Companion Nerf, Who is leaving/unsubbing poll

[TwwIX]

I came back to the game because i heard about the recent companion and level progression changes. Loved it!

Leveling was very enjoyable and i could finally immerse myself into the game without having to deal with inpatient and obtuse players. Companions ARE supposed to replace real players! That's the whole point of your franchise!

Forcing people to group isn't going to improve the game's shallow social aspects nor the community's toxic behavior. That's why i loved the recent changes! I didn't have to deal with any of that crap anymore.

 

You've won fans like me back again. Not only that. I spent money and re-subbed! Now you want to start reverting these recent changes? Why the hell would you want to do that? To appease a few incessant whiners on the forum?

 

If you're going to continue your tiring and sloppy balancing act, at least separate the PVP stats from the PVE stats.

If a small dev team like the one of City of Heroes could do it a few years ago, so can a conglomerate as huge as EA.

 

Leaving? Not yet since i still have subscription time left from my Amazon KOTFE pack purchase but i certainly regret returning and spending money on the game.

 

Fool me once...

Edited November 18, 2015 by TwwIX

[Desroyerdaniel]

not unsubbing just because I have people to play with. still don't like the change, hope they see these numbers and fix the issues :/ don't know how pre 3.0 heals helps anyone, like everyone said this isn't the first time they have let me down.

[vcfdrexzsawq]

This is my first post on the SWTOR forums, actually this is my first post on any online Forums and I have to say that I'm leaving SWTOR until the companions are buffed with an accompanying apology by Bioware. I genuinely believe patch 4.0 made SWTOR the definitive MMO for individuals such as myself, due to the intuitive streamlining. I sincerely hope the hardcore MMO gamers gives Bioware the money they wanted, unfortunately I'm not one of them. Edited November 20, 2015 by vcfdrexzsawq

[JattaGin]

I always thought that I would remain a sub from early start to the very last day, no matter what happens.

 

But this opinion changed.

 

My game time card still lasts a few more weeks. I have already deleted my credit card and paypal information in my account. For the first time ever, I feel at peace thinking about not buying another game time card.

 

Apart from the nerf, I hate the level sync (doesn't add any challenge, just tediousness), H2 as endgame content and that the new (great) story is so short and has hardly any replayability. There is nothing worth paying sub money for. I already stopped playing all my chars except my main and I see no reason in playing the other chars anymore. Prefered is enough for that.

 

What finally upsets me is their latest questionnaire. They are trying to find out what gifts they have to give subs in order to stay subbed. That is so cheap. I don't need gifts. I need interesting content. Something nice to play. What shall I do with another companion who, at the end, does the exact same things than any other companion - and that not even good anymore? Why do I need any of those companions? They don't talk to me. And I cannot even put one of the hundreds of shiny armors from the CM on them.

 

Man, writing this just made me realise that it is indeed time to leave. I am happy for everyone who still likes this game and continues playing. But I am sad that they managed to drag a super loyal player like me (and many others) away so easily and not even trying anything serious to make us stay. That's how I perceive it.

[bassfu]

The nerf was justified and made the game more enjoyable for me, I just paid for another six month sub. Sorry you babies can't handle things anymore.

[TFBWYAG]

I've subbed to this game since launch day, to be honest, I had as many as 6 accounts subbed for the first year and a half. I have kept 3 of the accounts on 6 month auto renew since the beginning, and to date. I am an old school gamer from the days of coin op video games, heck TV Tennis if I want to go back that far. I still have my Tel-star TV Tennis console boxed, and in the basement. I pay for and play Star Wars the Old Republic for enjoyment. I was about 14 when Darth Vader first hit the big screen and I was in a movie theater in awe, seeing something like we had never seen before. Sure we had Star Trek, but Star Wars was just over the top, and out of the box, back then.

 

I am with everyone here saying the Companion Nerf was way over-done. Comparable to the now famous Slot Machine fix. But at least that was a decoration, not a game stopper. This is a game stopper. This is your support team in game, your Companion, that now, can't even match the healing of a dps Telekinetic Sage's off-heals. Totally unacceptable in my opinion, and yes, I am entitled to an opinion when I pay them $450 a year to play this game.

 

That said, I do not PvP, and I do not do OP's. When my Consulars, Gun Slingers, and Jedi Knights speak to M1-4X and he won't join us until we PvP, I immediately click the untrack button and forget about ever getting M1-4X, and same goes for Peirce on my Imperial characters, only my Troopers and Warriors will have those two companions, again not a game stopper.

 

Some are coming into this thread attempting to tell others how to play the game, group with others, do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that. Funny thing that has been since the dawn of time, everyone has an opinion, everyone has different likes and dis-likes, no two people play or do anything the same. It's pretty much what makes the world go around, as they say.

