Companion Change Feedback

[Baby-Girl]

...

 

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

-eric

 

 

• Your level: 65
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating: 216
  
• Discipline: Gunnery Commando
  
• Companion: Koth
  
• Companion role: Heals
  
• Companion Influence level: 12
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?): N/A
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content:
  

 

After running the H2s on some of the higher planets, I have to say that companion heals are now wickedly under-powered. On Taris, I put Koth on DPS and he was dealing 122 baseline damage and criting between 175-210 damage per shot. I then put him on heals, and he was healing 75-95 baseline and criting between 122 and 155. So then I went to Makeb and ended up dropping the Vipers Nest b/c he simply couldn’t keep me alive and couldn’t DPS enough to burn through.

 

Granted, I did see folks on Odessen saying they were completing SF HM solo with a companion, it was just a long, painful and death filled process.

 

Not to change subjects, but I do think they are inter-related… -- fix/unify level sync so it is a standard number of levels above the quest level. There’s a distinct difference in speed/damage/heals when you're 2 levels above the mobs in a quest vs being the same level as the mobs in an H2. Really, if we are being scaled down to a certain base-line, it should be a uniform standard that is based on the QUEST we are completing, not the planet, across the galaxy. This way, we are not over powered for some quests and slightly under-powered for others. As a result, folks would likely not feel the companion nerf as much as they are now.

 

BTW the gross amount of lag this weekend most certainly didn’t help with my success rate.

 

On another, but directly related note:

 

Personally, I preferred the original companions with gear, stats etc. It's what made this game unique and challenging. I also preferred having Aim, Cunning, Strength and Willpower and different gear weightings (light, medium, heavy). I guess, I just think that different roles and gear ratings are what separate an MMO from a single player console game.

 

The problem with main stats was quite simple -- the loot that dropped from non-class missions. Had the devs simply written a rule in the code that said "Consular" = random Willpower drop and/or "Consular" = "Active Companion Drop" folks would not have been so confused and we wouldn't of seen so many Sentinals running around in Smuggler gear.

 

Here's the point though...

 

Companions, companion stats and main class stats were not a “problem” pre-4. and they most certainly were not a broken feature.

 

Could they have used some tweaking? Yes. Some minor revision/adjustments -- Yes. Just my 2 cents but I am not convinced fixing a bunch of stuff that wasn’t broken (stats and companions), while ignoring a number of serious in-game bugs (inability to complete quests, boss glitches in H2s, the fact that lava and platforms STILL do not spawn on Gharj after 4 years) was the wisest decision on the part of EA/BW... I mean really, you can give me all of the cosmetic changes you want but if core scripted fights are broken and people cannot progress, then you have a broken game and a broken game is just frustrating and unplayable. And now, we have more broken features to contend with while we wait for yet another "new content drop."

 

I do not care if you want to make changes and introduce new features, I just ask that you make sure they have been through QA BEFORE dumping them on early access players. e.g. want to add level sync and remove all custom features on companions - fine - but at least make sure it works properly before release.

 

And can I PLEASE have my matrix cube back????

Edited November 22, 2015 by Baby-Girl
Format

[brutin]

This.

 

 

 

We can safely assume that there was major evidence on Bioware's radar of canceled subs, or they wouldn't have done such a historic 180. If you believe they decided to roll back the nerf out of a self-induced eureka moment, then we must be living in two different realities.

 

.

 

I agree and I'm in the category. Well, my account is still here, but I turned off recurring payments I'll wait till after Tuesday to see if it stays that way or not. I still have about 15-20 days left so plenty of time to see the current state of things before deciding.

[SettGirkkurn]

sigh...

Again: I was comparing your companions HPS that you were complaining about to my own companions HPS on the same fight. With same influence level. And wondering how is it that mine was doing ~200 hps more more than yours. After pointing this out twice I see you still didnt get the point I was finding confusing in your post, hence the question "Is this bs OR are different companions coded to performing differently". Do you now after the third time I explain the point of my quote, understand it?

