Companion Change Feedback

[Thankar]

I hope the "Buff's" to companion's don't bring them back to the "Impossible to die with them out" ones we had before that about killed the game for me in a game you have the chance at failure as I have often said on this issue if its impossible to die using a major feature of the game IE companion's then no its no longer a game. I'll wait till I see how they do with the buffs if it gets back to the launch level of being unable to die I'll let my sub go and just sub when all the chapters are in to get them. I've been here since the start have my founder status and all and this sadden's me that some group of people wants to turn this into a "No chance of failure" game I don't want a brutally hard game but I don't also want something that I don't have to TRY at either a good middle ground would be nice though even when people ask for something like that those that just want to coast through the game without having to try complain and whine. Its things like this that kill mmo's when group like this starts poisoning the community.

 

I honestly haven't seen anyone say they want godmode. What I have seen is people accuse anyone who complained about comps being nuked into oblivion, and yes, a 75% decrease all at once qualifies as that. If the nerf had been 10-25%, most people probably wouldn't have *****ed.

 

Also, BW was selling the fact you can just come back and jump into KotFE. Everyone saying 'L2P noob!' or 'Get better gear!' is ignoring the fact that BW did this as a business decision. They gave out/sold lvl60 tokens and claimed it was story-centric. Then made the H2+ planetary and SF required for the Alliance building. With the 4.0 comps the new 60s could do this content. Then all of a sudden: "Incoming NERF!" and they can't do what was advertised, what they paid for and experienced. The ensuing reaction was a foregone conclusion.

[TFBWYAG]

I honestly haven't seen anyone say they want godmode. What I have seen is people accuse anyone who complained about comps being nuked into oblivion, and yes, a 75% decrease all at once qualifies as that. If the nerf had been 10-25%, most people probably wouldn't have *****ed.

 

Also, BW was selling the fact you can just come back and jump into KotFE. Everyone saying 'L2P noob!' or 'Get better gear!' is ignoring the fact that BW did this as a business decision. They gave out/sold lvl60 tokens and claimed it was story-centric. Then made the H2+ planetary and SF required for the Alliance building. With the 4.0 comps the new 60s could do this content. Then all of a sudden: "Incoming NERF!" and they can't do what was advertised, what they paid for and experienced. The ensuing reaction was a foregone conclusion.

 

Fully agree, most posts I've seen and read, were people just saying I don't have time to spend X-amount of hours doing Alliance missions, running content I ran 3 or 4 years ago, and now it's taking me X-amount of time to do over and over, again and again. (just one branch of examples from my reading, there were many other reasons)

 

But the only posts I saw with the God-mode, if you will, in them, were the people coming in just to give the unhappy customers a hard time, adding fuel to the fire, so to speak

[Skywalkher]

Do you all remember this same time last year... I think we called it The Ravagers Exploit. How long did it take for them to fix? 2-3 months?

 

I would be surprised to see anything get done whether it's a roll back or an adjustment to the nerfiness.

 

If we have to wait till 4.0.3 then after only have a 3 month gap ever in my subscription, I might consider moving on.

 

I was really enjoying the game again after 4.0. Being able to go to Alderaan and try to get my PVP achievement because there were actually PUBS there was a welcomed change. The lower level planets were showing signs of life again. I tried to solo HM SF and it took me around 30 min each run before 4.0.2, I think my run yesterday took almost an hour. Nobody has that much time to kill. Either take us back to 4.0 comanion settings or lower the HP pool on enemy NPC's. The think the Latter is an easier fix.

[WulframH]

Its disappointing to hear companions are getting a buff. They really could do with being weakened, along with either making Heroic SF easier or more clearly sign posting that most people shouldn't be soloing it. Edited November 21, 2015 by WulframH

[TFBWYAG]

Do you all remember this same time last year... I think we called it The Ravagers Exploit. How long did it take for them to fix? 2-3 months?

 

I would be surprised to see anything get done whether it's a roll back or an adjustment to the nerfiness.

 

If we have to wait till 4.0.3 then after only have a 3 month gap ever in my subscription, I might consider moving on.

 

I was really enjoying the game again after 4.0. Being able to go to Alderaan and try to get my PVP achievement because there were actually PUBS there was a welcomed change. The lower level planets were showing signs of life again. I tried to solo HM SF and it took me around 30 min each run before 4.0.2, I think my run yesterday took almost an hour. Nobody has that much time to kill. Either take us back to 4.0 comanion settings or lower the HP pool on enemy NPC's. The think the Latter is an easier fix.

