Companion Changes in 4.0.2

[DurdensWrath]

Whilst the achievement might be nearly impossible that heroic isn't as people are doing it, time consuming yes, impossible no.

 

Just because you could cruise for the toughest solo content in the game before doesn't mean you should always be able to do so.

 

IT IS SOLO CONTENT. Jesus. You people and your e-***** measuring.

 

What is the point of having level 65 quests on "old world" planets if you can steam roll them? Answer none. I think, the more I look at it, that people are having an issue with BW's design for the entire expac and I can appreciate this.

Not 65 quests. Jesus H. Christ. The regular heroics. They're a right pain in the *** now. Not even worth doing anymore.

 

Thing is that they wanted this grind and the fact that the companions eliminated the degree of grind they were looking for, from their perspective, was broken and not WAI.

And their playerbase is telling them, they're wrong. Edited November 18, 2015 by DurdensWrath

[silvershadows]

^^ Now this is an informative post on the state of affairs and rather neutral too.

 

Now correct me if I'm wrong but that's the heroic SF right? Not the Solo SF which is desigined for ... well solo players.

 

Seems to me they've fixed an issue but maybe got a bit too far in that the achievement will be nigh on impossible now as it stands.

 

See most players can still do the solo mode no worries, those that want a challenge and a grind can do the heroic OR they can group up.

 

BW biggest mistake was releasing OP companions in the first place because they've now given too many players a sense of entitlement.

 

Seems more people are annoyed at the removal of easy pay days and rewards then any true sense of lack of content.

 

No solo content has been removed, period.

 

Yes, it was the Heroic Star Fortress. Belsavis, to be precise - I was hoping to finish up my Belsavis paladin achievement. Of course both paladins that spawned weren't the ones I needed, go figure.

 

I have a HM S&V in 15 minutes, but later on I'll go back through and see how I do without using the meta-computer, as if I was trying to get the achievement, even though I already had it. I expect there will be a few deaths and a lot of waiting for Heroic moment I'll report back with my findings probably in 5-6 hours, lol.

[Jahor]

The other thing is, and I think this may be the core of the problem, people think all of them should be soloable regardless of your gear. Think about it for a moment. These games are designed around gear progression, for good or ill, what is the point of gear progression however IF you can right out of the gate, regardless of gear, solo all the heroics? There is no point. So yes some players will have an issue atm but the issue may be because, due to OP companions they could accomplish tasks while technically undergeared. Now with the adjustments they need the gear BUT after 3-4 week of NOT needing it all they see is that they have difficulty.

You talk about "progression"?

 

Normal way judging from gear-level would be:

208: FP sm / H2 Starbase

216: FP hc / OP sm

220: OP hc

224: OP nm

 

BUT it is damn stupid to run FP HC as some OP HC are MUCH easier becouse of terrible up-/down-scaling. OPs are made for endgame (max level), FPs are not. And (as expected) BioWare failed to balance the formaly low-level FPs. Means everything in there is horrible over-pushed now!

 

TL;TR : prograssion IS allready broken as you do FP sm > OP sm > OP hc > FP hc (but only for fun, NOT TO PROGRESS)!!!

[Noyjitat]

Hey folks,

 

 

So with 4.0.2 we have brought their effectiveness down quite a bit, let’s talk about some of the specifics here:

• There isn’t a flat % that healing was reduced by. Effectiveness reduction varies greatly depending on level, Influence, level sync, etc. That being said, the healer companions are still quite competitive, but they no longer trivialize content that was meant to be challenging.
  
• Healing power increase by Influence level has been increased. That means that as you scale up Influence levels with a Companion they will get more powerful per level than before. This helps to offset the base healing reduction a bit as you gain influence with your companion.
  

 

Will your Companions feel a bit weaker than they did when KotFE launched? Yes. But believe me they will still carry their weight and fill the role you need them to in combat. All that we ask is that you log in tomorrow, and check the changes yourself. Play around with the Companions in each role and let us know your feedback. Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

Eric it really looks like to me that you did infact do a flat % nerf. Healing was reduced by 50% on one skill, and 75% on another while the remaining healing skill was slightly boosted. Damage on damage role companion was reduced by nearly 50% and it's so obvious by the fact that it now takes me 3 times as long to complete a star fortress. My feedback for that is below:

 

Heroic star fortresses

 

For this feedback I will be playing as a level 65 sith immortal tank with a mixture of 208/216/220 gear with augements, rank 16 specialist buffs (but not using the specialist crates temporary abilities and all datacrons) I will not be using a healing companion for the first phase because as a tank it takes too long to kill even a standard npc let alone a strong or elite on these. Keep in mind once again that my Jaessa is level 50 influence.

