Companion Change Feedback

[Razgon]

Loved the 4.0 changes, came back big time and had fun - now? Not so much. Sadly, I unsubscribed.

 

Plenty of other games to take up my time. The reason I post this, instead of just quietly vanishing, is of course I hope the companion changes will be reversed.

[Infernixx]

If you're talking about the blue things I do have them on and it still does it...

 

for some stupid reason, when you make the leap across, the game sets you facing the edge of the platform instead of facing you forward toward the door. Don't press forward on the keyboard. that'll walk you off the platform to your death.

 

Instead, press both mouse buttons at the same time while toward the door ahead of you. When you land, it'll turn you around and walk you toward the door instead of walking you off the cliff.

[Ferretfur]

You need to get the shield on for those things to not pull you. You can get them by drop from the mobs in that area, or you can buy them for 1000 creds at the beginning of the area from the droid vendor there.

 

I don't think he was on about the solar flare streams, but when you click on the grapple box. It will pull you up, but then immediately drop you to your doom instead of placing you on the ledge.

 

While it has not happened to me, I have seen it happen to folks I was grouped with (yes, doing H2 with others, how novel) and it can be disorientating and annoying.

[DarthEnrique]

for some stupid reason, when you make the leap across, the game sets you facing the edge of the platform instead of facing you forward toward the door. Don't press forward on the keyboard. that'll walk you off the platform to your death.

 

Instead, press both mouse buttons at the same time while toward the door ahead of you. When you land, it'll turn you around and walk you toward the door instead of walking you off the cliff.

 

Next time I am on one I will... If it still does it I'll be filing a complaint especially because of the nerfing...

[tmwfte]

You need to get the shield on for those things to not pull you. You can get them by drop from the mobs in that area, or you can buy them for 1000 creds at the beginning of the area from the droid vendor there.

 

Even with the shield, the grapple is still glitched on numerous toons. On my guardian, shadow, and sniper, no issues whatsoever. On my sorc, it drops me about 75% of the time.

[Apache]

I wonder if they are even reading these posts.

 

have not seen a reply, .. kind of get the feeling like speaking to my grandma on the phone. she said hello and then walked away, i have been talking for 10 min. at some point i just hang up.

 

 

Im sure this thread is being skimmed for moderation purposes, but that's probably about it.

 

Its already Friday, and the devs don't work on the weekend, and Thanksgiving is next week, so Eric and company are probably already out of the door for their Thanksgiving holiday vacation.

 

We might see something from Eric after he gets back the following week. Monday November 30 at the earliest would be my guess.

 

And even then, I doubt we will see any kinds of changes until after the first of the year, if we see any kind of changes at all.

 

Edit- This thread is just to keep us busy. Misdirection

Edited November 20, 2015 by Apache

[fallrain]

Eric,

I'd like to start by doing what most have over looked in doing. I'd like to thank you for giving the community a chance to give you all feed back on the changes that were put in place. I would also like to apologize as a fellow programmer on behalf of the people that could or did not hand you or the rest of the team enough information in their feedback, as I understand that it will make it rather difficult for you or the team to figure out who or what needs to be changed further and where. To which I wish you the best of luck and that being said my feedback and thoughts are as follows:

 

Your level 65

Roughly Average Item Rating 208

Discipline- Leathality

Companion- ''Deadeye'' Leyata

Companion role- heals

Companion Influence level- 23

Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?) Voss Star Fortress solo mode AND the heroic on makeb called False History

Your personal experience while playing this content- I should not have to keep falling dead in a SOLO MODE Star Fortress to the Paladin as well as the Skytrooper Praetorian 4 times each to finally kill them. Just like makeb heroics should be done with a companion but you can't do that one solo so please fix it, thank you!

 

 

Should you find you need more info or further testing, please don't hesitate to ask. Hope you all have a fantastic day as well as a Great Holiday!!

[DarthEnrique]

I don't think he was on about the solar flare streams, but when you click on the grapple box. It will pull you up, but then immediately drop you to your doom instead of placing you on the ledge.

