So Bioware doesn't even know how it's own game mechanics work...

[Transairion]

 

Will I need to complete currently available alert Missions to unlock future alert Missions?

As of right now, the answer to this is yes. Inside of each Alliance Companion type (Military, Underworld, etc), the Companion recruitment alerts are very much looked at like a Mission chain. Generally, you must complete one alert Mission before you will receive the next. Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it. There may be exceptions to this later on, for story reasons, but this is the general rule right now. It is worth noting that this is something the dev team is talking about, so it could change, but this is how it works right now.

 

-eric

 

 

So I'll be blunt, this response shows a total failure to understand how the Alliance system works.

 

 

Will I need to complete currently available alert Missions to unlock future alert Missions?

 

Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it.

 

 

 

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... um.... it doesn't work that way.

 

Alliance System you get an Alert, which blinks under your Alliance tab. Go through that you can head to the Alert source and talk to them. All of them have an option to Reject Mission. Do you know what it does?

 

They give you the mission you're trying to Reject. I wish I was kidding. Clicking Reject Mission gives you the exact same mission as if you agreed to help them, except your objective is now "Agree to Help X" or "Accept Y's Offer". Do you know what happens if you then Abandon that mission? You get the blinking Alert back, back to square one.

 

There are 13 (not counting Akk Dog) recruitable companions per faction right now. Of those companions, only

TWO

may be Rejected, Killed or otherwise not recruited. To get rid of the blinking Alert, you have no choice but to complete the mission for every companion that appears and recruit them. Otherwise you are stuck in an infinite loop of "Alert -> Reject Quest -> Get Given Quest to Help Who You Just Rejected -> Abandon Quest -> Alert". You literally don't get any other options. If you want to progress, or get rid of the Alert, you have to recruit the non-Star Fortress companions.

 

Even in the case of the only two Rejectable companions, circumstances can force you into not being able to Reject them either!

 

 

As was the case in Doctor Lokin for my Instant-60, kill-every-Alliance-member Agent. Agent's don't even get the OPTION to Reject Lokin, you're forced along to help him and are only allowed to be rude at most, and when you get to the end of the questline he gives you a quick "Meet you on Oddesson!" without any chance to get rid of the smuck.

 

 

My Instant 60, who I designed to get all the "ruin the Alliance" type achievements currently has a base full of recruits I all tried to Reject Quest but gave me the quest anyway. Reject Quest doesn't DO anything but give you the quest telling you to agree to help. To even get to Lokin to attempt to Reject him (I couldn't as an Agent), I had NO CHOICE but to recruit Qyzen.

 

 

 

 

Will I need to complete currently available alert Missions to unlock future alert Missions?

 

Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it.

 

 

This is flat out wrong, since 95% of companions if you want to complete the mission you HAVE to recruit them. There isn't any other choice, it's recruit them or don't advance, period. For the two that you can actually REJECT, even that isn't always true (as I've proven firsthand) depending on class.

 

 

Play your own game BW, clearly you've got no clue how stuff works right now if you think that's how Alliance functions. Currently "recruit everyone" and "recruit no-one" both end up at the same place save 2 companions!

 

 

 

 

TLDR: If you want to advance Alliance Alerts (IE get more Alerts), you have to recruit.

 

Reject Quest does nothing but give you the Quest but with an extra stage called "Agree to help X"

 

Abandon Quest gives the Alert back sending you to square one again.

 

Only two Alliance Alert quests can be completed WITHOUT recruiting the Alliance member, period. Every other one will put you in an infinite loop to help them no matter how many times you say no.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Transairion

[kjfett]

Hate to break it to you, but he is correct.

 

I took the job on Hoth and ended up having Xalek arrested.

 

I completed the mission.

 

I did not recruit Xalek.

 

The mission did complete and progress that mission chain just as he claims.

[Transairion]

Hate to break it to you, but he is correct.

 

I took the job on Hoth and ended up having Xalek arrested.

 

I completed the mission.

 

I did not recruit Xalek.

 

The mission did complete and progress that mission chain just as he claims.