 

You did great! I think it's on page 95 or so of this thread, but I gave a detailed description of my Star Fortress run last night for the Tatooine one. Bottom line, it took me almost 2 hours, the details are in that blow by blow post I did afterwards. It's the information they wanted, and I was determined to finish it, in hopes they may see just how bad it can be

[SamAnders]

Its disappointing to hear companions are getting a buff. They really could do with being weakened, along with either making Heroic SF easier or more clearly sign posting that most people shouldn't be soloing it.

 

"Hey guys I hate fun and love showing off how much better than everyone else I am, they should just get good lol *********** scrubs"

[TFBWYAG]

Its disappointing to hear companions are getting a buff. They really could do with being weakened, along with either making Heroic SF easier or more clearly sign posting that most people shouldn't be soloing it.

 

Then you haven't been here very long, Companions today are weaker then pre 4.0, or better, weaker now then Shadow of Revan, you know, back when we put gear on them ourselves, then it was up to you how weak or strong they were.

[geschmonz]

I expect them to add a 10% buff to companions.

 

Which wont adress the problem at all.

 

You cant change a dev bias over night.

[Ovaline]

"Hey guys I hate fun and love showing off how much better than everyone else I am, they should just get good lol *********** scrubs"

 

You think it's fun when your companion can kill everything while you just watch?

[tmwfte]

Hey folks,

 

First off, we want to thank all of you for your feedback about Companion balance following 4.0.2. As we go into the weekend, we wanted you to know that we have gone through this thread, the forums, Reddit, and social media to gather everyone’s perspectives. We have come out of this with quite a few action items that we are going to take, including buffs for Companions. On Monday, we are going to release a forum post highlighting our plans to address current Companion balance, along with the state of Heroic Missions and Star Fortress.

 

Thank you all once again for your feedback.

 

-eric

 

If it's an item for sale on the Cartel Market you'll be showing your true intent from the beginning.

[Ghisallo]

I just want to preface this by saying that I am not an experienced MMO player. I started playing this game briefly a couple times over the years and dropped it quickly, and didn't really become a regular player until 12x EXP earlier this year. Prior to that I played WoW a bit years ago, but for the most part I am not particularly versed in MMO mechanics.

 

That being said, the solo content is still trivially easy, and the planetary heroics aren't much harder. I can solo planetary heroics as a DPS character, with Yuun, who is influence level 1, set to DPS mode, without much trouble. This isn't a case where 4.0 made the game easy and 4.0.2 made it hard. In 4.0, unless you were doing group content with no companions, the game played itself. I could set my companion to heal and be confident that I would never die, even if I went AFK during fights. I could set my companion to tank and send him in against heroic groups by himself and he would take absolutely no damage. Now after the recent patch, I have to at least contribute by mashing my character's generic basic attack if I want to win, but the enemies still generally don't put up much of a fight. Maybe in a fight with 2 golds I will actually have to try to put out decent DPS or possibly pop a defensive cooldown, but overall, I'm not being challenged much.

 

Look, I realize people play this game for the story, and some of them might want the combat to be easy. But the combat is already very easy. During 4.0, the combat was nonexistent. I don't understand how a person could prefer a game where your companion can clear heroic groups for you while you go afk the entire time. Even if the combat is meant to be easy, there still needs to be a failure condition. At a bare minimum, there has to be a possibility that I can die, or the combat is completely meaningless. Right now, if I don't pay attention and get swarmed or something, MAYBE then I'll be in danger of dying. In 4.0, there was no danger whatsoever.

 

EDIT: While typing up this post, I went AFK in a heroic area. Upon returning to the game, my companion was dead and I was at half health being wailed on by a gold enemy. It still took very little effort for me to pop one defensive cooldown and kill the enemy without really coming close to dying. That's how easy this game still is. I can still get attacked in heroics while AFK and not die.

 

TBH I think half the reason for the issue is this. People get driven to extremes. For some time now there has been a conflict in SWTOR. On one side the people coming here for a SP RPG, a TOR 3. On the other side people who came here for an MMO.

 

At launch it was kinda both BUT BW's takeaway from the launch failure was "not enough MMO in our MMO". SO much of 2013 and 2014 was adding MMORPG stuff. The TOR 3 fans were getting more and more frustrated. So these people see this expac sold as "all about the story". Many of them are really just playing the game to get to the next cut scene so they are fine with the power levels, they don't want a grind. They are just here chilling for the enxt chapter. Do you want to grind when you are "chilling"?

 

However the nerf comes and WHAMMO... they find out that BW focused on the story BUT also expected a grind. They felt bait and switched and BOOM... HEAD SHOT.

