Companion Change Feedback

[Dalagante]

65

Mostly 216 gear some 220

Sniper Marksmanship

Xalex

Healing

50

Planetary Heroics and Star Fortress solo and Heroic

 

Well come background on me first I would say I am a above average player. I am currently in a casual guild but have been an very active member hard core progression raiding guild not world first but farming top end content. Didn't happen in this game but in previous games we had boss on farm that had to be nerf because too hard. My experience isn't what I am no why an average player.

 

Heroic 2 It depends on the Heoric when I go through them next week I update but some I could fly through others required skill to get done even at my level but generally I would think very soloable.

 

Star Fortress

Solo- Paladin gave me issue the first time but after that it was pretty easy and straight forward. It is pretty much what I expected from solo content.

 

Heroic- The interesting thing was the paladin was pretty easy. It wasn't even a fight. The Knight I ran into completely owned me. I am sure I figure out what aspect of the fight I am missing since it is my firs time through but I have found when I think things are challenging most normal players complain it's impossible.

 

Personally for me I think the nerf was needed but I think you it might have been a little too far. This is where I wish 4.0 would have been launched at and then may got a buff a month later. Trying to look at it from a normal players perspective I think I would say

Heoric- for me pretty easy I would say for most player probably do able in good gear and good rotation and strats.

Star Fortress (solo) same as above

Star Fortress(heoric) To hard to say since I have only tried it a few times but I could see people getting frustrated pretty quick which even if it isn't hard might get people to label it impossible.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Dalagante

[Kiesu]

I had absolutely no problem completing Heroic Starfortress after nerf. It was actually more fun, not a faceroll like before.

[Narsikus]

we want to gather your feedback

Nah, too late

[graumonk]

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

 

I should note that in addition to the companion influence levels I have Legendary status on my characters.

 

• Your level: 65
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating 208-216
  
• Discipline - Defense Guardian
  
• Companion - T7
  
• Companion role - Heals
  
• Companion Influence level - 28
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) Heroic (w/ buffs)
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content - Slightly harder than before the patch. Certain NPCs do far more damage than before the patch but the damage was able to be mitigated by defensive abilities. Very doubtful that I could survive in either of the DPS specs though.
  

 

I figure I will add my experience on a non-65s too.

 

• Your level: ~25
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating 62-72
  
• Discipline - Infiltration Shadow
  
• Companion - Qyzen
  
• Companion role - Heals/Tank/DPS
  
• Companion Influence level - 10
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) N/A
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content - 2+ Heroics on this character were very difficult, and leveling isn't as much fun now. In 2+ Heroics Qyzen couldn't tank, heal, or DPS well enough to survive groups of mobs. If I survived it was almost always with Qyzen dead and me near dead myself. I respeced the class to Kinetic (tank) and survivability went way up. Even after the respec I was running into problems where Elite mobs were able to out-dps Qyzen's healing though. This was being pretty level-appropriate geared and slightly over-leveled vs the mobs.
   
  

 

My thoughts: Companions were probably overpowered before, but honestly the lower level game was far more fun when they were overpowered. I don't know if I would want to start fresh on a new account/server with a rather... unimpressive... companion. Over-all it seems like Tank classes have an advantage in that they can just survive the healing nerf better than DPS classes.

 

 

 

Responses above.

[NVEBRE]

Feedback time!

Subject 1:

 

Sith Juggernaut 26th level - Rage spec. (Current active character for game-play)

 

Leveling experience:

Companion : Healer Vette and later Quinn. Experience is smooth as ever, plowing through content without any difficulty at all.

 

Heroic quests :

Level appropriate Heroics are still easy but much more interesting than before., and don't require any tactics more advanced than - don't pull more groups at once.

 

My brother who finished KoTFE story today said it was nothing but enjoyment. That much about leveling experience. Now lets focus on high level Heroics:

 

Basic rules when doing the high-level heroics:

1) Always clear the mobs in vicinity of quest objectives before you activate them!!! More ofted than not activation of quest objective spawns more mobs and you risk making things far more difficult then they really are it those around notice you while in fight with spawned ones.

2) Always scout for, isolate and kill the walking mobs !!! You never know when will they find you and will you be fighting something else at the time.

