I'd rather see them get unique skills (There's TONS of NPC abilities that can be reused/repurposed for a companion without needing to actually create new animations and effects)

For example, Sharp's ultimate is not a player ability. Players cannot summon a kagouti.

Not only does this make them more interesting (Especially if a player is using the same class, so you aren't both just using the same skills), but it provides more freedom in designing skills that are useful companion skills at their core, rather than having to try and morph existing skills to be not trash when converted into a companion skill.

I do like that Companions are designed to have unique Ultimate abilities. That's the part that should make their combat feel unique from players — but I still feel that the majority of their skills should be grounded in existing skill lines, especially in the case where the Companion proclaims what Class they are (Companions such as Ember, Azandar, and Zerith-var outright say the name of their Class).

There's really no rules when it comes to adapting Companion skills, either. Soul Shatter is a passive which deals area damage when your Health gets low, and Tanlorin's version of that, Explosive Rebuke, is an active ability that deals area damage and additional area damage when they take damage. A better example might be the Player's Entropy skill being a damage over time while the Companion's Reverse Entropy skill is a heal over time — the general idea of what these skills are can be adapted into completely new ideas that make them unique.

Necrotech_Master · December 9

i would also like to echo that i would prefer to see companions get more unique skills, i dont mind them being themed off of some player abilities to fit their current class, but they dont have to 100% mirror player skills

i also wish companions had more ultimates to choose from to fit different builds (1 per class skill line at a minimum) so we could choose which one we liked the best, as some of the companions have complete garbage tier ultimates (isobels and bastions are by far some of the worst, isobels due to the extremely long 3.8 sec cast time for weak effect, and bastion refuses to use his ultimate unless theres an enemy in melee range (which doesnt work often if hes on a range build as he will dodge roll away, enemies have to sit in melee range for at least 2 sec for him to use his ult) and his also has an unnecessarily long cast time of 2 seconds)

Erickson9610 · December 9

Erickson9610 wrote: »

I put together a chart to illustrate which abilities were given Companion versions as of now in 2024, and which ones were not. Which abilities would you like to see be given to Companions next?

To answer my own question, my personal preference would be that we get all of the Werewolf abilities given some Companion equivalent. If a Companion has to transform due to humanoid and Werewolf abilities being incompatible, they'll need a separate Werewolf bar, which would have 5 abilities.

I think the Vampire skills Eviscerate, Blood Frenzy, and Vampiric Drain could make for a damage-focused Companion skill line. As with Werewolf, I hope Vampire is a separate skill line that doesn't replace the Companion's damage dealer skill line.

Assault, Support, and Psijic Order could be saved for particular Companions the way Soul Magic was made into Empathic Fighter for Tanlorin. I'm thinking some sort of mercenary or Alliance War veteran could mix the Assault and Support skills to make a tanking or healing skill line. Obviously only an existing member of the Psijic Order would have a skill line for Psijic Order skills.

As far as Class abilities go, it'd be cool to see a Companion version of Rune Focus, Repentance, Eclipse, Bolt Escape, and Nature's Grasp (keep your Companion close to you at all times!). Maybe some alternate morphs of Twilight Mantle, Penetrating Strikes, and Snow Squall.

I don't think Scribed Abilities will see Companion equivalents, but it's a possibility now. I doubt they'd have the same flexibility as the Scribing system.

Finally, now that Tanlorin is introducing new Dragonknight skills and morphs, I hope the existing Weapon and Guild skills are revisited. Some Companions should have a different subset of Weapon and Guild abilities than others, with different morphs when applicable. As it stands, every Companion having the same non-Class abilities is boring and predictable, albeit it does ensure they can always perform basic functions despite their subset of Class abilities.

Taril · December 9

Erickson9610 wrote: »

I still feel that the majority of their skills should be grounded in existing skill lines, especially in the case where the Companion proclaims what Class they are (Companions such as Ember, Azandar, and Zerith-var outright say the name of their Class).

Not that proclaiming a name of a class means anything.

Unless you can explain how Worm Cultists, Mannimarco and Tharn don't use our Necromancer class skills despite being "Necromancers"

Or why Zerith has essentially carbon copies of several of our Necromancer skills despite him using a completely different system that is more Soul Magic than corpse magic...

