Gender-neutral pronouns (singular they/them) have been a thing for a long time. I personally use those as a formality or when I'm yet to meet a person with a name that can be used by both genders (like Alex or Jesse).

And developing new Companions takes time, because ZOS has to:

• Design the characters
• Write a questline for them
• Select the Skills they'd have
• Develop an account-wide passive
• Select the Rapport likes and dislikes
• Cast someone to voice the characters

There have been, until this year I think, a steady release of two companions per year, which is I think a good pace. Since companion is a ( relatively ) new thing, you can't expect to already have like 50 different companions.

Now for the future, it's another question entirely, but sadly there is a lot of questions for the future of ESO.

As for the use of they for the companions, any guess is as good as another one, so I'll add mine : simplicity when writing tooltips, etc.

How many companions do you need? You can use only one at a time, and there are currently enough that you ought to be able to customize them for any of the four basic roles-- tank, melee DD, ranged DD, and healer.

Quoted post has been removed

This right here. Companion skills are used across multiple Companions, so an easy way to describe what an ability does for a Companion without needing to swap in the Companion's pronouns on the fly is to write the ability descriptions with ambiguous pronouns that can apply to any future Companion. Though, each Companion ability already swaps in the Companion's name in the description on the fly, so a change to reflect their pronouns would be possible, albeit unnecessary.

The non-Class abilities are shared between all Companions, but some Class abilities are shared between some of them, too — such is the case with Bastian Hallix (he/him) and Tanlorin (they/them) using certain Dragonknight abilities with the same name and description. Although Bastian was created first (long before Tanlorin was a thought), his abilities were given ambiguous descriptions so that they could apply to other Companions than just him.

Since the first two Companions were male and female, maybe it just made sense to write every Companion ability description with gender neutral pronouns. It's sort of like how player abilities use second person "you/your" since the descriptions are referring to you, rather than to someone else in the third person.

wilykcat wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

They/them has been singular for centuries. It has always been used when the person's gender is unknown or unimportant e.g. Someone left their shoes at the gym.

That doesn't mean it's grammatically correct. People always make mistakes when writing, even in the past.

It is correct and has been for a long time. It is even endorsed by many style guides these days.

For example (source: Wikipedia).

In the 14th edition (1993) of The Chicago Manual of Style, the University of Chicago Press explicitly recommended using singular they and their, noting a "revival" of this usage and citing "its venerable use by such writers as Addison, Austen, Chesterfield, Fielding, Ruskin, Scott, and Shakespeare."[123]

The use of they as singular pronoun when the gender is unknown or irrelevant greatly predates its modern usage when referring to a known nonbinary person.

msgeek wrote: »

too many companions for my liking already. we already have one per class (minimum) and can set up as we desire.

if different companions offered something particularly different or novel, sure go for it, but the existing companions are already a ctrl+c ctrl+v of each other.

Only thing adding more does is add a painful enforced grind for completionists.

I disagree. Each Companion brings something new for combat, even if they're of a repeated Race or Class:

• Ember and Zerith-var are of the same Race (Khajiit), yet they have different Racial passives which favor one build over another.
  • Ember's passives give critical chance and damage done, making her a good damage dealer.
  • Zerith-var's passives give cooldown reduction and max health, making him a good tank.
• Bastian and Tanlorin are of the same Class (Dragonknight), yet they have different Class abilities, which makes their skillsets interesting to work with.
  • Identical abilities include Blazing Grasp in Draconic Armor and Kindle in Radiating Heart.
  • Differently morphed abilities include Bastian's Searing Weapons vs Tanlorin's Volcanic Arms in Radiating Heart.
  • Bastian has Crushing Claws, Drake's Blood, and Basalt Barrier to himself, while Tanlorin has Extinguishing Breath, Igneous Armor, and Haze of Cinders to themself.
  • Tanlorin also Subclasses into Empathic Fighter (Soul Magic Damage Dealing), replacing Ardent Warrior (Dragonknight Damage Dealing).

This heavily implies that future Companions will have unique Racial passives from others and will be Subclassing to mix up their Class skill lines.


...and of course the non-combat perks of having a Keepsake bonus, having a quest chain, having unique interactions with the Rapport system, and being available as a Houseguest are all additional factors to consider. There's a lot unique with each individual Companion.

wilykcat wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

They/them has been singular for centuries. It has always been used when the person's gender is unknown or unimportant e.g. Someone left their shoes at the gym.