 

 

Because Xalek is one of the two companions (the other being Lokin) who actually has any option to be Rejected/not recruited.

 

 

Major Pierce doesn't even have an option to Refuse Quest at any point, he just keeps yapping on until a mission pops. Everyone else you can either Refuse Quest (and get given quest anyway), or you recruit them by completing mission. That's it.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Transairion

[kjfett]

Because Xalek is one of the two companions (the other being Lokin) who actually has any option to be Rejected/not recruited.

 

 

Major Pierce doesn't even have an option to Refuse Quest at any point, he just keeps yapping on until a mission pops. Everyone else you can either Refuse Quest (and get given quest anyway), or you recruit them by completing mission. That's it.

 

So just get Pierce and finish the quest. Pierce is awesome. I've decked him out in some white Makeb Imperial trooper armor.

 

Reality is, you couldn't refuse to do story line or planet quests either and expect to progress. You had to complete them, be that successfully or unsuccessfully. I guess I would expect these to all work the same way.

[Excise]

"Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it."

 

You might be confused about what "not necessarily recruit" means. In order to progress past the alert in order to get any others that might be 'behind it', you must complete the mission (regardless of whether you take any "don't recruit" options). The mission is what gets you past--not the recruiting. That's what "not necessarily recruit" means.

 

Really feels like Eric's statement is accurate.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Excise

[Anaesha]

So just get Pierce and finish the quest. Pierce is awesome. I've decked him out in some white Makeb Imperial trooper armor.

 

Reality is, you couldn't refuse to do story line or planet quests either and expect to progress. You had to complete them, be that successfully or unsuccessfully. I guess I would expect these to all work the same way.

 

You're wasting your time trying to explain anything to him. He's one of those types who complains BW doesn't communicate enough with us and then when they do they tear apart what is said in order to complain about what ever it is in an attempt to make BW look bad and themselves look smarter.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Anaesha

[Reno_Tarshil]

Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it.

 

You might be confused about what "not necessarily recruit" means. In order to progress past the alert in order to get any others that might be 'behind it', you must complete the mission (regardless of whether you take any "don't recruit" options). The mission is what gets you past--not the recruiting. That's what "not necessarily recruit" means.

 

Really feels like Eric's statement is accurate.

 

This is correct.

[Jeweledleah]

"Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it."

 

You might be confused about what "not necessarily recruit" means. In order to progress past the alert in order to get any others that might be 'behind it', you must complete the mission (regardless of whether you take any "don't recruit" options). The mission is what gets you past--not the recruiting. That's what "not necessarily recruit" means.

 

Really feels like Eric's statement is accurate.

 

since I haven't actualy tried it myself - I need to clarify. does this mean, you will have that quest sitting in your log permanently? since it seems like you cannot finish the quest by saying "no thank you"

 

moreover.. should we not be able to just refuse companion recruitment if we so wish AND finish alert quests that way?

[Shipwright]

Wondering what this all means going forward.

 

I got Yuun and then had these other recruitment quests come up, only 1 of which I will do.

 

I only want Xalek; I am not doing any others. What will this mean for the story? Will be I stuck at and unable to do more chapters when they are released?

 

It's not a complaint. I just want to know the ramifications of ignoring crap I don't care to do. Should I even bother with Xalek? If I do not go all out, am I just stuck when it comes to future chapters?

[DarthTyranid]

since I haven't actualy tried it myself - I need to clarify. does this mean, you will have that quest sitting in your log permanently? since it seems like you cannot finish the quest by saying "no thank you"

 

moreover.. should we not be able to just refuse companion recruitment if we so wish AND finish alert quests that way?

 

No. Bioware made the choice for you to get that quest and you will get it. Cause choices matter. Particularly the ones bioware makes for us.

[Phyreblade]

Wondering what this all means going forward.

 

I got Yuun and then had these other recruitment quests come up, only 1 of which I will do.

 

I only want Xalek; I am not doing any others. What will this mean for the story? Will be I stuck at and unable to do more chapters when they are released?