 

Now with that said, I don't PvP and won't ruin the hard core PvP players game by joining 20 matches in which I have no clue, nor desire to participate in. But when it comes to the Dev's saying that your Companion will still carry it's own weight and so on, and you will be able to solo Star Fortress and any other Heroic 2+'s, and yet after a couple of attempts on two different, pretty well geared, and Influence around 20 with Lana, characters, I was self healing better then Lana was healing. I could not make it through the Star Fortress, I stopped after I couldn't survive more than a minute with the Champion Zakuul Paladins on each of the 2 Characters I tried. This to me is a game stopper, as this content is needed for the Alliance grind, and Achievements if you are like me, and like to get those too.

 

Those that come into this thread telling players to Learn to Play, use Heroic Moment, use CD's, or use Legacy Perks such as Unity, and so on. After 4 years of playing, Legacy level 50 for almost 3 years, I'm pretty sure, and others are too, aware we have those to use. But when the Champion Paladin is hitting for 6 to 10K and Lana is healing 3K, the math doesn't take long to figure out, it's not working.

 

The same can be said for those saying to group with others, make friends, and so on. Well, this game is and always has been advertised, something along the lines of, Create YOUR epic character, journey through an epic saga in the Star Wars universe in YOUR epic storyline. Key words obviously being "your". Any group I've been in, has at least one player who's intent is to skip content, get it done asap, and get out. There is no enjoyment in that, at least for me, I can't and won't speak for everyone.

 

In the 90's I created maps for DN3d, and each map I self tested before sharing it with others. I took the time to create an environment and game play that was doable and enjoyable. Nascar was another I created maps or tracks for, and went about it the same way. After 5 years of playing WoW, and 4 years here in SWtOR, I see how I wasted my time with all the details I put into maps with a majority of the game players. At least in my experience with groups, nobody seems to take the time to check out all the artwork and details put into the maps. I do.

 

Finally, and sorry it's so winded, but, when it reaches a point that I can't see what's behind door #2 because a Champion Zakuul Paladin is standing in front of it, and my Companion has been rendered virtually useless by the developers, and my only options left are to stand around spamming chat LFG for (insert mission here), waiting, waiting, spamming, finally getting a taker, then having said taker, rush me through to get it done asap, my enjoyment of this game ends here.

 

Sadly, because I do, and have, since age 14, love the Star Wars Universe, but the time may have come to find it somewhere else out there.

[Desroyerdaniel]

I think they can recover as long as the 75% nerf becomes maybe a 25% nerf. also they cant keep doing this bouncing back and forth stuff and not fix any real bugs, hilts still show up barrels, and when opening boxes sometimes it doesn't give you anything and the box is gone. I have decided to stay subbed for now in hopes they can recover, playing since 7/13/2011

[Ajalina]

I finally managed to get into the game, after trying to patch myself had me lose 30 euros wasted on allowance. I needed to reinstall via a friend's version, who had managed to patch (also finally, took him ages as well). The reply to my ticket was generic rumble about checking out help forums. while it is not my job to sort through pages to find a fix to something which should not happen in the first place, and when it does, a company needs to compensate.

 

The companion nerf to me just shows the attitude of this company further. I am paying for 2 subs, neither will be renewed, will just finish some story lines with the sub left, that's it. I have bought another game tonight, not hearing nightmare stories like I have just experienced with Swtor from that game. My wallet will go there.

 

I love the Star Wars story, like another above poster, I have memories of watching the first movie in the cinemas, with my Dad who has meantime passed away. I will not have those memories over shadowed by the disrespectful behaviour of a gaming company. I shall come play for free when new content is released, but I will not pay the wages of people who lack decency to their costumers.

[positronics]

I re-subbed on the promise of a more casual experience. I am unsubbing now because Bioware has went back on that promise. They won't get one more dime from me until they restore companions to 4.0.

 

Join the Boycott: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=854731

[Bluttoh]

unsubbed two accts

[Allamirr]

The few people who complained over OP companions were a drop in the bucket compared to the freaking tidal wave of pissed off people over the nerf on the boards and in game. Its getting to frenzy levels of anger.

[theDarkeOne]

I don't find the changes too easy - I could live with them. I will admit I'm a better then average player. However - it's far easier to artificially challenge yourself then it is to nerf the players who liked the way it was - and will quit. Without the casual player - who are the majority of the game - sinking money into TOR, EA will pull the plug on it. Meaning you'll have to find a new game.

 

Game too easy? Dismiss your companion. Slot 3 pieces of empty adaptive gear. Intentionally limit your power tray with no defensive buffs or heroic moment.

