Companion Changes in 4.0.2

[The_Wulff]

Early heroics and content is easy, you didn't really need to rely so much on your companion. Granted people still wiped, especially the new of the new who have zero datacon buffs, etc.

 

It's the later content that hits hard. Belsavis + When it comes to Heroics are a pain. Don't even get me started on Star Fortress. Nothing like watching a level 38 approval companion's health plummet in SOLO mode as a tank. It's like they had zero armour and refused my heals due to germs. Thankfully, haven't died yet. Pulled them from the brink of death. Those Zakuul juggernauts don't mess around for no one.

 

I'll jump on one of my chapter 3 toons and see what it looks like but based on the numbers the toons stats are still higher than pre fallen empire.

 

Maybe the 4s on higher planets weren't decreased in difficulty as much as the 4s on lower planets in the conversion to 2s.

[anesvik]

Absolutely! It certainly may be a bit more challenging than before but you can complete them. The intent is that you can complete any [Heroic 2] with your Companion counting as one of the two. If you find this isn't true for any Heroics tomorrow, let us know.

 

-eric

 

I am hoping this is the case. I never bothered with heroics before. Normally, I would just do my class missions, run Flashpoints and maybe a gsf match or two while I level up. I have not got a chance to log in since changes where made, but I hope they were not hit with the same nerf bat that you guys used on seeker droids. Because frankly, I liked having something awesome and as powerful as the companions were. While doing solo play, it made things far less stressful ( not that a game is too stressful to begin with but whatever) and it allowed me to become interested in the story again. I wasnt worried about "Will I be geared enough for this planet? Will I need to waste some comms super powering my companion with purple gear so I can progress? Or will I need to group up with someone that will just slow me down?"

I am hoping the changes were not too drastic. But on another note, I noticed that you guys "fixed" the weird foggy issue. I always though those areas looked like that, will be nice to see those changes.

[ScarletBlaze]

I call lying on you. There is no way you did that unless you are cheating with some kind of third party program.

If you said you did it with an Influence 50 companion I would have believed you.

 

But doing a heroic 2+ needs you to have 216 gear, influence 23 companion and use of all your 3 minute long Defensive cooldowns and heroics in the fight just to grind slowly through it.

 

The powerful companions were needed with level synch and heroic 2+ becoming the new replacement for SINGLE PLAYER DAILIES.

 

Depends on what heroic you are talking about. My best friend soloed the heroic 2 in black hole with her dps companions with only one time the companion dying as she didn't pay attention to what her companion was doing. Her companion is influence 21 and she is a medic. She said it took a few extra minutes but that that bad. She has a mixture of gear of 208/216 right now. She never used her heroic moment in the black hole heroic.

[well]

Depends on what heroic you are talking about. My best friend soloed the heroic 2 in black hole with her dps companions with only one time the companion dying as she didn't pay attention to what her companion was doing. Her companion is influence 21 and she is a medic. She said it took a few extra minutes but that that bad. She has a mixture of gear of 208/216 right now. She never used her heroic moment in the black hole heroic.

 

That is true. It really depends on the HR.

[Blurch]

Ok that's it I'm done with EA/Bioware called corporate office 780-430-0164 press 5 for front desk (real live person) told me to visit the EA help desk and have them contact you no telephone number or anything. Go to EA web sight and can't find it or anything. Told them the sight was broken because I asked it questions about this messed up game and gave me answers to games I've never heard of or own. She didn't care because its not her problem but EAs. SO F/U again EA/Bioware!!!!!!! Good luck all hope they loose there shirts on this and everyone unsubscribes.

[Pookan]

http://oi67.tinypic.com/207oo6x.jpg

 

I bet you tell me that I photoshopped this.

Not completely augmented PVP gear (2018 expertise) with rank 22 companion healer, just about hour ago. Whole run took me about 35 minutes. I just did this to test myself. I really dislike repeateble PVE (never did an operation).

 

Not sure if trolling or trolling. You cant say "hahaha i did it as tank you stupid noobs learn to play haha". Because tanks you know have million DEFENSIVE COOLDOWNS, great DAMAGE REDUCTION and DEFENSE.

I am so mad at people who says "i did it as tank/healer/best DPS class in game = nerf is okay, blah blah i dont care about other classes".

 

NERF IS NOT OKAY. And most of dps sorcerers, operatives and snipers will agree.

[Master-Nala]

Or maybe he is a lying troll like you are.

 

Why would someone lie about being able to solo this? If a person is unable to solo these FPs, then they hurt themselves by claiming that everything is alright with the companions.

