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Please give Companions their weapon proficiencies back!


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Posted

Since 4.0, quite a few of my Companions are no longer able to equip the weapons i assigned them, some of which i had bought with Cartel Coins (i.e. real money). Worst offender in my opinion is the Cathar Warstaff, as discussed in this thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=842924.

 

This rather defeats the purpose of removing gear requirements in the first place. Now my Sith Warrior has a Warstaff she can't use (previously wielded by Jaesa), and an assault cannon (also from the Cartel Market) is gathering dust in my Vanguard's locker, since apparently Jorgan's arms have become too weak to lift it properly.

 

There's no coherence to these changes either. As a result of what seems to be arbitrary choices, some companions are better lucked regarding this issue than others (my Sgt Rusk still has his assault cannon, for instance). In any case, with companion gear requirements for combat gone, logic would dictate we have more cosmetic options for them than we used to, not less as it is the case here.

Posted
Since 4.0, quite a few of my Companions are no longer able to equip the weapons i assigned them, some of which i had bought with Cartel Coins (i.e. real money). Worst offender in my opinion is the Cathar Warstaff, as discussed in this thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=842924.

 

This rather defeats the purpose of removing gear requirements in the first place. Now my Sith Warrior has a Warstaff she can't use (previously wielded by Jaesa), and an assault cannon (also from the Cartel Market) is gathering dust in my Vanguard's locker, since apparently Jorgan's arms have become too weak to lift it properly.

 

There's no coherence to these changes either. As a result of what seems to be arbitrary choices, some companions are better lucked regarding this issue than others (my Sgt Rusk still has his assault cannon, for instance). In any case, with companion gear requirements for combat gone, logic would dictate we have more cosmetic options for them than we used to, not less as it is the case here.

 

You've obviously played a trooper so did you just not pay attention to Aric's back Story? The reasoning behind them making Aric a sniper instead of a Assault canon user is rather self explanatory. He makes mention of the fact that he is a sniper in just about every conversation you have with him.

 

I will agree that it makes certain items like the warstaff and other such weapons useless for anyone except the players character.

Posted

Changing Aric's main weapon to a sniper rifle may be coherent with his backstory, it really wouldn't have hurt to simply add this proficiency to his previous ones, and leave the choice of equipment to players. When we roleplay our characters, companions backstories really shouldn't matter, otherwise we're playing Attack of the Clones 300 years too early. As i said, more options is the way to go.

 

That being said, Aric was just an example, and personally i'm much more annoyed at the Cathar Warstaff issue.

Posted

Maybe it's not a possibility to do this, but what they really ought to have done with these generic movesets is allow our choice of the companion's weapon to dictate which moveset they will use. Say that companion A can use weapons W or X, and companion B can use weapons X, Y, or Z. Should A and B both happen to be carrying weapon type X we'd see them with the same moveset. Otherwise, they'd be different.

 

If they had done something like that, they could have kept the old options around while also doing their little tweaks to add new weapon proficiencies here and there. But no, companions have all been lumped into whichever boxes they've been lumped into and they must only be allowed to use the weapon type associated with their one moveset.

 

(It would also be nice if the companions could have kept as much of their original movesets as possible (either just for their original role or as a fourth option alongside the three generic options) instead of feeling like they've lost almost everything that made them unique.)

Posted
You're absolutely right, my mistake. I should proofread more :p

 

I calculated the actual time between the two events. It's about 3618 years. I have learned one more useless fact about pop culture!

 

Bioware has made some strange choices in regards to both gameplay and story. What baffles me more is that Assault Cannons are completely pointless on the Imperial Side, although they clearly have access to them. The only person who seemed to benefit from such a pointless weapon was the Commando and select companions who are few and far between.

Also, copying WoW's RPG Combat system? Not exactly a good idea in my book... Except for Light Armor Tanks. There needs to be more of those in WoW...

Posted
What baffles me more is that Assault Cannons are completely pointless on the Imperial Side, although they clearly have access to them. The only person who seemed to benefit from such a pointless weapon was the Commando and select companions who are few and far between.

In return, no pub class uses sniper rifles. Those are our companion-only thing.

Posted
Aric using a sniper rifle is dumb, her joined me with an AC we were dual AC wielding baddies. You see BW his vision went and he got into command leaving his sniping days in the past. Now it is fine if he went and got lasik to fix his poor eyes when the empire went and fell or whatever but it doesn't mean I can't order him to use the AC because I want that firepower not long channeled sniping shots.
Posted
Aric using a sniper rifle is dumb, her joined me with an AC we were dual AC wielding baddies. You see BW his vision went and he got into command leaving his sniping days in the past. Now it is fine if he went and got lasik to fix his poor eyes when the empire went and fell or whatever but it doesn't mean I can't order him to use the AC because I want that firepower not long channeled sniping shots.

 

if his vision went "bad" He would have been medically discharged as he wouldn't be able to perform his duties anymore.

Posted

I entirely understand the decision to switch Aric from an Autocannon to a sniper rifle... but much like the OP, I equipped him with a Cartel Autocannon.

 

My thinking, is that the door was already open for Aric to use an Autocannon. For Corso Riggs to use a Blaster Rifle. For... well, Companion X to use whichever weapon they now can't use.

 

Going back and saying Jeeze... it was an oversight that Aric can't use a Sniper Rifle makes sense, but for a lot of players he's now been using an Autocannon for 50 or so levels. Adding an option is good. Removing an option... not so good.

Posted (edited)
Adding an option is good. Removing an option... not so good.
My point exactly. I have no problem with the decision to change Aric's default weapon to a rifle to better fit his backstory, but it shouldn't be done at the expense of player choice.