 

Again, using a damage companion for the first part of the star fortress as I typically only needed healing during exarch fight. My cooldowns and mixture of 208/217/220 gear would suffice before. Because of the damage nerfs to Jaessa it now takes me 3 times as long just to get to the exarch fight using her damage role while playing a tank.

Yes that's right you read that correctly, 3 times as long. A flash point should not take the length of a Operation to complete in any universe or time in history.

Noting that I probably wouldn't be able to even get this far on a damage character with a damage companion.

 

During trash fights

 

notes:

'Damage' Jaessas damage was nearly cut in half (don't have exact numbers because i didn't write them down but it was 8000 primary melee damage for her before and now its 4700 - 5100

 

'Damage' Jaessa actually struggles killing two standard npcs in a reasonable amount of time and results in losing 1/3 of her health - simply unacceptable

 

'Damage' Jaessa can no longer bring a knight (elite) below 1/4 health before death is imminent (me taunting other mobs away. - I feel it's worth pointing out that the developers say that a companion counts as a player and so they should be able to do what a player can. WEll I can certainly kill a single elite by myself and she can't even get it down 1/4 health and while im a tank and have more defense she has 3 times my damage.

 

Praetorian / Paladin fights

'Damage' Jaessa spec comes close to death on these boss fights on heroic star fortress with me playing as a tank. Most likely because of her damage being nerfed and it taking too long to kill champions. I also have to pop my defensive cooldowns more. I'm not completely sure she would of survive if I was melee dps instead.

 

After a long fight ended I changed jaessa to heal when i dropped down to 30% health so she could heal me and ended up using my out of combat regen power instead after finding I could heal myself way faster than jaessa can heal me. As a result of the nerfs. Which frankly is beyond stupid as it never was like this before.

 

 

The exarch terminal phase

I can do the exarch terminals phase with damage companion while I tank but i have to use cool downs and i have some really close to death moments (yes im dodging and running out of damage circles)

 

 

The exarch boss fight phase

 

-using a damage jaessa and me as a tank-

Almost killed Alderan exarch with 'damage' Jaessa but I died with exarch at 24%. I didn't use the specialists rank 10 crate items because most players won't have those but i did use a medpack and all of my cooldowns. I did not pop heroic moment. This tells me i probably wouldn't come close to killing the voss exarch that has regen powers before he killed me or the companion. Especially with companions not being smart enough to run out of damage circles

 

-using a healing jaessa and me as a tank (this is what i normally always do)

Jaessa comes close to death few times during the fight trying to keep me healed and herself alive but ultimately dies and I finally kill the exarch with 40% health remaining and a dead companion. This tells me that she would be next to useless on hardmode flashpoints if the group lacked a healing player. She would ultimately die from random group damage while healing other players. In the end I don't think a damage player using a healing companion is going to make it throught this fight as easily (keep in mind she is a level 50 influence healing companion

 

Sorry but this flat 50% - 75% heal and 50% damage nerf is **** and im not going to stay around if this doesn't change. Keep in mind that my companion is 50 influence which means she shouldd be way better than this and I spent countless credits, crystals, cartel coins (for hypercrates with companion gifts and things to sell for credits to get companion gifts) I could of accepted 20% maybe even 25- 30% damage / heal nerf but 50%/75% is insane and unreasonable.

 

I won't be running anymore star fortresses without a friend and that means not very often since they don't get to play but once or twice a week when im lucky. Which means I basically won't be running star fortresses at all and will probably be unsubscribing at this point. I feel I also need to add that I haven't felt the need to unsubscribe a game in years due to a nerf. You've really made a bad impression on me for the first time.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Noyjitat

[Elceleth]

Tested the changes.

 

Congratulations.

 

Now they are useless again.

 

Thank you.

[Neoforcer]

Whilst the achievement might be nearly impossible that heroic isn't as people are doing it, time consuming yes, impossible no.

 

Just because you could cruise for the toughest solo content in the game before doesn't mean you should always be able to do so.