 

Ofc, this is not something I expected you to be able to reply to in terms of game coding, but you proved your complaint on lack of healing quite well by demonstrating your dtps being lower than the amount of healing you were expecting to get.

 

So, while we still dont know if different companions perform differently or not, I now know why yours was most likely doing less healing than mine in the first place. The discussion ended already, no need to be upset anymore.

 

I have no issue with nerf either, I have no issue with comps getting a buff either. What I have issue with, is people displaying varied numbers with odd expectations vs performance.

 

Well companions are obviously different, and in my opinion half broken. Since on one room, she just stopped healing altogether. Not even clicking abilities made her do so. And issue about the numbers is the problem here since in my experience it varied from "piss easy" to "well that was hard and I had to use everything at disposal"...

[LordArtemis]

I tend to think if they had launched with companions that were stronger than they are now, but not as strong as 4.0 there would have been far less if any flack....but then I expect the flack would have been directed at level sync, which was a non-issue for the most part IMO after 4.0 but became an issue after 4.0.2.

 

And I expect it will likely be the next hot button issue. This problems only delayed the inevitable IMO.

[Baby-Girl]

I tend to think if they had launched with companions that were stronger than they are now, but not as strong as 4.0 there would have been far less if any flack....but then I expect the flack would have been directed at level sync, which was a non-issue for the most part IMO after 4.0 but became an issue after 4.0.2.

 

And I expect it will likely be the next hot button issue. This problems only delayed the inevitable IMO.

 

I totally agree, however, I think the next "hot button issue" will be the lag and the lack of despawning dead bodies causing unplayable areas ... After that... I suspect you are right and it will be a level sync free for all. I must be weird b/c level sync is the one new feature that really doesn't bother me.

[Zem_]

I totally agree, however, I think the next "hot button issue" will be the lag and the lack of despawning dead bodies causing unplayable areas ... After that... I suspect you are right and it will be a level sync free for all. I must be weird b/c level sync is the one new feature that really doesn't bother me.

 

At least I assume we won't have to put up with a debate over the corpse problem. Unless there is a segment of the player population that LIKES corpse piles and lag. In which case, this will be an opportunity to get them some much needed professional help.

[GilaMonster_za]

I will prefix this by saying that I'm a casual player, playing more for the story than anything else.

 

Normal leveling is fine. A bit annoying with the number of enemies, but not a hard challenge.

Heroic 2, I ran two of them on Balmorra earlier today. Bloody tedious and no fun at all. I died to any group with 2 golds. Spent about 3/4 of an hour slowly creeping through the research outpost before finally giving up out of frustration. I could probably have finished in another half an hour, but by that point it wasn't worth the grind.

 

Balmorra character:

Bounty Hunter, Merc. Damage spec

Level 25 (level sync to 22)

Companion: Mako, influence level 11, set to heal (haven't tried DPS or tank for heroic)

I'm not sure how to calc item level, but mostly green and blue items with two orange guns (level 22 mods)

[cambul]

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.

 

pot and kettle.. just saying

[ShelkartMarne]

With this much feedback, I figure I'll toss my two cents in...

I have toons from launch day, but didn't finish any of the class stories (or have a toon at the level cap) until the first 12x XP bonus because it felt like the "combat tax" to see the next scene was too boring. But in the time between the expansion patch and the companion nerf I finished two more class stories because while the new system did trivialize the difficulty of a leveling PvE, that made the game overall a lot more fun.

Granted, I haven't played any group content since back before F2P or even the Cartel Market (though I used to LOVE the lower level Flashpoints - this was also before group finder so I seldom got into them after the first few) so I can see how a 4+ person faceroll might be annoying if it becomes common. I suspect a large portion of the fun we had when someone skilled, geared and barely in the full XP level band joined a PUG was that it was a treat.

