Companion Change Feedback

[Undraxis]

False History heroic 2+ is exceedingly difficult. Current gear is 200s with 22 influence Lana. Even on heal mode I cant manage to get the last gas panel before I am killed.

[DarthDymond]

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:

It's a request for feedback, not a back-and-forth dialogue. They usually don't make follow up posts in the PTS threads looking for specific feedback or anything like that either. "We will review all feedback" =/= "we will provide ongoing comments on your feedback".

 

We'll hear more if/when they decide to make more adjustments in 4.0.3 or later (I imagine we'll see some tweaks, but no one should be holding their breath for getting 4.0 power levels back).

[Satsuke]

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.

 

1. It's the Friday before thanksgiving and I have work all through until the day before. The entire office doesn't close down.

 

2. That's a ******** excuse, and if you're happy to put up with it then more power to you. But can't imagine thinking that this is appropriate or acceptable from a company that I'm actively paying money to receive a service from.

[darlork]

Vote for the return of the companions before the update 4.0.2

 

Notes of update

The basic statistics of the partners were reduced

The damages and care supplied by the partners were reduced

 

The companions became useless I hope that BIOWARE is going to restore us the desire to play and to correct the nerve of the partners.

 

Vote with me: I wish the return of the partners before the putting has in the daytime 4.0.2

[Lord_Sleepy]

Just out of curiosity because I havent seen numbers on this yet, how much does Presence VS Influence actually affect companion performance? Does one affect it more than the other?

 

My presence of all characters is very high and I have hard time comparing as i cant lower it, but have pretty much no issues killing anything with low influence companions while having high presence.

 

Try a new server? might give you a way to test how much presence affects it compared to influence.

[rsparrowk]

It's a request for feedback, not a back-and-forth dialogue. They usually don't make follow up posts in the PTS threads looking for specific feedback or anything like that either. "We will review all feedback" =/= "we will provide ongoing comments on your feedback".

 

We'll hear more if/when they decide to make more adjustments in 4.0.3 or later (I imagine we'll see some tweaks, but no one should be holding their breath for getting 4.0 power levels back).

 

Hell I thought I played on a standard PVE server not the PTS:rak_02:

[Kiesu]

False History heroic 2+ is exceedingly difficult. Current gear is 200s with 22 influence Lana. Even on heal mode I cant manage to get the last gas panel before I am killed.

That is an insta-kill mechanic and has nothing to do with companions. At certain stack you will just die no matter what.

 

The companions became useless I hope that BIOWARE is going to restore us the desire to play and to correct the nerve of the partners.

Havent had any trouble killing anything after nerf. Even heroic star fortress without buffs, completely soloable, just tested last night. But then again, I am a progress raider and used to taking care of myself in raiding situations too when healer is busy with other duties, so theres that.

 

Companions are not useless now, they just dont carry you anymore.

 

Try a new server? might give you a way to test how much presence affects it compared to influence.

I would if lvl a toon and then gifting comp to full inf with low presence wouldnt take so bloody long.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Kiesu

[Theik]

I don't like the change.

 

 

I played in launch and in launch I kept my companion gear up to date, maxed their affection, even had several companions in raid gear. I also have 6 characters finished for presence increases, as well as the human mastered for +100.

 

4.0 was way over the top, this much is true.

Now my companions are actually weaker than they were before when I just kept their gear up to date.

 

Healing companions in particular do laughably bad.

 

To add insult to injury, my max affection before is now only influence 10, which you can get EASILY within the first two planets with a new character, so not only are my companions weaker than when I geared them myself, I also have to grind way more gifts than somebody who plays the game now.

 

(As a comparison, my Mako on my level 20 bounty hunter is already influence rank 19, and I've only done purple quests.)

[Katahn]

I need to make a clarification on the post regarding my level 65 immortal juggernaut. Koth's influence is only mid-teens (15 or 16) - I was misremembering and conflating him with the influence of my other companions.

 

Also in fairness I was trying the "all for one" achievement and did just fine until the third stabilizer room. In there the adds and damage came in so fast that Koth got caught in a healing-himself-loop and we were both dead within a minute of the fight starting.

 

Prior to the nerf I did all 6 heroic star fortresses, 5 on my own, without any substantial issues when I had Koth healing. That was with alliance buffs, so maybe that's the difference here.