 

There all using heroic moments to do so with legacy to kill the bosses while this works for founders new or returning players that don't have heroic moments die. Eric and Bioware said any one should be able to solo it and let them know and they will work to buff things

[Ghisallo]

There all using heroic moments to do so with legacy to kill the bosses while this works for founders new or returning players that don't have heroic moments die. Eric and Bioware said any one should be able to solo it and let them know and they will work to buff things

 

 

Only founders get heroic moments? I am not a founder... weird. That said you do not NEED a heroic moment... Just finished a second SF and purposefully took it off my Hotbar to see. You just need the right level of gear... a companion with more than single digit affection and push the right buttons.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Ghisallo

[silvershadows]

Only founders get heroic moments? I am not a founder... weird. That said you do not NEED a heroic moment... Just finished a second SF and purposefully took it off my Hotbar to see. You just need the right level of gear... a companion with more than single digit affection and push the right buttons.

 

Everyone gets heroic moment.

 

The abilities you can use during heroic moment are granted for completing the class storyline for every respective class. I've had all 8 for a good long while (read: since they came out). They aren't hard to get, just time consuming - but much less so than they used to be, considering how quickly you can level now.

Edited November 18, 2015 by silvershadows

[Jahor]

No matter what some fanboys try to say

 

Tank Compenions can NOT tank anymore without full time heal backup!

Heal Compenions can NOT heal anymore as a standart heal-pot does the work much better done!

DPS Compenions can NOT DPS anymore as even an heal spec Agent does 10times the DPS!

 

They aren't much more then the pasive PETs now! From time to time they move their arms ... but without a noteble effect!!!

[Astaldoath]

ill give you my feed back now, companions suck *** after this patch, you guys are really trying to kill this game arent you, first with crafting, now with companions, and level sync, you guys arent gonna be around much longer

[Noyjitat]

Have you ever been angry to the point that you're not angry? Like it's so annoying and unbelievable that you feel like you're just in a bad dream? Yeah that's how im feeling after running through that star fortress.

 

Now im going to go see if I can still solo devastator monoliths.

[Kingsbount]

Will your Companions feel a bit weaker than they did when KotFE launched? Yes. But believe me they will still carry their weight and fill the role you need them to in combat. All that we ask is that you log in tomorrow, and check the changes yourself. Play around with the Companions in each role and let us know your feedback. Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

"A bit weaker", Eric?

A BIT????

 

Are you kidding?

 

Did you even tested by YOURSELF, Eric?

 

You want a feedback, Eric?

Ill give you some.

 

My companion heals me for 3k. With her "strong" healing power. While im having 80+k health.

 

I think this feedback should be enough to describe the whole situation.

 

You, Bioware, are screwed things up. Again.

/slowclap

[Deathsightofhell]

Tested the changes.

 

Congratulations.

 

Now they are useless again.

 

Thank you.

 

Welcome to what majority the player are saying while other elitest are trying say it fine, heck making new character is a dead weight comps now, those level 60 token? no problem just watch ur break out murder you at the start of FE with no aff on lana :L so smart of BW to do these things

[parchedgoose]

been reading quite a bit on this both before and after the nerf.....this is a game, its supposed to be fun and entertaining....not tedious and overwhelming....before this last patch it was fun actually even with the level synch...now its just tedious again....for some reason they just don't understand how to balance....this same thing happened with the slot machine...over the top to begin with and nerfed to uselessness in the end...and to be honest,,,going through KOTFE again and again with useless comps on my alts no longer holds any interest and seriously you destroyed Treek as a comp ....was doing the Gravestone chapter with Kothe and he keeps getting killed time and time again...now useless and boring. thanks for all the fish BW fortunately there is FO4 and the new Battlefront for fun and entertainment now.

[Anaesha]

Have you ever been angry to the point that you're not angry? Like it's so annoying and unbelievable that you feel like you're just in a bad dream? Yeah that's how im feeling after running through that star fortress.

 

Now im going to go see if I can still solo devastator monoliths.

 

yeah it's called reaching the point of Apathy.

[Ghisallo]

Everyone gets heroic moment.

 

The abilities you can use during heroic moment are granted for completing the class storyline for every respective class. I've had all 8 for a good long while (read: since they came out). They aren't hard to get, just time consuming - but much less so than they used to be, considering how quickly you can level now.

 

I know I was being sarcastic because of the comment made by the person I was responding too. Exaggeration gets on my nerves.

[LordArtemis]

If you could solo the content in the past, solo it after 4.0, you should be able to solo it after 4.0.2. If a player can not solo content they have soloed since launch, Bioware is definitely doing something wrong, period.

 

IMO there are no buts about it. That is a done deal....anything less is asking too much.

