Companion Change Feedback

[Xyeth]

• 
  
• Your level - 65
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating - 216
  
• Discipline- Vanguard
  
• Companion - Lana
  
• Companion role - Healing
  
• Companion Influence level - 28
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) - SF Heroic
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content - Absolute and total frustration. I know how to play my character doing interrupts, stuns, etc.at the appropriate times. I was using a defense stim. Did OK until the Skytrooper Pratorian and it did noting but constant stuns/interrupts and calling in additional help. It was all Lana could do to heal herself let alone me. I couldn't even deal with the first group he called in before I was 2 groups behind and getting pummeled. I had beaten the other Heroic SF missions until the nerf. The last guy was bad but I could eventually pull it off if I was careful. Now I can't even get anywhere near him to try.
   
  This whole insidious alliance grind is sickening. I can't even stomach the idea of doing this on my other 7 characters. It should be legacy wide at a minimum
   
  
  

[kodrac]

I just took my 65 BH tank (208 gear) through a round of planetary heroics and didn't notice any drastic changes or time to kill/complete. My companion was Talos, DPS mode, level 12 influence. Granted, I have near max Presence, I'm only missing a few datacrons. But otherwise everything feels/plays fine. And for the record, I'm a soloist. Edited November 20, 2015 by kodrac

[TFBWYAG]

I would suggest just give them the feedback they asked for and not argue with each other. Each side seems to be taking this a bit far.

 

To me it doesn't matter one way or the other as the only thing that concerns me is how it affects me and my boyfriend's style and we have dismissed a companion if we thought it was too easy for us but we would never tell someone else how to play and I don't get why others need to do that .

 

/signed

 

Well said

[kartikeya]

lolwhat

 

Pretty much in full agreement, though I still find healing companions useful in that without them soloing is painfully slow since I don't have the ability to heal myself outside of combat.

 

Same guild, I ran a Star Fortress last night and have run a few of the Heroic 2s on the same character today.

 

Playing a Sentinel in Watchman spec (so some minor heals on burn proc), mostly 216s with a few 220s and a 208 mainhand hilt. I think I'm fairly knowledgeable when it comes to soloing with this class, as I tend to solo most of the time and I like to attempt to solo things that are not necessarily meant for solo players. Prior to this latest patch I'd run the Star Fortresses many, many times, mostly solo. My first time through was solo and considerably less geared (I didn't even have 208s the first time, so you know, at a point where the gear from this instance was worthwhile to me) with a companion who was, I believe, somewhere around influence 17-20 (Lana. All of examples will be Lana for clarity's sake). Now Lana is influence rank 35.

 

The Star Fortress was painful to put it mildly. I completed it, but I ate two deaths on trash mobs (more on this in a second), one on a paladin, and one on the final room before the exarch despite using the turret ability to try to handle all the adds. This might seem minor but remember that I've run this so many times I could do it with my eyes closed before, people not used to this zone are going to die and die a whoooole lot. I was constantly using every single defensive cooldown as well as the heroic moment ability.

 

The most obnoxious thing about this is that the mobs you'd expect to be the hardest--the Praetorian and the Exarch--were pretty easy. Harder than before the patch, sure, but I didn't run into much trouble with the turret burning them down. The hardest mob I faced was one of the mini boss paladins, who killed me once and then on the second run required that I use absolutely everything at my disposal...and I still finished with less than a sliver of life left. But the trash mobs that killed me were ridiculous. A few silver mobs battered me down and Lana couldn't keep up. Then the gold (unnamed, not bosses) Knights of Zakuul showed up. Sometimes they were fine. Sometimes they knocked my life down faster than the paladin did. One of them killed me absolutely solo; no other mobs in the fight or even in the area.

 

I've seen this on the Heroic 2s I've run today. Get an extra silver in the pull and I've eaten dirt more than once. Take on a champion ranked named mob on the Heroic 2 and for the most part I'm not even sweating. It's harder than before, but I can handle it.

 

What this reminds me of is when I played back around game launch, when I was too low level for Doc. Fights were extremely unpredictable almost to the point of being random. Sometimes I'd win with barely any health gone, sometimes the exact same mobs would beat me to within an inch of my life (or more) while I was using the exact same strategy as when I was winning. Basically, what I think is happening in my case is that Lana just can't keep up with spike damage. A steady pounding seems to be fine, but if the mob crits (or more mobs join the fray), there's just nothing she can do, and I end up blowing my emergency defensive on what amounts to trash mobs. Obviously my gear and the fact that while small, Watchman spec does come with proc heals is mitigating this, so I imagine it's much worse for different classes with lesser gear.

