It occurred to me tonight that there's an easy way for Zenimax to give players more flexibility in soloing/questing in the Veteran Ranks without making changes to the overall difficulty, people who want more of a challenge can easily avoid it, it wouldn't discourage group play among guildies and friends by dumbing down difficulty, and has been featured in other TES games, so it wouldn't shatter the lore or feel of the game for those who care about such things- and that's purchasing a companion to assist you for a period of in-game time.

It makes a lot of sense. It would allow more DPS focused builds to become viable, wouldn't force people to play as defensively solo if they didn't wish to, and the mechanic is already in the game as evidenced by many NPCs that will assist you on a specific quest. It's also a viable gold sink.

There's a little something for everyone, and it excludes no one's particular favorite style of play.