 

I can say that I still think this nerf was overdone. If a tank has trouble surviving the agro that pours out when doing this solo (with a tremendous amount of bonus presence boosting my companion) I can only imagine how painful this would be for a DPS character.

 

I will try the "all for one" again later, once I've ground my gear up to 220 and gotten companion influence north of 30 on my healers.

[Apache]

1. It's the Friday before thanksgiving and I have work all through until the day before. The entire office doesn't close down.

 

2. That's a ******** excuse, and if you're happy to put up with it then more power to you. But can't imagine thinking that this is appropriate or acceptable from a company that I'm actively paying money to receive a service from.

 

Oh, I didn't say I was happy about it. I didn't even say I liked it or was even willing to accept it.

 

I just know that these BW guys like their holiday vacations, and chances are since its the Friday before Thanksgiving, and they don't usually work weekends anyway, that they (the people who make decisions anyway) probably already bailed out for their vacation.

 

I actually think it would be extremely rude to drop such a change on the subscribers and create such an uproar and then go on vacation with nothing more than a misdirection fluff post to keep us busy while they are gone off vacationing.

 

I hope that's not the case, but I suspect that it is.

 

Im hoping for a best case scenario though. We wont hear anything from anyone today because its Friday, and nothing over the weekend because they don't work weekends. So Best case.... Not until Monday. Although I strongly don't really expect anything until the Monday after Thanksgiving.

[AngFour]

I played some more.

 

Your level: 65 Sorc

Roughly Average Item Rating: 208-216 Unaugmented

Discipline: Lightning

Companion: Lana

Companion role: Tank

Companion Influence level: 17-18

Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?): This is general play; some Solo SF some Weekly heroics.

 

Your personal experience while playing this content:

 

Number one, this is my third character I'm taking through KotFE, and most of the companions I like and use all love/favorite the same thing: Imperial Memorabilia and Cultural Artifacts, so Lana is very behind in Influence, especially since she won't take the hundreds of Courting Gifts I have sitting in my bank (this character has initiated a romance with her, verified in Lana's dossier).

 

To put it bluntly, Lana sucks as a tank. She cannot hold aggro to save my life. Well, not entirely true, I know how to play this character and discipline, so I can out DPS the damage the mobs put out, with the occasional off heals to myself and Lana. But she's worse than an above average geared, pre-4.0 Khem ever was. Everything I'm attempting to do is still doable, but it's tedious busywork now. And I'm not about to respec to a healer to make every battle take twice as long. If the DPS/Tank combo worked BEFORE KotFE then, by golly, it should work just as well, if not better, after KotFE.

 

This is not fun, which is a shame because when KotFE was released, I would wait with anticipation for Tuesday to roll around so I could do the weeklies to build my Alliance(s). I was enjoying myself immensely. Now I'm just...meh. I barely want to do it with my main, let alone the three other characters I planned to do KotFE with (LOL, forget about the TWELVE other 60th level characters I have. They might as well not exist anymore because KotFE and its Alliance system is SO unfriendly to Alts).

 

I need to clarify that I know how to play this game. I know my characters and their rotations very well. I might still be referred to as a "filthy casual" because I don't (nor do I want to) raid or PvP. But I always made sure my characters and companions were in, at least, blue com gear, which suited my needs nicely. I didn't notice that my companions were overpowered or over performing because unlike some people trying to prove a point, I didn't send my comp in to fight things by themselves while I walked away from the computer. Why on earth would I do that? No. I was involved in every fight. They seemed to perform the same way they did pre-4.0, maybe a LITTLE bit better. But I took into account that I was doing Heroics 20-30 levels below me, I was well geared, my Influence with said comps was middle to above average, and I have a lot of Presence bonuses (none of the Datacron ones, but 40 comp story completion, Legendary Player, and Human unlock).

 

Now, not even getting into pathing issues and general companion airheaded-ness, I find that all of that means diddly squat. They aren't performing nearly as well as they did in blue com gear pre-4.0. It is very noticeable and disheartening to see that the effort that I did put into my unlocks and influence really means nothing.

