Companion Change Feedback

[The_Wulff]

I think the pendulum has swung back the other way too far. Companions are once again too strong. Zero effort strong. I ran the Rakata prime part of forged alliances with another player. We did not use the GSI droids and all we did was follow our companions through. We killed nothing, we never got below 95% health and neither did the companions. Maybe it is time to give us the option to gear our companions again. It will at the very least let us under gear them to the point that we are playing the game again. I don't want to take away from people that can't manage without the current companions so maybe let them have a set of gear that levels automatically but it would be nice if you gave us more options other than the analog off or on.

 

I do have another post in the forums with a more fully formed thought on what I see as the issues and pain points. I have posted here as you have stated that this thread will be monitored for feedback.

 

Thanks for listening

[Katahn]

I think the pendulum has swung back the other way too far. Companions are once again too strong. Zero effort strong. I ran the Rakata prime part of forged alliances with another player. We did not use the GSI droids and all we did was follow our companions through. We killed nothing, we never got below 95% health and neither did the companions. Maybe it is time to give us the option to gear our companions again. It will at the very least let us under gear them to the point that we are playing the game again. I don't want to take away from people that can't manage without the current companions so maybe let them have a set of gear that levels automatically but it would be nice if you gave us more options other than the analog off or on.

 

I do have another post in the forums with a more fully formed thought on what I see as the issues and pain points. I have posted here as you have stated that this thread will be monitored for feedback.

 

Thanks for listening

 

Please post a video of you guys doing this. You are making some extraordinary claims, I'd like to see it in action. Particularly since my own experiences would contradict the "companions are OP" claim you are making.

[Arzad]

Stop yoyo'ing the companions.

 

COMPANIONS ARE OP

THEN NERF'D

THEN BUFF'D

THEN ??? etc

 

I'm in the category of people that like the new challenge.

The companions were way too OP before.

But as you said some like it easier than others so BIOWARE listen closely..

YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE.

By now buffing them again your upsetting the people who enjoyed the difficulty of the H2's.

So whats next month another nerf ? and round and round we go (like PVP changes all over again)

 

Heroics should be difficult hence the name of them. As much as you want people to not bypass them there still should be an element of thought given into taking the mission on, Like ''okay this H2 could be a right ******, lets do this'' OR ''heh guildies any help with this H2?''

NOT ''heh bioware buff my companion so I can solo this while watching youtube on my phone''

 

You falling into the trap of whining feedback being the majority voice of all players.

 

This game has plenty to do in a solo mode type version but it is suppose to be a MMO after all so when your doing heroics aka group content then that's what it should encourage the player to do..actually bloody group up.

 

 

Seriously? Have you not seen PVP or FP queues lately? Before launch they were horribly atrocious, and they still are atrocious.

 

I am a casual player, I maybe get 2 hours a day to play... IF im lucky. F2P made the game unbearable, so I sub... I took a two year break to come back in August ish. I enjoyed the changes, got used to them. Then 4.0 came out, and suddenly I had complete rejuvenation in the game again, for once I felt like my companions were useful. I did NOT have to be so reliant on worrying about whether I was going to find a group to do a quest because it was too hard for me... And now you're saying we need to go back to that?

 

No dude, not cool. Yeah, maybe companions were a little OP, but they should have been scaled back ~25-30%. Not as much as they were. Now they suck again.

 

FP and PVP queues still take forever, and now I am stuck back in that horrible grind that was pre-expansion.

 

DEV TEAM: You need to be mindful of your player populations, your server populations and how people play. I work more than 40 hours a week due to being in the military, an average of 13 hours Monday thru Friday. MY play is COMPLETELY casual, it takes FOREVER for my to be able to gear up. Your gear prices are insane, and data crystal gain is slow and tedious. Companions took a huge hit. PVP and FP queues are miserable. One thing I would look at is merging servers, restoring companions back to being useful, and keeping your players in mind, not everyone is running around in 224 gear... some of us don't even have 208 gear.

 

I am considering not subbing anymore, because I am tired of being fed lies for a patch and then you feel that it is "too easy" and nerf the living crap out of it. Talk about a kick in the pants, and wallet, oh and then the middle finger to top it off. OH, and lets not even going into the Cartel Market prices...