To say nothing about such a thing is basically saying that the 18 class skills we have is the end-all-be-all of the class and that there exists nothing else besides those.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

There's really no rules when it comes to adapting Companion skills, either.

Except there is. They still fit around the base concept.

Like, sure Explosive Rebuke is slightly different... But it's still a PBAoE damage skill.

Companion's Entropy is still a single target "Over Time" ability.

Isobel's Holy Ground still drops on her location like Cleansing Ritual.

These are constrained around what our abilities are, rather than creating something that's unique and more conducive to being a useful companion skill.

Like Entropy could have been a multitarget HoT so the companion could heal both us and themselves. Isobel could have had a heal that would actually function if giving her a Resto staff and making her a healer (Instead of her dropping it while standing at range, meaning its radius won't reach you if you're in melee with enemies). Biting Trap could have been literally anything else and so be actually useful.

the1andonlyskwex · December 10

I don't know about specific skills, but I think the next companion should be a bosmer with one vampire skill line and two nightblade skill lines (and, one way or another, better tanking abilities than Mirri).

We also eventually need a nord, an orc, a psijic, and a werewolf. I could also see ZOS coming up with companion skills for the dark brotherhood and the thieves guild.

Cooperharley · December 10

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

I put together a chart to illustrate which abilities were given Companion versions as of now in 2024, and which ones were not. Which abilities would you like to see be given to Companions next?

To answer my own question, my personal preference would be that we get all of the Werewolf abilities given some Companion equivalent. If a Companion has to transform due to humanoid and Werewolf abilities being incompatible, they'll need a separate Werewolf bar, which would have 5 abilities.

I think the Vampire skills Eviscerate, Blood Frenzy, and Vampiric Drain could make for a damage-focused Companion skill line. As with Werewolf, I hope Vampire is a separate skill line that doesn't replace the Companion's damage dealer skill line.

Assault, Support, and Psijic Order could be saved for particular Companions the way Soul Magic was made into Empathic Fighter for Tanlorin. I'm thinking some sort of mercenary or Alliance War veteran could mix the Assault and Support skills to make a tanking or healing skill line. Obviously only an existing member of the Psijic Order would have a skill line for Psijic Order skills.

As far as Class abilities go, it'd be cool to see a Companion version of Rune Focus, Repentance, Eclipse, Bolt Escape, and Nature's Grasp (keep your Companion close to you at all times!). Maybe some alternate morphs of Twilight Mantle, Penetrating Strikes, and Snow Squall.

I don't think Scribed Abilities will see Companion equivalents, but it's a possibility now. I doubt they'd have the same flexibility as the Scribing system.

Finally, now that Tanlorin is introducing new Dragonknight skills and morphs, I hope the existing Weapon and Guild skills are revisited. Some Companions should have a different subset of Weapon and Guild abilities than others, with different morphs when applicable. As it stands, every Companion having the same non-Class abilities is boring and predictable, albeit it does ensure they can always perform basic functions despite their subset of Class abilities.

I think everyone on the forums knows you're a were wolf guy and that was the point of the post - to say you want werewolf stuff, which is cool. So do I, and i much rather would've seen werewolf stuff than tanlorin's half and half jankiness, but I think if we really want to make the system BETTER, we obviously need to implement new skills, but it's just so stale currently dude. They haven't innovated on the SYSTEM.

Yes, there are new companions with new skills, but that just doesn't do anything for their utility or excite people who aren't fans into using them consistently. Let's add to the system - add to their capabilities and their function, their utility for the player and add more freedom in gearing or building the companions. Heck even customizing a companion would be dope.