 

Dear Jebus on the Wookie Christ Cross, I feel bad for the new players, or the players who DON'T have the bonuses that I have (let alone the bonuses people have with all the Datacrons unlocked).

 

I've been reading every single post on this thread (on page 50 something. Every time I click to the next page, two more pages are added to the total). You guys don't need metrics. You need to just search this thread and you'll get the general theme. Here are some key search words to get you started:

 

"Tedious."

"Grind."

"Slog."

"Slogfest."

"Not fun."

"Not Alt friendly."

"Chore."

 

If you guys are looking for that kind of reputation for this game, then job well done. A+

 

The tragic thing about this is that for once since SWTOR was released, people were referring to this game in a positive manner. There wasn't nearly as much "SWTOR, LOL." It was "SWTOR finally solved its identity crisis and it's awesome. Check it out!"

 

I'm not making a "this game sucks I'm unsubbing" post. But my enthusiasm has plummeted and I have the feeling that once I get my first character's Alliance up to 20, I might walk away for a while. I was willing to stay and watch the story play out in dribs and drabs, but the fact that Kaliyo is in the next chapter (I absolutely loathe her and I only hope I can shoot her multiple times in her stupid face) and the fact that the Alliance system is now a chore...meh. It's not worth it.

 

 

 

MEH. Just...MEH.

[Breidi]

I used to love soloing the Heroic Star Fortress runs - can't do those anymore. After sub runs out, that's it for me.

[CAMELOTCRUSADE]

I'm fine with the change and this is coming from a player who only solos and duos your content.

 

My main complaint is now we are back to having a "main" companion. The money and time it takes to get high levels of influence means they are not as interchangeable as intended. Before this change I really could use anyone and it wasn't that hard to get them to say, rank 10. Now the ones with highest influence are much better to use and I can't easily replicate Rank 25 every time I want a change of personality.

 

Is there a way you could make it easier to get all companions to the minimum "I'm good enough" rank? Tweak the diminishing returns and/or gift formula, maybe?

[valkyriewiz]

You know, from reading most of the pages (I have a lot of time on my hands), I think the feedback can be summed up as follows:

-Around 20% of posts report no issue with the nerf. They apparently master the game enough to play without issues, they are fine.

-Another 20% is having serious trouble now, dying to Heroic 2 packs (And sometime OW trash packs) or Story mode bosses.

-I'd say 10% are acting like morons, building fantastic strawmen, accusing those who oppose the nerf to be noobs, needing to L2P and all that. Basically, being rude instead of being helpful.

-And the last group, which covers easily 50% of the posts is made up of people who simply don't find the game fun anymore. They feel everything, from H2+ to Solo SF (Not talking about Heroic SF, those are supposed to be hard, apparently) have become a slog. To them (And to me, I'm part of that group) the patch didn't add challenge but tedium. Downtime between fights rarely equals fun. They'd have been fine with a moderate nerf that still allowed to plow through Heroics but would have made the Heroic SFs challenging (I know I would because I don't care about SFs)

 

(Yes, those percentages are completely arbitrary.)

 

thank you kind sir you have explained it exactly how i was thinking it but in a more sensible manner than i would have ^_^.

[Canareth]

Video still rendering, but...

 

•Your level

65

•Roughly Average Item Rating

208

•Discipline

Lightning Sorcerer with solo build (multiple target Whirlwind, talented Force Storm, Blind bubble, heavy crit)

 

I have a five minute cooldown/two minute duration Heroic moment with JK and SW legacy abilities.

 

•Companion

Lana and Verroa Denz

•Companion role

Healing

•Companion Influence level

Both 14-15

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

 

I tried a variety of Planet Heroics, Solo Star Fortress and Heroic Star Fortress (with buffs and Force/Military equipments). Underworld and the Hutt aren't at Level 10 yet.

 

"Easy" Planetary Heroics (Korriban/DK/Tattooine etc.) - Minimal resistance. Cleared 10 in an hour.

 

"Harder" Planetary Heroics (Vbirthers on Nar Shadda, Joint Training on Hoth, Jedi and Sith bosses on Belsavis): Requires CC and paying attention. Hardest was Old Enemies which has some really large pulls. I was never killed doing this but figure I could have been if I was playing like I did pre-nerf.

