Companion's Auto Attack

[Ninja_Amnesty]

I typically use a healing companion so I never thought about or noticed this before.

 

A few days ago I created a Sniper to level up. As I was leveling I noticed that as I initiated combat with Ambush or Snipe, my companion would just stand next to me until either I was attacked or until I used a non cover only move.

 

Every other character I played, I at least had the impression that if you didn't order them to attack (given that they are not set to passive) they would do so on their own at the first sign of combat.

 

I would rather not have to send Kaliyo in before every single fight and would rather her not wait until mobs are already up on me doing damage to engage in a fight.

 

Working as intended?

 

I plan on doing a test later today to figure out which moves trigger an instant response from Kaliyo and which ones don't. I would still like to know why this is though.

[Atramar]

any attack will. after animation, after first mob diee she will attack first in sight who is attacking her/you (if mob is attacking party member, kalyio will not auto trigger)

and by Kalyio I mean any companion.

 

you can bind her 'slot 1' to some easy accesable button which you will replace while in groups (for example, on my healers I use Q as 'companion attack' and while in groups, under Q I have 'energy restoration' ability.)

on other hand, while doing Kalyio on my sniper, I found that it's actually better not to send her to aggro before you attack. that way, you take a bit damage, then she aggroes group. you won't die and will save her some damage, (plus travel time of mele mobs) so you 'share' hp pool.

she doesn't have 'travel time' as she jumps, so it's not a problem.

[Ninja_Amnesty]

any attack will. after animation, after first mob diee she will attack first in sight who is attacking her/you (if mob is attacking party member, kalyio will not auto trigger)

and by Kalyio I mean any companion.

 

She isn't attacking after the damage/animation of Snipe, Ambush and some other abilities. If I wanted to set a keybind for her to attack, I would rather put it on one of my quickbars (which you cannot do). I am not worried about her dying because she is geared and has max presence.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Ninja_Amnesty

[Atramar]

She isn't attacking after the damage/animation of Snipe, Ambush and some other abilities. If I want to set a keybind for her to attack, I would rather put it on one of my quickbars (which you cannot do).

 

ah, that's weird, I never had that problem. on other hand, my sniper is more then year old.

 

you cannot 'move' her attack key to your key binds, but you can bind 'companion slot 1' as key bind.

[Ninja_Amnesty]

ah, that's weird, I never had that problem. on other hand, my sniper is more then year old.

 

you cannot 'move' her attack key to your key binds, but you can bind 'companion slot 1' as key bind.

 

I want to avoid having useful keybinds set on something that can only be used for companions. If it was on my quickbar, I could change it when I went into a pvp match more easily. I would rather not have to hold my companions hand and change her diaper and tell her to attack every time that I go into battle (which is all the time). I suppose it's not too big of a deal but it just seems odd and I have never seen this before and I have leveled 9 characters to level 50.

 

If you could test out snipe and ambush on a melee target and see how Kaliyo and other companions react to it I would appreciate it. I am curious to see if they're acting funny for me or if that is just how they are in general.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Ninja_Amnesty

[Atramar]

I want to avoid having useful keybinds set on something that can only be used for companions. If it was on my quickbar, I could change it when I went into a pvp match more easily. I would rather not have to hold my companions hand and change her diaper and tell her to attack every time that I go into battle (which is all the time). I suppose it's not too big of a deal but it just seems odd and I have never seen this before and I have leveled 9 characters to level 50.

 

If you could test out snipe and ambush on a melee target and see how Kaliyo and other companions react to it I would appreciate it. I am curious to see if they're acting funny for me or if that is just how they are in general.

 

will do, you might need to wait for it as I'm at work

will test and reply in about 5 hours. It wouldn't be first time companions acting weird after general patch (remember 1.3 (I think) companion reseting their gear each time you left speeder? or 'just' implants and earing in different one...

some simple control would be nice too like 'attack from weakest to strongest for dps companion for tank/healer char, or 'target strongest' for aoe chars and 'for the love of god, don't break that damn mezz with your aoe' on/off

 

I agree, it would be nicer just to 'move' companion attack icon and swap them around, but if you go warzones, you have atleast 90 seconds before game starts to swap shortcuts, so it's not really a big issue (but yeah, it's annoying)

[Danylia]

She isn't attacking after the damage/animation of Snipe, Ambush and some other abilities.

I can confirm this. My sniper is using Ensign Temple, and when I open with (insta)Snipe->Followthrough->Series of Shots, she won't react until I start channeling SoS. I actually got used to it already since it happens for a long time now and everytime. So it's definitely not just you.