We just have this formulaic approach to everything every year and its so dry.
- 2 companions, but nothing truly new. A few quests, a memento at the end, some new rapport builders/negatives, etc.
- A new ToT deck, but nothing to actually incentivize players to try it out or any rewards to make it exciting
- A new zone with 6 delves, 6 WBs, 2 public dungeons, some side quests, and 30 hours of daedric end of the world story telling
- A system, which takes up a whole quarterly release and is extremely hit or miss like IA vs the BG update instead of cool small zones DLCs in the past like clockwork city, dark brotherhood and thieves guild
- A whole quarter for QOL stuff (where that stuff is is unbeknownst to me) and bug fixes (??)
- A couple dungeons and a trial

Something really needs to change. The question that needs to be asked is "what can be done to excite veteran players and new players alike, bring new people in and old people back, and RETAIN veteran players through engaging and rewarding gameplay loops?" It's like we're just on a treadmill, getting charged for everything and now even companions aren't free and we're getting billed separately (if not an ESO+ member) for the same content that was once free (a central theme for ZOS).

JaxontheUnfortunate · December 10

I really would prefer to assign a behaviour/tactic type systems for what companions should do during encounters like combat, etc.

Erickson9610 · December 10

Cooperharley wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

I put together a chart to illustrate which abilities were given Companion versions as of now in 2024, and which ones were not. Which abilities would you like to see be given to Companions next?

To answer my own question, my personal preference would be that we get all of the Werewolf abilities given some Companion equivalent. If a Companion has to transform due to humanoid and Werewolf abilities being incompatible, they'll need a separate Werewolf bar, which would have 5 abilities.

I think the Vampire skills Eviscerate, Blood Frenzy, and Vampiric Drain could make for a damage-focused Companion skill line. As with Werewolf, I hope Vampire is a separate skill line that doesn't replace the Companion's damage dealer skill line.

Assault, Support, and Psijic Order could be saved for particular Companions the way Soul Magic was made into Empathic Fighter for Tanlorin. I'm thinking some sort of mercenary or Alliance War veteran could mix the Assault and Support skills to make a tanking or healing skill line. Obviously only an existing member of the Psijic Order would have a skill line for Psijic Order skills.

As far as Class abilities go, it'd be cool to see a Companion version of Rune Focus, Repentance, Eclipse, Bolt Escape, and Nature's Grasp (keep your Companion close to you at all times!). Maybe some alternate morphs of Twilight Mantle, Penetrating Strikes, and Snow Squall.

I don't think Scribed Abilities will see Companion equivalents, but it's a possibility now. I doubt they'd have the same flexibility as the Scribing system.

Finally, now that Tanlorin is introducing new Dragonknight skills and morphs, I hope the existing Weapon and Guild skills are revisited. Some Companions should have a different subset of Weapon and Guild abilities than others, with different morphs when applicable. As it stands, every Companion having the same non-Class abilities is boring and predictable, albeit it does ensure they can always perform basic functions despite their subset of Class abilities.

I think everyone on the forums knows you're a were wolf guy and that was the point of the post - to say you want werewolf stuff, which is cool. So do I, and i much rather would've seen werewolf stuff than tanlorin's half and half jankiness, but I think if we really want to make the system BETTER, we obviously need to implement new skills, but it's just so stale currently dude. They haven't innovated on the SYSTEM.

Yes, there are new companions with new skills, but that just doesn't do anything for their utility or excite people who aren't fans into using them consistently. Let's add to the system - add to their capabilities and their function, their utility for the player and add more freedom in gearing or building the companions. Heck even customizing a companion would be dope.

We just have this formulaic approach to everything every year and its so dry.
- 2 companions, but nothing truly new. A few quests, a memento at the end, some new rapport builders/negatives, etc.
- A new ToT deck, but nothing to actually incentivize players to try it out or any rewards to make it exciting
- A new zone with 6 delves, 6 WBs, 2 public dungeons, some side quests, and 30 hours of daedric end of the world story telling
- A system, which takes up a whole quarterly release and is extremely hit or miss like IA vs the BG update instead of cool small zones DLCs in the past like clockwork city, dark brotherhood and thieves guild
- A whole quarter for QOL stuff (where that stuff is is unbeknownst to me) and bug fixes (??)
- A couple dungeons and a trial

Something really needs to change. The question that needs to be asked is "what can be done to excite veteran players and new players alike, bring new people in and old people back, and RETAIN veteran players through engaging and rewarding gameplay loops?" It's like we're just on a treadmill, getting charged for everything and now even companions aren't free and we're getting billed separately (if not an ESO+ member) for the same content that was once free (a central theme for ZOS).