And why decide to remove electrostaff proficiencies? There were already few characters able to equip them in the first place. I'm sure i'm not the only one to have bought the Cathar Warstaff (400 Cartel Coins is no small change by the way, not to mention legacy unlock on top of it) with the intention of giving it to companions.

Edited by HoodedRats
Posted (edited)
Aric using a sniper rifle is dumb, her joined me with an AC we were dual AC wielding baddies. You see BW his vision went and he got into command leaving his sniping days in the past. Now it is fine if he went and got lasik to fix his poor eyes when the empire went and fell or whatever but it doesn't mean I can't order him to use the AC because I want that firepower not long channeled sniping shots.

 

He actually did equip sniper rifles at first, just like SCORPIO. He was later changed to assault cannons because players complained about gearing issues and having trouble finding Aim-based sniper rifles instead of Cunning.

 

Also if you actually paid attention to how Aric used to fight, you'd remember him doing awkward long-channeled single shots with an assault cannon. Dude lugged around a gattling gun with an insane rate of fire, yet he kept it on semi-auto almost 24/7 and took his darn time shooting only one round at a time. No wonder the Republic was in trouble on Ord Mantell.

 

Apparently, devs can't give too many weapon proficiencies to companions. Two seems to be the maximum, and now it's also impossible for companions to use both blaster pistols and blaster rifles, only one or the other, even though pistols and rifles have always been identical from a gameplay perspective.

 

Going back and saying Jeeze... it was an oversight that Aric can't use a Sniper Rifle makes sense, but for a lot of players he's now been using an Autocannon for 50 or so levels. Adding an option is good. Removing an option... not so good.

 

It wasn't an oversight, it was an intentional balancing decision regarding loot and equipment. They also decided to give all classes a companion for each one of 5 gameplay roles, even if it didn't quite fit some companions' pre-established story.

 

This is also why some of the less combat-oriented characters like Gault or Risha suddenly turn into rifle-toting precision marksmen for no apparent reason as soon as you recruit them.

Edited by GabDube
Posted

I second this request. While I really like some of the changes (yay Aric sniper rifle!) I am confused and disappointed other weapons were removed (single blade lightsabers for Kira, Nadia, and Jaesa plz.) It seems like they have all the animations in place already so I'm not sure why there is a technical limitation to allowing companions to have access to their old weapons again.

 

They already did it for Andronikos and Corso. I'm sure they can do it for everyone else too. Please BW make it happen!

Posted (edited)
I second this request. While I really like some of the changes (yay Aric sniper rifle!) I am confused and disappointed other weapons were removed (single blade lightsabers for Kira, Nadia, and Jaesa plz.) It seems like they have all the animations in place already so I'm not sure why there is a technical limitation to allowing companions to have access to their old weapons again.

 

They already did it for Andronikos and Corso. I'm sure they can do it for everyone else too. Please BW make it happen!

 

Actually, they removed corso's ability to use rifles (and sniper rifles) when they recently gave him back the ability to use pistols. He could only use both blaster rifles and sniper rifles when 4.0 launched. He can only use pistols now.

 

With 4.0, companions also seem to only have one single moveset and set of animations for each role (DPS/Heals/Tank). AFAIK, this might explain why, with 4.0, only characters that use blaster rifles or sniper rifles can use more than one weapon type, those being either sniper rifles or blaster rifles and nothing else. Blaster rifles and sniper rifles use the same animations in the companions' movesets, unlike pistols and assault cannons, which require a different set of animations.

 

The same could be said about companions using single lightsabers and those using dualsabers. The only reason I see that could explain this is that companions somehow don't (can't?) have different animation sets for different weapons anymore.

 

Otherwise, why would they bother giving Kaliyo the ability to use sniper rifles while she is clearly not a fine marksman, but also take away every padawan's ability to use single-bladed lightsabers, which are much less complicated to train than dualsabers? Seems like a technical limitation to me.

Edited by GabDube
Posted
I would also like back the option to give force-companions like Nadia or Kira, a single-bladed lightsaber (always found the saberstaffs horribly impractical), and also ability to use vibroswords/electrostaffs for other roleplaying purposes. Having doubles of all classes in game I tend not to RP the companions as themselves on the double toons.
Posted

Personally, I wish we could just equip companions with whatever weapon we wanted to. The way the new system works, any difference beyond ranged/melee is basically just cosmetic anyway.

 

While we're at it, let's let M1-4X wield Dual Heavy Cannons...

Posted
Personally I'd like to switch back to the way the companions were, each having their own strengths and weaknesses. Now they are too generic. They are all the same, just with different shells.
Posted
Changing Aric's main weapon to a sniper rifle may be coherent with his backstory, it really wouldn't have hurt to simply add this proficiency to his previous ones, and leave the choice of equipment to players. When we roleplay our characters, companions backstories really shouldn't matter,

When RPing, companions don't matter, period, since RPing with companions is problematic. Other players not being able to interact with them is the biggest hurdle. They just stand around and do nothing during RP, or they wind up standing on chairs or tables or whatnot.

Posted
Personally I am offended by turning Scorpio from melee (which I personally prefer) to ranged.

 

This annoys me to no end. too. Give her the ability to use techstaves again, please.

Posted
This annoys me to no end. too. Give her the ability to use techstaves again, please.

 

So I actually like SCORPIO ranged and ARIC Should have the option to be a sniper. There is another companion who can use his auto-canon. I don't mind him using both but I don't want to see companions using all weapons. Kira running around with a blaster is no go for me.

 

What I don't like is every ranged weapon is essentially the same visually. I don't care if they do the exact same damage each weapon should have its own visual effects and each force user should be assigned republic or imperial force abilities based on the light saber they use.

 

Story is cool and all but Companions will be used long after this expansion ends.

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