Companion Feedback

[maidelken]

In the absence of an official feedback thread, here are my thoughts.

 

 

I died. Horribly.

 

 

And for good measure, I died again and then a few more times.

 

 

So, everyone is expecting a rage-quit post will probably be surprised that I am actually having the most fun I have had in ages.

 

 

I completed the consular and Warrior storyline before the patch and the Trooper and Agent story since the patch and had reached level 23 on my Guardian. After having died, repeatedly, trying to do a little heroic on Tatooine, I logged into my previous characters and had a good look.

 

What I realised was that my Consular and Warrior had properly laid out action bars in lines with groupings and follow up attacks, however my trooper and Agent were a mess. It turns out my Agents three most powerful attacks were on page 5 of my action bars and werent even on screen while I was fighting.

 

Then there was that little light bulb moment - I had had to learn how to play the first two classes, but the second two, I had just mashed a few buttons and been dragged along by Elara and Kalyio.

 

So I logged back into my Guardian and had a good look. First thing I noticed was that I was 1 level under tatooines level, not the end of the world, but not helpful. Then I realised in my abilities tab that I had 8 powers that I needed to go and train, I hadnt bothered going to a trainer for about the last 10 levels, I didnt even have heroic moment trained!

 

So, off to the trainer we go, get all the skills, lay them out properly, hot keys etc.

 

I died.

 

So now I am starting to think perhaps people were on to something, maybe my wish for a challenge had in fact really screwed me over. So I logged back into my other characters for a closer look, see if there was anything else wrong.

 

Well I noticed quite quickly that there was a MASSIVE disparity between my first two characters and second 2 characters health, mastery, power etc. It turns out that the level 49 trooper was in in lvl 38 gear and the level 47 agent had not been updated since level 32. That was how easy the game had become.

 

Log back into the knight, realise I am in a combination of freebie green armour and unmodded orange armour. Go to fleet - equip my character in level appropriate mods. Go back to Tattooine and guess what, those mandarlorians really do not like it up them...

 

 

I dont know about end game heroics, I still have 4 character stories to finish before I even think about Kofe (and realistically, I probably want at least 16 characters before I advance to it) but what I can say is that appropriately geared characters with all their abilities have no problems clearing appropriately levelled heroics.

 

 

TLDR - the game is now fun again, I am actually playing it rather than being dragged through it, is just a shame that I have 2 classes that I never actually learnt how to play at all.

[nagada]

TLDR - the game is now fun again, I am actually playing it rather than being dragged through it, is just a shame that I have 2 classes that I never actually learnt how to play at all.

 

Right? You are so going to get flamed by the rabid masses but I agree with you. The game is much more rewarding when you figure out how to use the tools at your disposal. Have fun!

[maidelken]

Right? You are so going to get flamed by the rabid masses but I agree with you. The game is much more rewarding when you figure out how to use the tools at your disposal. Have fun!

 

Well if no one ever says anything because they are worried about being flamed, then we end up with a very unbalanced discussion.

 

Its why I wanted to be honest about it when I posted, rather than simply coming and saying 'I can do heroics, you guys all suck' - I wanted to explain that I died a LOT of times getting used to the change before it all clicked again.

[nagada]

Well if no one ever says anything because they are worried about being flamed, then we end up with a very unbalanced discussion

 

I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't have posted this. I support you

[Cox_The_Beast]

Well, guess I'll add my 2Cents here too.

 

I can't talk about levelling as all my characters have finished their Class Story ages ago (all are lvl 50+), but from the first half of Weekly Heroics and the Heroic Star Fortress Weekly on my main, Lightning Sorc in an average of 216 rating gear and with Rank 35 Influence Lana, I have to say I find the balance pretty good.

 

I can still do everything I need to, but I now have to think while doing it, rather than just rush through. No more pulling entire rooms, threat dropping and letting my Comp do the work while I read a book. Which is what I did last week.

 

And this, coming from what I think can be called a regular player that tryes to run all content at an acceptable level, is good.

[Frenesi]

Well if no one ever says anything because they are worried about being flamed, then we end up with a very unbalanced discussion.

 

Its why I wanted to be honest about it when I posted, rather than simply coming and saying 'I can do heroics, you guys all suck' - I wanted to explain that I died a LOT of times getting used to the change before it all clicked again.

 

We already are in an unbalanced discussion. As much as I don't like the idea, I'm afraid Bioware will revert nerf due to all the people refusing to learn. Where did they even come from...

[ZanyaCross]

Right? You are so going to get flamed by the rabid masses but I agree with you. The game is much more rewarding when you figure out how to use the tools at your disposal. Have fun!