 

I used Heroic Moment on all Champions to speed up the fights. The legacy Force Choke does brutal damage including an incapacitate. Since I've worked this down to a five minute cooldown I have no issue with using it all the time for Heroic bosses.

 

Solo Star Fortress: Trash irrelevant. Knights can do damage unlike before (with a Rank 12 Lana...) but Lana mostly keeps up and some effort at CCing them and self-mitigation makes it easy. One Paladin almost killed me when I didn't prepare the pull at all (I usually CC them to clear trash). I used Heroic moment on him and salvaged it; he wasn't remotely as hard on future pulls.

 

The bosses are both jokes with Lightning Sorcerer AOE. I use Heroic Moment on EPHEMERIS because why not, but I don't need it.

 

Heroic Star Fortress (Alderaan):

 

Prior to nerf, I cleared Heroic Star Fortress with less gear and a Rank 12 companion with relatively few issues and no Alliance equipment (did use Alliance buff terminal). I had to combat rez Lana during the Exarch fight but that was about it; she healed everything else effectively-to-trivially.

 

Post-nerf...

 

Most trash packs slightly overwhelm Lana's healing if uncontrolled. A lot of this seems to be because she gets distracted and she doesn't have her extremely powerful Mending anymore. By overwhelm I mean that I develop a small but persistent health deficit unless I heal/shield it myself, which I can as a Lightning Sorc. They're not super-powerful heals but they work. This deficit just means minor downtime because I ultimately gun the trash pack down before it becomes cumulative.

 

I defeated all Knights, Paladins and the bonus Skytrooper Distributor boss on the first try. Knights can be managed without Heroic Moment and pretty comfortably but require extensive active mitigation/off heals and mob management. I survived one bad Knight patrol (walked into another mob pull while I was fighting them) by using the Military Turret and Heroic. Paladins are on the edge of what can be managed solo without Heroic Moment or Turret, but goes down easily with those. I got a 208 barrel off of one which I'm currently selling for a million, so the run was rewarding enough.

 

I defeated the double Knight pull on my first try by (a) running past Ephemeris to control the pull, (b) CCing one Knight with Whirlwind and © blowing Heroic Moment, Turret and Force Trample. No objection to having to use all of that solo; this pull is one of the hardest things in the entire instance. I would put this right on the money in terms of design goal; I had to use everything and think about what I was doing. I reached reactor in about an hour.

 

I was able to defeat the first two Reactor stations (and died once stupidly to walking the wrong way after a magnetic grapple...) but the third is too chaotic. On my best attempt I got both elites down and two charges pulled off of the Exarch, but Lana simply could not keep our health up even with all cooldowns and equipment used. There is too much roving damage and the fight itself can lag slightly due to all the activity which is particularly deadly for getting AOEs off in time on the various mob squads. I wouldn't have come close without using my own defensive shields and healing. Lana again seems to get distracted with DPSing, which I simply don't need.

 

I am confident I could beat the Exarch if I could get to him. The problem is very specific and the Turret will work nicely on Mr. Exarch. I think this is ultimately defeatable but will require better equipment and a higher level Companion to keep up with the tremendous all-corners damage in that room.

 

Verdict

 

This is close to what was described as a design goal by Eric - for a Lightning Sorcerer that has a lot of gaming experience (played WoW for several years including soloing a lot of things with self-healing classes) and who is using solo-specific abilities. Lightning Sorcerer both has vicious burst - lethal to most trash - and a number of ways to control pulls for an experienced player. The harder Heroics and Heroic Star Fortress trash would be much harder without the Whirlwind ability; classes/specs without comparable hard CC face substantially higher difficulty. Sorcerer self-healing is also significant and the bubble provides good mitigation. I'll note that Force Storm also paralyzes standard mobs, making those pulls on both Solo and Heroic pretty easy. Except for the third Reactor room where the Exarch will whack me for standing still long enough to use Force Storm on the Skytroopers.

 

Personal experience/ability let me push this a little further than I otherwise would; I do not expect a new player with this class to do anywhere near as well at juggling pulls. Classes without as good CC or effective mitigation will have much harder times; players who are less effective at DPS will have harder times.

 

I recommend that companion healing - particularly heal-over-time be increased ~ 20% from current levels and their Influence scaling increased; I found the gains from going from Rank 14 to 15 during this test to be very trivial and even ten of such levels would have no impact on how I played.