 

While it has not happened to me, I have seen it happen to folks I was grouped with (yes, doing H2 with others, how novel) and it can be disorientating and annoying.

 

Thank you yes that is what I'm talking about!

[DarthEnrique]

Also, I would like to apologize for a lot of my cussing. Having a really hard time in my life right now and TOR is my escape from it. I been wanting to play this game since it launched because I knew it was a continuation of KOTOR and KOTOR 2 and though I have liked the story line, from even before this game came out I've had a lot disappointment with certain problems concerning the game as I've previously mentioned and with my life as it is right now the nerfing for me took the disappointment one step too far and while I cannot fix my current life situation I am speaking up for this one and standing up for what I would like for this game because I've been a loyal fan of the whole storyline (from KOTOR to TOR) and am a dieheart Revan fan so I really would like this game to be the best and to be able to play it as I like it... This is literally the only MMORPG game I have ever played and will be the only one I ever will play because I am not a major MMO fan but I am a Star Wars fan and I love KOTOR and I liked KOTOR 2 but TOR has by far storyline wise not been a disappointment, I was disappointed in KOTOR 2 because Revan did not return but he did in this game not once but twice and I'm really hoping for a third time towards the end of the game because of my hope for the way the storyline is currently playing and a connection I see between my player and Revan (if anyone knows Revan's full story up to SoR and what happened in the three hundred years he was a prisoner of the Emperor.) Edited November 20, 2015 by DarthEnrique

[LordAlastor]

While an adjustment was needed, poor companion coding and a far too heavy nerfbat has made the companions just about worthless. Previously companions would at the least heal you, occasionally, and those heals were so amazing they carried you through. Now, if my companion, regardless of influence, heals me, its negligent. Where as in the past, with burst heals and occasional manual commands I could do Heroic 2+ content on any character with any healing companion, now these companions are healing for nearly nothing, if they heal at all. Lana Beniko for post KotFE content and Kira Carsen for pre-KotFE content for example. spend most of their battle lovingly poised right in the enemies space, spinning their lightsabers and occasionally calling out combat dialog, while I get my backside handed to me by five enemies with no cooldown timers. At this point you're better off hoping and praying you can get 3 more people, and hoping that at least 2 of the group are dedicated healers. And that's an impossibility now due to the fact that you've made nearly everything in KotFE a 'personal instance' moving even further away from previous promises in the first year of the game to address the fact that, as an MMO, we sometimes like to play, and be rewarded, together.

 

TL:DR your nerfbat was needed, but rather than the tap Companions deserved you swung so hard you knocked them out of the park and now they may as well not even be in game.

Edited November 20, 2015 by LordAlastor

[-Deathpool-]

• 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.
   
  
• 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?

 

 

Hi team,

I wrote a post yesterday, but as of that time I had only tried a handful of heroics, this post will be my thoughts on Star Fortress.

Level: 65

Average Gear Rating: 208/216 with 2 220 pieces

Discipline: Deception Assassin

Companion: Lana

Companion Role: Healer

Companion Influence level: 21

Skill Level: What I consider Above Average

Thoughts: I went ahead and decided to try doing a *The One and Only” run. (I completed it with minimal effort before 4.0.20) Anyways, I managed to defeat a few paladins, and got through to the final array stage with, given your post, the expected difficulty. During the final array stage though I gave up after dying a few times, but felt that I could have finished the run with better gearing. That being said, having the buffs, and all 4 of the alliance abilities would have made the run relatively easy, so after that I still feel that the companion system does not need to be put back to where it was last week. However, I do feel like maybe raising the heals a tad bit (say by like 20-35%) might have allowed me to complete the *The One and Only” run once again in the gear I was in, but getting better gear, and having to use higher influence companion isn't unreasonable given the purpose of the achievement.

 

On a side note: I did come across a post I felt mentioned a good idea. Having an in game poll so you can get a better idea of how people feel about the 4.0.2 patch, since many players probably don't post on the forums.