3) Of course, don't pull more than one group at he time...

 

With those in mind:

 

Subject 2:

 

Lvl 65 Operative: Concealment discipline. Mixture of 190, 200 and 208 gear.

 

Heroic quests:

Used lvl 1 influence companion (Ship droid) in tank mode. Not using Heroic moment and Unity in any case to make this feedback as general as possible. Also, not using stealth and pre-battle CC, because some classes don't have access to those.

 

Focused just on hardest : Illum and Makeb ones, and just by using above mentioned rules managed to clear most of the without much effort, using stuns and interrupts when available, It was engaging and fun.

 

Only problem that I had was that during "Observer" champion Guard droid was surrounded by gold mobs and it was too much for poor droid to handle so we died once but at least we killed the elites. Once we attacked him he alone he wasn't that big of a deal. Also while killing the Ratcatcher comp. must be switched to heal mode so it doesn't get killed by fire.

Only annoying thing is that (only at the empire side) champions have too much HP. They are not tough, but take a bit too much time to kill.

 

Only one that I couldn't finish is the one with the gas room (False History). Mechanic simply requires two people to turn of the gas. One person can not do it that fast.

 

 

Subject 3:

 

Lvl 65 Jedi Shadow. Serenity discipline. Approximately the same gear average as Operative above.

 

Same rules as above, Same companion, no stealth,Heroic moments etc...

 

Same experience as above, except the quests on the republic side were even more fun by design. And champions have less health than Imperial ones and were killed much more quickly. I don't know why this disparity. Would be nice if imperial ones were brought to republic levels. Other that than great and engaging experience (especially liked the Savage skies - nice one)

 

Quests that I couldn't finish: The one with the gas room, same reason as above, and "Vipers Nest". That one seems as it hasn't been adjusted properly for solo play. Way too much silvers pouring out and eventually you get swarmed. I tried with lvl 11 companion (because that's the highest I got ) later. Lasted longer but we were killed eventually even with unity and heroic moment. That quest definitely needs some down-turning.

 

All in all experience was great and, other than those mentioned quests that some require more work to be done on them ,I am very much pleased. Thank you if you are reading this!

Edited November 20, 2015 by NVEBRE

[Ghisallo]

I have absolutely no issues with the difficulty of the new 65 content, none zip, nada, I do hold issue with the old content having inflated difficulty.

and yes I already unsubbed, hanging around in the hopes they fix this mess they caused.

Again a simple make level sync optional would likely solve 80% of this.

 

First let me say I have to appreciate how you have addressed this issue. Unlike others, who simply resorted to insults and cries of elitist if someone spoke about a design intent in the game and stuff you asked questions and tried to understand what they were saying, even if you did not agree.

 

The problem is this... For the purposes of this expac, the level sync weekly content is "new" level 65 content...it is integral to the story. As your character you are not going back to fighting house Ulgo on Alderaan, you are going to fight the Eternal Empire, so level sync. Now I know for some this is just a BS rationalization but it is the raison d'etre for the entire expansion... rationalize level sync'd old content with the story so that old content becomes part of the Lvl 65 grind. It's not going to change.

 

Now I don't know if you were part of the crew that I speak of next. If not don't think this is pointed to you at all. Back in April/May/June, when they announced no new FPs or OPs for now I and others said "this is a gamble. How long will people want to do the same FPs and OPs they already did 100 times before.". They responses basically boiled down to " it is level appropriate due to level sync and provides gear upgrades so it is new" and/or "they realize that solo story players are the majority!"

 

I pointed out there is no majority in an MMO when it comes to content enjoyed, just different sized minorities and moved on. So my question is if level sync and rewards made FPs and OPs "new content" how is level sync with the H2s not?

[Katahn]

Level 65 Sith Juggernaut

Immortal

Mix of 208/216 gear

 

Presence boosts

Legendary player

1/3-1/2 or so of the available datacrons

All companion stories completed

Human legacy racial

 

Companion: Koth (mid-20s Influence) in healer mode

 

I had, prior to the nerf, soloed every one of the Star Fortresses on heroic mode to complete the "free the worlds" quest. I decided he would be my best guage for the difficulty of the heroics.

