Companion Change Feedback

[Lord_Sleepy]

Also, bring back HK-55! I miss "meatbags"! "Organics" is just not the same... *sniff* RIP HK-55 you are missed...

 

He had contact with scorpio, and she downloads/steals all data she can, so she probably has his personality matrix saved and will, like a good data broker, use it later to get something done for her. No payment, no HK.

[caronome]

Does *A* viable power even exist?

 

4.0.0 or 4.0.2 are neither right or wrong, just different design goals resulting in different games. Too easy and some traditional MMO players leave; too hard and some here-for-story players leave. IMO, obviously the best number for BioWare is the one that generates the most revenue.

 

But reading too much of these sort of threads, is there really a single difficulty level hat works? Even if you got thousands of people in focus groups and did lots of real market research (not the very skewed forums), does any power level really work? Whether they roll back 5% or 50% or 100% I despair that any really works.

 

Is there any single difficulty level in this game that would allow ops-geared, ops-skilled players to feel challenged and at the same time allow under-geared, un-augmented, here for the story/ip players to have fun? I increasingly think that is not possible.

 

I have come around to thinking, if they don't want to make it select-able (e.g. Makeb buff) then BW is probably best to choose 4.0.0 or 4.0.2 difficulty - not a compromise - and walk away from some potential customers. My guess is some compromise is likely just to make everyone unsatisfied; why not please one group?

[Ghisallo]

Honestly I didn't know we were suppose to learn about our class... Never knew that at all. I'm just playing the game for the storyline that's really it... And honestly I don't want to "rotate" my companion, I like having Theron's hot *** too look at. I romanticized with him for a reason... Hello! I want to be able to use him all the time cause I'm serious Theron is a site for soar eyes when you got to face ugly *** monsters or Rodians and when I found out he was going to come back for KOTFE and was going to be a companion I was a freaking twitter and decided that he was going to be the comp I always used. My story, my character, my choice, Bioware needs to respect that....

 

First you do not need to rotate your companion so looking at Theron will still work . If he is your only companion you use then AWESOME for you because he will be better for it power wise with affection.

 

The problem is this is an MMO. As such the devs need a consistent level of difficulty. Now I have NO issue if people say "I didn't come here to play a video game I came here to watch a story and have my decisions matter." I am cool with that. BUT you then have to understand, that BW only has to accept the "I don't want to learn my class" up to a point. They make their plan and really like any project you either like the paradigm or. They are trying to make it bearable BUT if you are expecting the change will make it so you won't have to be concerned I think you will be disappointed. All the heals in the world say do not make someone doing only a little dps, drop the mobs like a hot potato.

 

People really need to look NOT at the companions but the overall vision of the expac here. That will not change. If you don't like the vision then I don't know what to say. Not saying this a correct vision mind you but it is there vision and they only need respect player desire as much as hat plan allows. Its too late to change that over all plan.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Ghisallo

[AngFour]

 

C2-N2 proved an especially apt tank with his influence rating of 1, although I'm tempted to keep using Theran just because of him using dancing Holiday as his CC move.

 

Plus Tharan Cedrax needs to be punched a lot more often by very big, nasty things. I approve of making him a tank

[DarthEnrique]

He had contact with scorpio, and she downloads/steals all data she can, so she probably has his personality matrix saved and will, like a good data broker, use it later to get something done for her. No payment, no HK.

 

Well, we better hope Lana doesn't deactivate her...

[Ghisallo]

But, how many alts do you have? do you like leveling them up also? Do you intend on making more characters?

I only have 2 pages of alts, want to get them all leveled and already planning my next character, no, being able to rush through the content isn't stopping me from playing, it will have me leveling alts and making more. If it is tedious to level and grind then yes, only count how long it takes me to get 1 character through it because that would be all I would bother with.

 

But one of the main things with alts that the original game did, class stories, is gone. This I already know is having a major effect on a lot of players. More than a few of the players complaining said "there is no point leveling my alt and if the grind is too much I'll stop that too" problem is when you get to the end of the grind to fast the same exact dynamic will kick in.