 

Look, a challenging encounter is one that requires me to think, to stay on my toes, and to figure out a strategy. There's no challenge in being randomly smashed, especially by no name garbage mobs on a repeatable weekly grind quest. There's no strategy to work out with stuff like this other than 'don't have something wander into your fight', or, in the case of a normal pull with above average crits, blind luck. And frankly, I don't care about challenge when it comes to quests that amount to pre-4.0 dailies. Challenge is for Ops, HM flashpoints, and situations in which I'm trying to solo something that's not necessarily designed for it.

 

The final insult is that Treek is apparently far and away the best healer again, despite her influence level. Look, I like Treek, but I ended up using Treek constantly pretty much from the moment of her release until 4.0, and I was TIRED of using her. I don't want to go back to 'everyone uses Treek' time just because the other companions have had their legs cut out from under them. The whole point of making the companions able to switch up their roles was to let you choose who you wanted to come with you without being shoehorned into using only a single companion because your class solos best with <insert companion role here>. It's probably my favorite change you made in the expansion, and it looks like it's been at least partly undone on top of everything else.

[TFBWYAG]

I would suggest just give them the feedback they asked for and not argue with each other. Each side seems to be taking this a bit far.

 

To me it doesn't matter one way or the other as the only thing that concerns me is how it affects me and my boyfriend's style and we have dismissed a companion if we thought it was too easy for us but we would never tell someone else how to play and I don't get why others need to do that .

 

p.s. May I borrow that Companion you dismissed

[SamAnders]

I would suggest just give them the feedback they asked for and not argue with each other. Each side seems to be taking this a bit far.

 

To me it doesn't matter one way or the other as the only thing that concerns me is how it affects me and my boyfriend's style and we have dismissed a companion if we thought it was too easy for us but we would never tell someone else how to play and I don't get why others need to do that .

 

I like you.

[Draqsko]

I've spoken to a dozen people in the past three hours. Harder? Yes. Longer? Not as much as some people claim here.

 

It took you 3 hours to find a dozen people who didn't have a problem with it. That in itself should tell you that it's a problem. If it really wasn't a problem, it would have taken you 15 minutes to find 12 people who were ok with it.

[rednhax]

Dear Bioware,

 

I haven't had enough time to properly evaluate the gameplay according to all the criteria you enumerate, however, I came back to the game a few months ago because of the fast track leveling through class story an the promise of more rich story telling.

 

I was disappointed with some of the changes with companions that came with 4.0 and the level sync, but the game was still fast pace and enjoyable.

 

While the gameplay is a bit more challenging with the latest companions nerfs, it also slows down the pace and makes the game more tedious.

 

I still have a week left on my sub, so I will continue to evaluate my enjoyment of the game, but as it stands, it just takes me too long to get to the good parts of the game, which is the story.

[MWidowmaker]

[*]Leveling Content – Challenge Level: Low. To complete this content, a player should have a basic understanding of game mechanics and have level-appropriate gear. Their companion’s role shouldn’t matter.

[*]KotFE Chapters – Challenge Level: Low. Like leveling content, a player should have a basic understanding of game mechanics and have level-appropriate gear. Their companion’s role shouldn’t matter.

[*][Heroic 2] Missions – Challenge Level: Medium. To complete this content, a player should have a good understanding of their class and game mechanics, as well as level appropriate gear. Their companion’s role should begin to matter at this point, supplementing the player’s own Discipline. We expect some players to find these challenging initially—maybe even needing a friend’s help--but once the player earns better gear, a few levels of Influence with their companion, and has a greater understanding of the game, they should be able to solo the hardest of these missions.

[*]Star Fortress – Challenge Level: Medium. These are similar to [Heroic 2] Missions. Star Fortresses should be similar to [Heroic 2] Missions. To complete this content, we expect you to have level-appropriate gear, a good understanding of your class, a companion with a few levels of Influence, as well as being in a role that supplements the player’s. We expect most players to be able to solo these with a little practice and effort on their part to gain some increased power.

[*]Heroic Star Fortress – Challenge Level: High. At this point we expect players to really understand their class, their companion, and their gear. Players should have sought out gear upgrades, as well as increased their companions’ Influence level. These are meant to be challenging and difficult to do solo.

[*]“The One and Only” Achievement should still be possible. As an Achievement, this is definitely intended to be extremely hard and rewarding to players. This means the Achievement can be exceptionally challenging, and similar to HM Star Fortress, you will need to be a skilled player, with moderate to high Influence level with your companion, and very good gear on your character.