[The_Wulff]

Please post a video of you guys doing this. You are making some extraordinary claims, I'd like to see it in action. Particularly since my own experiences would contradict the "companions are OP" claim you are making.

 

I'd be happy to. Do you know a good free screen capture software I can run to get the grab? I do want to point out I don't want to nerf the companions for you if you like them the way they are. I just want them to give me the choice to under gear them to "dial them down" to where I would find them useful.

[Arzad]

i think you said it best with "patch 4.0 finally fixed that! Tons of people came back and were enjoying themselves!" sadly, from reading through the countless comments from the gank happy pvp players, the geared up the wazzoo hardcore players, and the social butterfly group addict players, they'd be just as happy if all the new noobs, and pretty much anyone opposed to the nerf-job would just unsub and leave. Not exactly the kind of environment i personally would want to try and invite newer players into

 

"join a group", "get better gear", or my favorite "if you don't like the challenge, go read a book, or watch a movie" seem to be their constant answer to everyone who has an issue with the nerf. I've refrained from saying this, but when i see the snarky, and sometimes arrogant rants topped with that nonsense, the only question going through my mind for them is "what game are you going to play after bioware pulls the plug on swtor, because you so happily pushed all the potential new players out the door, and told them to go read a book?"

 

but you're right, a lot of new players were coming in and a whole lot of players were coming back, and enjoying the new content, op comps and all. But hey, who cares if they were enjoying it, we can't have that, right?. If these idiots aren't savvy enough gear up, or brilliant enough to develop a deep, meaningful understanding of game metrics, or in-game mechanics, or social enough to join a group, or online enough to be a part of a guild, what good are they? If they just want story content, let them go read a book, or watch a movie, right? They should just stick to candy crush or angry birds, and leave swtor to the real gamers, and real fans of star wars, right?

 

boom...

[wilkiealbert]

Hey folks,

 

Following the Companion changes we made Tuesday in 4.0.2, we want to gather your feedback on your gameplay experiences. We hope by this point you have had some time to jump in and get your hands on the changes yourselves. First, before we get into the feedback we are looking for, let’s talk a bit about our specific design goals related to Companions:

 

• Leveling Content – Challenge Level: Low. To complete this content, a player should have a basic understanding of game mechanics and have level-appropriate gear. Their companion’s role shouldn’t matter.
  
• KotFE Chapters – Challenge Level: Low. Like leveling content, a player should have a basic understanding of game mechanics and have level-appropriate gear. Their companion’s role shouldn’t matter.
  
• [Heroic 2] Missions – Challenge Level: Medium. To complete this content, a player should have a good understanding of their class and game mechanics, as well as level appropriate gear. Their companion’s role should begin to matter at this point, supplementing the player’s own Discipline. We expect some players to find these challenging initially—maybe even needing a friend’s help--but once the player earns better gear, a few levels of Influence with their companion, and has a greater understanding of the game, they should be able to solo the hardest of these missions.
  
• Star Fortress – Challenge Level: Medium. These are similar to [Heroic 2] Missions. Star Fortresses should be similar to [Heroic 2] Missions. To complete this content, we expect you to have level-appropriate gear, a good understanding of your class, a companion with a few levels of Influence, as well as being in a role that supplements the player’s. We expect most players to be able to solo these with a little practice and effort on their part to gain some increased power.
  
• Heroic Star Fortress – Challenge Level: High. At this point we expect players to really understand their class, their companion, and their gear. Players should have sought out gear upgrades, as well as increased their companions’ Influence level. These are meant to be challenging and difficult to do solo.
  
• “The One and Only” Achievement should still be possible. As an Achievement, this is definitely intended to be extremely hard and rewarding to players. This means the Achievement can be exceptionally challenging, and similar to HM Star Fortress, you will need to be a skilled player, with moderate to high Influence level with your companion, and very good gear on your character.
  

Based on these statements above, do you think that these are true after Tuesday’s changes? What content is more or less difficult than you expected? Is there something that is just flat out impossible?

 

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

• Your level
  
• Roughly Average Item Rating
  
• Discipline
  
• Companion
  
• Companion role
  
• Companion Influence level
  
• Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?)
  
• Your personal experience while playing this content
  

If you have a video or other related content to go with your feedback, feel free to link that as well as it will allow us the best insight into your experiences.