 

They kinda made an expac here that works against itself. Yes the minority that has alt-itis will still level alts but the other changes they have made to the game over the last two expacs works against the majority doing it anymore.

[Alssaran]

Apparently you have not heard the old statement "Actions speak louder than words." have you?

 

A hundred right-wing extremists go onto the street on a weekly basis to protest against immigration. For each of them, there are approx. a thousand people who disagree with them. Should the right-wingers be in the right for taking action?

 

No, certainly not. Don't try to apply your fathers wisdom where it doesn't belong. That phrase is to indicate that you need to back up your words by actions, not that the people who do the most are in the right or are the many.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Alssaran

[Ghisallo]

A hundred right-wing extremists go onto the street on a weekly basis to protest against immigration. For each of them, there are approx. a thousand people who disagree with them. Should the right-wingers be in the right for taking action?

 

No, certainly not. Don't try to apply your fathers wisdom where it doesn't belong. That phrase is to indicate that you need to back up your words by actions, not that the people who do the most are in the right or are the many.

 

Exactly... it has nothing to do with right or wrong, it has to do with "are you all talk" or not.

[DarthEnrique]

First you do not need to rotate your companion so looking at Theron will still work . If he is your only companion you use then AWESOME for you because he will be better for it power wise with affection.

 

The problem is this is an MMO. As such the devs need a consistent level of difficulty. Now I have NO issue if people say "I didn't come here to play a video game I came here to watch a story and have my decisions matter." I am cool with that. BUT you then have to understand, that BW only has to accept the "I don't want to learn my class" up to a point. They make their plan and really like any project you either like the paradigm or. They are trying to make it bearable BUT if you are expecting the change will make it so you won't have to be concerned I think you will be disappointed. All the heals in the world say do not make someone doing only a little dps, drop the mobs like a hot potato.

 

People really need to look NOT at the companions but the overall vision of the expac here. That will not change. If you don't like the vision then I don't know what to say. Not saying this a correct vision mind you but it is there vision and they only need respect player desire as much as hat plan allows. Its too late to change that over all plan.

 

Well as someone pointed out earlier the rub is KOTFE is mainly solos, you more often than not can't group with someone. Actually a vast majority of the game itself is solo as it's a storylined game. Yeah can't expect a lot of people to see it any other way as this does kinda conclude where KOTOR started in fact a lot of aspects from both KOTOR and KOTOR 2 can be found in this game and neither were an MMO I think what it comes down to is TOR is not like a lot of MMORPG games or at least not any I know of as I am not an MMO person I am a fan of "The Old Republic" games and that's why I'm here to see KOTOR and KOTOR 2 through to the end so here I am on TOR.

Edited November 22, 2015 by DarthEnrique

[DarthEnrique]

A hundred right-wing extremists go onto the street on a weekly basis to protest against immigration. For each of them, there are approx. a thousand people who disagree with them. Should the right-wingers be in the right for taking action?

 

No, certainly not. Don't try to apply your fathers wisdom where it doesn't belong. That phrase is to indicate that you need to back up your words by actions, not that the people who do the most are in the right or are the many.

 

That's your opinion and I respect it just as you could respect mine without insult of "fathe's wisdom". I'm only 28 thank you!

[SettGirkkurn]

I really hope that someone will read this. So here we go, mostly doing progression raids on Sniper, but also as Merc heal. So I would say that I know the ropes of the game... On a scale 1-5(1 casual, 5 Zorz level raider), I would like to think of myself as strong 3, maybe just shy from 4. Had my fair share of both HM and NiM ops, and been in game for like 3 years or so.

Anyway regarding the numbers and feedback.