I haven't really tried PvP so the way the hotbar combat self-sorts into some main abilities for your primary role and a few circumstantial ones combines with the cooldown-enforced rotations makes the fights more recitation than reactive (and nowhere near active) so really anything that reduces the number of times I rotate through the same (or as identical to the one I arranged during my last character's level up as my skill at cooldown management lets me) ability cycle per fight makes the game better for me.

Obviously, I've no idea if there are enough players in my boat to make it really matter, and the *real* solution to my issue would be to start from scratch with how combat works in TOR but setting the difficulty of the stuff that isn't designed to be repeated-until-you-get-it-right to "nominal" seems like the next best thing.

[Ferretfur]

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

 

Great news to see the concerns addressed. A step in the right direction and thanks for the feedback.

[yeldarbnotned]

I think a right balance has been reached in the Star Fortress Heroic 2 flashpoints. I successfully completed the Belsavis Star Fortress. It was challenging but very doable. My character did not perish, but I did lose my loyal HK-51 twice. Both times, the lower level Zakuul Knights (105k version) took him down. They can hit hard. But, we fought well against the Elite Knights (200k), Paladins, and Boss. It is wise to interrupts, ccs, and buffs. They are your allies!

 

HK 51 (Dps Stance with 20 Influence)

 

My Character Level 65 Sage Healer in 216 unoptimized gear.

 

I had fun. I had completed two of them before the nerf. It took longer for HK to burn things down, but he still rocked. Thank you Bioware making some challenging solo content. Stand your ground!!

[Makillda]

I think a right balance has been reached in the Star Fortress Heroic 2 flashpoints. I successfully completed the Belsavis Star Fortress. It was challenging but very doable. My character did not perish, but I did lose my loyal HK-51 twice. Both times, the lower level Zakuul Knights (105k version) took him down. They can hit hard. But, we fought well against the Elite Knights (200k), Paladins, and Boss. It is wise to interrupts, ccs, and buffs. They are your allies!

 

HK 51 (Dps Stance with 20 Influence)

 

My Character Level 65 Sage Healer in 216 unoptimized gear.

 

I had fun. I had completed two of them before the nerf. It took longer for HK to burn things down, but he still rocked. Thank you Bioware making some challenging solo content. Stand your ground!!

 

No way! You mean, you geared up, played your class well and actually succeeded? You filthy grinder class elitist tryhard you.

 

/sarcasm

[cambul]

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.

 

you cant just dismiss another persons opinion or interpretation of the limited information we have (don't have), with nothing more than your own assumptions and interpretations of that limited information.

 

case in point, in order for you to use those poll numbers to support your opinion, they would need to be considered meaningful, that is.. representative of the player base as a whole. that being the case would you not also need to take the previous days poll into account as well? that ended with only 30% of players saying they wanted change while 70% were happy as was. you cant just pick and choose the polls that represent your own personal bias, or who does and who doesn't vote.. that's not how it works.. relative to topic, you either consider them all, or consider none at all.

 

so the 'fathers wisdom' stands

Edited November 22, 2015 by cambul

[Roalmo]

No way! You mean, you geared up, played your class well and actually succeeded? You filthy grinder class elitist tryhard you.

 

/sarcasm

 

Whoa,

 

You need to LtR.

 

The one key word is his toon was a "Healer".

 

Healers and Jugs got a pass on the nerf.

[LadyVix]

I think a right balance has been reached in the Star Fortress Heroic 2 flashpoints. I successfully completed the Belsavis Star Fortress. It was challenging but very doable. My character did not perish, but I did lose my loyal HK-51 twice. Both times, the lower level Zakuul Knights (105k version) took him down. They can hit hard. But, we fought well against the Elite Knights (200k), Paladins, and Boss. It is wise to interrupts, ccs, and buffs. They are your allies!

 

HK 51 (Dps Stance with 20 Influence)

 

My Character Level 65 Sage Healer in 216 unoptimized gear.