[Aryh]

I can confirm this. My sniper is using Ensign Temple, and when I open with (insta)Snipe->Followthrough->Series of Shots, she won't react until I start channeling SoS. I actually got used to it already since it happens for a long time now and everytime. So it's definitely not just you.

 

Yeah, I'm experiencing the same.

 

(Same goes for healers... I'm healing a group member that is engaged in combat and unless I'm attacked or attacking myself my companion won't join the fight. I'm busy healing I don't always have time to command my companion to attack as well - this is a slightly different case than the Sniper case however)

[Atramar]

Yeah, I'm experiencing the same.

 

(Same goes for healers... I'm healing a group member that is engaged in combat and unless I'm attacked or attacking myself my companion won't join the fight. I'm busy healing I don't always have time to command my companion to attack as well - this is a slightly different case than the Sniper case however)

 

that healer thing happens from start and was always like this.

[Ridickilis]

As soon as you get aggro (the enemies turn red) the companion will start to attack. If you're using an ability that channels, they won't attack until that ability goes off. So you could try and just use your own basic attack to open to initiate the combat sooner or you can use the companion's default keybinds (which are all CRTL 1 - =; CTRL 1 is the companion basic attack default setting. You can expand the companions hotbar as well and just click it if that's easier for you that using keybinds that you are already using for something else.

 

Leveling my operative I always hit ctrl-1 to send Kaliyo in first before I engaged.

[Ninja_Amnesty]

As soon as you get aggro (the enemies turn red) the companion will start to attack.

 

This was my general understanding too however it is not the case. I have engaged targets with multiple abilities (ambush, snipe, even melee abilities) and my companion will just stand there until I am attacked or send them in.

 

Weirdly though, the generic blaster fire ability and the interrupt triggers a companion response immediately.

 

It seems to me that if my companion is not set to passive and I have successfully hit an enemy (dealt damage), the criteria should be met to have my companion engage in battle (at least my current target).

Edited April 18, 2013 by Ninja_Amnesty

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

I typically use a healing companion so I never thought about or noticed this before.

 

A few days ago I created a Sniper to level up. As I was leveling I noticed that as I initiated combat with Ambush or Snipe, my companion would just stand next to me until either I was attacked or until I used a non cover only move.

 

Every other character I played, I at least had the impression that if you didn't order them to attack (given that they are not set to passive) they would do so on their own at the first sign of combat.

 

I would rather not have to send Kaliyo in before every single fight and would rather her not wait until mobs are already up on me doing damage to engage in a fight.

 

Working as intended?

 

I plan on doing a test later today to figure out which moves trigger an instant response from Kaliyo and which ones don't. I would still like to know why this is though.

 

Snipers and Gunslingers have some issues with the whole Cover ability initiating Companion thing. Ive noticed it a lot and i just have naturaly started hitting CTRL + 1 and sending my companion in. I dont know when this bug arose but it is kinda annoying.

[MSchuyler]

IIRC the Sniper companion has four "modes" that are the four icons in his/her reduced set at the bottom left. One is completely passive: Don't do anything. Another is "Stand and fight close" so he doesn't take off. I forget the third, but the fourth is "Attack Now." You can "set the mode" here, so if you have your companion on passive, he absolutely will not attack. That may be what is happening to you.

 

Why would you even want passive? Actually, it can be helpful. If you are running through the streets hot on an objective, you don't really have to engage every mob out there if you can avoid their aggro distance and it's not one your objective to "kill 40 bad guys bonus.". Do you REALLY want to engage a droid who has 20,000 HP when you are a level 20 when you and your companion COMBINED might have 8,000HP? I don't think so! This is especially true if you've already battled through the mobs and achieved your objective, then just want back out only having to re-engage their spawn.

 

Yet here's your companion that will attack any time a mob takes a pot shot at you when you could actually take the hit and keep running. You are then forced to engage just to protect your companion from getting whipped. BUT, if you make your companion Passive for that run back, he won't go attacking everything in sight and you can just run through the mobs and avoid them if you want.

 

Most of the time you want him in the fray drawing aggro away from you, but sometimes you just want him to behave, and that's what the passive mode is for. If your comp is stuck on Passive, there's your problem.

[Stebbinn]

Same happens to me, I'm playing gunslinger and when I start a combat with aimed shot and charged burst my companion just doesn't attack until I either use non-cover ability or I get hit by the enemy.

 

Example:

I go into cover 28m from 4 enemies, I hit aimed shot followed by a instant charged burst and a trickshot and it's not until 1 of the enemies hit me with a ranged or melee attack or I use a non-cover attack that my companion moves to attack the enemies.

 

I bind companion attack to T on all my characters so I just hit T at the same time I channel aimed shot so it's not a problem exactly when you've grown used to it.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Stebbinn