[ScarletBlaze]

Eric, you ask for feedback, and what I see is appalling, when last night this thread had over 1400 replies and this morning its down to 1017, so you are moderating the thread and what... removing all the ones you feel isnt necessary,

Whats the deal? Bad form old boy .. bad form. No matter how you try justify the change, or remove threads because you feel its too revealing.. the point is paying customers are not happy with the product. I find the removal of threads disturbing

 

Some of the posts early this morning were in violation of the TOS due to some of the things they said and they way they said it. I read some and shook my head. So if you can't follow the TOS then you have your post removed. There is a way to approach your unhappiness without saying things that are against the TOS.

[Neoforcer]

I kind of agree with this.

I think an underlying issue is that people were facerolling content and making a lot of credits. They can't do that anymore and now have to come here advocating to get it changed.

 

Heroics should be harder than the solo/story content period

 

Then buff heroics not nerf comp see what i did there. What i am tired of it you guys thinking this is all about you me me me i need hard contented. You could care less if low level feel the game is to hard after all Mr i don't call in coming guy you the piller of epic ness to all so remember when your staring down 500 npc by your self that you forgot to summons your camps as you hit the leap button lol. Does the best imitation of MOG nation...

[Kiesu]

Here I what I like to add that seams to have been missed by a lot of the raiders it may be ok For you but. I have taken the time last night and went to a sever that I had a fresh look at as if I was a newly sub and can tell you its ok up to a point. early 2h are ok asl long as I am on a class that can off heal. But the road block was Nar shada for me and could not even ask for help when your the one and only 1 on there. Buy time i got her there she was in all blue 80 gear with 22 mods in weapon and off hand. soon as Kaliyo was cc buy the mob I was dead the gold guys just kicked me and then right after i hit was another then dead. And had her up to 14. Most thing I have read is raiders with ops gear or some of the 216 and above and have a 50 or close to 50 seam to have no worriers . I would like to ask them to take the time I did and try it out on another sever where there blank and see. I feel the not asked for data seams to add a buff to the companions. Have all 8 class compassions done per 4.0 Datacrons that give presence have most of them so i wounder if that add on stuff dose help them out at all.

Fair enough point. I had a random lonesome toon sitting on an RP server I never bother to lvl, so I took your advice and went there to solo a heroic on a lowbie.

Scoundrel lv 24, soloed a Nar Shadda Heroic 2+ Lab Animals (the quest lv was 26). Still completely soloable heroic on a lowbie character with super poop gear on too (see screenshot, mainhand is lv 10 (and so was the rest of my gear) and still managed to solo the entire heroic. Low-lv, fresh server, no boosts, rank 3 companion, underlvl for the heroic, under geared for the heroic... no issue.

[mrwayn]

Ok, since the devs wanted our feedback, here is mine:

 

Lvl: 65

Item rating: mostly 216, a few 208 (no set bonus, no augments)

Discipline: BH Merc (Arsenal)

Companion: Lana

Companion role: Heal

Companion Influence: about 40

I tried some low lvl heroics first (hutta, DK) and as expected no trouble at all. I went up to Tatooine, still no problems. So I decided to give Corelia a try and I did not use a single DCD nor did I have to heal after combat. I went through the content pretty much as fast as before. The same goes for the Yavin and CZ dailies, which I did next. So I decided to give SF a try. Solo-mode first. I was never in trouble, but I noticed, that some of the normal elit guys hit much harder than the rest, even than the paladins.

So at last I tried SF heroic mode. I expected to fail at the exarch or in one of the rooms before him, because I would consider myself a casual player and as you can read above, my gear is not high-end. I was using the aliance buff. As I went through I had no big problems with the trash, some gold ones hit very hard (same as in Solo-mode). The praetorian was no big deal even though lana was knocked off the plattform and died about half way through. I used the gun-buff from Aygo and it went fine.

The first two rooms before the exarch went fine, no buffs or DCD needed. The third one went fine untill I had to click the pannel. I got pulled away and couldn't make it in time, so I had to start over and since I was already low in health I used the healing buff (from the Hutt I think) and it went fine from there.