 

Let me repeat - I ran through my standard weekly run including a Heroic 2 star fortress. I had to be a bit more careful with my pulls in the Fortress, but for the most part had no problems. I am, however, a well geared player with the legacy presence and datacron buffs. I ran the content with a level 34 influence companion. I know my class, my character, and exactly what I can do. That being said - you aren't looking from this at the right point of view.

 

What about the average joe with no legacy presence. Very few datacrons. 190 gear with an influence 6 companion. They're going to get their *** kicked. There are very few ways to get gear without doing these heroic instances. Without farming alliance. They're going to get pissed and they're going to leave. And no - this isn't a good thing. Without the average player's income being poured into the game - we have no game. The PVPers and the hardcore ops raiders are NOT the target audience, they are not the primary income farm.

 

The person who pours the money into this game is John Q Public who had 3 hours a week to play and wants to look/feel like Luke Skywalker. If they aren't having fun, they will leave, and we'll have to deal with the consequences.

 

Founder here. Played for almost a year after launch, quit because the tedium and timesink this game was didn't lend itself to my life. I, usually, can log-in for about 45 minutes or so a day when I am working. So back in the day, I could log-in, travel to my quest giver, travel to quest, then have to log-out because it was so SLOW. Came back a couple times but the timesink was still there and never stayed.

 

I came back when the KoTFE was announced and LOVED the gameplay aspect because it was faster, more conducive to my time constraints, and my companions and I were able to get through missions quicker. I am more of the John Q Public even though I have been subbed off and on long enough to get to level 40 legacy, used to do flashpoints, and once upon a time (when the cap was lvl 50) I had all the best gear.

 

You, sir, nailed exactly how I have felt since the 4.0.2 patch. I have about 30 days left on my 2 month non-renewing sub. If BW fixes companions to help me enjoy my time again I will continue to play. . . If not, well I left another game to come back here because I was bored. . . But that game is definitely more "fun" even with a much more limited content base.

 

BW - you have heard from many of us casuals and long time players who don't play for HC mode or have time to gear to the teeth. Bring us back with some type of adjustment - the companions don't have to be as "OP" as they were but this is sad. Try running a H2 at level without purple mods at level and tell me the new companions are fine. . . Or tell me to L2P because I work 65-70 hours a week to provide for my family and yes to provide for my ability to play a **** game!

[kylesuperfirst]

yeah I can't play the game anymore. this is way too much for me, I was already disappointed with the game as it is. I was ready to quict before because it took them over 2 weeks to answer my ticket about a separate issue. the story is not enough to keep me playing the game. I have already lost a few friends after this patch. they went to Skyrim. I think I gave Bioware enough chances! for everyone else that chooses to say I hope they undo the companion nerf completely Edited November 19, 2015 by kylesuperfirst

[chantiris]

I play this game casually, always have. I can play in short bursts of around an hour and feel like I've accomplished something, always have. I can solo H2s and champions, always have. I'm a casual player, I'm the target audience, and I'm ok with the nerfs. I want to actually play the game, not have my companions play it for me.

 

Asking players to self-impose their challenge is asking Bioware to do terrible game design.

Edited November 19, 2015 by chantiris

[johncenaultimate]

well umm, i'm going to be here until the end actually no matter what

[Obnxs]

I didn't appreciate all those calling for a companion nerf. I did agree they needed to be toned down some.

 

But, I can't fathom how some became a nuke from orbit.

 

I am locked in through next March, so I won't be leaving, but I certainly hope they can find some acceptable middle ground between OP and NUKED. It would be nice if it didn't take too long, too (yeah, right! as if).

 

^^This.

Were they OP? Yes.

Was soloing more fun than ever? Also yes.

Did they need to tone them down a bit? Maybe.

Did they go typical bipolar Bioware on it and nerf to oblivion. Yep!

Are heroics now a slogfest? Sure are.

Is companion threat generation and mitigation worse than it's ever been? Yep.

Don't even get me started on the trivialization of Treek. A companion I and a lot of others paid real money to acquire.

 

Then let's talk about tacticals and how you ABSOLUTELY can't do them with any random group of four. No healer? Don't bother accepting that queu because you won't make it. Three weeks out and they still haven't addressed that.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Obnxs

[Beratus]

Also unsubbed.

[Shadokitty]

On 2 month non recurring, but don't plan to resub unless something is done.

[BigDRC]

yeah I'll probably unsub too - its a shame because i absolutely LOVED what i thought the new direction was - obviously not too be...i tried giving it a longer go today but it just seemed so...tedious - not difficult (didn't come anywhere close to dying) but it in no way felt as fast or fluid pre patch and i was simply like 'meh' - definately if they reverse their decision i'll stick around but basically felt no where near the 'i cant wait to log on today' feeling i had throughout the whole expansion...