 

The team will be reviewing all feedback, along with supporting data, to see what / if any future adjustments need to be made. Thank you all in advance for your feedback!

 

-eric

 

I like the game the way it was now I don't know I may keep paying for the game and I may not but on a side not the game needs a lot of work for the better and I mean that pllz put the game back the way it was so I can enjoy it like I use to do cause I don't any more. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

[TUXs]

I like the game the way it was now I don't know I may keep paying for the game and I may not but on a side not the game needs a lot of work for the better and I mean that pllz put the game back the way it was so I can enjoy it like I use to do cause I don't any more. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

you used absolutely no punctuation at all how do you expect anyone to be able to decipher your reply?????????????????????????????????

[ZeroTypeR]

Seems balanced to me (minus a lack of a halfway decent defense %).

[Potima_Wolf]

All my toons are 57-65 and the game feels too easy again.

 

Wondering if comps should be more powerful while levelling and gradually less op at higher lvls/cap?

 

My main is a Vigi Guard @65. Comps I use have influence 15-30

Edited November 25, 2015 by Potima_Wolf

[Fireswraith]

Does not understand the big deal about how strong companions are or are not or the need to now, on top of every other class balance, balance companions when they're mostly a solo and small groups thing.

[LordArtemis]

I think most folks will find the current stat level acceptable. Perhaps not as fun as 4.0, but not as draconian as 4.0.2.

 

No matter what is done options to set difficulty have been removed by a forced level sync. That is the core of the problem, and as long as level sync has to remain mandatory one group will lose IMO.

 

Unfortunately it likely has to be the the probable minority, which in this case is most likely hardcore players.

 

I still think the ability to at least disable presence/influence should be an option.

Edited November 25, 2015 by LordArtemis

[DarenLoot]

Please post a video of you guys doing this. You are making some extraordinary claims, I'd like to see it in action. Particularly since my own experiences would contradict the "companions are OP" claim you are making.

 

he's talking about GSI support droid so he's talking about solo mode... with a friend... no wonder it's too easy.

[TUXs]

he's talking about GSI support droid so he's talking about solo mode... with a friend... no wonder it's too easy.

 

Good catch lol

[LordArtemis]

he's talking about GSI support droid so he's talking about solo mode... with a friend... no wonder it's too easy.

 

....I didn't know you could do solo with a friend. Interesting.....

[The_Wulff]

he's talking about GSI support droid so he's talking about solo mode... with a friend... no wonder it's too easy.

At no point did I say that I wasn't. I did point out that there was no effort needed. It is that part that is the issue if BioWare is to be believed on their goals for content balance.

Leveling Content – Challenge Level: Low. To complete this content, a player should have a basic understanding of game mechanics and have level-appropriate gear. Their companion’s role shouldn’t matter.

It isn't that it was easy it was that I hit ctrl+1 and looted to get to the end of the story content. There wasn't even the need for basic understanding of my class or level appropriate gear to complete the area. This thread is here for us to give feedback. I am fine with you wanting to play your way why do you have an issue with me wanting an option to fine tune the companion to a level I find useful? All it would take is the ability to gear on our own if we wanted to.

Edited November 25, 2015 by The_Wulff

[LordArtemis]

All it would take is the ability to gear on our own if we wanted to.

 

...or the ability to disable presence/influence perhaps.

[Akeashar]

Well, the healing seems a lot better now. Jaesa didn’t stop once to send nasty passive aggressive emails to Vette while we were doing our Section X missions last night. Due to the Australian summer starting early (41c days in November?!) I got a chance to test out the whole “getting a cup of coffee” thing when the computer overheated. By the time the computer cooled a little, I booted, went through the usual bootup routine of things and got into game, I found that apparently the fight that I’d been in with a couple of silvers and a trash while doing the ‘kill the pubs and blow up the droid’ daily had proved fatal. I guess influence 10, ~750 presence and not using the hilt exploit made me a bit more vulnerable on my marauder than the typical 1.5k presence, influence 50 tanks that have their companions roflstomping the universe. XD

[TFBWYAG]

you used absolutely no punctuation at all how do you expect anyone to be able to decipher your reply?????????????????????????????????