 

Level: Level 65 Sniper

Roughly Average Item Rating: ~220 Min/Maxed fully Augmented. Mastery over 5000, crit 1100+, Alacrity 890, Presence with Scorpio 2658

Discipline: All 3, pulling 6,3k dps on Engineering in current gear on 1,5mil dummy

Companion: Scorpio

Companion role: Heal (kinda only role for comps for pure dps class)

Companion Influence level: 31+

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

Your personal experience while playing this content:

Ok so for planet heroics, I find it rather easy. Even after the nerf. Some of them are tricky but for example Lights out on Belsavis, where you encounter both gold and silver mobs didn't changed much pre-nerf. Could be rough, but usually end up with at least 60% health. However, due to the heavy AoE on Engineering, that numbers can change for single target DPS specs.

Now, about heroics... I got to say that on Tuesday, I have entered Nar Shaddaa SF, and literally got demolished by Paladin. Probably my bad since dTPS was like 5k+. Tried it few times, and rage quit.

Numbers there are odd as hell. Being sniper you don't have too much kiting options at your disposal unless Eng. You have nice cooldowns to compensate that. Went just now in Alderaan H2 as Marksmanship and buffs. Ended with like 100k HP or something. Scorpio ended with 3300+ max damage or so.

First Paladin, killed it in 1:15 with my DPS of ~5200. However, I took about 180K damage. At the same time, Scorpios HPS was ~1500. Adan Tranik 2500 dps. More or less everything upto last room before Exarch was like that. However had some knights that were hitted me like a truck. One had about 3500dps on me, and about 160k damage, which is a lot. Killed him when I was on less than 10%.

Second paladin, Tress Parion put up some fight, around 3300 dps, and 267k damage on me. Scorpio again pulled 1500hps with 93% efficiency.

Now the room with 2 knights and 2 trash mobs. Almost died and utilized every thing at disposal. Polishing first trash mobs then stunning one knight (mind you that both were humping Scorpio like adolescents on h00ker), polishing one, meanwhile Scorpio trying to up her since she was close to dying, killing another with me again less than 10% health. Impale hits for 7k, thundering blasts for 6. assaults for 5k (all crits mind you, you gotta love RNG) Multiply by 2 of them, and you have some nice numbers.

3 stages before Exarch were quite interesting. On second room, Scorpio at one point stopped healing me, clicking her abilities didn't change a thing even they were all off the cooldown. Soon after I dieded as well. Next try, killed them faster and moved to third. Mind you that at one point, since I was farming thingies to lower Exarch shield, he completely bugged out, and started channeling console, even I haven't removed his shield at all. Clicked console, and cleared to the next one. Third one was also relatively ok, with few moments of clicking pretty much everything I had.

Exarch fight... Well... Interesting, since at first one I had dTPS of about 4500. In pure numbers:

Double strike, 6 hits, Avg dmg 9,777, DPS 1181

Melee attack, 23 hits, Avg dng 2406, DPS 1114

Impaling strike, 3 hits, Avg dmg 12,428, DPS 751

Shield bash, 3 hits, Avg dmg 10,917, DPS 659

Shield rush, 1 hit, Avg dmg 21,085, DPS 424

Double strike, 1 hit, 9,950, DPS 200

Residual Kinetic Energy, 2 hits, 4,438, DPS 179

Of course, that was too much for poor Scorpio, and her 1439 HPS.

Next try with much better positioning, interrupts and defensive cooldowns was successful, and she died in about 1:40. It was so better that Scorpio did whooping 580 HPS and 80% efficiency

To sum it up for the TL:DR

1. Not fun and quite intensive for content you are supposed to do on daily basics. Doubt I will do it any time soon as solo even I have 2 more heroics to finish on that toon.

2. Not for complete casuals at all. As in, casuals cannot complete it (didn't tried without buffs but I recon I would die much more without buffs

3. Companions need to contemplate the environment. Standing in stupid is, well, stupid. Also, if I want here in healing stance, no, I don't want her to pew-pew when I need heals.

4. Damage output is quite high for Heroic mission. Yeah, it is Heroic, and this one is certainly not for casual players. I am aware that it supposed to be challenging but this might be tad too much.