I made this post because I wanted to visually see which abilities haven't been given to Companions yet and ask the community on the forums which ones they'd like to see implemented next. It's about filling in those blank spaces. Of course, tackling individual skill lines like Werewolf is part of that, and that skill line has been a request of mine for a long time.

To me, it's like this: if a Companion deviates too much from the system we already have, then are they even a Companion?

For instance, if we were to get a Companion who is quadruped like an Alfiq or a dog, then they couldn't use any of the humanoid skills like Weapon abilities, and they couldn't wear armor motifs, even if they had armor slots. They'd have to have unique, original skills uninspired by the original Companion skills and Classes. The same goes for a Companion who is only a Werewolf in combat — who wants to use a Companion who, by necessity, only has 5 abilities to pick from? That's why I think Companion Werewolves should also have a Class for whenever they're not transformed, just like Player Werewolves do.

Another example is a Companion of an original Class that Players won't have. Players are going to want to use those original skills themselves, even if ZOS never plans to give us a new playable Class ever again. Plus, if every Companion must have a different Class from one another, then it becomes more expensive to create new Companions every year, and players who liked one Class but hated the character are just stuck with them.

Frankly, I'm not sure what could be done to upgrade the Companions system. It's one of those systems which can have new things added to it (like how every year we get new Antiquities) without expanding upon it (like how we don't have any new ways to play the Scrying and Excavation minigames after all these years).

I'd love if Companion abilities were re-balanced. Older Companions have less content and aren't as powerful in battle. Companions could use an improvement to their AI to help them move out of danger, without resorting to shortcuts like capping the number of times they can roll dodge each encounter. Maybe something can be done to allow Companion helmets while in combat?

I don't really think Companions need things like a complex relationship system, a romance system, the ability to follow you into your homes, the ability to complete Surveys and Treasure Maps for you, or anything extra. "Blank slate" Companions who can be customized from the ground up shouldn't become the norm because it'd be impossible to do any meaningful storytelling with them.

I personally think they're fine the way they are, but there's room for minor improvements. At least, I look forward to each new Companion to see what build I can make for them, and also to acquire their Keepsake and experience their storyline.

Mavloc · December 10

I want a Redguard companion who has a Shehai

Taril · December 10

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Another example is a Companion of an original Class that Players won't have. Players are going to want to use those original skills themselves, even if ZOS never plans to give us a new playable Class ever again.

New classes aren't the only ways to implement skills. We literally have plenty of stand alone skill lines (The "World" and "Guild" categories) and recently got Skill Scribing which has given us a plethora of new, unique skills.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Frankly, I'm not sure what could be done to upgrade the Companions system. It's one of those systems which can have new things added to it (like how every year we get new Antiquities) without expanding upon it (like how we don't have any new ways to play the Scrying and Excavation minigames after all these years).

There's SO much stuff they can do with companions and the system overall;

- Skill morphs for further customization of abilities

- Expanded equipment (More than just a single trait on gear. More overall traits to have. Crafting of equipment. Equipment going up to Legendary tier) to improve how we gear them up.

- Equipment sets (Like our own equipment sets) to provide them with additional bonuses and capabilities.

- Improve AI and capabilities (Especially for mechanisms like standing on plates or pulling levers) to make them more useful.

- Enable the ability to give companions consumable items like potions and poisons that they can utilize.

- Champion Points system for further companion enhancement and customization.

- The ability to use multiple companions - For example, allowing people to go into Dungeons or Trials with a companion team instead of only solo + a single companion.

- Extra out of combat things. Like allowing companions to do various helpful tasks - Such as letting Mirri/Sharp go collect your Treasure Maps/Surveys, Azandar helping you research item traits, Isobel going dungeoneering and picking you up some random dungeon loot etc.

Erickson9610 · December 11

Taril wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Another example is a Companion of an original Class that Players won't have. Players are going to want to use those original skills themselves, even if ZOS never plans to give us a new playable Class ever again.

New classes aren't the only ways to implement skills. We literally have plenty of stand alone skill lines (The "World" and "Guild" categories) and recently got Skill Scribing which has given us a plethora of new, unique skills.

