Toogeloo Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 I just started my 5th character, Trooper, and I am really starting to get this head-scratching bewilderment thing going. My first character was Warrior, and I thought the pacing of Companions was decent... not great, but decent. It's biggest flaw was getting no Tank Companions until after midway through 30s. But I was playing a Juggernaut anyways, and didn't really feel I needed a Tank since I was leveling as one with Vette DPS and Quinn healing. The companions were spaced out just enough that I felt I was getting them evenly. Next character was Agent, and this is where I felt kind of pinched. I leveled as Operative Healer, and felt that I was kind of stuck with Kaliyo for over half the game. This isn't a bad thing, healing with a Tank pet felt natural... just slow leveling. But the next companion I got wasn't until I was almost done with the first Act, which made it feel like I really never got another companion worth worrying about. Next I leveled Smuggler, and I really have no idea why they felt I needed to have two tank companions and not even get my Healer until the very end. The companions were at least spaced out nicely, but seriously... two tanks in a row? Unecessary. Leveled as Sage next, and this felt probably the most balanced for dispersion yet. I got a Tank first followed quickly by a healer. It felt that this is kind of how it should be for all classes, and really had no complaints about the dispersal. Now I am on the Trooper, and I really have no idea why BioWare didn't do this with all the classes. Seriously... If I had what the Trooper had when I was playing my Agent, I would have had a lot easier time leveling I think. I have been to 4 planets since playing my Trooper. Ord Mantell, Coruscant, Taris, and Nar Shaddaa... and I have gotten a companion after each and every one of them... on top of that, I have gotten a diverse group from DPS, to Healer, to Tank.... all before level 25. I can literally do any combination and be good to go. Why didn't they do this with all the classes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodan Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 and all the troopers companions (besides the droids of course) are aim/heavy armor wearers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helig Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Knights got the short end of the stick on that one. They are the only non-healing archetype, aside Warriors, yet they get their healing companion only closer to the end of Act 2. Tank droid is sometimes hard to gear, which makes it even more frustrating. Ran with Kira, then Rusk, and had little trouble once I got used to it. And I do agree about Troopers - I'm in the process of levelling a Commando right now. And it's really amazing. Got Armormech, and I have no "outside" needs - other than a weapon every couple of levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erei Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 SI have his last companion ("ranged" tank, which is more a melee tank) right before... Corellia. This guy have max 5convos and you're done. Also, you have companion quest AFTER the ending. I don't think any other class have that. The healer on hoth is incredibly annoying for the smuggler. We have 2tanks when we begin (ord mantell then nar shaddaa) which is COMPLETELY useless. The only complain I have for the JC is Nadia. We have her around Belsavis, which is near the end, and she is our padawan/romance option. For the JK, I'm stuck with the droid tank and the melee DPS. I'm glad I have 500+ presence, so they can tank and DPS more than myself, because I would be mad as a sentinel. So far the trooper have the best companion, gameplay wise. The first one is a good DPS and an average tank for the beginning, the second one is a healer. And every of them need the same gear than your character (heavy armor + aim). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daikeru Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 It fits the story? Some of these companions would be quite out of at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RendValor Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 (edited) Special mention goes also to Bounty Hunters who wish to specialize in the healing tree, they get their first tank companion near the end of Act II (!) Edited June 23, 2012 by RendValor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwena Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 I thought the order/pace you get your companions was "off" for a lot of classes, too. It is true that companions are tied to your class story, so they can't very well just change it so IA's get Vector on Nar Shaddaa, or have Knights get Doc on Taris. But IMHO, that is something the writers should have had in mind from the very beginning! It is like the writers and the people that decided the level ranges for the planets didn't talk to each other, or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toogeloo Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Special mention goes also to Bounty Hunters who wish to specialize in the healing tree, they get their first tank companion near the end of Act II (!)Not to mention they get their healer immediately and nothing else until Tatooine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMarchini Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 The later companions that you get, like from Hoth onward, also gain affection super fast, and in big chunks, for example, as a Consular, Qyzen normally gets affection gains of +15 for normal conversations, but since I started using Iresso (picked up on Hoth) he gets affection gains of +55 everytime. Every class gets 2 tanks, (ranged and melee), a healer, and 2 DPS (ranged and melee), and I agree that there is a large disparity for each class, the Agent class does have a disadvantage because you pretty much have to wrap up Ch. 1 before you get Vector (personally, I didn't have a problem with this), and for the Agent healer, he doesn't even come with blaster pistol equipped, or bracers or a belt...also if you like to use tank companions for that class, at one point in the story: Kaliyo is unavailable for a few class quests, and the only other tank is SCORPIO, and droids are ridiculously complicated to gear properly. Knights also are forced to use their first companion for the final mission, which kind of sucks, especially if you shelved T7 once you got Kira. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chanez Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 SI have his last companion ("ranged" tank, which is more a melee tank) right before... Corellia. This guy have max 5convos and you're done. Also, you have companion quest AFTER the ending. I don't think any other class have that. The healer on hoth is incredibly annoying for the smuggler. We have 2tanks when we begin (ord mantell then nar shaddaa) which is COMPLETELY useless. The only complain I have for the JC is Nadia. We have her around Belsavis, which is near the end, and she is our padawan/romance option. For the JK, I'm stuck with the droid tank and the melee DPS. I'm glad I have 500+ presence, so they can tank and DPS more than myself, because I would be mad as a sentinel. So far the trooper have the best companion, gameplay wise. The first one is a good DPS and an average tank for the beginning, the second one is a healer. And every of them need the same gear than your character (heavy armor + aim). Correction JK has kira last quest after story. I found the agents crazy spaced out compared to jk and sw, very nerve wracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icebergy Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Tank companions are the worst anyways, you really should never use them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrolan Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Special