 

I had fun. I had completed two of them before the nerf. It took longer for HK to burn things down, but he still rocked. Thank you Bioware making some challenging solo content. Stand your ground!!

 

Congratulations. Now try it with NO SELF HEALS and a "healer" companion that only does 800-1200 heals. If people were able to experience things from that DPS perspective, many/most would agree that things are still very much unbalanced.

[Khiriath]

I think a right balance has been reached in the Star Fortress Heroic 2 flashpoints. I successfully completed the Belsavis Star Fortress. It was challenging but very doable. My character did not perish, but I did lose my loyal HK-51 twice. Both times, the lower level Zakuul Knights (105k version) took him down. They can hit hard. But, we fought well against the Elite Knights (200k), Paladins, and Boss. It is wise to interrupts, ccs, and buffs. They are your allies!

 

HK 51 (Dps Stance with 20 Influence)

 

My Character Level 65 Sage Healer in 216 unoptimized gear.

 

I had fun. I had completed two of them before the nerf. It took longer for HK to burn things down, but he still rocked. Thank you Bioware making some challenging solo content. Stand your ground!!

 

Common theme, 216 gear. Speaking of balance, why should anyone need 216 gear for a mission that drops 208?

 

Please retry in sub 208 gear and report back. When I see more than a handful say they could do it in sub 208 gear, I will consider it well balanced.

[KwaiKang]

The players without non-healing characters are at a severe disadvantage. Jedi Sentinels don't have the mega healing capabilities like the Jedi Con and are mostly 100% dependent upon the healing powers of the companion. If the companion goes down, the player is totally screwed. Since the nerf, I and my companion go down frequently in the heroic Star Fortress. I don't have a very large list of friends that play the game, I can simply ask them for help. Nor do I have the time to search for others. I work for a living and my free time is very limited. If the game continues to be frustrating I will move onto another game and unsub swtor. As one of the founder players it would be a shame to leave. Edited November 22, 2015 by KwaiKang
rewording

[Albertwang]

Looks like most people are favoring a complete rollback of our companions to pre-patch version

[AngFour]

Not sure if this post is BS or if different companions have different healing performances...

 

Not all companions are created equal. That's the thing that baffles me the most. Some comps, typically the ones who were originally healers, are better healers than the ones who were originally DPS or Tank. Same goes for the other two roles. Basically we're in the same situation we were pre-4.0: we're going to use the comps who are the best (in this instance) healers and disregard all the other ones, which defeats the purpose of making all comps do all things.

 

They should have given all the comps the same stats across the board in all stances. But for some reason they didn't and it just doesn't make any sense.

[Falonarion]

The players without non-healing characters are at a severe disadvantage. Jedi Sentinels don't have the mega healing capabilities like the Jedi Con and are mostly 100% dependent upon the healing powers of the companion. If the companion goes down, the player is totally screwed. Since the nerf, I and my companion go down frequently in the heroic Star Fortress. I don't have a very large list of friends that play the game, I can simply ask them for help. Nor do I have the time to search for others. I work for a living and my free time is very limited. If the game continues to be frustrating I will move onto another game and unsub swtor. As one of the founder players it would be a shame to leave.

 

This is going to hurt a lot, play mostly tank/melee characters and been relying heavily on healing comps. Having this sort of nerfs is bad, but have found that BIOWARE does not listen to the player base who plays pve, they only listen to the pvpers/raiders instead, those type of players love to see nerfs so they can remain top epeen players on the boards and pay lots of money to the cartel store.

 

Have not been playing for a bit, but going to check out to see how bad these nerfs are, if cannot play or keep getting dead because of these nerfs, will not not post, but will instead cancel my CC card, delete all of my characters and then unsub and uninstall.

 

As a DEAF player, have had hard time finding help or ran into hostile players who are for some reason against deaf players... So never had a chance to raid, or doing flashpoints on hard mode due to being deaf.