5. Eric said comps on level 50 will be more powerful than ever. I seriously doubt that. If Scorpio cannot pull more than 1500 hps when I take the damage on level 30, I dont expect her to pull much more on level 50. Up the healing output for about 25% and it should be enough challenging for first few tries, and later when you learn from own mistakes should be like regular daily missions.

6. Unless you use everything at your disposal, you might have rough ride.

Anyway, hope this helps (btw, I have Exarch video but didn't posted it since everything went smoothly on second try apart from sometimes not being able to target adds that she spawn so I had to click them...)

[Alssaran]

That's your opinion and I respect it just as you could respect mine without insult of "fathe's wisdom". I'm only 28 thank you!

 

Where is that an insult? Two things to consider:

 

Being a father is nothing to be embarassed or insulted about, even at the age of twenty-eight. I know people who've been fathers for a decade by then, although not always by choice.

 

You can get fathers wisdom from your own father. We all have/had one.

 

So, where is that an insult? I'm genuinely curious.

[DarthEnrique]

Where is that an insult? Two things to consider:

 

Being a father is nothing to be embarassed or insulted about, even at the age of twenty-eight. I know people who've been fathers for a decade by then, although not always by choice.

 

You can get fathers wisdom from your own father. We all have/had one.

 

So, where is that an insult? I'm genuinely curious.

 

It made me feel old. Lol!

[Ghisallo]

Well as someone pointed out earlier the rub is KOTFE is mainly solos, you more often than not can't group with someone. Actually a vast majority of the game itself is solo as it's a storylined game. Yeah can't expect a lot of people to see it any other way as this does kinda conclude where KOTOR started in fact a lot of aspects from both KOTOR and KOTOR 2 can be found in this game and neither were an MMO I think what it comes down to is TOR is not like a lot of MMORPG games or at least not any I know of as I am not an MMO person I am a fan of "The Old Republic" games and that's why I'm here to see KOTOR and KOTOR 2 through to the end so here I am on TOR.

 

But the thing is that people are making an ASSUMPTION. Solo =/= Story only focus. Before this expac Solo was not a snooze fest right out of the gate. It was once geared up and such but not to start. people forget our companions have been reset for the benefit of new players and such. The mere fact that they said story however made people think the entire game play was going to change... clearly that is NOT the case. That is a problem on the part of players engaging in wishful thinking more than anything else.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Ghisallo

[OldGrizz]

With the reduction in capability of companion healing in the latest tweak, unfortunately you've made doing some Heroics too hard to survive for my non-tank characters in solo mode. Now it's very true that some of the Heroic+2 are just fine for my weaker characters -- challenging at the right level, so that I have to plan ahead and play carefully, but I can beat the fights. However, when the enemies are putting out too much DPS all on once on me as the target, the companion healing falls behind and I die. I haven't tried a tank character in these same solo heroics, but I'm pretty sure they are enough better on defense that they wouldn't go down so easily.

 

Devs: Can't there be a script run when a fight starts where the companion evaluates the number of gold and the number of silver enemies in the mobs and adjusts its healing capacity to suit? Keep the current level of healing for PvE and as the base starting point for heroics, but ramp up the healing rapidly if the opposing forces are overwhelming. This seems do-able and would keep us challenged, but not killed too easily.

Edited November 22, 2015 by OldGrizz

[Akeashar]

A hundred right-wing extremists go onto the street on a weekly basis to protest against immigration. For each of them, there are approx. a thousand people who disagree with them. Should the right-wingers be in the right for taking action?

 

No, certainly not. Don't try to apply your fathers wisdom where it doesn't belong. That phrase is to indicate that you need to back up your words by actions, not that the people who do the most are in the right or are the many.

 

Bioware has the metrics to back up how many subscriptions it has lost since 4.0.2 rolled out, which is backing up words in the forums with actions by cancellation The phrase works perfectly here, even if you are unable to discern whether it has taken place or not. Read through the threads, and probably across the other social media that Bioware has been tracking, and them matching with their accounting section and there you have your actions.