mention goes also to Bounty Hunters who wish to specialize in the healing tree, they get their first tank companion near the end of Act II (!) Yeah but they get Mako at the start which makes it easier in chapter 1 than any other class that I've played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morrolan Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Knights got the short end of the stick on that one. They are the only non-healing archetype, aside Warriors, yet they get their healing companion only closer to the end of Act 2. They get Doc near the end of Balmorra, the first planet in Chapter 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RendValor Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Yeah but they get Mako at the start which makes it easier in chapter 1 than any other class that I've played. That only holds true if you pick the defense tree in Powertech, who last I checked, are not healers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fptackle Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Smuggler was my first, and you are correct. Two tanks until you finish Chapter One is just poor design. I had opted for the Scoundrel and was healing, and Healer + Tank is totally viable, but very, very slow. At least I didn't realize truly how slow it was until I got Risha and started the Healer + DPS tearing through everything. While I don't mind the spacing out of companions throughout the entire story, I do wish you had 1 Tank, 1 DPS, and 1 Healer for companions in your first 3 before you start getting the doubles. I can only imagine the pains of being that DPS Gunslinger and knowing you won't get a Healer until your 40s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithros Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 (edited) It fits the story? Some of these companions would be quite out of at times. But only because of how the stories were written and the companions designed. It doesn't excuse wonky companion distribution. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This is where the story gets in the way of changes. It is just too much work (time and money) to re-write the stories once they are put into the game. If Bioware didn't identify any issues, then that was pretty much that. Even for the earliest testers, the best they could have hoped for was maybe a role swap somewhere. I have posted elsewhere (and several times previously, going back to beta) how I would have done it, but ultimately, they didn't do it that way and that is that. What they can do, however, is introduce new companions through missions obtained at earlier levels. Nothing is stopping them from just having every level X+ smuggler get a mysterious distress call that ultimately brings a new companion into their crew. It may not work perfectly well with all classes and some of the existing dialogue that they have later in the game, but it would work well enough to be able to overlook that, I think. My trooper had a conversation with a remarkably healthy-looking Aric Jorgan after he was supposed to have been seriously injured, and he even made a cameo in a conversation I was having with Elara Dorne, so if I (and Bioware) can overlook that, then they can overlook any strangeness that might emerge from adding special companion-getting missions earlier in the game. Edited June 27, 2012 by Mithros Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infalliable Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 They did some swapping of character abilities, roles, and equipment in beta. The story and companion character development just limited what was actually possible. As an example, Kaliyo would be perfectly logical as a DPS companion or a tank companion in either melee or range, but it makes no sense for her to be a healer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuixupu Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 (edited) I think Agents are the only class that don't get their second companion until you finish your class quest on Alderaan. Seems like everyone else I've got it at least by Tatooine. Also, so far Dr. Lokin is the only companion I've seen that you get half naked, missing belt, weapons, and bracers. Makes getting him usable more difficult. Edited June 27, 2012 by chuixupu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricDuckman Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I think Agents are the only class that don't get their second companion until you finish your class quest on Alderaan. Seems like everyone else I've got it at least by Tatooine. Also, so far Dr. Lokin is the only companion I've seen that you get half naked, missing belt, weapons, and bracers. Makes getting him usable more difficult. Since Lokin uses Cunning as his primary stat, an Agent can pretty much just give him hand-me-downs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leiralei Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 If you're hurting for a healer while leveling, gear up your ship droid. Main stat is aim, he takes the same parts as T7 but heals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MimicUnleashed Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 If you're hurting for a healer while leveling, gear up your ship droid. Main stat is aim, he takes the same parts as T7 but heals. The issue is no one makes Aim-Heavy droid gear. Meaning he's wearing Endurance heavy gear with +defense. If they'd make gear that would let the ship droid work properly it'd be ok. But he's 1/4th a healer due to gear limitations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thuggy Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 It fits the story? Some of these companions would be quite out of at times. When and where you get companions is tied to story, yes....But many companions are not tied to specific roles story-wise. Lets take smuggler as an example: There's no story reason why Bowdaar AND Riggs must be tanks. Either one could be built as DPS and fit the story just fine. Outside of a few clear "Healer" companions, most have a set of skills that, within the context of the game mechanics...could fill many roles. I think the core of the issue is that the game was written as a standard Bioware single player game....where you could do planets in the order of your choosing, but the game was designed as a standard, linear, themepark MMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toogeloo Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 The issue is no one makes Aim-Heavy droid gear. Meaning he's wearing Endurance heavy gear with +defense. If they'd make gear that would let the ship droid work properly it'd be ok. But he's 1/4th a healer due to gear limitations. Yeah, you have to jump through a lot of hoops to make the droid healer viable. First you have to get the droid gear that is moddable, then you have to replace all those mods with non-tank Armorings, Mods, and Enhancements. It ends up being a very huge investment in time and resources. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veluthurk Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 I don't like how they spaced the companion interval for my Operative (currently lvl 24), but with an average-geared, healing spec (orange chest, legs, weapon), and only green/blue level appropriate gear on Kaliyo we face-roll through missions. I even go out of my way to make elites have a bad day and take their candy. We mow through mobs so well I have to remind myself I could stealth past them if I wanted to. We both dps and I only heal for elites. Couldn't be simpler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eillack Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 It fits the story? Some of these companions would be quite out of at times. ^ This. Look at story first OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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