[Blurch]

I liked the OP companions. It allowd me to be a bad A*s. I did not have to grind and gring and grind. I'm not intrested in a stupid amount of challenge in the general popluation mobs including Heroic. Challenge is for HM Flashpoints and Ops. Let me go around and Kick Butt I'm a fricking Jedi for crying out loud. If you want extreme amounts of challenge then stick to Hard Mod Flashpoints and Ops. Leave the general population mobs easy. If you think that is a waste of your time... then DON't do them. But do not screw up my fun.

 

Many people liked the OP companions. Just look at the flame storm of the last 2 days in the fourms. There are more threads for un nerf the companions over 2000 comments in 2 days more then anything else. Let me easliy do the Heroic 2s solo if I want if you don't like that to bad. You will get over it or you can just leave I don't really care.

 

I play these games to have fun. Not to increase my stress level.

 

Since the nerf the fun is gone and the stress is at max level.

 

GIVE ME BACK MY OVER POWERED COMPANIONS!

 

To heII with the elitests that want every thing hard and frustrating. I don't have max gear or max companions or play tanks or healers. I like DPS classes and they are squshy and die easily, I need all the heals I can get. Dieing a half a dozen times per mob is NOT FUN.

 

Don't tell me learn to play. I play the way I want not the way YOU want. I don't tell you how far you should stick your head up your A*s. So don't tell me what to do either..

 

agree

[TFBWYAG]

You think it's fun when your companion can kill everything while you just watch?

 

If they do think that's fun, it shouldn't bother you. If you want challenge and your Companion is too good, send them to sell trash, or just leave them in your Stronghold, and go it alone, there's your challenge

[SamAnders]

You think it's fun when your companion can kill everything while you just watch?

 

The guy was saying they should be weakened further. Which is moronic.

[tmwfte]

I'd also like to add that, again, my sub ends on the 22nd. Thank you for making my final week in my subscription not-enjoyable, with extended downtime for a patch that broke the game in more ways that one, a massive nerf to fun, incredible server lag, disconnections galore, and customer service who would rather issue punitive, inflammatory statements that deal with problems.

 

Whatever happens on Monday, Eric, it's already too late.

[Syndari]

I had to shelf my level 26 Marauder because somehow my Class Quest is level 30. Now with the nerfed healing I don't have much chance against Mobs 4 levels higher. How come the Class Quests aren't level synced as well? Anyone else have this problem? Under leveled for class quests? I'm using xp potions and rested Xp.

[Kiesu]

GIVE ME BACK MY OVER POWERED COMPANIONS!

No. Would much prefer them back in less OP form atleast.

I was fine with this nerf, but I'm fine with a little buff too. Emphasis on little.

[Kiesu]

I had to shelf my level 26 Marauder because somehow my Class Quest is level 30. Now with the nerfed healing I don't have much chance against Mobs 4 levels higher. How come the Class Quests aren't level synced as well? Anyone else have this problem? Under leveled for class quests? I'm using xp potions and rested Xp.

It's not 12x xp anymore, you need to do other quests too to fill in the extra levels. This was discussed to be the case before expansion long time ago already.

[TFBWYAG]

I had to shelf my level 26 Marauder because somehow my Class Quest is level 30. Now with the nerfed healing I don't have much chance against Mobs 4 levels higher. How come the Class Quests aren't level synced as well? Anyone else have this problem? Under leveled for class quests? I'm using xp potions and rested Xp.

 

I was under leveled on a Merc I'm working on. Between Nar Shaddaa and Tatooine, so before leaving Nar Shaddaa I ran the Heroics to get the 3 levels I needed, using XP Boost and Guild bonus also. You can try that, hope it helps

[Ovaline]

people see this expac sold as "all about the story". Many of them are really just playing the game to get to the next cut scene so they are fine with the power levels, they don't want a grind. They are just here chilling for the enxt chapter. Do you want to grind when you are "chilling"?

 

However the nerf comes and WHAMMO... they find out that BW focused on the story BUT also expected a grind. They felt bait and switched and BOOM... HEAD SHOT.

 

I don't see what this has to do with companion nerfs though. The game as it is now, is still easier than most single player RPGs. If that's what you're here for, you're not being faced with an unexpectedly insurmountable challenge or anything.

 

As for the grinding, I can agree that it's pretty boring, but is there any reason that someone who is only trying to blow through all the story chapters NEEDS no endlessly grind out heroics day in and day out? I doubt you're going to be locked out of chapter 10 if your alliance isn't built up enough or something.

 

Which brings us back to the real issue with the expansion: this "story-focused" expansion still has a lot less story than the base game did. Instead of 8 separate stories, each lasting for dozens of hours if you don't spacebar, we now have a single story that's maybe 8 hours max if you don't skip anything. The larger issue is that the people who want story were given very little of it, and all that's left to do is grind. I don't see how making the grind easier is going to satisfy them.