Based on these statements above, do you think that these are true after Tuesday’s changes? What content is more or less difficult than you expected? Is there something that is just flat out impossible?

 

Please give us your feedback, and we simply ask you to be as constructive as possible. Include information such as:

 

[*]Your level various characters, but concentrating on my best geared highest level 65

 

[*]Roughly Average Item Rating mix of 208-220, probably averaging 216s

 

[*]Discipline Lightning Sorc

 

[*]Companion Lana

 

[*]Companion role Heal

 

[*]Companion Influence level 30

 

[*]Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) solo np, heroic Star Fortress? i was able to get to the last platform solo with a lot of deaths and being careful and using abilities, now? no effing way

 

[*]Your personal experience while playing this content- I expected more with that level of influence quite honestly almost on par or maybe about a 10-15% difference from where it was. I did all the Corellia H@s which I had heard some people were having issues with, but maybe it was due to the CC for my class and spec, but I didnt have much problems. I think my 65 sniper will have more issues due to lack of ae whirlwind. Overall I am disappointed with the heavy handed way in which the companions were castrated, I would have thought a more measured approach was in order. On a side note, I was able to solo the Hutta heroics with Nico at level 1 at level 6, so there is that, i plan to level and do as many heroics as possible while levelling with this companion.

 

While I applaud you asking for feedback, this *****torm could have been avoided, and should never have happened, especially without the fixes that are coming in the next patch and the fix to the weapon bug that I have heard about. I dont know the particulars on that, but from what i read, it severely skewed numbers to the point of making them worthless.

Edited November 20, 2015 by MWidowmaker

[tattoohero]

Your level 65 Sniper

Roughly Average Item Rating 216

Discipline Marksman

Companion Lana

Companion role Healer

Companion Influence level 32

Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) Heroic

Your personal experience while playing this content Annoyed beyond belief. I only needed my heroic moment once against a paladin and the praetorian boss. I get to the area which is the final area from the solo version.

 

Two door, four enemies appear from them, two gold, two mooks, kill the mooks, companion dies, I have one gold down 20% and because my healer died, I die.

 

Now, I get out of SF Jail, nice touch, too bad there's no achievement for it, there's the two gold left. My companion doesn't die this time, but I get one gold down, then die. Get out of jail again, go 1v1 vs the last remaining gold and die. Healer companion stops healing at this point.

 

Which made me quit. I won't bother with it again until you buff the companions back to be where they need to be. My presence in the Star Fortress is over 3k, I use the alliance abilities and I still die.

 

Why bother.

[CrutchCricket]

First off, thank you for reaching out Eric. I tend to have my doubts you or a member of your team will read through all 64 pages. I also honestly fear my feedback will only help make things worse. I say this with absolutely no disrespect or undue vitriol but after the way things have been handled with this expansion (from the months leading up to it and with this patch) I fully expect the points I report, if they are considered at all to have the opposite effect from what I want. But I guess I can at least try to contribute.

 

So my tests so far, two sets, one done the night of the patch one done now. I tested in two areas with two different characters.

Test 1: Oricon Dailies (including H2)

Watchman Sentinel, all 208s with a 216 offhand. Kira healing, rank 11.

1st time: No noticeable difference in clear time, no deaths. My health drops more now, obviously but apart from that pace is more or less unchanged. H2 is obviously where impact is felt, both mobs and bosses dropped Kira and I to 25-20% health. Mobs made me use a good number of defensive abilities but not all of them. No Heroic/Legacy abilities needed.

2nd time: Virtually identical, apart from H2. Kira died once and I fled, then later we both died. Both times scumbag boss walked by while I was clearing mobs and sniped us. On an unrelated note, Oricon Champs are by far among the most scumbag of bosses. Far too many stuns, and stun+Terminate is just evil. Frankly I don't think that's fair, but I doubt such an old area or aggro mechanics will be changed.

Additional notes: My sentinel is the first class I've ever made, all teh way back in beta. No I haven't been here the whole time but I know the class as well as I'm going to, short of OCD'ing on min-maxing for nightmare raids. I'm also taking this whole test with a grain of salt as I'm not sure what effect level sync has. I know at level companions sometimes still have no defense stats so maybe sync stuff is still overall "easier" somehow.

 

Test 2: Heroic SF

Jedi Sage Telekinetics, some 208s some 200s some insta 60 188s. Senya healing Rank 12.

1st Time: Normal mobs are no problem (but really tedious, though the same was true pre-nerf). First Paladin I needed to pop the bubble and a self-heal once in a while otherwise no issue. Absolutely butchered by first Knight (single saber). Quit after 3 tries.