 

I also recommend that companion healing logic be looked at; if they're not going to have epic heals-over-time, they need to actually pay attention and not beat on something I can blow apart anyway.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Canareth

[Noyjitat]

One problem with that people are more worried about using their crystals to mod their characters not raising their comps influence... You got to remember crystals buy the influence items and some outfits (like those in the war room) and which do you think most people are concerned with their characters or their comps? I'm more worried about my character than my comp because repairing all the time cost credits too. The stupid nerf really screwed a lot of people over... I mean seriously it cost a lot of crystals just for items alone that could give your comp anywhere between no to large influence gain and sometimes they aren't that large I don't consider getting say +125 Influence on a large influence item large at all when I've gotten just that or less on moderate and small...

 

I burned all my common crystals on rank 6 gifts seeing as just like previous item level gear the different between 208/216/220 isn't even noticeable with diminishing returns. It isn't until you go crazy with augments that you can even feel the boost in stats. Also you get plenty of 208 armorings, mods and enhancements in the starfortress along with the gear for defeating the exarch.

 

It's also nice being able to run crewskill missions at a rapid pace with the companion bonuses but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before some idiot wants that nerfed too.

[Swounds]

All of the characters I play often are level 65 (well one is still in mid-chapter at 64). They range from exarch level gear to basic comm gear with most being a mixture of common, glowing, and radiant. As only one wasn't finished with KotFE chapters when the update happened, most of my experience is in dealing with content after the end of chapter 9. Specifically, star fortresses (solo and heroic), tactical flashpoints, and planetary heroics. Here's a summary of my observations:

 

My best geared characters still do okay in solo mode and with heroics. My main is a vanguard and his companion is at 38 influence, which definitely helps. My least well-geared character, an operative, can't get through the initial star fortress to unlock anything further. This is after spending countless credits and comms on companion gifts, and I find it ridiculously frustrating. I have no intention of spending a lot of time playing her but she can't get through the basic stuff! For all other characters, the results have been somewhere in between. My well-rounded scoundrel does fine except for still managing to pull aggro from tank pets. Same with my sage; my other tank specs seem to have fewer problems than my healers for certain.

 

Now, let's talk about group content. I've done a few heroic star fortresses with a friend and we got through them, but with the exception of my vanguard's playthrough, died several times - even with all the buffs and specialist items. It was almost a question of why bother having the companions at all. But by far, the most frustrating issue I've encountered is in doing tactical flashpoints on my vanguard with my sentinel buddy. Prior to the expansion, we regularly duoed the reg-mode flashpoint weekly. Just us and our pets, usually with one set to heal and one set for damage. We never had an issue with a single level 60 flashpoint. With the expansion, we noticed the instances were more challenging but by no means beyond what we could handle. That is, until the 'companion nerf'.

 

Running a tactical mode Korriban Incursion with the same setup we'd used for ages - and I stress, running content we'd done dozens of times before -- it was a major struggle to get through it. We had to end up putting both companions on heal (and they had 38 and 31 influence) and they STILL couldn't keep up. Yes, I understand that tactical fp's have those tanks and yes I understand they're supposed to be for groups of four. But this is stuff we'd always been able to handle before and I find it ridiculous that now it hardly seems worth all the effort. Not only is it no longer fun by any stretch of the imagination, but it's seriously limiting my preferred option for earning radiant crystals. I've never been much of a raider and there aren't many other choices available to me, so what am I supposed to do? Miserably push through every week to finish 5 horrible gauntlets that I don't find enjoyable in any way, just to earn a few crystals I can actually use? I hate to say it but if things stay this way, I'm probably not going to stick around.

 

I LOVE this game, and for the most part I find the new content utterly brilliant. But bottom line is, it IS a game and if it becomes so difficult to keep playing at the level I'm used to playing that I find no satisfaction, I will move on. Please consider fixing the fix, at least somewhat... make companions at least as good as a basic human player in decent gear. There are many of us who don't like to PUG out there and for us it means the difference between subscribing to Hades and having a good time with appropriate challenge thrown in there to keep us nimble. Thanks for seeking the feedback, by the way.

[Noyjitat]

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.

