Companion Overhaul - Fallen Empire Expansion

[Nephitis]

LINK: http://www.swtor.com/info/news/blog/20151002

 

 

• Companions are now summoned from the Companions and Contacts/Alliance window.

 

• Companions now all have 3 roles you can choose from on the fly, DPS/Healer/Tank, and different ability sets based on that role.

 

• Companions that use the same weapon type will share the same ability sets (so every companion that uses Blaster Pistols will have the same ability sets).

 

• Companions no longer generate any stats from gear, their stats are purely based on the level of the companion, so you can dress them up however you want. Accordingly, equipment slots that didn't have any effect on visibility have been removed from companions. Companions will still need a weapon in order to activate their abilities, but the stats of the weapon won't matter.

 

In Fallen Empire player, Companions will continue to be a huge part of your personal story. All of these gameplay changes are to enhance their functionality.

 

************************

 

While all of this looks very interesting... in particular the multrole of DPS, Tank and Healer it also looks worrisome to me. It looks like they will streamline all of the companions, and since they will longer be affected by stats (mods and augments etc.) I suspect this will become a major indirect nerf. As it is now companions become significantly stronger if geared right. They gain significant damage, heal and endurance/HP, and if Bioware intend to streamline them all for multirole purpose I sure do hope they do not make them as strong as their "weakest" current form with just basic gear equipped. If they do that it will be pretty game changing companion wise. It seems there will be no way to improve your streamlined companions from their preset stats so to say.

 

So I wonder where they will set the baseline for their invisible stats when they do become streamlined...

What are you people's thoughts on all of this?

 

I do like the idea of multirole companions where you can pick let's say the current melee DPS Ashara and set her to heal mode, which would presumably give her Sage healing abilities.... or something.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Nephitis

[JediDingChavez]

I like the idea have multi-role companions but it concerns me that all their stats are being streamlined. As an avid player of SWTOR have spent time and in game currency to gear them up to the max. I would hate to see all that hard work go down the drain if this ends up being a nerf in the end. I hope this is not the case as you do say "In Fallen Empire player, Companions will continue to be a huge part of your personal story. All of these gameplay changes are to enhance their functionality." If anything they should see a slight increase in their stats to accommodate the new content and higher level.

[Schelos]

First of all, folks, stop worrying about power creeping.

 

Companions have their uses, we all know that :

 

• Convos add depth to character story.
  
• Appearance can make playing more enjoyable.
  
• Crew skills and crafting.
  
• Support Role in exploration and combat.
  

 

If we analyse the impact of the changes to companions we notice the following:

 

There will be no change in the basic story convos, or the expansions already active. There will be new convos available in the next expansion. Conclusion: no problems appearing, and new stuff will be available. Hands down a positive result.

 

Companion appearance is no longer affected by gear. We can equip the companion with any gear we want. This can only be considered positive in my opinion, as it takes nothing away from us, and gives us more freedom and more joy while playing.

 

The companion changes in KotFE will have almost zero impact on crew skill stuff, for example. "Almost" because of the individual bonuses each companion has, as we may decide to run around with a less favored companion while the most favored one does crew skill stuff. So this can be slightly affected by the chamges to support role. But it will be affected in a positive way as well as a negative one.

 

The fact that any companion can take any role is a boon to our gaming experience. We are no longer tied to a particular companion in more difficult missions because of our class, and can run around with our preferred partner. As an example, I'd use Ashara and Khem for the Sith Sorcerer. Sometimes a Sorcerer needs a tank (Khem), but I'd rather walk with Asharra all day.

 

This versatility comes with a price: stat streamlinning and the obvious implication that min-maxing is no longer possible for companions. Is that REALLY such a big deal? Should your purely-virtual sidekick be more important/effective than another player? Companions were always intended (since BETA, folks) to be less effective than anohter player. Yes, you can do a flashpoint with a companion, but another player in thesame role was supposed to be better at it. Aint always the case if you are able to min-max your companion and you have lots of extra commendations.