 

It's not a complaint. I just want to know the ramifications of ignoring crap I don't care to do. Should I even bother with Xalek? If I do not go all out, am I just stuck when it comes to future chapters?

 

Basically, what Eric has said tends to clarify. Some of the missions will actually unlock new missions. Much as "Finding a Findsman" unlocked the alerts for Pierce, Xalek, Lokin and more. What Eric is saying, is that if you choose to not complete certain missions you may actually lose access to new missions or other opportunities sometime in the future.

[Jeweledleah]

so basically... if I'm understanding it correctly. they looked at mandatory nature of Rishi>Yavin>Ziost progression and decided that becasue everyone "loooooved" not being able to skip some of the content so much? that they will make ALL new solo content 100% unskippable (if you cannot unlock even further companions without finishing previous ones? yes, its pretty much unskippable).

I guess my alts are definitely not doing the story. because I can only handle the full thing... maybe twice. there's just not enough substantial variety for more then that.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Jeweledleah

[Transairion]

"Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it."

 

You might be confused about what "not necessarily recruit" means. In order to progress past the alert in order to get any others that might be 'behind it', you must complete the mission (regardless of whether you take any "don't recruit" options). The mission is what gets you past--not the recruiting. That's what "not necessarily recruit" means.

 

Really feels like Eric's statement is accurate.

 

 

Except for all but two Alerts, "completing the mission" IS recruiting. You don't get a choice. I can't do what most of the companions want and then not have them, or even get rid of the Quest/Alerts at all. I either recruit them, or have a bunch of mission/Alerts pending.

 

- Finish Yuun's quest and he gets recruited

- Finish Nico's quest and he get recruited

- Finish Qyzen's quest and he gets recruited

- Finish Talos's quest and he gets recruited

- Finish 4X/Peirce's quest and they get recruited

- Finish all the Star Fortress companions's quests and they are recruited

 

- The back half of Xalek's quest allows you a choice

- The Dark Side option of Lokin's quest as a non-Agent character gives you a choice. Light Side players and Agents don't get those choices, Lokin simply gets recruited when you're done

 

That's a whole lot of companions that are just "auto-recruited" as soon as you finish their quest. 2/11 quests offering a choice (at any point) doesn't really work if you want to claim "you only need to finish the mission". For almost all of them finishing the mission = recruitment. Refusing the Mission puts you in an infinite loop.

 

 

This isn't exactly complicated. There's no reason why Refuse Quest should give you the quest anyway, nor why Abandoning the Quest should make the Alert button flash again. Only new Alerts should flash. At the moment the only way to get RID of flashing Alerts is to finish/start all of them.

 

 

Go try it ingame for yourselves. Refuse a quest, only to get given it anyway. Abandon that quest just to get its flashing Alert back.

 

Heck I wonder what happens if you try and recruit Xalek on a Sorcerer, I'm sure they get an option to Reject him, but Agents can't do that with Lokin it's just auto-accept them back. Where's the choice again?

Edited November 12, 2015 by Transairion

[Hebruixe]

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah... um.... it doesn't work that way.

 

You might want to check your facts before making a fool of yourself.

[Rafaman]

"Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it."

 

You might be confused about what "not necessarily recruit" means. In order to progress past the alert in order to get any others that might be 'behind it', you must complete the mission (regardless of whether you take any "don't recruit" options). The mission is what gets you past--not the recruiting. That's what "not necessarily recruit" means.

 

Really feels like Eric's statement is accurate.

 

^^A simple concept. I really didn't think it needed explanation. lol.

 

Nice job OP. Lol!

[JouerTue]

choice matters lol

[Dras_Keto]

I get the feeling that some of you are missing the OP's point (although, I dont think hes expressing it particularly clearly).

 

The big issue behind Musco's statement are the threads/posts from people who are worried about being unable to progress in the alliance system (and the 'storyline') if they are unable/unwilling to do things like PvP or they simply do not want to recruit certain companions.