 

Right now they are defending the stupid choice they made and explaining to the boss why they shouldn't be fired for such an idiotic blunder.

[ScottishViking]

Let me just start off by saying that I greatly approve of the overall direction of companion changes that started with 4.0 and I appreciate that steps are being taken to balance them. We can all acknowledge they were ridiculously OP immediately after the patch. I think there may have been some overcorrection, but I do not think it is unfixable or even too bad right now.

 

Your level: one level 60, others a mix ranging from 20-40

Roughly Average Item Rating: not sure but I have up-to-date mods for all my toons

Discipline: mostly tanks (BH, Trooper, Warrior)

Companion: Yes?

Companion role: sometimes DPS but usually heal

Companion Influence level: highest I believe is about 18

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

Your personal experience while playing this content: N/A

 

I've found Heroic 2 content to be a challenge now -- which is fine. On a very rare occasion, it's almost impossible -- but with a bit of strategy and patience, it is possible. Right now the issue is just that healing is a bit underpowered, and DPS is a bit weak -- that is, compared to right after patch 4. I have no experience with tanking on companions: I don't tend to use it.

 

The absolute key for me is that players be able to continue to be able to do Heroic 2 content solo. The ability to run these areas has been a HUGE boost to my enjoyment of the game: I work strange hours and my family life means that soloing is my only option for gameplay. This is NOT an argument to make them easy; and I definitely found post-4.0 patch content to be too easy. So the nerf was warranted. I just think it's a bit overbalanced at the moment. A slight tweak to companion strength is all that's needed from my perspective.

[Swounds]

All of the characters I play often are level 65 (well one is still in mid-chapter at 64). They range from exarch level gear to basic comm gear with most being a mixture of common, glowing, and radiant. As only one wasn't finished with KotFE chapters when the update happened, most of my experience is in dealing with content after the end of chapter 9. Specifically, star fortresses (solo and heroic), tactical flashpoints, and planetary heroics. Here's a summary of my observations:

 

My best geared characters still do okay in solo mode and with heroics. My main is a vanguard and his companion is at 38 influence, which definitely helps. My least well-geared character, an operative, can't get through the initial star fortress to unlock anything further. This is after spending countless credits and comms on companion gifts, and I find it ridiculously frustrating. I have no intention of spending a lot of time playing her but she can't get through the basic stuff! For all other characters, the results have been somewhere in between. My well-rounded scoundrel does fine except for still managing to pull aggro from tank pets. Same with my sage; my other tank specs seem to have fewer problems than my healers for certain.

 

Now, let's talk about group content. I've done a few heroic star fortresses with a friend and we got through them, but with the exception of my vanguard's playthrough, died several times - even with all the buffs and specialist items. It was almost a question of why bother having the companions at all. But by far, the most frustrating issue I've encountered is in doing tactical flashpoints on my vanguard with my sentinel buddy. Prior to the expansion, we regularly duoed the reg-mode flashpoint weekly. Just us and our pets, usually with one set to heal and one set for damage. We never had an issue with a single level 60 flashpoint. With the expansion, we noticed the instances were more challenging but by no means beyond what we could handle. That is, until the 'companion nerf'.

 

Running a tactical mode Korriban Incursion with the same setup we'd used for ages - and I stress, running content we'd done dozens of times before -- it was a major struggle to get through it. We had to end up putting both companions on heal (and they had 38 and 31 influence) and they STILL couldn't keep up. Yes, I understand that tactical fp's have those tanks and yes I understand they're supposed to be for groups of four. But this is stuff we'd always been able to handle before and I find it ridiculous that now it hardly seems worth all the effort. Not only is it no longer fun by any stretch of the imagination, but it's seriously limiting my preferred option for earning radiant crystals. I've never been much of a raider and there aren't many other choices available to me, so what am I supposed to do? Miserably push through every week to finish 5 horrible gauntlets that I don't find enjoyable in any way, just to earn a few crystals I can actually use? I hate to say it but if things stay this way, I'm probably not going to stick around.