That doesn't mean it's grammatically correct. People always make mistakes when writing, even in the past.

Assuming the skill descriptions have been written with the possibility of any companion needing them in mind, would you prefer "it"?

darkriketz wrote: »

I won't quote half a dozen of your posts but I agree with Erickson about Companions being really different. Even if they both fight in melee, I prefer Isobel Veloise (my favorite companion) over Bastian Hallix just because of her personality, even if I don't necessarily need a templar rather than a dragonknight. Overall, I find Bastian quite boring.
Even if Isobel and Mirri have similar personalities (smart, curious, loyal and sassy), they have nothing in common regarding fighting style, background and dialogue lines. Also, Isobel is into knightly feats and honor, while Mirri prefers knowledge and rare pieces of art (it's so easy to boost her relationship when you have many "museums" to take her to).

The other day I was getting the Litany of Death achievement and I was thinking it would be nice to have a companion who is ok with assassination, cause Mirri isn't (probably a Morag Tong/Dark Brotherhood feud thing), while Ember is completely ok with theft (as long as you don't get caught).

I don't think there are too few companions, but I think they could be more diverse in terms of lore. But again, I don't use them all, I'm not interested in Azandar, I'm not sure I've ever talked to Sharp-as-Night and I don't even know the last two, that I haven't bought.

Azandar and Sharp are both fine with the Dark Brotherhood stuff. Murder, Blade Of Woe both get no rapport change from them.

Kallykat wrote: »

I agree with those arguing for more companions, and I think reducing them their combat roles (tank, healer, etc.) misses the point for many people. Many people enjoy companions for their stories, personalities, non-combat perks, aesthetics, etc. Variation of these qualities has endless potential. Personally, I have numerous alts and enjoy matching each one's personality and looks with a different fitting companion.
...
Has ZOS confirmed that we won't be getting any new companions this year, even in Q4? I don't think I've heard any official mention of them one way or another.

in April Kevin said that companions are not on the roadmap this year.

here's the post and quote
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8293110#Comment_8293110

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Lugaldu wrote: »

Title says it all... Will they be announced later in the year or its over with new companions (what would be sad)?

No new companions to announce that this time. Companions are not done forever. Just not on the roadmap at this time as we have other goals we would like to accomplish with content this year.

hopefully next year

Kallykat wrote: »

I agree with those arguing for more companions, and I think reducing them their combat roles (tank, healer, etc.) misses the point for many people. Many people enjoy companions for their stories, personalities, non-combat perks, aesthetics, etc. Variation of these qualities has endless potential. Personally, I have numerous alts and enjoy matching each one's personality and looks with a different fitting companion.
...
Has ZOS confirmed that we won't be getting any new companions this year, even in Q4? I don't think I've heard any official mention of them one way or another.

Same here.

I don't use a companion to fill a 'role', I use companions to have companions while I travel. I am currently in Cyro to fish, and realized, I don't have Sharp! Boy did I feel lonely. (not really, but my character sort of did).

I can't just use a guild mate or friend, because they aren't always on, nor wanting to do what I am doing (would you want to sit around while I fish the ponds and lakes and rivers and oceans clean of fish around Tamriel?) I might not have time to spend even an hour in the game, so it isn't even worth it to see if anyone is interested in traveling with me.

So, a companion can fill that 'hole' so my character doesn't feel so lonely out there in the world where everything seems hostile.

So, to that end, I want a companion who has a personality I like (which is why I don't use Tanlorin. Will eventually level them up, but, not going to be for a while), and preferably who I find appealing. So far none of the companions really fill that. They are good substitutes until, hopefully, I get a companion that hits all the checkboxes.

So, having more companions is always desired for me, because even if I can only use one, I can still level them and their rapport and eventually use them in houses as decoration (though I wish that would get an update so that they could sit and truly interact with the objects we have around the house, same with the mounts and non-combat pets).[[

It takes a long time to go through their stories, and level up the various things, so I think there is enough to keep me busy at least. Still haven't touched Azandar.

