I think I huge problem is that EA doesn't see much for swtor and thus they pump more funds into games like the sims and Fifa.
But the game is still doing ok so obviously we cant just blame it on that, I completely agree that most companions have been neglected, in the old days the companions werent just your warriors they were characters with stories and pasts. But with the shadow of Revan it seemed that this was over as I don't recall any unique companion interactions what so ever.
They said with KOTFE it would all change, the companions would be better and we were getting new ones too, I was excited , I couldn't wait to explore what our companions did for 5 years and explore even more new companions.
Turns out it did change! But not for the better, the companions essentially became, in HKs words "Meatbags" to use for fighting, obviously this is an mmo and thats a key component of the game but Swtor isnt like most mmos its hugely story based! I guess its just out with the old in with the new.