 

I LOVE this game, and for the most part I find the new content utterly brilliant. But bottom line is, it IS a game and if it becomes so difficult to keep playing at the level I'm used to playing that I find no satisfaction, I will move on. Please consider fixing the fix, at least somewhat... make companions at least as good as a basic human player in decent gear. There are many of us who don't like to PUG out there and for us it means the difference between subscribing to Hades and having a good time with appropriate challenge thrown in there to keep us nimble. Thanks for seeking the feedback, by the way.

[Jaedelyia]

Personal feedback, I did try some old character and character I just picked up again to level them.

 

1) Character : Bounty Hunter - Powertech

 

Level: 56

Roughly Average Item Rating: 176 nearly every slot

Discipline: Shield Tech

Companion: Mako

Companion role: Healer

Companion Influence level: 10

 

What I did : Solo leveling content - Forged Alliance - Rakata Prime Flashpoint - No class buff, no droid companion

 

If you aim for story with Low difficulty entry barrier Bioware, rejoice. It was really easy. Granted, I was one level the mob, but still. I don't think I ever fell under 90% of health. If I did, I was so quickly healed that it was not noticieable and didn't had any impact. No matter the boss (Rand, Rankor & Champion, Arkous & Darok), I never had to pop up heal or anything. Considering that you could use in addition the "placed very conveniently" kolto units around each boss fight and that you could pop up an godlike droid companion, I would say this content is absolutely accessible and doable by anyone, anytime. Young or old, drunk or drugged. I don't think the nerf would cause any trouble

 

 

2) Character : Jedi Consular - Sage

 

Level: 50

Roughly Average Item Rating: around 106

Discipline: Balance

Companion: Iresso

Companion role: Tank

Companion Influence level: 6

 

What I did : Solo leveling content - Corellia and class story quest and a H2 (Can't remember the name of the quest, sorry, the one near the park I think)

 

Once again, very fine in term of low difficulty. You can progress the story without any trouble. H2 was also perfecdtly fine, Iresso tanked that like a champ.

 

3) Character : Bounty Hunter - Mercenary

 

Level: 62

Roughly Average Item Rating: 188

Discipline: Arsenal

Companion: HK-55 then Koth

Companion role: Tank

Companion Influence level: 1

 

What I did : Solo leveling content - KotFE Chapter IV

 

Here again, very fine in term of low difficulty for the story. Companion tanked just fine.

 

So for now, I mostly did solo content and that was obviously in line with what Bioware seems to want : Solo content = Easy content. I did one little H2 and that was fine. Now I would like to try StarFortess or harder H2 with a healing companion, because that the main complain around : The healing nerf. I will try and see if it's as impossible as some claim around here, but for now, I have to admit the nerf seems absolutely fine for the content I did (As expected, it was labelled as easy content)

Edited November 20, 2015 by Jaedelyia

[Uruare]

It's considerably more tedious now.

 

Difficult? Only in the same way walking at 25% normal speed throughout your elsewise normal daily activities might be.

 

Nothing is smarter. Companions are just now a lot closer to being superfluous than ever they were pre 4.0.

 

That said, goodbye. FE seemed like a nifty change in direction. It brought me back for a fun couple months, but I can't sit around pretending that I think it's OK for companions to be flung haphazardly first into extremes of potency and now into extremes of uselessness.

 

It's absurd.

 

I'm not bothering to list the characters I tested this joke out on. Several 65's in mixes of 208 to 220 gear, companions in the 30's to maxed at 50 range on those used.

 

Fallout 4 loves me, and when I've exhausted it, back to Secret World I go.

 

I'm out.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Uruare

[Dragonflies]

Levels 65-34

Sith assassin 65 216/220 gear Lana heals inf 32 /Treek 5 (now 16)

Jedi Shadow 32 with current mods

 

SF solo on my 65.. I can do it. Its slow and tedious and my heals are laughable. One mob.. pause heal another mob.. pause heal. Oh no Lana is taking home decor ideas and who knows what else. Almost die on trash mobs. First Pally. -Dead- no heals. Read forums.. folks say pull out Treek! Ugh she is lvl 5 inf.. Holy crap her heals are more then Lana at 32! Finish solo mode. It wasn't pretty and love the jail thing its cute.

 

SF heroic - Nope.