 

Even if the actions mean nothing to you, as a company that is a part of a larger whole, such actions would mean a lot to them. They probably have two forms of metrics, the account losses reported by their accounting section in the time period between 4.0 and 4.0.2 and those in the time following 4.0.2

 

Of course, its a simple matter to resubscribe, but the action has been taken, and likely taken note of.

 

Then they can make the cost benefit analysis of which losses are more sustainable and balance things in a way that minimizes that.

 

Personally, I think lowering minimum levels for all flashpoints to 15 is more damaging to the meta game than OP companions ever were. So many horrible horrible runs with people who think that a Tactical flashpoint with a healer onboard means you can just charge into every single enemy group along the way and not rest, wait or stay out of the funny markings on the floor.

[DarthEnrique]

Exactly... it has nothing to do with right or wrong, it has to do with "are you all talk" or not.

 

And I believe people have. I bought Time Cards to play this game so I have no true subscription to cancel just a subscription of time from them. I could refuse to buy more time cards and let my time run out and no longer play but for now while I have days on my subscription I'm not going to waste that money and not play if people have cancelled their subscriptions in protest you'd think losing money would be Bioware's concern over anything else... And let's be honest isn't that the most important thing to them is not losing money? I mean I've seen a lot of f2p on this game so you know they aren't getting a lot of money for this game... I personally don't think people think of the money aspect of the game.

[Brayla_Sana]

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

 

Thank you. I don't think we need a full buff to 4.0 levels, but I think we need enough to get us by until the AI issues with healers and the Mainhand bug get fully addressed.

[DarthEnrique]

Bioware has the metrics to back up how many subscriptions it has lost since 4.0.2 rolled out, which is backing up words in the forums with actions by cancellation The phrase works perfectly here, even if you are unable to discern whether it has taken place or not. Read through the threads, and probably across the other social media that Bioware has been tracking, and them matching with their accounting section and there you have your actions.

 

Even if the actions mean nothing to you, as a company that is a part of a larger whole, such actions would mean a lot to them. They probably have two forms of metrics, the account losses reported by their accounting section in the time period between 4.0 and 4.0.2 and those in the time following 4.0.2

 

Of course, its a simple matter to resubscribe, but the action has been taken, and likely taken note of.

 

Then they can make the cost benefit analysis of which losses are more sustainable and balance things in a way that minimizes that.

 

Personally, I think lowering minimum levels for all flashpoints to 15 is more damaging to the meta game than OP companions ever were. So many horrible horrible runs with people who think that a Tactical flashpoint with a healer onboard means you can just charge into every single enemy group along the way and not rest, wait or stay out of the funny markings on the floor.

Someone wise...

[Ghisallo]

Bioware has the metrics to back up how many subscriptions it has lost since 4.0.2 rolled out, which is backing up words in the forums with actions by cancellation The phrase works perfectly here, even if you are unable to discern whether it has taken place or not. Read through the threads, and probably across the other social media that Bioware has been tracking, and them matching with their accounting section and there you have your actions.

 

Even if the actions mean nothing to you, as a company that is a part of a larger whole, such actions would mean a lot to them. They probably have two forms of metrics, the account losses reported by their accounting section in the time period between 4.0 and 4.0.2 and those in the time following 4.0.2

 

Of course, its a simple matter to resubscribe, but the action has been taken, and likely taken note of.

 

Then they can make the cost benefit analysis of which losses are more sustainable and balance things in a way that minimizes that.

 

Personally, I think lowering minimum levels for all flashpoints to 15 is more damaging to the meta game than OP companions ever were. So many horrible horrible runs with people who think that a Tactical flashpoint with a healer onboard means you can just charge into every single enemy group along the way and not rest, wait or stay out of the funny markings on the floor.

 

Well if you are saying that they are reverting companions back to original strength... yeah... not happening, fact. They are going to try and minimize loss while maintaining their original vision as much as possible as well... it is a compromise decision on their part.