 

Everything was basically fine (but noticeably slower) until I got to the final series of rooms where I need to turn off the stabilizers prior to the final boss fight. I managed the first two stabilizers nicely, but the third one just repeatedly wrecked me. Koth was either not healing me at all or was barely healing me. I tried to keep aggro on me (tank after all) but once it was he couldn't keep up with the needed healing despite me burning all of my DCDs and trying to stay out of the "stupid circles".

 

I used none of the Alliance buffs. This was on the Tatooine SF.

 

In the past Koth has always been my best healer, and from an RP perspective I like using him because my juggernaut is romancing him. Feels right but I digress.

 

Possibly after I boost all of my gear to 216 level and augment it out I might be able to manage it. Boosting Koth's influence into the 30s would probably help as well.

 

However if I can barely manage it as a tank with a companion healing, what does that mean for just about any DPS class? What about people who aren't Legacy 50, Legendary, etc.? What about me on my DPS classes when I take them through?

 

I don't like this change and it basically shuts off the heroic SFs from completion solo which is bad. I logged off of the game to come post this and that is not typically in my nature (I post from work during slow times, not at night when I can log in and have fun).

 

If companions aren't buffed, or the free the worlds quest isn't shifted to allow for completion in solo mode, or some other concession, I cannot see myself continuing to remain subscribed. I can come up with less face-grindingly painful things to do with my time and money.

[DarthThuzad]

• 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
  

 

65

Mostly 220s

Darkness Assassin

Used a 26 influence Senya. Had her go damage on trash, heal on bosses.

Heroic Star Fortress (One for All run)

 

I completed "one for all run" without any trouble whatsoever, aside from Senya feeling the need to stand in red circles on the Exarch or the third reactor room, which were the single times I was actually in danger of dying. Still didn't die nor pop heroic moment at any point in the instance. I do like how it now doesn't feel like the companion carries me. Go into a thing that's supposed to be for two players solo, you do need to be great at your class. No more faceroll. I like it.

 

I second the notion for a post 4.0.2 One For All achievement. This'll have to serve as proof for now

Edited November 20, 2015 by DarthThuzad

[-Deathpool-]

Hello team,

 

I haven't gotten around to doing Star Fortress this week on my main toon which is only one I'll be talking about, but I have given him a go at some of the heroics.

Level: 65

Rough Average Gear Rating: 208/216 with 2 220 pieces.

Discipline: Deception Assassin

Companion: Lana

Companion Role: Healer

Companion Influence: 21ish

Missions worked on: Alderaan(sorry for potential misspell) Heroics (all of them)

Personal Experience: What I consider Above Average

Thoughts: Not much sample data, I'll be updating this as I get around to doing more content on this toon, but I felt like I was playing pre 4.0 style again. I had to be smart about going into mob groups,using mind trap and such to increase survival chance, but I didn't think any of it was too hard. I only died once when I decided I really didn't feel like fighting my way through all the mobs on the generator mission, so I had too much pull. Lana's healing was sufficient, enough to keep me alive, but not so much that I didn't feel like I could defeat any high difficulty mob without having to even worry about my rotation. This is the type of play style I enjoy. Analyze mob group, find most effective way to go in for the kill, succeed or fail. If I fail, I'll try a different approach, Like I said, though, not much experience to go with, but I'll be trying to keep this updated, or just post another reply after I've had more in field testing.

[JAOMSYH]

I personally find it ironic that you guys are just now asking for feedback now that the player base who is the most mad about the changes have left and moved on. No matter what feedback you get it will be biased in some form. Good job guys, my hat is off to you.

 

Behind closed doors at a bioware meeting - let's roll out a totally new story and make our game more enjoyable for the casual market share. Then after they all sub again and we get the influx of cash we need to hit our bonuses let's take it most of it away and make it back in to a tedious grind. Who cares that you zzz gear to complete stuff that only awards xxx gear. Once the casual market share get mad and leave we will then ask for feedback. Why would we do that? So that the feedback we receive will show that we did the right thing. Sounds like profit and winning to me. What do you all say? *room full of people cheer*

[ShepardSpock]

This is now moot. If anyone believes the team will listen is only fooling themselves. The devs lowered the hammer knowing exactly what they were doing. Now that the sub numbers went down, they are now trying to save the farce.