 

Completely agree with this and OP. When the patch hit I realized that even on my main I had gotten a bit (actually very) sloppy with how I was fighting. Shooting lightning everywhere, drawing gold elites from all over the room,and still winning without even pulling off a heroic moment (I didn't even see what was done to those until I started running the star fortresses). And that was with a tank, not a healer. When the patch hit I realized real fast that I had to sharpen myself back up a bit, but it feels a lot better to win when I have to sweat a little bit for it.

[Gromarch]

In the absence of an official feedback thread, here are my thoughts.

 

-Epic Wall of Text .

 

I agree. My experience as well.

 

Found out that the "free ride" that was, left me as a crippled player, not really knowing my chars.

 

Now I need to gear and shape up, to complete a bit of the content. But it turns out I'm having more fun than before.

Obviously, that´s not for all. But nothing ever will be. Wonder how people fared before 4.0.

 

Remember when the game came out, doing heroics was really hard and often called for grouping. That's not the case now.

[Frenesi]

Well, some of whiners do have the point when they say that nerf prolongs Alliance grind by making heroics longer. That's, however, problem with Alliance system, and not with companions. Also (what a terrible thought) they can group to make it faster.

[Thunderstriken]

In the absence of an official feedback thread, here are my thoughts...

 

...the game is now fun again...

 

Before the nerf when I would engage a group of mobs I pressed 1, 2, 3, 4 and the fight was over in 10-15 seconds, it didn't feel like I was really doing anything. Now I press 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2 and the fight takes 20-25 seconds... I ACTUALLY feel like I am a super amazingly good player!!! My skillz are awesomesauce!

[Seyyah]

The fact that you are completely ignoring the other thread out there wityh 100+ pages and more than 1370+ posts and see your own creation as a "replacement official feedback" thread is baffling...

 

Apart from that i respect your experience... i too, can do people claim to be undoable with almost all my chars...

 

But that does not change the fact that this is a poor execution on Bioware!s part on ALL levels... Because all this was done to balance out the negative effect of "level sync"... which is by nature is cancelling someones "entitlement" of being better than the environment...

 

The herdest thing to do in every business model (or even life) is taking back the rights you ve given to the people...

 

And 1 month later you just went ahead and do the same to fix the previous one...

 

So that tells me you have no testers, and no appreciation to your customers/playerbase...

 

So even tho you (or maybe even I) find a companion nerf is in order, this kind of execution is going to take its toll on this game...

[Gromarch]

But that does not change the fact that this is a poor execution on Bioware!s part on ALL levels... Because all this was done to balance out the negative effect of "level sync"... which is by nature is cancelling someones "entitlement" of being better than the environment...

 

The only error I see iregarding lvl sync, is that the lvl sync wasn't in from launch. It never made any sense why everyone on Coruscant was so weak, compared to the population of, lets say Hoth. The lvl sync makes sure that you're still quite epic going back to the starter zones, but you're no longer a god.

Wonder why it took so long to adjust that, but better late than never.

 

The herdest thing to do in every business model (or even life) is taking back the rights you ve given to the people...

And 1 month later you just went ahead and do the same to fix the previous one...

So that tells me you have no testers, and no appreciation to your customers/playerbase...

So even tho you (or maybe even I) find a companion nerf is in order, this kind of execution is going to take its toll on this game...

 

This I agree on. I wonder too; is the public test server not used? Doesn't BW have an extensive in-game testing before releasing content(Thinking of 4.0 here, not 4.2 -that's how I feel it should have been in 4.0)?

 

I understand that mistakes can be made and corrections therefore are needed, but this was handled very bluntly and with no sense of creativity; just crude chopping.

 

Giving kids a cake and then take it back after they had a couple of bites spells DOOM

Edited November 19, 2015 by Gromarch

[maidelken]

The fact that you are completely ignoring the other thread out there wityh 100+ pages and more than 1370+ posts and see your own creation as a "replacement official feedback" thread is baffling....

 

No, you have just misunderstood me.

 

I didnt mean this WAS to be come the offical feedback thread, Im not that arrogant, I just meant because there wasnt one and there were 100s of threads, I might as well make mine as well.

 

 

But that does not change the fact that this is a poor execution on Bioware!s part on ALL levels.....

 

No disagreement from me on that level at all.

[Myracarrah]

Well, some of whiners do have the point when they say that nerf prolongs Alliance grind by making heroics longer. That's, however, problem with Alliance system, and not with companions. Also (what a terrible thought) they can group to make it faster.