2nd time: Similar. First Paladin, no problem. First Knight, no problem. Got to Praetorian. Died a few times because I panicked about the adds. Eventually cleared it. Second Paladin (also single saber) made the Knight from before look like a chump. Popped turret and hit him with every Heroic I had, whittled him down to 30% health. But as soon as turret was destroyed he just sliced me like hot butter, despite using every cooldown/self heal/medpack I had. Fourth or fifth try finally got it by Phase walking as far as I could and healing before he got to me. He still would've diced me if I hadn't kept running and gotten some of my heroic abilities off cooldown again. Got to Ambush, double single saber knight scumbags. Quit after two tries.

Notes: The real problem here is the single saber scumbags. On the first test the Champ Paladin (dual saber if I recall) was downright cuddly next to the single Saber Elite Knight. With other Knights/Paladins you know to interrupt Ravage and other channeled abilities. But these guys have no channeled abilities. They simply just slice you into fine cheese and there's **** all you can do about it (uber leet raiders aside. We're not doing raids here so this shouldn't be the case). Even when companions had the healing of Wolverine, if a single saber turned on Senya he would eventually kill her. I don't know how the rest of it is now, but companions aside, you really need to tone down the single saber jerks. I won't claim to know this AC as it was an insta-60 that's different from what I've played. But I honestly can't picture how even my best classes could stand up to these guys.

 

Of course, it's all too likely you'll look at this and go "wait he had no problem on Oricon and only one of the elite/champs slaughtered him on SF? Better nerf some more". But please don't. You really went too far. It's not unplayable, but then I really don't think "barely playable" is a good goal here.

Edited November 20, 2015 by CrutchCricket

[Vegal_Zugarin]

Its easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top

[kcots]

I feel like the Nerfs are fine. I miss my demi-god friends, but this is fine. I can still solo Star Fortress with 208 gear... just slower.

 

I think a touch more mitigation (read: not just adding to the max HP) for tank comps would be a welcome change. tho.

 

Before the nerf went in I would have asked for less threat for my healing comps, but I haven't tried that since the patch, so we'll see.

[Brewberry]

I see a lot of people are using melee companions in heal mode to tackle challenging encounters.

 

Just a friendly tip, try using a ranged one instead and keep them away from AoEs.

 

It shouldnt be such a big difference but it is in my experience. A melee companion requires much higher influence to perform at the same level (if at all) as a ranged companion when mobs do AoE damage.

 

Brewberry

[Knightsire]

Your level (65)

Roughly Average Item Rating (Mix of 208 and 216, lower rated Relics)

Discipline (Rage/Fury Marauder)

Companion (Lana)

Companion role (Healer)

Companion Influence level (30)

Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Heroic Mode)

Your personal experience while playing this content:

 

It was extremely frustrating to solo. I kept wiping at the end. Boss was ridiculously difficult and I only survived by kiting and dodging long enough to wait on cool down of security chest abilities, but otherwise will probably wipe often unless I can get higher level gear (240+ maybe?) or companion heal at least half of what she used to. She heals for maybe 15% of what she did pre-nerf. It ranges between 1000-1500 hp and is much less frequently than before.

[Nebdar]

Hi

 

I invisted lot of time and effort to get my Nico Okarr to lvl 50 influence in hope that i will have an strong companion for any situation and content.

I am glad that i have made few screenshots before the 4.02 patch so i can compare what have changed.

 

Nico Okarr DPS buffed 4.0

http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/oo26/Nebdar/Screenshot_2015-11-03_15_06_40_437712_zpsi3tnwdco.jpg

 

Nico Okarr DPS buffed 4.02

http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/oo26/Nebdar/Screenshot_2015-11-18_10_28_52_085067_zpsew1tr3e9.jpg

 

Nico Okarr Rank 50 buffs

http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/oo26/Nebdar/Screenshot_2015-11-18_09_42_33_260127_zpsswvx2bze.jpg

 

Me Mostly 216 old relics and implants

http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/oo26/Nebdar/Screenshot_2015-11-18_10_07_08_087482_zps7q1x4mx0.jpg

 

 

1. Facts

 

If we compare RAW stats Niko lost:

MASTERY -1275 . -22%

ENDURANCE -1432.-24,96% .

HP -21824 . -20.59%

POWER -500 . -33.69%

CRITICAL -210 . -28.92%

ALACRITY -140 . -35%

ACCURACY -140 . - 35%

!EXPERTISE! -808 . -93.3%

PRESENCE -5000 . -66,6%

 

Niko finnaly gained the ARMOR RATING

 

2.Half Facts

Unfortunatley i have no screenshots of the abilities decriptions but we all FEEL that the RAW loss stats doesn't reflect the full nerf changes to the math in the abilities.