 

Heroic 2+ - I can do a majority of them. ((not makeb)) .. that being said, its a painful grind. What was fast paced is now this slow moving train of no heals and lots of down time. And then there are some that I just can't do. Pre 4.0 two silvers and 2 golds.. it wasn't pretty but I could do it. 4.02. Nope. Dead. No heals what so ever. And you want me to do all of these each week for a box each to get my alliance up to 20. Yeah.. glad it happened on one at this pace it won't happen on any others. This is not "challenging" its dull.

 

Frustrated at the pace of the Heroics I switched to my shadow.

 

Vivviar. I get to fight a SL boss. Okay companions are suppose to help with this. So I grab Qyzen and lets do this! Okay trash went down okay. Slow but okay. Keep going. Boss fight.. crap Qyzen is looking at the Decor. Oh wait he got a stubbed toe! Hello dude.. your Herald to the Score Keeper needs a bit of Heals... -dead- and he is at 90%. Lets try this one more time... yeah okay so this isn't happening. Have to ask my guildy to stop what they are doing, (which was cursing out the pace of heroics) to come help me kill a Story Line Boss

 

That should not be happening -AT ALL-.

 

So what was fun.. Reven and up to 4.0 is now a sludge of Drudgery. Now I will get the L2P and all that other fun stuff! I know my rotations. I do FP's Hard Mods and a Ops with my guild. Oh and Yes I am a Founder too.. so to blatantly say only Founders are enjoying this.. nope. All the ones I talk to loath what is going on. Has this made me close my check book? Yep. And that makes me sad the only way to have my voice and others heard is by doing that.

[lord_akaru]

Companions stand in stupid. Need to fix this. The over healing they had before would compensate, but now they have been nerfed by 75% that is not so anymore. No armor/defense is also a MAJOR issue that needs to be addressed. You guys borked this up a LOT, but again the over healing by the companion addressed this short sighted untested issue.

 

Level 65, near BIS 224, influence 50 on Senya/Treek, SORC Healer. Primary focus is Heroic Star Fortress. Was able to handle Pre-Nerf Exarch for "The one and only" with companion dying once (Back when I was around 198 gear BIS Pre-Nerf) and both of us "Healer" spec'd and me kiting a LOT. Now... ya.. not fun anymore and no plans to do it beyond the initial series for DECO only.

 

Struggled with the first room with two knights. CC'd the Champion of course the any time he got lose it was game over. Managed to complete that room, but after the sheer volume of time it took... NOT FUN and just not worth the crappy rewards provided. I stopped after trying some with Treek.

 

Shifted to Treek with some better luck, but it's like doing NIM content with the lack of intelligence (IE: PUG RUN) by the companion. They STAND IN STUPID.. you can't heal that with the Armor issue creating a double whammy.

 

Correction Actions BW should take:

• Revert the changes to healing for at least 50% given back)
  
• BEEF up the influence level 50 to what we had before NERF
  
• Fix the AI of "Standing in Stupid" damage the companions seem to keep doing.
  
• Fix the ARMOR/DEFENSE (4.0.3 I think I saw mentioned) issue.
  
• Not make knee jerk changes on the fly. Your causal market base just took this as a giant middle finger and will not end well for Bioware. I'm sure your metrics are going to show a rapid decline in subs due to stupidity and degree of this change.
  

 

EDIT: Healing compared to my healing is TERRIBLE comparison and very lacking. I'm seeing 1k-2k heals with influence level 50 - how does that help? Compared to my Innervate with 5k ticks that is CRAP. Swapped to TREEK and she at least had 2k heals and a few 8k ticks. Again.. I can crit a 20k on the right condition and this is FAR below "MY healing" and in no fashion equal to my heals. I agree the comp's should not over shadow our skills, but they should at least provide the same level of heals we can provide. With level 50 influence this clearly is not the case. FIX it please.. My companion healer at 50 influence should heal like he/she was wearing at least 216/220 BIS gear.

 

IF you guys can't get this right then give us back the ability to gear our companions ourselves. I at least knew I would get better results with doing it myself.

 

I think this is worded pretty well, companions were very strong, but being turned the other way around isn't the sollution at all, they are really super terrible at the moment. What happened to the golden middle way?

[TaliRa]

Lvl 65 Mara, Lana Beniko comp. Solo Alderaan fortress. got murdered in first encounter after Lana went down like a lead brick. You Suck BW!