My argument concerning that (and my main issue with Tanlorin's implementation of Soul Magic) is that it breaks the parallel between Player combat and Companion combat. Players don't replace one of their Class skill lines with World or Guild skill lines. Players are given those skill lines in addition to their Class skill lines — they have more options.

In Tanlorin's case, their personalized Ultimate is understandably Soul Magic-themed, but I don't think Companions should always be required to have one solitary Ultimate in their Class's damage dealer skill line. We could've gotten three Dragonknight skill lines, with the Ardent Warrior skill line lacking an Ultimate this time (since Bastian's Ultimate is always unique to him), and have a new World category for Empathic Fighter where Tanlorin's Ultimate and relevant Soul Magic abilities would reside.

Taril wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Frankly, I'm not sure what could be done to upgrade the Companions system. It's one of those systems which can have new things added to it (like how every year we get new Antiquities) without expanding upon it (like how we don't have any new ways to play the Scrying and Excavation minigames after all these years).

There's SO much stuff they can do with companions and the system overall;

- Skill morphs for further customization of abilities

- Expanded equipment (More than just a single trait on gear. More overall traits to have. Crafting of equipment. Equipment going up to Legendary tier) to improve how we gear them up.

- Equipment sets (Like our own equipment sets) to provide them with additional bonuses and capabilities.

- Improve AI and capabilities (Especially for mechanisms like standing on plates or pulling levers) to make them more useful.

- Enable the ability to give companions consumable items like potions and poisons that they can utilize.

- Champion Points system for further companion enhancement and customization.

- The ability to use multiple companions - For example, allowing people to go into Dungeons or Trials with a companion team instead of only solo + a single companion.

- Extra out of combat things. Like allowing companions to do various helpful tasks - Such as letting Mirri/Sharp go collect your Treasure Maps/Surveys, Azandar helping you research item traits, Isobel going dungeoneering and picking you up some random dungeon loot etc.

Skill morphs seem to be reserved for repeated Classes, such as how Bastian has Searing Weapons while Tanlorin has Volcanic Arms. If ZOS is going to keep repeating Classes, it's probably best that they don't allow all Companions of a particular Class to use every ability made for their Class. At least this makes Tanlorin's Dragonknight abilities slightly different from Bastian's Dragonknight abilities, so theorycrafting for Companions is still interesting going forward.
I agree that it'd be nice to be able to craft and upgrade Companion gear and do things like change the trait or enchantment of it. Though, to offer a counterpoint, Companion equipment is probably meant to be difficult to acquire, as it's frequently mentioned as a reward for participating in events (what with our only piece of Legendary equipment itself sourced from an event). Ever since we got the Item Set Collection system, the ability to Reconstruct, Transmute, and of course upgrade all types of equipment for a reasonable cost, there hasn't been any sort of need to grind for equipment in the right trait and weight the old school way — which is the hole that I think the current design of Companion equipment is meant to fill. It's difficult to acquire, possibly intentionally.
Those sets would have to be designed for Companion use specifically. If they weren't, then there'd be much more server strain as now Players as well as their Companions are setting off procs. Plus, Companions don't use Stamina or Magicka for anything, so those set bonuses would be wasted. But I won't deny that it would be a lot of fun to have more theorycrafting options for Companions.
If ZOS doesn't want players to have to micromanage their Companions during combat, then ZOS would have to go through every PvE instance in this game and manually add some mechanism for Companions to complete mechanics. Like the pressure plates in Direfrost Keep — unless you could manually tell your Companion where to stand and have them actually count as a player to weigh down the pressure plate (as they currently don't) — you'd want some mechanism that makes the Companions automatically perform the mechanic without player input. This would be a lot of work and a lot of obscure mechanics would go unnoticed. I do agree with improving the AI though — there's got to be some better algorithm that doesn't strain the servers too much that would allow Companions to avoid hazards on the ground, and maybe allow for a more nuanced combat system. Some sort of change to the AI that's applicable in every scenario, rather than having exceptions made for a select few scenarios.
Potions, poisons, and even things like buff food would be nice. For once, I could finally give certain Companions the food/drink they keep asking me to share with them. But more importantly, they'd have their survivability massively improved. Certain potions/poisons could even give them access to buffs that aren't found in their toolkit.
Champion Points for Companions seems a little too much. Each Companion is supposed to have their own unique Champion Points once they reach Level 20? I could maybe understand if it draws from the player's Champion Points and automatically applies what the player has equipped to their Companion. Though, it would be a nice long-term goal to reach for each individual Companion.
It would be cool to have multiple Companions join you. Obviously this shouldn't happen in the overworld (as each player in the instance could bring a full group of 11 Companions out), but in Dungeons/Arenas/Trials it seems reasonable. I'd love to hear what Companions have to say about one another since they've never met, but that's definitely outside of the scope of the Companions system.
These extra features, while possibly thematic to the character, are ultimately asking too much of the Companions system. Those ideas would make excellent Assistant functionalities, though. I just can't see Companions having all of this extra utility on top of their existing utility.