 

I can only give numbers out of my memory that before the 4.02 the biggest heal was between 10-20k(with crit) now it is like 3691-5155(no crit), the channeled heal is now 4469(no crit), before it was close to 10k(no crit)

 

The numbers now are very close to those before 4.0 and with major increase of HP at lvl 65 both for player and mobs the today healing values doesn't feel right.

 

3. New Companion system

 

I mostly happy with the changes in the system. The all roles companion and universal craafting/mission boost is great move for QoL improvment.

 

But these changes destroyed the uniquenes of Non class Companions

Treek is no longer the first self healing tank

HK-51 no longer has the 'ONE SHOOT = ONE KILL' abillity

Nico Okarr nothing uniqe about him, everyone can recruit him. No special abilities.

 

I am really disappointed how Nico Okarr value as a reward for early subscription greeatly diminnished.

 

4. No Gear = No problems?

 

So BW took the gearing our copmanion out. Leaving us with only cosmetic/look changes.. so in other words they took something and didn't gave anything in return. This change is great for lvling new character but for an endgame player is now a doll. I understand that after Rishi/Yavin4 most of us sticked to the gear we got as rewards but some of us wanted to tweeak it to fit our needs, or even just augment it. So here is your companion the same stats companion like 20-30 other alliance companions,shallowing the companion character relations.(clones?)

 

But why not give us the 'tweak your companion' Cartel Market/Subscriber option?

This way you could for ex. take 100 mastery and put it into endurance or take power and put it into critical. Just simple '+' '-' buttons . Some reasonably set min max value so you won't take 90% of your companion Endurce and put it into Mastery. So that anyone can create his own squad and personalize you companions. So you can have HV shield, HV Defense, Tanks or HV endurance ones.

 

5. How powerfull your companin should be?

 

So BW introduced the 50 ranks of influence so.... why not use it so that player will set how powerfull his/hers companion is

 

Ranks 10-20 most of the time easily obtainable.

At this ranks player shouldn't have problems with most HEROIC 2+ IF HE/SHE knows her class

Ranks 21-30 the comfort average zone

Ranks 31-40 at his ranks you should be able to solo the StarFortress Heroics

Ranks 41-49 the overpowered zone - the power should be close to the power of character but stil less

Rank 50 slightly more powerfull then you. Maybe add special bonus to choose one of four boost to damage,heal,tank or crafting/crew mission boost.

 

6. Q&A

Q: But some ppl want overpowered companions and some like them as they are now?

A: Earning Ranks with companion is not mandatory. You most of the time choose with who you go questing. So if you want chalenge then you will pick companion with Rank 1-20. Someone wants fast and smooth heroic so it have to invest time and resources to get that rank lvl 50

 

Q: But does the overpowered lvl 50 rank companion won't ruin the proper expierience when doing story/chapter missions?

A: Class chapter mission are done solo and mostly in phased areas and we have an working lvl sync. So why not make the rank synnchronization so that BW sets that maximum companion rank for this area is 20,25,30. So if you have higher your companion will have stats lowered and if you have lower nothing happens

 

Q: So we know what are the stats and power of current rank 50 companion, where we want to put it in the new ranking system

A: thats to debate but i think it should be between rank 21-30

 

7.Summary

I think that the current balance problems should be resolved by:

 

a) Adding maximum rank synchronization to class/alliance mission to achieve the desired difficulty

b) Allowing the player to choose how powerfull companion is from weak to slightly more powerfull then character

c) Allow players to change redistribution of current stats within set parametrs

d) Make achieveing rank 50 worthwhile both for crafting and questing purposes

 

thanks for reading

and let us all have an little choice how we gonna play the game..

[Fardarter]

Eric,

 

Maybe you should have tested these changes FIRST? Perhaps then so many people wouldn't be so pissed off? The nerf was too harsh you guys destroyed companions. They were better off pre-4.0 with decent gears and good legacy. I tried using a level 20 influence tank lana with my scoundrel and she couldn't hold agro, The scoundrel is in non-augmented 208 and 216 gear.

 

Now you ask people to grind 50 levels of influence, lose the ability to customize appearance for an end result that doesn't match a well geared companion prior to 4.0?

 

Oh, AND YOU NERFED THE SKILL TREES BEFORE THE XPACK!