[ScarletBlaze]

Not leaving. Haven't left since launch, why would I now? I tried the companions not that big deal to me when I did black hole this morning.

 

I have learned to adjust to different things that they have done. I still not happy with the pvp aspect of a companion but I learn to adjust.

[oneupkev]

i'm continuing to sub

 

my main lure of the game is the class stories, i've only done 3 and i still have a lot to do

[Aricin]

For me, BW SWtoR team really screwed this one up. I am nowadays a very casual player and I really felt they found their calling with Revan expansion and everything since.

 

I got limited play time and I can log in play a couple of PvP matches maybe work on alliance by breezing through some heroics

 

Logged in last night and ran my somewhat geared Jug through SF H2 (in unranked PvP gear, no augments). Used Xalek at lvl24 influence set to heals. Started out in DPS spec. I managed, but only after 5-6 deaths. Had to switch to tank spec at the boss that spawns adds and it was fu*cking tedious. It wasn’t harder it was so bloody grindy. Took me twice as long as before.

 

Further enjoyment added as companion keeps bugging out and just stands there and either stops healing all together or only heals himself. That def contributed to at least half the deaths.

 

Before, like most other people I used HK for DPS and Treek for heals/tank. Both where properly geared and I don’t have exact numbers, but my rank 24 companion now def feels nowhere near as capable at any role as HK/Treek did before.

 

I thought the whole change to the comanion system with each comp doing every role is to allow people to use any companion they want rather than all using the same as they were better then most. Well that didn’t work, cause now I again have to stick to one companion the one I will grind out 50 influence lvls with ….

 

So it comes down to not harder for me, (but I imagine harder def harder for newer players without maxed legacy and stats) but so much more grindy. Compared to before, H2+s feel tedious and like chores.

 

Sorry if I want it to feel like a job I stay at work and plenty of chores to do at home. I don’t need more of that crap in a game. Especially if I only have 60 or so min to play.

 

After being a sub since lunch I cancelled my sub yesterday. I will be back once they released a couple of chapters, but then for a single months sub and def no more unless this gets “fixed”. I have stayed sub even when I didn’t play for weeks at a time, because I liked the game and always felt there is cause to support it. But, going by the silence to the 40+ threads and thousands of posts, you have to vote with your wallet to be heard.

 

They lost out on a couple months of sub at minimum. How this debacle can be fixed, no idea. I do not believe for 1 second that they didn’t know the impact this would have – releasing companions in one form at expansion launch and then doing a 180 a couple of weeks later.

 

And I really find it astonishing that there has been no response at all to what seems to be the biggest thread / post count discussion I have seen on the forums.

[LadyKai]

I won't unsub just yet because I do think it will be fixed, but I am really disappointed with the changes.

 

I did find it pretty silly how I could literally stand there force storming away whilst watching TV and not needing to care what's going on in the game until I simply need to walk forward to my next target, so I agree with some people saying the companions did need a bit of tweaking, but the amount of tweaking is a bit extreme.

 

I did a heroic today (can't remember which one but I had to attack a droid base) and getting into the place was fine as I managed to dodge most mobs, but when I got inside one of the most boring and tedious ventures I've ever had to do in a game begun. I'm wearing the common data crystal level 65 gear with my Lana healing me at rank 27, I never died whilst doing this heroic but it was so time consuming, I had to keep repeating the same strategy over and over on the same mobs over and over, it was really easy, not challenging at all, it was however very very boring lol!

 

I understand both sides, it's not fair to cater to one group and not the other which is why people are so angry, they've taken it from one extreme to another. Some people enjoy quicker fights and others prefer longer, so I think they need to find a middle ground, so everyone can be happy.

 

Hoping for a solution for everyone soon! (I liked someones idea on an earlier page that said about adding companion boosts to our legacies...good idea, optional seems like the best way to go with this).

[Jedi_riches]

Unfortunately my sub renew ticked over for 6 months earlier this month, so I am subbed for at least that long, how often I play is different as I was enjoying this game more than ever since 4.0 hit.

[cottonbud--]

I feel like they really screwed a lot of people over here. Pre kotfe they are saying oh just play story, enjoy that and level quickly so you can play the new expansion. The thing about that is it's all you will do, i.e just getting the story line gear. That was fine as being geared didn't seem to matter to the solo player. Now I really feel like if you want to progress at a timely fashion you need to be pretty decked out... well what do you want those players to do Devs? Oh right buy gear, more money for you so all good, right?