I mean it comes down to the fact that ESO likely doesn't have the resources for development that it once did, even before the most recent round of layoffs at Microsoft. Companions take resources that could be put toward something else (which is hinted at in Kevin's comment about new companions not being included this year - "Just not on the roadmap at this time as we have other goals we would like to accomplish with content this year.").

Hopefully it's something they can circle back to in a future year, but there's already a decent selection of companions for now and as much as I'd love a little bosmer ww companion, I personally agree that there may be other priorities for limited resources at this time.

For example subclassing is a system that could allow further customization of companions in the future. And if more difficult overland is implemented, companions may become more used / useful, so it may make sense to work on that system first. Etc. And just... overall, companions could use more customizations and interactions and better AI, and it might be better to work on that rather than churning them out every year.

I like them as a side feature and hope the companion system can be expanded on in the future, but I don't really see it as central to the game or something that's going to draw back disillusioned players or sell the game in and of itself, without more systemic, underlying problems being worked on first.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

msgeek wrote: »

too many companions for my liking already. we already have one per class (minimum) and can set up as we desire.

if different companions offered something particularly different or novel, sure go for it, but the existing companions are already a ctrl+c ctrl+v of each other.

Only thing adding more does is add a painful enforced grind for completionists.

I disagree. Each Companion brings something new for combat, even if they're of a repeated Race or Class:

• Ember and Zerith-var are of the same Race (Khajiit), yet they have different Racial passives which favor one build over another.
  • Ember's passives give critical chance and damage done, making her a good damage dealer.
  • Zerith-var's passives give cooldown reduction and max health, making him a good tank.
• Bastian and Tanlorin are of the same Class (Dragonknight), yet they have different Class abilities, which makes their skillsets interesting to work with.
  • Identical abilities include Blazing Grasp in Draconic Armor and Kindle in Radiating Heart.
  • Differently morphed abilities include Bastian's Searing Weapons vs Tanlorin's Volcanic Arms in Radiating Heart.
  • Bastian has Crushing Claws, Drake's Blood, and Basalt Barrier to himself, while Tanlorin has Extinguishing Breath, Igneous Armor, and Haze of Cinders to themself.
  • Tanlorin also Subclasses into Empathic Fighter (Soul Magic Damage Dealing), replacing Ardent Warrior (Dragonknight Damage Dealing).

This heavily implies that future Companions will have unique Racial passives from others and will be Subclassing to mix up their Class skill lines.


...and of course the non-combat perks of having a Keepsake bonus, having a quest chain, having unique interactions with the Rapport system, and being available as a Houseguest are all additional factors to consider. There's a lot unique with each individual Companion.

I’m surprised to find out that Ember’s and Zerith-var’s racial passives are different. Players don’t get to pick from a pool of possible passives for their chosen race, so I think I just assumed that any companions of the same race would have the exact same racial passives too.

Syldras wrote: »

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

The "they" in the Companion descriptions would sound more natural if instead it changed to match the Companion--but maybe their skill display code doesn't allow for contextual adjustments like that?

Must be possible since it's correctly gendered for each companion in some translations/languages that simply know no neutral form, like in German and French.

I have the feeling it is probably just simply an oversight.

As someone said, they probably do the passives/bonuses/skills before they even start on the companion, so they don't know what pronoun to use at that point. then they just forget to go back and change it.

I have seen it in a lot of games, to be honest, where it would probably not take that long to have the pronouns match the gender of the character, but they don't.

Might even be two different departments/people doing the different things, so the one just grabs the text that the other comes up with and applies it and doesn't even change it *shrugs*

Edit: naturally posted and realized something else.

The reason why it would be translated correctly for other languages, is because someone is already looking at that particular bit of code, with the companion already created, to translate it, so they can make the necessary adjustments at that point, because they already know the gender of the companion and so which pronoun to use.

I've always figured that, like someone else here said, ZOS made the skills not knowing the gender. Or they just didn't bother with that detail because it's a skill from a class and not something they specifically can do. After all, the non-class lines would probably be gender neutral since they all pull from those lines.

I think finding "they" to be used singularly is only decidedly considered odd in recent years. I grew up as an American using "they" for when I don't know the gender of who I am referring to. I don't know if I was taught that or just happened to do it. Maybe it was simply the replacement for defaulting to "he". But it's not like this is unique to English either and its certainly not unique to ESO.