[RoninBlackBird]

Companion changes are really just a small part of the overall problem. KotFE had a lot of changes done to the core game which were clearly not tested enough internally. The one standout feature of this game being "story" has always been the best part of this game. However too often we players are left to beta test the rest of the game while in some cases paying for it at the same time. Key features of the game like level sync in flashpoints and companion balancing should have been ironed out far better than what we got at the launch of KotFE. Oddly I am actually missing Pre 4.0 SWTOR. This game was in a much better state than it currently is in. Hopefully Bioware will get organized and fix the mess they created. The players are by no means at fault. Point the finger where it belongs.

[Bbrash]

I read the stated intent of the comapnions was to fill the role as the 2nd in 2+ Heroics, with this nerf you've made that an unrealistic goal. The companions seem to heal, dps, and tank like a character 5 to 10 levels below whatever level you've been synced to. All this has done is increased the grind factor of dailies/weeklies and forces the player to commit more time to them. The nerf is very noticable in areas with multiple enemies, as they simply don't come close to performing adequately enough in their chosen role. I know there's no chance of the old companion system returning, but at least then I could kit my companion out with level appropraite gear and they performed their roles satisfactorily. I've only recently came back to the game after 2+ years and if this is the direction the game is headed I am unlikely to remain.

 

65 IO Merc 208+ gear, 65 Veng Jugg 208+ gear, 65 Lethality Op 192 gear, 63 madness Sorc 198 gear.

Lana Beniko 50 Influence on Merc

Healing or DPS

I solo all heroics and Star Forts, 100% Achievement completion for the expansion, minus some hidden companion ones.

[Nommaz]

I haven't played much since the patch as (just in case you hadn't noticed) I am pretty pissed off, however in the interests of fairness:

Please give us your feedback, and we simply ask you to be as constructive as possible. Include information such as:

• Your level - 65
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating - 208-216
  
• Discipline - Arsenal Merc
  
• Companion - Lana
  
• Companion role - Heals
  
• Companion Influence level 14
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) 2H planetary
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content
  

Played a number of years and I like to think I am average or slightly above, having raided heroic on other games, I have awareness etc, and having healed am fully aware of what I am standing in.

Played for a total of about 10 mins last night before I decided I wasn't having fun, prior to 4.0 I had no issues with doing solo content at my own level even with a few strong opponents, so this is pre expac when we could gear etc our guys, no issues at all, rarely died.

Enjoyed the levelling process into 4.0 and the first week I had put effort into this, since the nerf hit though its a different story.

Where to start.. all low level planets prior to voss are for the most part still ok, Belsavis has moments where you need an oh **** button. (at max level)

Played Voss 2H last night, first mob 4 silvers 2 golds, cc one gold and lana cc'd the other, used cryo grenade on cd, got all mobs to approx 50% before the cc on lanas gold ran out mine still on CD, killed a couple more silvers and was down to 10% health, when another player came by and took out the gold, this enabled me to heal up prior to the second gold I cc'd breaking.

Second mob, CC on CD so swapped to Treek because I could either wait for try with a better heals, lasted approx 20 seconds before I was obliterated.

Logged out.

 

Your questions are not focusing on the most important one one you should have asked "Are you having fun" the answer to that is a flat out no, that's why I am back to WoW healing raids etc...

 

Firstly I am not aware of an MMO that forcibly forces your level backwards to do content that's already 4 years old,

This is not new content, I don't have an issue with having a hard time on NEW content, like the SF, but there is no way you should have made the time I spent levelling pointless.

You want us to do old content and that's great, I didn't even mind that much, but I should not be dying to it, because in pretty much any MMO that has levels you are supposed to outlevel content and that's supposed to make you more powerful and allow easy to solo old.

and even in those mmo's that have level sync, its optional.

This brings me to my next point, you can easily fix this by simply making the level sync optional, those that are enjoying the difficulty can still do so, and those that want it easier can also do so, a simple fix really, it still makes current level content "challenging" for want of a better word and allows us that just want to play do that.

With maybe a 25% increase on heals or as you have said make the influence levels matter.

 

It doesn't matter how good or bad I am compared to anyone else, at the end of the day not having fun means no dollars for the company.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Nommaz

[happysister]

• Heroic Star Fortress – Challenge Level: High. At this point we expect players to really understand their class, their companion, and their gear. Players should have sought out gear upgrades, as well as increased their companions’ Influence level. These are meant to be challenging and difficult to do solo.
  
• “The One and Only” Achievement should still be possible. As an Achievement, this is definitely intended to be extremely hard and rewarding to players. This means the Achievement can be exceptionally challenging, and similar to HM Star Fortress, you will need to be a skilled player, with moderate to high Influence level with your companion, and very good gear on your character.
  