[JAOMSYH]

This is now moot. If anyone believes the team will listen is only fooling themselves. The devs lowered the hammer knowing exactly what they were doing. Now that the sub numbers went down, they are now trying to save the farce.

 

Totally agree

[Psicotic]

Translation they feel fine for my 65 in 220 gear were i see the problem as a founder you have casuals that have been player the game for a while know there class in lower heroics dying over and over again not because they need to learn how to play BIOWARE because they do not have CD large influence rank.. SO tonight BW i will make a sin since that is amy main not use heroic moment gear it as a twenk and video it and show you you low level content heroic can not be down like that with only a few abilities and low influence. With a large under standing of the class it boils down to you made low level content feel like heave grind feast all the players you listen to to nerf comps were 65 founders that know this game in and out backwards forwards. While i really could care less about pve content i care about game health as a hole. And to make these changes with out testing them on gut reaction to elder game members is dumb business tell that to your devs please.

 

Some happen to want to see this game have future longer then a few months . Since Tuesday server pop have died out by 15% when kofte was fixing server for the increase in login capacity only a week before.. This is a issue you guys can not afford to ignore and pass over with we need your feed back from elder game member who should know how to clear this easy with high influence and high gear. Because while planet pops had increased with kotfe they are now back down again see a pattern. While there are more 65 on those planets there are less and less lower level why is this because. People have said screw this new leveling experience as it feel like i spend more time healing my self then a comp does and i wait around healing my self because my comp is to week.

 

It floors me that you all never learn form your mistakes you do every expac ravagers any one Eric you guys handle that wrong and handle this wrong. You never ever as a MMO put in a nerf with out putting it public to test and slowly adjust it over a week on pts and put out a notice on the alert that you need people on pts to test the changes because we want to get it right. You all should apologize to all the lowbies for making this game none fun for us elder know are class knowledge players. All's you need to do is look at fleet chat on the complaints. Your post is just stall tactics to not do any thing while you have meetings with bit raider vendors to figure out whats wrong with patching.

 

Sorry to be so harsh but BIOWARE and eric you have failed this Game....

 

Soo true and im with you on that and i unsub until i see a fix.

 

Toons : all classes to 65

Gear : 208 - 216

Can i do content? yes for my gear and bonus, even cant solo all the H2+ some still are harder to imposible with companions nerf.

Enjoying the game as "intended" ? NO IM NOT ENJOYING THE GAME.

 

My sub runs out on 8 days i hope we see some fixes other way must move to another game what im seeing dont cares much to all you on the BW team since you dont show any evidence we as costumers really care.

[Eilu]

• Your level: 65
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating: 216 & fully augmented
  
• Discipline: Corruption (Healing) Sorc
  
• Companion: Lana
  
• Companion role: Tank or DPS
  
• Companion Influence level: 40
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?): Heroic SF
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content::
  

 

I've done a couple Heroic Star Fortresses over that last couple nights, Tatooine and Nar Shaddaa, and neither experience was positive. Did I manage to complete them--yes. Did I enjoy them--no. I agree that companions may have needed retuned, but they haven't just been "retuned", they've been neutered. I employed Lana in both DPS or tanking roles, but both were painfully slow. It was mindnumbing. If you want to push the "challenge" envelope that the vocal minority has whined into your ear, actually put time into new (tested) mechanics that challenge our tactics instead of wasting many people's limited time.

 

Lana in tanking stance is still fairly flimsy, her DPS is piss, and it's anything but a joy to watch the mob healthbars inch their way down--even with me multitasking both heals and DPS (as a healer, so the latter is poor to begin with). So in the case of any sort of DPS race, or situations where you have escalating add numbers or spawns as the fight draws on, good luck-- (and that's if your less than bright companion that you try to awkwardly pull out of things doesn't also randomly just get booted OFF a platform and killed leaving you by yourself.)