[Thompsons]

After all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, I had some foreboding when a friend asked me to go in a star fort with one of her new (to Zakuul) alts. Her companion's affection was only 12. Grated, my Imp toon had a companion with 30 influence, but he was an operative -- good DPS but brittle. Same for her merc.

 

Mission was a piece of cake.

 

So just to make sure I wasn't missing anything, took a 61 and used his ship droid -- with a influence of one. Went on hero missions.

 

It was like riding a bike with training wheels.

 

So I've started a completely fresh toon at level 1 and will play her until I get a companion.

 

Haven't found a problem yet, but I'm trying. The de-nerf will hit first, but I have to say that I'm pretty firmly in the "nothing here a little (very little) influence farming wouldn't have solved" camp.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Thompsons

[IanArgent]

The players without non-healing characters are at a severe disadvantage. Jedi Sentinels don't have the mega healing capabilities like the Jedi Con and are mostly 100% dependent upon the healing powers of the companion. If the companion goes down, the player is totally screwed. Since the nerf, I and my companion go down frequently in the heroic Star Fortress. I don't have a very large list of friends that play the game, I can simply ask them for help. Nor do I have the time to search for others. I work for a living and my free time is very limited. If the game continues to be frustrating I will move onto another game and unsub swtor. As one of the founder players it would be a shame to leave.

 

More or less this; though I'd word it slightly differently. The DPS/DPS advanced classes (Sentinels and Gunslingers) are at a significant disadvantage in difficult content, having neither the ability to tank for a healing comp nor heal a tank comp.

[RonAllen]

Devs, instead put a companion strength slider in options, and let the player decide.. at the end of the day, you reach level 65 anyway.. and by then you are grouping up and no companions present so no problem remains.. but the journey getting to 65?? let folk set their own companion nerf to suit how much challenge they want.. its as simple as that.

 

CHOICE.

 

if you do chose to group at 65 that is your chose. I do not like to group because of people like you. You seem like some one that would get mad at a player for not knowing how to play in a group or work an OP. If you want more people to group then help them out and teach them them not kick them out of the group. But that being said i do not group and like to do things on my own that is my chose. (as you put it) why do you think your chose is better then mine. let me play on my own not forced to be group with players like you

[HobbesToo]

I don't understand how you people are having so many problems. I got "The One and Only" title last night, it was difficult, I had to change to my highest influence at the very end. During the entire flashpoint I kept switching my companion between tank and dps depending on the situation. Did I die several times? Yes, then went back with a new strategy and tried again. I accidently made things harder on myself by not using my highest level companion throughout and I forgot to use my heroic moment as well. Overall I am very happy that I had to work for the achievement, sweet satisfaction at the end. Glad I got it before the flashpoint becomes a walkthrough.

[Atalantia]

Your level Lvl 37 doing lvl 26 synch Recruitment on Narshadaar

 

Roughly Average Item Rating] All blues from heriocs and several Pink from FP's level Mostly 88 Items two 106 items

 

Discipline Marauder Annihilation

 

Companion Started With Vette switched to Treek at the Boss

 

Companion role Vette was heals Treek Tank then heals

 

Companion Influence levelVette was rank 8 Treek rank 3

 

Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?)Recruitmet LvL mission syncs at 26 on Nar Shadaar

 

Your personal experience while playing this content

Everything was pretty smooth till the upstairs got force pushed into a second group same as the first 1 gold 2 silvers. The second group never aggrod on me even when pushed into then they went staright to Vette killed the gold and 1 silver of first group vette is now steadily trying to heal herself she die I then dies shortly after with 1 gold and three silvers still up

 

Boss fight Silver gold jedi master switched to Treek to test her tanking as this is how i always used her before 4.0

 

Well she jumps in and never uses another ability once going through her toolbar the first time she dies with her pew pew pew crossbow and then I do

 

Switch her to heals fight wasn't a problem with her in heals