Based on these statements above, do you think that these are true after Tuesday’s changes? What content is more or less difficult than you expected? Is there something that is just flat out impossible?

 

Please give us your feedback, and we simply ask you to be as constructive as possible. Include information such as:

• Your level
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating
  
• Discipline
  
• Companion
  
• Companion role
  
• Companion Influence level
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?)
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content
  

 

If you have a video or other related content to go with your feedback, feel free to link that as well as it will allow us the best insight into your experiences.

I ran 2 tests so far: one with my sentinel and another with my scoundrel. With both, I attempted to solo the Heroic 2 version of Star Fortress under different circumstances.

 

My lvl 65 Sentinel is Watchman spec, and he ran through Alderaan's Star Fortress with an influence 10 companion in heal stance. He's in mostly 216/220 comm gear, missing 5 augments. He also grabbed the instance buff at the start. I had a little bit of trouble towards the end, starting in the room with EPHEMERES, but he was able to make it through to the end without too many deaths. The only time his companion had trouble healing was when there were a large amount of adds, or when multiple adds were focusing on him.

 

My lvl 65 Scoundrel ran through Nar Shaddaa's Star Fortress with an influence 47 companion using tank stance for the first half of the FP and heal stance for the second half. She also did not grab any of the buffs, as you would do when going for "The One and Only" achievement. (I got that achievement with her prior to the companion nerfs.) Her dps set is mostly 216/220 comm gear, fully augmented, and her heal set is 220/224 (2 pieces still 216) set pieces, also fully augmented. I run her as heals in my progression raid group, but run her as dps when I'm questing. I'm better at heals with my scoundrel than I am dps, but I know my Scoundrel's dps spec better than I do my Watchman Sentinel. With my Scoundrel, I ran through most of Star Fortress as Scrapper with little trouble, but when I reached the end where you have to chase the Exarch through the three rooms with adds, I had...issues. I tried different role combinations: myself as dps, companion as heals; myself as heals, companion as tank; myself as heals, companion as dps. When I had my companion tank, they couldn't kill all the adds fast enough. When I had my companion dps, I pulled agro while healing and ended up dying faster. I didn't bother trying double dps, as there was so much incoming damage, I'm pretty sure we would have died quickly. I might go back later and try that though, for science. The only way I was able to get through the third room was to put my companion back as heals and respec as Ruffian instead of Scrapper. I think the only reason Ruffian worked better than Scrapper was due to the fact that the latter has more effective attacks that can be used at mid range instead of being confined to only melee range. And seeing how, especially in room 3, you have to constantly be moving around, not having any reliable mid to long range attacks made dealing with the adds extremely difficult.

 

I streamed myself running these two tests, and saved the recording. The uncut video is here.

 

Points of interest:

00:28:25 - Sentinel Run - EPHEMERES Room

00:30:45 - Sentinel Run - Chasing the Exarch

00:44:45 - Sentinel Run - Exarch Battle

01:19:00 - Scoundrel Run - EPHEMERES Room (Scrapper)

01:21:17 - Scoundrel Run - Chasing the Exarch (Scrapper)

01:48:19 - Scoundrel Run - Chasing the Exarch (Sawbones)

01:57:30 - Scoundrel Run - Chasing the Exarch (Ruffian)

02:02:35 - Scoundrel Run - Exarch Battle (Ruffian)

 

So, yes, out of my current experiences, soloing the Heroic 2 Star Fortresses are definitely still doable. "The One and Only" achievement is also still obtainable, although I was a little disappointed that, at least on my Scoundrel, two of her three disciplines seemed less than adequate for the important parts of the instance. Even though her companion was at a high influence level, it didn't seem to help at all when using the less than adequate disciplines. Before the nerf, I was able to solo the Heroic 2 Star Fortress well enough with the Scrapper discipline. (It was still tough though, for the same reasons I gave above.) Though I don't know if that's more a companion issue, or more of a this-discipline-doesn't-have-a-useful-kit-in-this-situation issue. But, regardless, I do agree that soloing the Heroic 2 version should definitely be a challenge, and it most certainly is a worthy challenge.

[soulseekerr]

Please give us your feedback, and we simply ask you to be as constructive as possible. Include information such as:

• 
  
• Your level
  65
   
   
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating
  216 w/2 piece set bonus half gear augmented with acc/crit/alacrity
  actual stats:
  Mastery: 4662
  Endurance: 5636
  Power: 1810
  Crit: 1010
  Alacrity: 362
  Accuracy: 689
  Presence: 1785
   
   
  
• Discipline
  Vigilance Jedi Guardian
   
   
  
• Companion
  T7-01
   
   
  
• Companion role
  Heals
   
   
  
• Companion Influence level
  13
   
   
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?)
  Heroic SF.
   