 

Lana in DPS stance is marginally faster, but squishy as hell, still requires me to manage heals and DPS because hers is godawful, and it requires full ability and cooldown use. In the case of boss or multiple hard hitting elites, using the Alliance instance buffs/special abilities and a prayer that your CC doesn't get broken early was also prerequisite to avoid death. Having to turn off companion AOE abilities in a fight for fear of breaking CC is increasingly frustrating when the DPS she's doing with ALL of them active is already horrible--so it gets that much slower. On top of that, I had to employ combat rezzes repeatedly because there were still times I could not keep up with the spikes on her, so I'd kite the mob around until I could heal up and stun them then rez her, or CC again.

 

Even in 216 fully augmented gear, a lvl 40 influence companion (who at this point, I won't bother another 10 levels with, I've seen the horrible numbers of disappointed guildmates with lvl 50 influence), with Alliance buffs/abilities, there were still stages at which I had a couple wipes.

 

Yet these instances....drop 208 gear. What is even the point?

 

The gear rating alone tells me it was not intended as the "progression" or "endgame" that some keep trying to insist it is. The game, and its players, have simply been the victims of a poorly planned and executed sledgehammer nerf. Why not try it in increments of 25%-50% first? Why not actually use your PTS to establish the proper numbers of reduction instead of dropping it on LIVE servers?

 

Just bleh! You're not the only ones that will suffer as a result of declining subs for this mishap--anyone that is a longtime player that WANTS to stick with it gets to see the game pop die all over again. It kills my will to stay at this point too. You had it right, you screwed it up.

[Ksen]

Ok

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

Your level

65 (Legacy 50 all class buffs)

Roughly Average Item Rating

216 /208 augmented +2 relic 56lvl

Discipline - Vanguard shield spec/ or plasmatech /or Tactics

Stats:

Mastery: 4894

Endurance: 5503

Power: 1860

Crit: 852

Presence: 2085

 

Companion

Treek -(try Lana and Koth but they was practically useless and glitchy. Treek also have some glitch bt it wasn't critical)

 

Companion role

Heals - (try her dps - my tank done it better)

Companion Influence level

20

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

Heroic SF Alderaan/Tatooine.

 

Summing up - in tank build it was doable, not very challengeable but long and boring.

In plasmatech/tactics - impossible for me even with all 4 buffs and heroic moment.

Weekly heroics can be done in both specs but it's not fun anymore, it's tedious grind. And in damage spec i die a lot.

Mb i give it a try with my heal operative. I still have 6 sub days.

I always thought that I would remain a sub from start to the end, no matter what.

Bt all this grind doesn't add any challenge, just tediousness. And many bugs still in place. I love Swtor class stories and companions. But now my companions are broken and this game have even more bug and glitches.

[ShepardSpock]

Too funny. You need 216 gear to do things that drop 208 gear. Shows how badly designed this was.

[Nommaz]

First let me say I have to appreciate how you have addressed this issue. Unlike others, who simply resorted to insults and cries of elitist if someone spoke about a design intent in the game and stuff you asked questions and tried to understand what they were saying, even if you did not agree.

 

The problem is this... For the purposes of this expac, the level sync weekly content is "new" level 65 content...it is integral to the story. As your character you are not going back to fighting house Ulgo on Alderaan, you are going to fight the Eternal Empire, so level sync. Now I know for some this is just a BS rationalization but it is the raison d'etre for the entire expansion... rationalize level sync'd old content with the story so that old content becomes part of the Lvl 65 grind. It's not going to change.

 

Now I don't know if you were part of the crew that I speak of next. If not don't think this is pointed to you at all. Back in April/May/June, when they announced no new FPs or OPs for now I and others said "this is a gamble. How long will people want to do the same FPs and OPs they already did 100 times before.". They responses basically boiled down to " it is level appropriate due to level sync and provides gear upgrades so it is new" and/or "they realize that solo story players are the majority!"

 

I pointed out there is no majority in an MMO when it comes to content enjoyed, just different sized minorities and moved on. So my question is if level sync and rewards made FPs and OPs "new content" how is level sync with the H2s not?

 

As my player, if I got to Alderaan to speak to, whatshisname, and then get sent out to the fortress to click on the shield, then yes level sync is fine.

If I got though the bunker to destroy it, then level sync and the difficulty are fine.

If I got to the SF to solo whether 2H or not than I expect it to be hard.

In fact not once have I asked for pre nerf difficulties, but a happy medium would be great.