Taril · December 11

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Skill morphs seem to be reserved for repeated Classes, such as how Bastian has Searing Weapons while Tanlorin has Volcanic Arms. If ZOS is going to keep repeating Classes, it's probably best that they don't allow all Companions of a particular Class to use every ability made for their Class. At least this makes Tanlorin's Dragonknight abilities slightly different from Bastian's Dragonknight abilities, so theorycrafting for Companions is still interesting going forward.

There's no reason why both cannot be true. Bastian has Searing Weapons and Tanlorin has Volcanic Arms. But nothing stops those skills from having their own unique morphs. Allowing more customization of the specific companion, irregardless of what skills or "Morphs" get duplicated across characters.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Though, to offer a counterpoint, Companion equipment is probably meant to be difficult to acquire, as it's frequently mentioned as a reward for participating in events (what with our only piece of Legendary equipment itself sourced from an event).

Again, nothing stops both being true.

For a start, if crafting is anything like regular gear crafting, you'd need to go about acquiring a bunch of Companion gear to learn the traits of.

Then would be the matter of crafting materials, trait components (Given they don't use the same traits as players it's easily justifiable that companion gear would require unique materials) and any sort of upgrade components to tier up said gear.

It's entirely possible to keep things difficult to obtain via having this seperate system of gear crafting being based on unique crafting materials. Materials that would need to be obtained from the same means as regular companion gear (Not that it's particularly hard to acquire, I've been vendoring SO much companion gear because I keep getting so much of it and I'm not in a guild so can't sell it on the market)

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Those sets would have to be designed for Companion use specifically.

Well... Yeah? Given that companions use completely different equipment to players of course they would get sets designed specifically for them. (Also, nothing specifically mandates them having proc sets like recent player sets... Plenty of older player sets just provide passive bonuses)

Erickson9610 wrote: »

If ZOS doesn't want players to have to micromanage their Companions during combat, then ZOS would have to go through every PvE instance in this game and manually add some mechanism for Companions to complete mechanics.

Yes? And?

This would constitute "Evolving the system". Systems don't evolve by the developers sitting on their hands and just copy/pasting the same formulaic slop every year...

Which is the point that was being raised earlier. Several years have gone by and not a single new iteration has come to the system. It's still as flawed and barebones as the day it was introduced. We've gotten some new companions with their new skills... But its the same core system.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Champion Points for Companions seems a little too much.

I don't see how.

There's no strict rule for how expansive such a thing necessarily would be. It could just be like 3 lines of 10ish nodes where you get a handful of CP to help push the companion in a particular role. Giving them some extra bonuses to help them Tank/DPS/Heal respectively.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

These extra features, while possibly thematic to the character, are ultimately asking too much of the Companions system.

I don't see why.

There's nothing about Companions that explicitly prevent them from having other duties.

We already see them being able to exist outside of being a random pet following you around given the Houseguests provided by their final quests.

We can also directly talk to them at will.

There is no technical limitation here.

While the addition of other duties (Especially companion specific ones) would provide further incentive to acquire and utilize companions (Which means more Chapter sales and with the recent note of Tanlorin and Zerith being store exclusives more direct sales)

Either way, it's still an example of how the Companion system could be evolved if ZOS so chooses (In more tangible, functionality based ways as opposed to the more oft requested "RP/Romance" type things)