  Pre-4.0.2: was solo these once I got a few gear upgrades and learned the fights (slightly weaker gear than I have currently). Just prior to 4.0.2 was able to solo them with some moderate difficulty on a couple fights, using most or all of my defensive cooldowns.
   
  Post 4.0.2: Not able to solo Paladin or other champion bosses. At best able to get paladin to 30% health after blowing all defensive cd's.
   
   
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content
  All of the planetary heroics I've tried have been easily soloable both before and after the patch.
  

[Mobyslick]

• Leveling Content - "companion's role shouldn't matter" - please take a look at the Bounty Hunter class quest in which the player has to win the grand melee to be a part of the Great Hunt. There are 4 strong opponents versus the player. I couldn't do it post-patch with a healing Mako. Tried again with her set on tank and barely scraped by. Maybe my results are not typical but this is something for you to consider.
  
• Heroic 2 Missions - seems balanced pretty well, I breezed through the Hutta ones with Mako tanking and myself as an Arsenal Merc. They are starter planet ones so I expected them to not be too hard. On the next planet Dromund Kaas they were a little harder but just required more care about target priority and being prepared. On Makeb with my level 58 (capped at 56) Jedi Guardian, Vigilance discipline, with full Fractured Pummeler's MK-2 gear (rating 148), and healing Kira at influence level 24, I managed to solo a Heroic but found it a challenge and I had to run away from a couple fights where a patrolling elite wandered in. As it was my first time ever in that mission I am satisfied with that level of challenge. I don't remember the name of it but it's the one where you have to broadcast false orders, then beat up fallen Jedi, assassins, and finally Mandalorians.
  

[Cristiyana]

Your level: 46-49

Roughly Average Item Rating: Null since I was trying to finish the story line for my consular

Discipline : Shadow DPS

Companion: Both Qyzen and Zennith

Companion role : Healer

Companion Influence level 5 and 6

Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) N/A

Your personal experience while playing this content

Content so far had been great. I've had fun and it was nice to be able to do heroics on planets without /needing/ to group up. However just trying to finish up my Jedi shadow last night became horribly hard. I almost died many times over on normal mobs. Two silvers in a normal area almost killed me and my companion. I had to constantly stop and wait for my heroic moment to come off it's cool down to use it just so I could get past groups that I had to fight. You are getting enough information on lvl 65s and their stuff. I don't know if anyone has posted anything about lower level toons since there's 53 pages to go through. But this leaves me less than happy about attempting to work on my trooper's story. If my shadow had such a hard time with Qyzen being just influence 6, I'm surely going to die and need my heroic abilities CONSTANTLY as I work on my little level 26 or so trooper.

[Ghisallo]

I just don't see BW changing anything now or later, they say this thread is for feedback. 99% sure they will look at all these posts and comments and still walk away, changing nothing.

 

I said elsewhere that BW clearly had a plan for this expac. The progression noted in Eric's OP here was the plan I detailed. I don't work for Bioware, I just understand content design so it was easy to deduce. I said this though because people were complaining about what happened to companions... My point was to say "your issue REALLY isn't with companions, its with the design of the entire expac and its progression path, the companions are only a part of that."

 

So now we have this post. Eric has made it clear how their intent with this expac and has asked for information from people to achieve this intent. The problem is this...context. Some people will completely ignore context. I have read a lot of responses here. Even when detailed some of them are not really responding to Eric's request. Even with the details, while not all come right out and say it, they say "I think the medium difficulty you have as a goal is too high.".

 

If/when BW does NOT reduce the medium difficulty to low, make it so you don't have to grind to do an H2 SF some people will say " they didn't listen." This is simply not the case. You can not simply change the raison d'etre of an expac with the snap of fingers. Things like this have only so much wiggle room. It's like a lot of things in life, people can listen to you BUT still disagree and make a decision you are not thrilled with.

 

That said

Lvl 65 Guardian/Vigilance spec

216/208 gear mix

Lana healing affection 18-21 (doing a review of multiple)

Nar Shaddah star Fortress, alderaan, Nar Shaddah and Belsavis weekly heroics.

 

These all seemed to be pretty much what you describe, H2 SF was definitely a challenge as I did not have faction with Alliance to get the buffs, only the "free one" in the first room, the old world planet heroics were also no issue. I will update after Voss and Makeb.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Ghisallo