 

Is it really so hard for you to accept that some people are better players than you? That they can do things with their characters that seem impossible for you.

[Spurr]

REVERT the change. If you expect us to mindlessly grind heroics over and over for specialist rep, companion rep, crystals to buy more rep items, unlock Star Fortress companions, etc., it better be faceroll easy and fast. You will lose subs over this. I've played the game since release, and this is just about the final straw. If it were any other franchise than SW, I would've uninstalled long ago.

[freeoftime]

I got a chance to play a neglected toon for the first time since 4.0 yesterday. I quit playing solo toons when the godpanions hit the game. With a group of real players you had some control of the difficulty just by the way you geared, with a companion you had no way to soften them up to let you get a few hits in. Mind you I only have 5 small presence datacrons open on my legacy and as soon as I saw how much stronger advancing companion stories was going to make all of my companions I stopped talking to them so only 4 had rank 10.

 

As what I figured was a fair test I took my toon who had just gotten off Koriban at lvl.14 directly to the heroic area for "Friends of Old".

I found:

Tank stance to be a bit softer but not squishy and could keep crowds attention

DPS output was still a bit high for my liking but in line with what a well geared real player would do at that level

Healing was what it is supposed to be. If I didn't "Leroy Jenkins" multiple mobs I was kept healed.

 

I don't know when people got the idea that playing a game should be an effortless diversion. From 4.0 to 4.0.1a SWTOR was a choose your own adventure book that you didn't even have to read, just make the choices. I want to thank you for this patch that once again makes SWTOR a game to be played.

 

You realize that you had full control of your companion? There was always the option to dismiss them, turn them passive, or turn certain abilities you decided were OP off if you like grinds that much. That's a far cry from having no control over the difficulty Conversely, it's pretty much impossible now to make the grind less irritating, which is just *awesome*. ("[insert "then group!" here]" alas, I would, if that didn't manage to be even more annoying than grinding through it on my own. My experience must be a real outlier because about 90% of the time I've grouped for comtent we ended up even slower than if I'd just knocked it out on my own because something always, *always* happens.)

 

 

Blegh. As far as checking companion effectiveness out for myself, did the same Heroic (Botched Interrogation) again on my level 60 Vengeance Juggernaut. Not as nice as on my Lightning Sorc -- which I expected, Sorc being my fave and most played class and all -- but not as painful as on the lowbie Jugg. Still more grindy than I care for it to be and the heals were still so pathetic as to be useless.

[Jadescythe]

Not sure if trolling or trolling. You cant say "hahaha i did it as tank you stupid noobs learn to play haha". Because tanks you know have million DEFENSIVE COOLDOWNS, great DAMAGE REDUCTION and DEFENSE.

I am so mad at people who says "i did it as tank/healer/best DPS class in game = nerf is okay, blah blah i dont care about other classes".

 

NERF IS NOT OKAY. And most of dps sorcerers, operatives and snipers will agree.

 

Just gonna throw it out there, Sniper is one of the best DPS classes in the game. It has the 2nd or 3rd highest parsing Discipline of all ACs. You have 100% defense chance for 3 seconds on Evasion to avoid big damage spikes, your shield to not only increase defense, but also increase healing received, and the giant bubble to help with sustained damage reduction. Not to mention passive defensive stats from being in cover as well as damage reduction on Entrench.

 

Sorc DPS isn't the best, but you should have good enough survivability with the right utilities for soloing content. Constant heal on your two bubbles, 25% DR on Cloud Mind, and you can pretty much non-stop kite with few casted abilities. The class isn't designed to take a beating because it's designed to be able to avoid taking a majority of the damage.

 

I don't DPS with my Operative, so I can't offer much, but I know their self heals with the HoT are very good. They have many of the same defensives that Snipers have with additional rolls. I'd suggest the DoT spec of Concealment as you won't be able to attack from behind often without a tank and your CCs won't work on champions.

 

With both Sorc and Operative you may be better off with a tank companion and using your off heals to keep them alive longer.

[RealKraschman]

I can confirm - Paladin Knight in H2 Star Fortress just destroying my Sorcerer. 216 gear, companion rank 36. Used self healing, used barriers, used grenade from alliance chest, used heroic moment

I tried both Lightning and Madness, and i tried both tanking and healing companion. AND ITS NOT EVEN FINAL BOSS, JUST A PALADIN.

 

75% nerf too strong, #BUFFCOMPANIONS Bioware. Or we riot

 

^ this

 

I've found the champions themselves highly challenging post 4.0.2 but manageable.

 

Those Knights of Zakuul are something else. Mislabeled champions or worse.