 

And if you are feeling shafted because you spent many credits crafting or buying stuff in the GTN to equip your companions, let me remind you that you ARE ALREADY RECEIVING the benefits for that, and that NO ONE EVER gave you any guarantees that your spent credits would buy you a permanent edge. If that was the case, Rakata gear would still be around, and no new-and-more-advanced gear would have appeared in the 2 active expansions.

[badboyishere]

Companion appearance is no longer affected by gear. We can equip the companion with any gear we want. This can only be considered positive in my opinion, as it takes nothing away from us, and gives us more freedom and more joy while playing.

 

Wrong. The stats will no longer be affected by gear. Their appearance will. So, you equip them for looks, not stats, with this change.

 

I'm a bit torn on this. Because checking items to see if they are of any use to any of my companions got tedious fast (since the comparison tooltips only showed the active companion). So, from this angle, this is good. But... it also does take depth away. Not good.

[Cybdex]

Im a casual player, but one of the things i do like to fiddle around with is gearing up my companion. Im not into "maxing out" for huge amounts of credits or whatever, but eg. if one of my discarded items is a upgrade for a companion that also makes him stronger, thats a fun thing for me

 

Taking that away and streamlining everything is one of the things SWTOR now does (not just companions but also stats) that Wow did... and lost loads of players by doing. Having everything drop "into your lap" (like the interchangable gear in wow) made me just.. not find the fun in it. It WAS fun farming for that 1 missing item or whatever.. Just to swap x of that stat for y of another stat. Thats all gone in Wow, and seemingly SWTOR is taking the same route.

 

Kinda puts me off playing now

[Feralsmurf]

Does this mean my ewok and assassin droid just got ganked? their going to be just as useless as every one else? i love my ewok noooooooo

[Skau]

I am annoyed that the new companions you get you can not change what they are wearing. only the old companions that you might get back. Like Lana you can't put a bikini on her or Zakuul Armor, or Like Drellik (Hope i got that right) you can change his appearance.

[JediJFR]

These folks have been known to screw beloved features up, all in the name of so called improvements. But as a techie, I can't help but think this is more about budgets and then trying to save grace by putting lipstick on a pig.

 

Keep in mind, the loss of your comps is no small matter, I spent years working on them and playing with them. I am in pain.

 

The new game play is pathetic. I ran though the story line is less than a day and did not die once.

 

The new paradigm of improving your comp's abilities through influence only is lame, since most of the time that requires me to go run missions on planets whereby I get nerfed down ti what-ever level that particular planet is on. You call that new content?

 

And will I be stuck with the same old drab gear my new comps come with? The challenge seems to be gone. Perhaps PVP will still be fun. They did manage to allow us to enter the new pvp season fully geared with 208 gear and the new gear looks great.

 

I'll generate new content for you. Let me continue to whine and cry about this whole mess until my pain goes away.

 

Then I'll end my sub.

[DarthPhaedrus]

I'm surprised there wasn't more feedback on this thread, and I apologize if there is another thread more proper.

 

Okay, I'm posting this in the hopes that someone from development may read this.

 

I MISS the hell out of modding my companions. True, that you had limitations and had to work at gearing them up, but... that was FUN!!!! What made it so fun, was that prior to the end game, gearing up all of your companions significantly was sort of a mini game, but once you reach level 50, gearing your companions up became more important. It was a grind, but one that made your accomplishments felt! I also liked some of my really nice gear didn't go to waste, as a few of my companions could take over my legendary gear and up their stats.

 

It was the BEST!! Now it's like... you don't really have a go-to companion, as they all have roughly the same stats. The influence system was already in play since the beginning, so... I don't know how that's an argument in defense.

 

 

Please PLEASE, bring back companion stat mods. Changing how they look isn't a challenge, and having every single companion capable of filling every role is... boring. I liked how one companion was better at healing or tanking than another. ***It made them unique*** Unique to the player who spent time picking out a good companion for a certain role, and then gearing them up properly for that role.

 

Uniqueness... Right now, they're just different looking toons with the same abilities. I'm not trying to be rude, just attempting to give you another perspective on this.