 

See more people should run their Planetary Heroics with a friend. They actually get more credits that way.

[HarleysRule]

Wait...you had to learn to play your class?!? OH THE HUMANITY!!!!!

[maidelken]

Wait...you had to learn to play your class?!? OH THE HUMANITY!!!!!

 

Shocking isnt it

 

But Im actually really annoyed that I just have no idea what I should be doing with either my agent or my trooper - Im going to take them to Illum soon and get utterly massacred because it will be the first time ive had to use 80% of their abilities.

[Brayla_Sana]

Well, some of whiners do have the point when they say that nerf prolongs Alliance grind by making heroics longer. That's, however, problem with Alliance system, and not with companions. Also (what a terrible thought) they can group to make it faster.

 

I am not normally a whiner.

 

I protested the Slot Machine Nerf. I thought it was unfair. I let it go after a while.

 

Then, the planned new expansion came out. MULTIPLE changes to HOW the GAME was PLAYED were included. Seriously, they could have put the companion and crafting changes to the test server without "spoiling the story," which was their excuse.

 

Then when the expansion came out, they rolled a lot of my crating materials together, including some valuable ones, and after telling us that would not happen, made it so I have to run Ops to get the schems to craft elite items. So much for crafting being viable except the elite few.

 

My companions that were max affection were rolled down to 10/50.

 

I put up with all of this because I enjoyed the fact that my companion helped me as I play in off-hours when there is no one around to group. No I will not switch to Harbinger, the server that is down just about every other day.

 

Now that that is taken away, the bitterness over the way this expansion was handled cannot be ignored any longer. I am more angry about the callous attitude toward us, the lack of quality assurance, and the lack of customer service than I am about the nerf itself. Nerfs and knee-jerk patches could have been avoided IF THEY TESTED THIS CRAP WITH PLAYERS in the FIRST PLACE.

 

I have cancelled my sub, but I have a lot of time left before it expires because i pay in six-month chunks. We shall see if this company learns customer service before it runs out.

[maidelken]

My companions that were max affection were rolled down to 10/50.

.

 

Well no, not really.

 

Your companions were at maximum affection and had bonuses attached to that - they didnt take away anything you already had, they simply removed the ceiling and let it go higher.

 

Not really the same thing at all.

 

 

When the game ups the level limit from 60-65 do you say the same thing - my character was max level, but now I am only 60/65?

Edited November 19, 2015 by maidelken

[Jumajin]

I agree with you OP. I cancelled my sub about two weeks ago and only have 4 or 5 days left on it. I would renew following Tuesday's patch, except I'm not convinced right now that BioWare isn't going to reverse this patch due to all the whining from those who just want their companions to play the game so they can watch the YouTube cut scenes.

 

If the companions remain as they are over the next couple of weeks, I'll gladly resub at that point.

[Brayla_Sana]

Well no, not really.

 

Your companions were at maximum affection and had bonuses attached to that - they didnt take away anything you already had, they simply removed the ceiling and let it go higher.

 

Not really the same thing at all.

 

 

When the game ups the level limit from 60-65 do you say the same thing - my character was max level, but now I am only 60/65?

 

Not for companion crafting bonuses. Crafters took a huge step back.

[Isnogut]

My experience is at the moment undergroundish. The companions are quite inefficient. But I don't want to flame here around, jut give my impression and motivations for this:

 

At the moment the companions are a less help as a medical pack. The only positve about is, they can spam more often heal. However, when they can't compensate the incoming damage at all their healing abilities are no help at all. Especially with non tank ability classes, they die a quite fast death. Even if your alt can hold up the damage for some time, when they get the aggro it's over if you can't take it back. And even though it might be to late, because they still heal up themselves prior to your alt. Or saying it short, if your companion got the aggro the fight is at most of the time lost.

 

Prior to me, a lot of people explained, what they want from the H2 missions. Those are grind, and as all of them said, I can simply agree: I don't want to waste my time and my nerves only for grind. If I want a real challenge, I' simply play Dark Souls. But then I know why I do this, and I simply have a different motivation. SWTOR is after all a MMO, and I simply don't want to be forced to be extremely competitive. This game I play daily for a couple of hours after a long day at work. I am here, because I want to have some fun and get something done. ..."Something done" I refer this to the unloved H2 missions. This is simply grind, we need to make, in order to boost our companions, ...which at this time is simply useless, because they are little help in those H2 missions. So, why should we even do those H2 missions now, if we gain even less out of it, and were also unloved pre 4.0?