[Deathsightofhell]

Its disappointing to hear companions are getting a buff. They really could do with being weakened, along with either making Heroic SF easier or more clearly sign posting that most people shouldn't be soloing it.

 

But yet they said companion should be consider as equal as an real player so you can do Heroic 2+ without team mates, so as long someone using companion it not really solo your playing with an AI so you don't have to spend time focusing on being time heavy into learning all the trick , combat style, and mobs ability list.

 

Also saying they didn't want the SF to be unsolo-able , then the <one for all> shouldn't require you to be not have a group, and just say "don't use any ally cache/don't open them" - so that why this has such an big complaint as of right now, not to mention most people are looking at the "veteran" character outlook, time to farm gift, have tons commmon data crystal to spear for gifts, credits to just waste in the market, and ect, New players Won't have all these options, nor should be Force to, when the Dev Sold the Fallen Empire to be Story Driven , Which you are Require to at least do 1 Heroic 2+ for the story line of your allys unlock to "save" their planet, and removing that option remove the whole point of Story driven to force you play in a group , rather then your own pace.

 

Some people will just avoid the paladin unless they need go that way, others will want to Go do them and then all fight over the "loot" , which itself can hinter all the "level 60 token character" as they will want that to upgrade, unlike an veteran who will be like "trash to sell for out rage prices" - no less when your fighting Bosses > paladins , you can't do anything to some the bosses due to boss buff, and if they are saying you can do <One For All> without the ally caches, if your skill enough to live and do it with an companion set to heal , or dps and you heal, then you should be given that option - not be super mega hard core I know everything about the game. You just need know YOUR character, , as companion are no longer state editing anymore for us, we can't change there stats, we can't give them gear, without it being for look only, we can't give them weapons to do more heal/damage/tank for us, they are now flat stats, so all we should have to watch is our stats, and our ability, we can't control our AI , if we still could, companion would be still equal as an player stats then.

[Ovaline]

If they do think that's fun, it shouldn't bother you. If you want challenge and your Companion is too good, send them to sell trash, or just leave them in your Stronghold, and go it alone, there's your challenge

 

I didn't say anything about challenge. The heroics are still not very challenging. The only thing now is, it's possible to die if you go afk. There's a point where the game becomes easy, which we are already at, and then there's a point where it's completely impossible to die, which was 4.0

[HankMurphy]

Hey folks,

 

First off, we want to thank all of you for your feedback about Companion balance following 4.0.2. As we go into the weekend, we wanted you to know that we have gone through this thread, the forums, Reddit, and social media to gather everyone’s perspectives. We have come out of this with quite a few action items that we are going to take, including buffs for Companions. On Monday, we are going to release a forum post highlighting our plans to address current Companion balance, along with the state of Heroic Missions and Star Fortress.

 

Thank you all once again for your feedback.

 

-eric

 

As I mentioned in a previous venting

 

At this point I'm less concerned with the companions as I am hearing information about how you plan on preventing such reckless behavior and poor communication practices in the future.

 

Otherwise I just don't know how I shouldn't expect repeated "events" like this in the future. Because that's not really a billable service I'd want to continue subjecting myself to.

 

In a customer-centric business it is always the case that how you do what you is as or more important as what you do.

And people don't want to feel like they have to force you to comprehend the gravity and impact of the actions you take, they want to know you're doing that yourself before you act. Anything else leaves people feeling jerked-around and disregarded.

 

Don't forget you had weeks to just mention to the community maybe you weren't exactly pleased or comfortable with how the companions worked out.

And it would have saved a lot of me's unsubbing if you'd communicated exactly what you planned to do about it. That was the time to talk real number behind your intended changes, and to ask for numbers and data and experience from your users.

Edited November 21, 2015 by HankMurphy

[tmwfte]

I had to shelf my level 26 Marauder because somehow my Class Quest is level 30. Now with the nerfed healing I don't have much chance against Mobs 4 levels higher. How come the Class Quests aren't level synced as well? Anyone else have this problem? Under leveled for class quests? I'm using xp potions and rested Xp.

 

That is odd. I was fairly certain that class quests were synced to whatever level you currently were at, such that you'd receive credits and experience relevant to that level (in most cases it seems like you'll hit max planet level for a large portion of the quests). In this range, I wonder though, do you have two class quest forks? One for Alderaan and one for Tatooine?

[Satsuke]

I had to shelf my level 26 Marauder because somehow my Class Quest is level 30. Now with the nerfed healing I don't have much chance against Mobs 4 levels higher. How come the Class Quests aren't level synced as well? Anyone else have this problem? Under leveled for class quests? I'm using xp potions and rested Xp.

 

Well, I'd say in that situation you'd need to fill in the experience to catch up regardless. So tacticals or some side/repeatable quests.