 

Musco said, "Generally, you must complete one alert Mission before you will receive the next. Note that you only need to complete the Mission itself, not necessarily recruit any Companion associated with it." The problem here is that, except for the cases of Xalek and Lokin, the only possible way to complete the mission, and, here is the important part, unlock further alerts in the system allowing you to progress is to recruit the companion. Evidently Agents are forced to accept Lokin regardless, and Id imagine that Inquisitors are similarly pigeon-holed into taking Xalek back.

 

The problem here is, the mission is, most of the time, recruiting the companion. And, unless you do whatever it is that needs to be done to recruit that companion you will NEVER be able to do anything that comes after. IE, either you pvp to get Pierce/M1-4X or you will never, ever be able to do any missions that have that alert flagged as a requirement.

 

So, while Musco's statement is technically correct, its very misleading in spirit.

 

He should have said something more along the lines of "Generally, you must complete one alert Mission before you will receive the next. Note that, the majority of the time we are not going to give you any choice in whether or not to recruit the companion associated with the alert. Either you complete the mission by recruiting that companion into your alliance or you will be stuck and unable to progress in your own personal, choice-driven star wars saga where everything you do has an impact on the story"

 

But then, Im sure you see the problem with saying that....

[Transairion]

^^A simple concept. I really didn't think it needed explanation. lol.

 

Nice job OP. Lol!

 

Completely missed the point.

 

It's silly to say "you only need to complete the mission, not recruit the companion!" when for 9 of 11 companions right now, completing the mission recruits them. It's outright kind of insulting to pretend we get a choice. Only 2 of them allow a choice, and in Lokin's case, it's an extremely specific option to DS Non-Agents.

 

 

The only Refuse Quest keeps spewing the Quest back at me is because people are dumb and think Refuse Quest doesn't mean Refuse Quest. So they need an undo-my-stupid button. Or in this case, the quest is impossible to not get if you accept the Alert. Abandon it and you get the alert.

 

 

How is this hard to understand? The penalty for not recruiting a companion should be you don't get the companion, not you're stuck with no way to advance and have a long list of missions/Alerts you can't get rid of.

 

 

 

So, while Musco's statement is technically correct, its very misleading in spirit.

 

He should have said something more along the lines of "Generally, you must complete one alert Mission before you will receive the next. Note that, the majority of the time we are not going to give you any choice in whether or not to recruit the companion associated with the alert. Either you complete the mission by recruiting that companion into your alliance or you will be stuck and unable to progress in your own personal, choice-driven star wars saga where everything you do has an impact on the story"

 

But then, Im sure you see the problem with saying that....

 

 

More or less.

 

Eric's response to the issue that was asked was basically nonsense. Don't act like we get the option to not recruit, when to achieve certain things (IE to Reject Lokin you have to recruit!) you're outright forced to recruit. And the game is shoving recruitment so hard down my throat I had about 5 quests at once I'd all hit Refuse on, and they all told me to go accept the Alerts offer.

 

 

I made an instant 60 to refuse every Alliance Alert Quest/companion. They currently have recruited everyone except Peirce, who I haven't PvPed for, and Xalek

who died.

, simply because Refuse Quest achieved nothing and there was no way to get rid of them. This character therefore feels totally pointless for it's entire purpose.

 

Lokin, who I actively tried my hardest to Reject, didn't even give me an option because I'm an Agent

 

I have now to have grind subsequent characters through KOTFE just to fulfill every little niche requirement for Reject achievements now, and in future, cause BW didn't bother to give me a choice in their choice-professed expansion.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Transairion

[Tolunart]

Marketing guy uses marketing speak! Shocking, truly shocking.

[Shipwright]

Basically, what Eric has said tends to clarify. Some of the missions will actually unlock new missions. Much as "Finding a Findsman" unlocked the alerts for Pierce, Xalek, Lokin and more. What Eric is saying, is that if you choose to not complete certain missions you may actually lose access to new missions or other opportunities sometime in the future.

 

It still leaves the the question of actual story progression though.

 

I understand what you are saying. And that much is clear from what Eric said, and even from the design of the missions ( in which later companions are clearly gated behind doing the missions for earlier ones). But that is not what I am wondering about.