 

ANY class with remotely appropriate gear with a level 20+ companion should be able to beat a single Knight without getting stomped 95% of the time or more. That's no longer the case.

 

SOME still are. But many cannot.

 

My Shadow managed to kill one... once... and had to use Heroic Moment. And still ended the fight with maybe 20% health at most and a dead companion. 1 gold mob by themselves should not do this. A champion sure, but not a gold.

 

The Data Center fight with 2 Knights and their friends.... no way. If one stomps the player more often than not, 2 + friends is a fast wipe for sure.

Edited November 18, 2015 by RealKraschman

[Katahn]

My Sith Assassin (tank) in mostly 190 gear (few 208/216 pieces - ear/implants mostly) can solo the heroics on Hoth quite easily with no appreciable difference with Xalek healing.

 

Full disclosure: Legendary player with all vanilla companion stories completed for additional presence boost. Played a human to max level for the presence boost. Have datacrons from: Korriban, Hutta, Tython, Ord Mantel, Coruscant, Dromund Kaas, Balmorra (Imperial). Have a smattering of datacrons from other worlds. Baseline presence is in the 6-700 range iirc. Xalek is influence level 24/25ish.

 

I haven't tried a heroic Star Fortress yet with this character so I can't really say how that will work.

 

For companion tanks they are not bugged from level 1-64, so when synched down to do daily heroics your tanks do have armor/shield/absorb working for them. My Sith Sorcerer (healer) has no issue with his Khem Val's tanking (Khem currently at influence level 6 or 7 on my lowbie sorcerer).

[Master-Nala]

NERF IS NOT OKAY. And most of dps sorcerers, operatives and snipers will agree.

 

I did the Alderaan H2 Star Fortress last night on my Balance Sage (mirror to Madness Sorcerer) in T2 PvP gear and a 36 Influence M1-4X. And while I don't know about most, I don't agree. The nerf seems fine to me.

[DirtyDiggler]

REVERT the change, in the meantime I will stay un-subbed

[BenKatarn]

The amount of nerfing is way too high. It seems ridiculously imbalanced and untested. This change should be reverted ASAP and tested much more thoroughly internally. It feels more like companions were nerfed by 75% than being nerfed to 75% of what they were before 4.0.2. If companion heals are a mere 1% of a player's lifepoints, there simply is no point to having a companion at all. They are worse now than companions where in 3.2 when they still their own stats.

 

Seriously, PLEASE Bioware, revert them back to what they were until you actually had time to test and evaluate the changes you're insinuating.

[Eillack]

The amount of nerfing is way too high. It seems ridiculously imbalanced and untested. This change should be reverted ASAP and tested much more thoroughly internally. It feels more like companions were nerfed by 75% than being nerfed to 75% of what they were before 4.0.2. If companion heals are a mere 1% of a player's lifepoints, there simply is no point to having a companion at all. They are worse now than companions where in 3.2 when they still their own stats.

 

Seriously, PLEASE Bioware, revert them back to what they were until you actually had time to test and evaluate the changes you're insinuating.

 

+1 to this

[Lyaise]

REVERT the change. If you expect us to mindlessly grind heroics over and over for specialist rep, companion rep, crystals to buy more rep items, unlock Star Fortress companions, etc., it better be faceroll easy and fast. You will lose subs over this. I've played the game since release, and this is just about the final straw. If it were any other franchise than SW, I would've uninstalled long ago.

 

This

 

Listen Eric - be upfront and face the fact you got it completely wrong.

Apologize and revert - with a commitment that you won't again change it.

 

Do it asap before you lose many more subscriptions.

 

The exit turnstyle is spinning so fast it's making a buzzing noise.

[Jadescythe]

I'm curious. How many people in the thread who are unhappy with the nerf have a weapon equipped to their companion with actual stats on it? Personally, mine still does not because I didn't change it when I acquired them, but it supposedly increases their healing/damage output.

[Pookan]

Sorc DPS isn't the best, but you should have good enough survivability with the right utilities for soloing content. Constant heal on your two bubbles, 25% DR on Cloud Mind, and you can pretty much non-stop kite with few casted abilities. The class isn't designed to take a beating because it's designed to be able to avoid taking a majority of the damage.

Pic related

http://imgur.com/16HEVZk

Bubbles drops in one hit, running away for 2 minutes around the room? Yeeeeah, so funny game! Love that! (No)

Yeah I killed him when i speced in Lightning (Madness spec cant win in fair combat at all, funny), I killed Exarch thanks to all 4 bonuses like sentry, medpac, grenade and holocron. I ll never believe that madness sorc without rank 10 alliance specialists can win this. And people will never be able to do "One For All" anymore.