 

A few games have made the mistake of going back in time, Blizzard being one of them. In most...not all (Eve is a good example of a success) of the game where this was done it had a negative to catastrophic effect. Ubisoft publically admitted that this move (rolling back certain difficulty changes for F2P) was one of the things that killed the Shadowbane reboot. Probably one of the most well known deaths from disappointing players with easy/hard movements.

 

However, I am not sure this is one of those times....this could be a knee jerk reaction due to just HOW easy it was before, and that might balance out a bit...the changes, IMO, are not THAT bad.

 

Well, healing is a bit bad, but even there its not abysmal IMO.

 

The state of companions now would have likely been acceptable if launched this way. It is the CSM all over again, but unlike the CSM this is a CORE GAME MECHANIC, and therefore cannot be changed and then ignored.

 

I suggest VERY STRONGLY that they need to make some adjustments.

Edited November 18, 2015 by LordArtemis

[Xhelis]

Not trying to poke the bear but it appears that the info that was out prior to the patch regarding how much the healing was reduced turned out to be completely 100% accurate. If anything it actually plays worse than it sounded when you read it. I know Eric was wanting to keep the fires from burning out of control, but the datamined info was correct.

[Nommaz]

I really think people have to stop and think... what did your companion, pre-4.0 do before you got it really well geared? Stop comparing it to the first 4.0 version... compare it to the pre-4.0 version. Then look at the companion performance as it geared. Not apply that progression from gear to affection. THEN decide how off it is.

 

You can not compare it to pre 4.0 when we could GEAR our companions, and for that matter Treek was good.

You can ONLY compare it to 4.0 as that's when they changed for good.

Can you do them? yes, does it take longer? Yes

Is it fun to GRIND OLD content rewrapped? NO hell no!

 

What is the point of levelling and gearing if you do not at some point become far more powerful than the content?

The issue is two fold, first they take away our gained power (levels) against low mobs, and then nerf companions that are supposed to be as good as a player to levels they are not as good as my dog rolling across the keyboard (bit of an exaggeration) but you get the point.

They nerfed them way to much.

 

The whole concept of level sync should be OPTIONAL, we should not be forced into low level old content at the level we were going through it to obtain current content rewards.

 

Still on the fence about my sub, but the more I think about this the angrier get.

I didn't spend hours and days levelling for it all to be wasted on lazy game design.

[Ghisallo]

No matter what some fanboys try to say

 

Tank Compenions can NOT tank anymore without full time heal backup!

Heal Compenions can NOT heal anymore as a standart heal-pot does the work much better done!

DPS Compenions can NOT DPS anymore as even an heal spec Agent does 10times the DPS!

 

They aren't much more then the pasive PETs now! From time to time they move their arms ... but without a noteble effect!!!

 

Your comment regarding healing is an out right bold faced lie. I will not comment on the others because I don't use tank or dps companions. If it was not a lie there is NO WAY as a JK I would have been able to finish a Heroic SF solo.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Ghisallo

[Ecad_Mistflier]

Well this latest companion "adjustment" is a deal breaker for me. I was very happy and excited with the changes to companions before this last patch. The companions are pretty much useless for me. Congratulations. I don't pvp. I don't like to group and I liked to run solo and craft. That's all I had time for or interest. That appears to be a non starter now. Thanks a lot.

[LordArtemis]

You comment regarding healing is an out right bold faced lie. I will not comment on the others because I don't use tank or dps companions.

 

Rocks in glass houses Ghisallo....be careful.

[Ghisallo]

Rocks in glass houses Ghisallo....be careful.

 

I have not lied about anything... and if need be I can supply links to parses to prove what I have done. So no worries about that. Trust me, in my occupation I am required, by law in fact, to be able to produce evidence for any and all claims I make and so, after almost 20 years doing it, I am kinda programmed. That is why I will drive my wife nuts saying nothing or "no opinion" during conversations because I don't have enough facts to back it up.

 

I will admit that it is certainly more of a challenge. I had some MAJOR close calls that I did not have before. But an affection 18 Lana managed to keep me alive and even do some dps on her own, even had a few fights that were over healed (but admitedly in the SF the "BIG" fights were lucky to have 10% overheals.)

Edited November 18, 2015 by Ghisallo

[Gorrdan]

I have not lied about anything... .

 

Fell off my chair laughing. lol

[Psicotic]

Only thing i need to say to recent nerf companions is i just cancel mu subscription a few mins ago.... way to go BW