I managed to kill the exarch at my first try. I used Heroic moment, and pretty much every aliance buff. Lana came close to death 2-3 times, but we survived.

 

So, after testing that stuff, the only thing that really bothers me about the nerf is, that I can't solo TFP's anymore (I know, they are not ment to be soloable, but still...^^) . After 4.0 it was a really nice challenge for me and it was nice to be able to finish the TFP-weekly by myself.

And don't get me wrong when you read this, I liked the pre-nerf companions better than what we have now and I would vote for buffing them up again anytime. All I say is, that for my gameplay the nerf did not change as much as I expected.

Edited November 20, 2015 by mrwayn

[Jadescythe]

Then buff heroics not nerf comp see what i did there. What i am tired of it you guys thinking this is all about you me me me i need hard contented. You could care less if low level feel the game is to hard after all Mr i don't call in coming guy you the piller of epic ness to all so remember when your staring down 500 npc by your self that you forgot to summons your camps as you hit the leap button lol. Does the best imitation of MOG nation...

 

I'm yet to see a complaint that low level characters (or any character) can't complete story missions. Up to level 30, I'm yet to have to regen outside of heroics on my Sentinel since the patch. But if you have a different experience, then pleaes post that feedback so the devs can take it into account.

[DarthEnrique]

Some of the posts early this morning were in violation of the TOS due to some of the things they said and they way they said it. I read some and shook my head. So if you can't follow the TOS then you have your post removed. There is a way to approach your unhappiness without saying things that are against the TOS.

 

I'm not ashamed of what I said. It may be inappropriate but I don't find it a violation to tell Bioware how I feel when they are asking for it and they are going to get my 100% honest opinion with the whole 9 yards and if they don't like it well shouldn't be asking for opinions now should they if they didn't want ppl to be honest about how they feel even if it's negative then they shouldn't bother asking and tell us to suck it up and deal with it...

[ebmccown]

•Your level

65

•Roughly Average Item Rating

216/220/224 mixture (4 piece set bonus)

•Discipline

Watchman Sentinel

•Companion

Lana and Theron

•Companion role

Healing

•Companion Influence level

Lana 24 & Theron 21

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

 

Star Fortress Solo - Still able to complete with no issues but did notice the Paladins taking my HP down faster. This is probably due to the decreased healing the companions now do. I had to use rebuke on occasion, but otherwise no real issues throughout the entire phase.

 

Star Fortress Heroic - Like night and day almost. I could handle a majority of the trash mobs, including Strong and Elite level. Paladins almost always had to use every cool down and on occasion when my health was below 50% my companion would simply not even heal. There were instances I had to double check I had them set to healing role and not DPS/tank roles.

 

I could not even make it to the Exarch post 4.0.2. The last areas just before you jump up to the Exarch platform is a complete slaughter. With multiple Strong and sometimes 2 or 3 Elites, NONE of my companions could keep up even when using all cool downs and Heroic Moment. On occasion I could make it past the 1st and sometimes 2nd phase of that area, but that was letting all my cool downs refresh and doing some very unorthodox playing.

 

Various Heroic Weekly Missions - Just about all the world heroics up until the mid 40's are doable for this character without problem. Once I get in to Voss and higher there are instances where I just get slaughtered. Same as above, my companion will simply stop healing and seem to either do nothing or just DPS.

 

•Your level

42

•Roughly Average Item Rating

70/90 mixture

•Discipline

Plasmatech Vanugard

•Companion

Elara & Tanno

•Companion role

Healing

•Companion Influence level

Elara 24 & Tanno 5

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

 

Planetary Story Arc (Quesh) Cartel Crushing - Using Tanno: A disaster. When fighting any group of 3+ normal and 1 Strong, or 2 Strong Tanno can barely keep up. BOTH our health will drop to 50% or less before he seems to realize healing needs to happen. Or healing is nerfed so bad his skills simply cannot keep up with the damage. Being a melee class he also seems to get confused on what to do. As mentioned above there are cases where he'll simply stop healing and run to a mob and start to DPS, even though one or both of us are near 50% health or less.