 

As for Star fortress, fine this should be the actual top notch for the H2 missions. I have no problem with those being the way they are. They should be more demanding as the rest. But why are they not integrated into the LFG tool? Even on a filled server as Vanjevalis Chain I have problems finding other people, who want to do the Fortress. On Odessen, even if packed with people, the least of them want to do SF. On the fleet, ... well actually none of them wanted to do SF there. Simply because, either they are too low, or simply because if they are there, they simply have other interests at the moment

 

All in all is, H2 missions are no fun at all, but simple grind. Can we skip them? Theoretically yes, practically no, because those are giving us what we want in order to grow our influence. At this moment I am stuck with most of my end cap alts. Either I don't want to have a pulse of 180, or simply it is pointless and time-consuming. Either way it is frustrating. If I want an MMO where I am all edgy then I want to play Wildstar. At least all of my decisions there in a fight have direct possibilities and reactions and is more fluent. But I am here for the setting.

 

If this remains that way the companions were nerfed, I'll definitely going to stop playing SWTOR. Please do not get me wrong: I am not against balancing of the healing output of the companions, but against making them so useless, grind content becoming frustrating. If a player is stuck in am MMO and can't develop his alt furthermore, the entire endeavour is over for him. Well, I'm one step before this decision. I have absolutely no fun running around with my companions anylonger. And doing FP's all the time is not the fun I expect in this MMO. PVP is not my thing, ...well not here. What remains of the MMO interests? Well, nothing that really counts. SWTOR was all about companions and story. Story for now is on halt and companions are useless. Do I have any reason to stay?

 

By the way, I am not interested reading any of those idiotic "KK, bye" threads. It's not about you and what impact my decision would have on other players. Frankly I couldn't care less at this point. I am a paying customer. If the salesman has nothing to offer me, I have no reason to pay any longer. Just straight and plain. No anger coming from my side. Just waging the odds. -Do I gain any reason to stay? Yes/No. - Do you want my money? Yes/No.

[maidelken]

Well, nothing that really counts. SWTOR was all about companions and story. Story for now is on halt and companions are useless. Do I have any reason to stay?

 

But they cannot possibly write enough 'story' to keep people going for multiple hours each week, its just not possible (and would be ridiculously expensive with voice actors)

 

So all you have left is repetitive stuff, its the nature of MMOs?

[Eillack]

I actually started to have fun when companions had meaning pre-nerf.

 

Now I have to constantly heal Senya and hardly doing any real playing of the game. They should have done small incremental adjustments ~10%, gathered feedback, and then either continued, or left as is.

 

There is no excuse for 75% nerf, and then Eric saying people can still solo heroics. I gave up on my insta-60, and stopped working on my alts, that for the first time in years, I actually wanted to work on, thanks to companions.

[Isnogut]

But they cannot possibly write enough 'story' to keep people going for multiple hours each week, its just not possible (and would be ridiculously expensive with voice actors)

 

So all you have left is repetitive stuff, its the nature of MMOs?

This is not the point.

I know a game developement team can't roll out weekly new content. Not even in any quartal of a year. Cryptic tried this several times in STO and failed to deliver. This is a truth I can live with and understand completely. They even got my simpathy for even trying.

 

I have no problem the story is at this moment at halt. I have a problem BioWare making me suffer (quite a strong word, but if it is no fun, what is it then? As a non native english speaker, I'll let you decide a better word to fit.), or lets say is taking all my motivation to play through the grind. At this moment I am working and paying for it, while in the game, and I've been punished anytime I do a H2. Whatever the right word for that might be, "fun" it isn't at all.

[maidelken]

This is not the point.

I know a game developement team can't roll out weekly new content. Not even in any quartal of a year. Cryptic tried this several times in STO and failed to deliver. This is a truth I can live with and understand completely. They even got my simpathy for even trying.

 

I have no problem the story is at this moment at halt. I have a problem BioWare making me suffer (quite a strong word, but if it is no fun, what is it then? As a non native english speaker, I'll let you decide a better word to fit.), or lets say is taking all my motivation to play through the grind. At this moment I am working and paying for it, while in the game, and I've been punished anytime I do a H2. Whatever the right word for that might be, "fun" it isn't at all.

 

Nothing wrong with the word suffer, each to their own.

 

I found being dragged along by a companion I couldnt do without to be 'suffering' so please continue to use it, your English is better than most native speakers!

 

I personally think your issue (and please correct me if I am wrong) is more related to how 'grindy' the experiance is. Even if you had a companion who could do all the work for you, repeatedly doing the same heroics over and over again doesnt sound like fun to me either.