Companions are bad. Super bad.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Pookan

[The_Wulff]

You realize that you had full control of your companion? There was always the option to dismiss them, turn them passive, or turn certain abilities you decided were OP off if you like grinds that much. That's a far cry from having no control over the difficulty Conversely, it's pretty much impossible now to make the grind less irritating, which is just *awesome*. ("[insert "then group!" here]" alas, I would, if that didn't manage to be even more annoying than grinding through it on my own. My experience must be a real outlier because about 90% of the time I've grouped for comtent we ended up even slower than if I'd just knocked it out on my own because something always, *always* happens.)

 

 

Blegh. As far as checking companion effectiveness out for myself, did the same Heroic (Botched Interrogation) again on my level 60 Vengeance Juggernaut. Not as nice as on my Lightning Sorc -- which I expected, Sorc being my fave and most played class and all -- but not as painful as on the lowbie Jugg. Still more grindy than I care for it to be and the heals were still so pathetic as to be useless.

 

I'm not picking a fight, I'm posting what Eric asked for. He asked for feedback. I personally did not find the analog on or off option for companions to be a real solution. I also said that I found an option that worked for me in going with a group. At no point did I say that you had to play the way I did.

 

I am sorry for your perceived loss in the game. Please be tolerant that not everybody sees the change as negative. Have a blessed day.

[Shaakrah]

...

[*]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. ....

 

-eric

 

So far in a galaxy not so far away:

-we used to have companions which were maxed out in "influence" through completion of story (logical mechanic)

-the "influence" got reset by KTFoE, setting as base value 10 influence (odd that)

-after being "OP", the companions get a nerf to be compensated by maxing out again the influence, but ofc for x5 the former values

-all of which can be only achieved by ..... grinding heroics which are not doable for solo players without this and 208+ armor.... or gifts available for purchase....

 

At least that clarifies the why/what and leaves to judge whether this sounds OK.

[evilisgood]

I did the Alderaan H2 Star Fortress last night on my Balance Sage (mirror to Madness Sorcerer) in T2 PvP gear and a 36 Influence M1-4X. And while I don't know about most, I don't agree. The nerf seems fine to me.

 

Of course it seems fine to YOU. Do tell us, do you have all legacy unlocks? Legendary status? Newsflash, many of us dont. The nerf might not have hit established players that hard, but anyone without all legacy buffs is screwed big time.

 

Doing H2s as you lvl past Belsavis is almost out of the question, Your evidence that you can clear it on a geared 65 means nothing for players at 45-47 trying to do those quests.

Edited November 18, 2015 by evilisgood

[Apache]

The amount of nerfing is way too high. It seems ridiculously imbalanced and untested. This change should be reverted ASAP and tested much more thoroughly internally. It feels more like companions were nerfed by 75% than being nerfed to 75% of what they were before 4.0.2. If companion heals are a mere 1% of a player's lifepoints, there simply is no point to having a companion at all. They are worse now than companions where in 3.2 when they still their own stats.

 

Seriously, PLEASE Bioware, revert them back to what they were until you actually had time to test and evaluate the changes you're insinuating.

 

They wont

 

BW is hard headed. They don't admit mistakes and they don't do roll backs regardless of player feedback.

 

This is the new norm. The best you can hope for is some lame companion 'buffs' in 4.03 where BW will be trying to play the Heroes who are listening to its players

 

Like increasing Companion Influence Ranks to 100! That way the companions can be twice as powerful! Yay!

Edited November 18, 2015 by Apache

[TUXs]

This

 

Listen Eric - be upfront and face the fact you got it completely wrong.

Apologize and revert - with a commitment that you won't again change it.

 

Do it asap before you lose many more subscriptions.

 

The exit turnstyle is spinning so fast it's making a buzzing noise.

 

I could not agree more.

 

The damage this stupidity has caused is just moronic. Who the hell were they listening to?

 

This needs an emergency patch ASAP...before the weekend warriors show up and cancel in droves.

 

I've never seen a more damaging move by a company (minus NGE)...but this is along the same lines as that. Casual play in SWTOR is dead. If you're not hardcore, get out.

[Magnouss]

They wont

 

BW is hard headed. They don't admit mistakes and they don't do roll backs regardless of player feedback.

 

This is the new norm. The best you can hope for is some lame companion 'buffs' in 4.03 where BW will be trying to play the Heroes who are listening to its players

 

Not even holding my breath for this. I was convinced that they were going to at least slightly buff the slot machine after the giant nerf and it never happened. I'll be monitoring the forums for the next few days to see if I am wrong, but otherwise I am moving on.