 

What kills me is this people talk metrics and stuff when convenient. Oh Look they are changing things, I think, in a manner I want... the metrics. Oh look they ruined the game for me... they don't know what they are doing. When people see it's not a 100% reversion they will then say "BW doesn't know how to read metrics" Talk metrics when BW mentions them. beyond that people are only guessing and making BS assumptions.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Ghisallo

[Alssaran]

Bioware has the metrics to back up how many subscriptions it has lost since 4.0.2 rolled out, which is backing up words in the forums with actions by cancellation *snip*

 

And I take it you haven't read the whole discussion me and the guy had, while at the same time processing the information?

 

The guy I was quoting was talking about the majority, which we know at this point not to be true. Bioware has said so during the last few "incidents", other CM have said so based on forum data and so on. What he assumes to be a majority is in fact not a majority.

 

The guy wanted to indicate that "actions speak louder than words", which is only partially applicable in this case. We have no data who of those who said they did actually unsubscribe (and I've seen a few names in this discussion say that who have said so at least half a dozen times over the past six months), as well as how many have unsubscribed in total. There were 700 people unhappy on the poll conducted a few days earlier. Even if all of those 700 still unsubscribe over the change, that'd mean that approx. 0.2% of the subscriber playerbase has unsubscribed.

 

That action doesn't speak louder than words. That action is normal fluctuation in playerbase size for an MMORPG, not worth any undivided attention.

 

You might want to make it sound that way, but the phrase still does not work in the context he was using it in. That's why I choose the example I have used earlier. It indicates that there is a vocal minority and a silent and content majority (or an indifferent one, as previous CM have indicated). 400 people leaving over the change while 290.000 are perfectly happy the way it is does not mean more just because the 400 people choose to go.

[DarthEnrique]

But the thing is that people are making an ASSUMPTION. Solo =/= Story only focus. Before this expac Solo was not a snooze fest right out of the gate. It was once geared up and such but not to start. The mere fact that they said story however made people think the entire game play was going to change... clearly that is NOT the case. That is a problem on the part of players engaging in wishful thinking more than anything else.

Well let me ask you this, do you want to sit there and go through the same conversation two to four times in a row or be forced to make different choices for some conversations for another person's pleasure cause I didn't care for that when I did. I mean seriously who wants to really sit here and tell me they want to witness the same conversation over and over again instead of getting to do what you have to do next or say you don't even do that are you really going to want to stand around and wait. The fact is this is a storylined MMO. When it comes to the storyline it should be solo the only time you should have to team up with people is for Flashpoints or Warzones. A lot of people miss the fact that all this is storylined and should be solo instead of being hard to play and asking other people for help and having to hear the same conversation over and over...

[Aestel]

So I feel the OP is suggestions balancing companions around the anticipated difficulty of content. When the developers should be balancing companions around other players. If the difficulty of content is off then balance the content. Also don't call things heroic 2 if you plan to have players solo them.

[Ghisallo]

Well let me ask you this, do you want to sit there and go through the same conversation two to four times in a row or be forced to make different choices for some conversations for another person's pleasure cause I didn't care for that when I did. I mean seriously who wants to really sit here and tell me they want to witness the same conversation over and over again instead of getting to do what you have to do next or say you don't even do that are you really going to want to stand around and wait. The fact is this is a storylined MMO. When it comes to the storyline it should be solo the only time you should have to team up with people is for Flashpoints or Warzones. A lot of people miss the fact that all this is storylined and should be solo instead of being hard to play and asking other people for help and having to hear the same conversation over and over...

 

Your entire response here is a non-sequitur to my point. I am not talking about the nature of story. I am saying that saying there is going to be a story focus has NO bearing on how they decide to actually design the solo playable content. Assuming it would is half the mistake of those very upset because I have even seen story fans saying what is the point of ez-mode play.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Ghisallo

[Ghisallo]

So I feel the OP is suggestions balancing companions around the anticipated difficulty of content. When the developers should be balancing companions around other players. If the difficulty of content is off then balance the content. Also don't call things heroic 2 if you plan to have players solo them.

 

You can't really balance around players because there are too many variables. What you do is look at content and then buff a bit to account for it. That is the best you can do in an MMO.