 

Actually in all fairness, they did use a lot of exclamation points

[TFBWYAG]

I had started a quick Thank you thread because I didn't realize people were still responding to this one, my bad

 

So, I have run a few heroics and a couple of Star Fortress H2+ missions since the fix on companions. I am once again enjoying my game time. It seems to be a much better balance now, as in, my companion seems to be working as though I put 208 - 220 gear on them. Which is all I wanted it to be like, or like it always was before KotFE.

 

Because my favorite Character is Telekinetic Sage DPS, I won't say there are not moments of near death with those Zakuul Knights, not the casting ones, but the melee ones, they do hit hard, and my Cloth only takes so much. Not a complaint, it's fun, but at least now my healer doesn't watch me die.

 

So, a thank you to all for responding and fixing things

[The_Wulff]

...or the ability to disable presence/influence perhaps.

 

I wouldn't be opposed to giving that a try too.

[LordArtemis]

I wouldn't be opposed to giving that a try too.

 

It might work...it would essentially put companions at IL1 and no presence boost, so all presence bonuses from Legacy, for example, would be moot.

 

Your level would still come into play, however, as that directly effects companion performance. So it is really just speculation as to whether or not it would do the trick.

Edited November 25, 2015 by LordArtemis

[Magnouss]

See I agree completely with this trash mentality ... I had thought it was old content that suffered for this effect but then KoTFE came along and it was actually worse!?!

 

Seriously ... we all seem to hate fighting trash and the solution is to make the content so easy as to make the trash irrelevant ( and have side effects on content that is actually fun like gold pulls or bosses etc. ) ...this design is just stupid.

 

STOP putting so much trash into the elder game Bioware! No one likes it, no one would miss it, make smarter more fun and less tedious design choices. I'm not saying remove it all ( though I wouldn't miss it if you did ) but as the post I'm quoting say ... it doesn't need to be every 20 seconds.

 

If you stopped doing putting all this trash in you wouldn't have to balance things so much because people wouldn't be bored of your monotonous, boring content and might actually be happy and inclined for more challenging content.

 

What is even worse from all this is in the past trash was sort of a means of adding experience to your levelling process. Now it's utterly irrelevant, most heroics are done by people after KoTFE now so they are already 65 and the KoTFE levelling was about the stupidest leveling concept I've seen in gaming to date ... automatic levels at the end of each chapter regardless of how much exp you did or didn't earn ( making trash and side mission for exp purposes an utter waste of time ).

Oh you tried to make it not look like auto levels by making it look like it granted us exp but it always grants enough exp to ensure you level up at the end of the chapter ... why even bother having experience then?

 

I would like a design more like DP where you have 2-3 challenging trash pulls between boss fights ... if it's meant to be easy content of course keep the challenging pulls as easy pulls but if it's challenging content then they should be semi-challenging with the boss fight more challenging.

 

People don't want your trash Bioware - it's half the cause and reason for the entire damn argument on companions buff/nerf.

 

I agree with a lot of what you are saying here. For me, with high Influence and Presence, we should feel like we are competing with our companions strength wise. Otherwise, what is the point of increasing those. Of course that will make trash content trivial at higher levels and I think that is fine. You should feel OP then against trash and strong mobs. This is why I want strong companions.

 

But, for something like Star Fortresses, it should be challenging for a player with a high influence/presence companion, not a 30-40 minute grind through trash. Halve the time. Get rid of most of the trash and design more difficult encounters.

[Omniferous]

I'm pretty happy with the changes now to companions. They seem to be functioning in a balanced manner..

I could always complete the the Heroic SF on my tanks, but what I'm really happy about is I had success using my healing scoundrel, with Lana as tank (19) influence. It was hard at times keeping her healed up, especially during the Exarch fight, and she did in fact die just at the end. I'm lucky the Aygo's turret CD expired and I could use it to finish off the boss. Exciting finish, barely survived...looking forward to trying another. Good job BW,.now fix Treek please and ty:D

[pegasussgc]

I wouldn't be opposed to giving that a try too.

While that would be nice to have, you can just disable some of your companions abilities. That is in-game right now, no nerf needed.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

...or the ability to disable presence/influence perhaps.

 

Which would require even more balance testing on BW's behalf which they've proven they are incapable of doing.

 

Some players want challenging content, not possibly impossible content.

 

Maybe instead of disable "set your own level" of influence would the closest you could get.

 

Of course this assumes it's not stupid easy at base influence also.