 

Say one only does the mission connected with Yuun, for example. What does that mean for future chapters? Will your alliance somehow not be "not strong enough" to continue the future chapters? Not having done the missions to recruit, will you be unable to progress the story? This is what I am getting at.

 

Can these recruitment missions be considered side quests, or will they be required in order to continue the actual chapters that will come in the future?

 

While I feel it would a be poor design choice, they could very well do this (I already feel some poor decisions were made). If so, OK, I am not complaining..But I just would like to know.

[Max_Killjoy]

OP - you make a very valid point.

 

Shame that several of the usual suspects have shown up to half-read your post and then forum-grief you for their lolz.

[Excise]

Except for all but two Alerts, "completing the mission" IS recruiting. You don't get a choice. I can't do what most of the companions want and then not have them, or even get rid of the Quest/Alerts at all. I either recruit them, or have a bunch of mission/Alerts pending.

 

You might not realize what "not necessarily" means. It means that you may or may not have the option to deny recruitment, which is exactly how it is and exactly how Eric described it.

 

His statement has nothing to do with saying that all mission completions include a "reject companion" option.

 

Now, you could argue that all companions should have a "reject companion" option, but again that has nothing to do with Eric's comment.

[Jumajin]

so basically... if I'm understanding it correctly. they looked at mandatory nature of Rishi>Yavin>Ziost progression and decided that becasue everyone "loooooved" not being able to skip some of the content so much? that they will make ALL new solo content 100% unskippable (if you cannot unlock even further companions without finishing previous ones? yes, its pretty much unskippable).

I guess my alts are definitely not doing the story. because I can only handle the full thing... maybe twice. there's just not enough substantial variety for more then that.

 

Yeah, no kidding.

 

It still leaves the the question of actual story progression though.

 

I understand what you are saying. And that much is clear from what Eric said, and even from the design of the missions ( in which later companions are clearly gated behind doing the missions for earlier ones). But that is not what I am wondering about.

 

Say one only does the mission connected with Yuun, for example. What does that mean for future chapters? Will your alliance somehow not be "not strong enough" to continue the future chapters? Not having done the missions to recruit, will you be unable to progress the story? This is what I am getting at.

 

Can these recruitment missions be considered side quests, or will they be required in order to continue the actual chapters that will come in the future?

 

While I feel it would a be poor design choice, they could very well do this (I already feel some poor decisions were made). If so, OK, I am not complaining..But I just would like to know.

 

Exactly, and it's fascinating that depite that type of question being asked in various threads since the expansion launched, BioWare has yet to say a damned thing in way of a solid response. So, I've stopped subbing as a result. I fiind the Alliance recruitment tedious and boring. I'm not a fan of doing it, never mind doing it across multiple characters. And until I know from BioWare what impact (if any) not doing it will have on future story chapters, there's no sense in playing right now. Because if not doing it has no impact, then why bother. If not doing it does have some sort of impact, or even a chapter progression gate until you do, then this is not the expansion or game direction for me.

 

I thought Garrisons in WoW were boring, but this companion recruitment, never mind the supply crate grind to raise influence with your four base officers, takes the cake.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Jumajin

[MaximusRex]

Because Xalek is one of the two companions (the other being Lokin) who actually has any option to be Rejected/not recruited.

 

 

Major Pierce doesn't even have an option to Refuse Quest at any point, he just keeps yapping on until a mission pops. Everyone else you can either Refuse Quest (and get given quest anyway), or you recruit them by completing mission. That's it.

 

Major Peirce is a Mission Lana gives you, not one of the 4 section heads, so Eric's post is still correct in how it describes how his recruitment works.

[Jadescythe]

I don't find there to be anything misleading in Musco's statement. He is simply assuring players that NOT recruiting a companion, but completing the mission will still open up the next recruit option. I agree with others that there should be an option to not recruit every companion, otherwise we really aren't choosing who to bring into our alliance. Whether that option be refusing the quest at the start or refusing the companion after helping them is up to BW.