 

However if whathisname sends me on a normal planetary mission, one that I have done before to kill kiliks because they are about to invade the castle, this is in fact part of the story from 4 years ago, I did this levelling through the planet, then no I should not be level synced or gimped.

 

I understand you say its reset so new content, however you should replace new with recycled.

 

The issue is that there is no new content for this part, so to avoid having to make some (which is how it seems to me) they took old content and then reduced our power, its not to fit in with the story, as it doesn't, (go and get some gear for our troops) sure so send me on a mission where I am killing level 65 mobs with crates or something, not send me to old content who's story doesn't fit the new and act like its new content..

[Fallensouls]

You know what Eric all the data you need to know is the money, how much money are you willing to lose? How many subs does it take to get thru to you guys or get your bosses attention. That's the numbers you need to worry about. You are making a huge mistake by taking your time on this. I would rather people are happy and paying and playing but its your call. I dont want server pop to drop any lower is why I am saying this, the game is no fun without people to play with. Edited November 20, 2015 by Fallensouls

[Diora]

Hey folks,

 

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.

 

The team will be reviewing all feedback, along with supporting data, to see what / if any future adjustments need to be made. Thank you all in advance for your feedback!

 

-eric

 

Level 65

item rating mix of 216/220, fully augmented.

Merc, Innovative ordnance. I have been playing swtor since beta, and MMOs in general for 10 years, so I'm no noob.

Companion: Senya, rank 30, dps/heals. I chose her since rank 30 is easily obtainable my most normal players. I have higher ranked companions, but for the purposes of testing, i chose one in the "middle" rank range.

 

In order to test the changes, I went into H2+ Star Fortress, Voss, since that's considered to be one of the more challenging ones, and also it's the one I got the "One and Only" achievement on before the patch. I used zero alliance buffs, to simulate the achievement.

 

Trash, Senya set to DPS, i had absolutely no issues. First Paladin killed us pretty quickly, they hit hard. I changed her to heals and managed to kill him, but I had to use all my CDs (except heroic moment).

 

Second paladin was easier, probably because i was more wary.

 

the Praetorian was fine, my hp got a little lower than before, but all in all not bad.

 

the rooms around the reactor was where i began to have issues. First, I was hit by the "disappearing Dampers" bug, which is ok for the first two rooms, but the last room proved to be a challenge and we got overwhelmed 3 times before I finally managed to (barely) live through it. Being a merc with no taunt skills, it was challenging to keep mobs off senya while she healed. consequently, I died because she was taking too much damage and healing herself more than me.

 

On to the Exarch. well, on to death. Not sure if the others would be different, but after one attempt, I knew there would be no way to kill him now. even with my shield running, he hit me for 14k a pop, which, as we all know, there's no way a healer companion could keep up with after the patch. Not sure if it's a function of being too soft as a DPS merc, but even avoiding all mechanics, his melee just ate me alive too fast for Senya to heal through. I ran around throwing my dots on him and shooting myself with Kolto Shot and Emergency Scan, to no avail. I thought about speccing arsenal, but that's even less mobile, and i'm sure it would end up the same. Being stubborn, I tried again, this time with Senya set to tank. HA! she died faster than I did.

 

On this same character, as a note, all of the weekly Heroics are fairly easy, even when I use a rank 10 companion.

 

I'm going to say something that might be unpopular, but after reading your goals as articulated in the OP, I think only a very slight buff to companions' healing is needed, along with some bug and AI fixes, especially with the tanking armor/shield issues. I'm sure if I used a rank 50 companion I could have completed the "One and Only" style HSF.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Diora

[Ghisallo]

This is now moot. If anyone believes the team will listen is only fooling themselves. The devs lowered the hammer knowing exactly what they were doing. Now that the sub numbers went down, they are now trying to save the farce.

 

OR it could be this...

 

They knew, based on the stated goals for difficulty in this OP, that the companions were overpowered. The longer you let it stay that way the worse the backlash can get. Yes it could be worse than it is.

 

So they design the nerf based largely on math sourced by data mining. This is never 100% accurate but it needs to be pushed because it is obvious that their preplanned difficulty has been completely invalidated by the companions.