 

Switching to Elara there was a noticeable difference, but not much. She seemed to heal more often but was occasionally prone to stopping mid fight to try and figure out what she needed to do. My thoughts on this are obvious since the is a HUGE gap in influence difference between the two but also Elara is a ranged class AND she was originally a healer to begin with. Perhaps there are still some AI tweaks that need to happen here? Or simply revert the healing changes all together.

 

•Your personal experience while playing this content

 

I listed my best geared character and my lowest alt character. I have every other class at level 65 with 208 coms gear simply for farming or the occasional whatever when I'm bored. This patch definitely impacted gameplay for me but not to the point I am going to up and quit. However for the casual person I feel this patch REALLY impacts their game play.

Edited November 21, 2015 by ebmccown

[Satsuke]

Huh, you'd figure by now with almost 120 pages and well over 24 hours we'd have heard something from Eric and team.

 

Guess not.

[Nydus]

Hey folks,

 

Eric... I've been subbed since launch so am not a novice, but I had no idea that this was the intent for companions under the new system.

 

I dunno, how about a daily to take your companion or weekly to take out a rotation of companions to complete missions?

 

In my mind:

 

Heroics or Flashpoints = grouping with other players.

 

Companions = planetary content that I can solo when I'm not feeling lazy.

 

- Arcada

[positronics]

Some of the posts early this morning were in violation of the TOS due to some of the things they said and they way they said it. I read some and shook my head. So if you can't follow the TOS then you have your post removed. There is a way to approach your unhappiness without saying things that are against the TOS.

 

Some of what was removed was non-inflammatory and didn't violate any respect rules. They removed a lot of the unsubbing posts.

 

I guess they only wanted the feedback they wanted to hear.

[cimmadif]

Lvl: 62 and now 65

Item rating: mostly 192, upgraded some to 208 at whe I hit 65

Discipline: Bounty Hunter Powertech

Companion: Blizz

Companion role: Heal

Companion Influence: about 10 and just hit 11

 

Just got a chance to start playing last night and this morning. I have run all the heroics on Balmorra, Nar shadda and just started Tatooine

About half of them I get thru where you say it should be. Of the other half, I rate them Hard, not medium. That is more about how the enemies are spaced out and gathered. One gold and two silvers together is medium difficulty, but on many you have 2 or more golds or 5 or more silvers together and that becomes Hard for just 1 person and a companion.

One heroic on Nar Shadda, the one with killing the jedi trainers and the trainees. I would rate that VERY hard. I finally pulled it off, but it took me multiple deaths and awhile to do.

 

I would vote for a minor bump up to the companions. Not to where it was before, even though that was nice for some things, just a small upgrade to make the other half of the heroics medium difficulty.

[tmwfte]

Huh, you'd figure by now with almost 120 pages and well over 24 hours we'd have heard something from Eric and team.

 

Guess not.

 

They dropped this request for feedback and then buggered off for Thanksgiving. I expect we'll see them again some time in January.

 

But don't worry, the intern or admin assistant they have updating the Twitter is still around:

[Apache]

Huh, you'd figure by now with almost 120 pages and well over 24 hours we'd have heard something from Eric and team.

 

Guess not.

 

Don't get your hopes up. As I said earlier- Its the Friday before Thanksgiving. They are already leaving for their Thanksgiving vacations.

 

The week after Thanksgiving, maybe.

[Hoplop]

I have level 65 characters of all classes and have used mostly healing and tank companions for them. So far I have no complaints about healing and dps companions...their capabilities seem to be fairly balanced and are playable as long as influence is at a decent level, 15 or above. Companions with range weapons seem to make the best healers by the way since they're less likely to warp to melee distance of the mob.

 

My only issue is with my tanking companions. They're wimps. My dps concealment speced Scoundrel, my main and favorite character, ends up either tanking or spends all her time healing time in a futile effort to survive boss fights. I'm forced to switch to dps companions so I can quickly beat the mob to death. Since the companion tank doesn't have a shield to soak up damage he's basically a weak dps toon with a mild taunt and insufficient amt of Hitpoints.