 

Now Eric makes his first post. He says that things should be more challenging, he asks for feedback. The only feedback is "this should be doable solo!!!" When it comes to the H2 SF. A couple of us point out that is supposed to be the goal of a grind... We don't know what we are talking about though. We say that the H2s in the old world are doable, the response is "yeah but its old world, it should be easy."

 

Well BW wants to actually make people happy, within the borders of their plan of the expac. People are not seeing the obvious so Eric needs to hold their hand with a new post explaining that the old world H2s are not supposed to be easy and the H2 SF is supposed to be hard and at the end of a grind and then ask for people to give actual detailed feedback instead of hyperbolic rage posts.

 

In essence people have to decide. Do you accept that the level synced H2s are NOT supposed to be easy, that the H2 SF is supposed to be hard and at the end of a grind? If yes give constructive feed back. If no speak with your wallet. It really is that simple. It just seems some people hope if they shout enough or insult and threaten enough BW will completely rethink the paradigm of the expac. They won't. It's one thing to bring back flying mounts but its an entirely different thing to redesign the complete pace of progression in a game.

[TFBWYAG]

You know what Eric all the data you need to know is the money, how much money are you willing to lose? How many subs does it take to get thru to you guys or get your bosses attention. That's the numbers you need to worry about. You are making a huge mistake by taking your time on this. I would rather people are happy and paying and playing but its your call.

 

Only one DEV Tracker Post today,,, this one,,, and I'm pretty sure they've gone home for the day,,,

 

Somehow, I get the feeling this was a bone tossed out in the middle of the woods to get all of us into one small area, a CC if you will. Crowd Control works, less impact on the forums. Do I believe someone is going to sit and read page by page everything posted here? Personally, I don't. Only time will tell if they want their game to stay afloat, or sink.

[Nommaz]

Hey folks,

 

 

• 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.
   
  

-eric

 

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

 

Soo you lied, or you are misinformed?

[Asechikan]

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-balance sage

•Companion-lana

•Companion role-healing

•Companion Influence level-15

•Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) SF heroic/H2 weeklys

•Your personal experience while playing this content:

Over all I have to say it is pretty bad after the patch. Most H2's doable but slow, however Attempted solo SF heroic took me twice as long to get to end, died 4 times in row and quit as I was unable to get past 3rd room to final boss. Simply too much damage not enough CC or healing. IMO Companions are no better than they were prior to KoTFE, and thus nullifies the entire expansion for me w/o any real new content.

Simply put time invested vs reward is horrible. There is very little enjoyment out of the game at this point when entire expansion is a mindless grind now made 4x longer and 6x more tedious. As a casual gamer I was having fun prior to this patch, could have tolerated a small reduction in companion effectiveness but 75% is over the top by far.

[Adaarye]

Its the same 50-100 people now going back and forth. The "polls" can be tampered and only BW's data will reveal if a fix is needed.

 

You all need to keep telling yourself that. It's 7:50 PM, PST, west coast server Harbinger is at "Standard"

 

I was in Fleet at the Galactic Market kiosks at about 6 PM wrapping things up in preparation for my departure from game when my sub is up in a couple of days more. Only 5 or 6 people around the kiosks compared to Monday when it was 3 layers of people thick around each kiosk. I know. It's where I was going to get my Rakghoul (sp) daily.

 

Odessen is very sparse compared to what it was pre-nerf.

 

These are my observations on the heaviest server going, post-nerf.

 

Those are some lovely rose colored glasses you have there! Same 50-100 people .. right!

[Ghisallo]

Level 65

 

I'm going to say something that might be unpopular, but after reading your goals as articulated in the OP, I think only a very slight buff to companions' healing is needed, along with some bug and AI fixes, especially with the tanking armor/shield issues. I'm sure if I used a rank 50 companion I could have completed the "One and Only" style HSF.

 

I think you are right but it will only be unpopular for the following reason. When they confirmed the nerf I said the people upset were upset about the wrong thing. Their issue was that BW's plan for the expac and their desires were contradictory and that they needed to convince BW to somehow change their plan because without the plan change try would not even consider reverting the companions. I didn't know what BW had planned though. Now people not giving useful data are still dancing around this. I don't know why, but some people are avoiding the difficulty goals set forth by the OP. Not everyone of course but enough to make it frustrating.