Companion Balance Changes

[Katahn]

Level 65 immortal juggernaut

Alderaan Star Fortress Heroic - attempting "All For One"

Gear: few 208s, mostly 216s, couple 220s. Not augmented (other than my lightsaber)

Companion: Koth, healing, influence 30

 

Things were smooth until the Stabilizer Rooms (then again, post-nerf they were pretty easy then too). Unlike post-nerf my health nearly never bobbled much. I did die once while fighting the factory floor as a badly timed knockback threw me over the edge.

 

Things felt like they were moving quicker. Prior to the buff I was having to use my DCDs on the harder mobs (golds) occasionally. This time I didn't really need to do much on trash (really shouldn't need to) or on the golds. If I did, given influence and gear that wouldn't say much about tank balancing I think.

 

Prior to the buff the third stabilizer room was a nightmare that reduced me to a fine paste. Post-buff I was able to clear the third room, although it was not an easy thing to do. Even with what some people are alleging are "OP" heals post-buff and as a tank my health did manage to drop to the 30-40% range once. A judicious use of DCDs addressed that and Koth was able to catch me back up again.

 

The final boss was actually a bit of an easier (albeit longer) fight than the third room. Still, it was far from a sure thing. Yes I could "stand in stupid" but as a tank that's kind of expected. The character is built for durability and to survive stuff that should be dangerous.

 

In my estimation based on this test I feel like the companions are about where they need to be. Koth at level 30 influence and my gear averaging at 216 and being specced for tanking allowed me to do "All For One". As a Founder and an experienced tank I still found it an engaging and challenging set of combats (at least in places).

 

Going forward though I'll be doing the SFs in groups. Yes I can clearly solo it, but it's more of a prestige thing. Doing it alone as a tank with healer companion was still a slog and not one I'm eager to repeat more often than necessary.

[sjscorpiomark]

in regards to those who claim you can navigate to a group and send your healer comp in and make a cup of tea or whatever and come back to dead mobs and full health I decided to fraps a heroic group using my Qyzen. This is the first pull in Nar Shaddaa 'Lab Animals'. Clearly I must be playing some different game than those players. I send him in and 27 seconds later he is dead and NONE of the mobs were. Maybe on your game they are OP but in my 4.0.2a they are not able to do what you claim.

 

Link to follow once it uploads I will add the link, it's running very slow on my connection right now.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB0lMqE4gT4&feature=youtu.be

 

Level 38 Sage, not that it matters since I did not participate in the fight

legacy level 15, 10 datacrons, 488 presence, level 6 Qyzen.

 

for the inevitable level comp to 50, get higher presence etc... yeah eventually they will level but this is the game I am stuck with right now. is it easy when I actually participate yeah it's pretty easy but it's not as easy as some people make it out to be, at least with our non maxed legacies/influence etc buffs.

Edited November 25, 2015 by sjscorpiomark
Added video link and corrected player level

[Ghisallo]

Level 65 immortal juggernaut

Alderaan Star Fortress Heroic - attempting "All For One"

Gear: few 208s, mostly 216s, couple 220s. Not augmented (other than my lightsaber)

Companion: Koth, healing, influence 30

 

Things were smooth until the Stabilizer Rooms (then again, post-nerf they were pretty easy then too). Unlike post-nerf my health nearly never bobbled much. I did die once while fighting the factory floor as a badly timed knockback threw me over the edge.

 

Things felt like they were moving quicker. Prior to the buff I was having to use my DCDs on the harder mobs (golds) occasionally. This time I didn't really need to do much on trash (really shouldn't need to) or on the golds. If I did, given influence and gear that wouldn't say much about tank balancing I think.

 

Prior to the buff the third stabilizer room was a nightmare that reduced me to a fine paste. Post-buff I was able to clear the third room, although it was not an easy thing to do. Even with what some people are alleging are "OP" heals post-buff and as a tank my health did manage to drop to the 30-40% range once. A judicious use of DCDs addressed that and Koth was able to catch me back up again.

 

The final boss was actually a bit of an easier (albeit longer) fight than the third room. Still, it was far from a sure thing. Yes I could "stand in stupid" but as a tank that's kind of expected. The character is built for durability and to survive stuff that should be dangerous.

 

In my estimation based on this test I feel like the companions are about where they need to be. Koth at level 30 influence and my gear averaging at 216 and being specced for tanking allowed me to do "All For One". As a Founder and an experienced tank I still found it an engaging and challenging set of combats (at least in places).

 

Going forward though I'll be doing the SFs in groups. Yes I can clearly solo it, but it's more of a prestige thing. Doing it alone as a tank with healer companion was still a slog and not one I'm eager to repeat more often than necessary.

 

Here is the problem... Read the OP. You did it today. I purposely chose not to do it yesterday and am going to wait. Why...if you read the OP completely...

 

Which leads me to Star Fortresses. We are going to treat Star Fortresses as a different topic from Companion balance. The initial difficulty level for Star Fortresses are clearly story content, meaning, we expect all of you to take part and enjoy them while earning new Contacts. This hasn’t changed. The difficult mode for Star Fortresses, though, we feel is a challenge that players should aspire to achieve, and not something players should easily do without gearing up their character and increasing their Companion’s Influence level. We obviously set an expectation Heroic Star Fortresses were going to be similar to [Heroic 2] content, but that was not our intention. As a result, we are going to change the “Heroic” nomenclature for Star Fortresses to something different. We’ll let you know what we decide the new name will be soon. In addition, this will allow us to balance Star Fortresses independently of Companion power, but still make it challenging without making it impossible for many players.

 

So, in conclusion, or the tl;dr for the internet savvy:

We will be increasing Companion power. It will not be as powerful as before, but the changes will be significant.

Heroic Star Fortresses will get a new moniker to denote that it’s a different type of challenge. And we will balance Star Fortresses independently of both Companion power and [Heroic 2]s to ensure they are tuned appropriately.

 

In essence they believe the nerfed companions were in line with their estimates. Now for the sake of Heroic missions they are going to do this buff BUT they want to keep the Heroic SF, to be renamed later, in their originally intended state so they are going to retune as well as rename the Heroic SF. Today it is effectively broken content due to the companion healing power.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Ghisallo

[SGMRock]

I'm sorry to say I wish you did lower them. I'm a healer for most if not all my chars or toon. So when you guy increase the healing it leaves me out of job when in groups. I had people BOOST about their compain healing better then me in Hard mode and what not. Because of that getting in to them is harder. I have not gotton back to hardmodes because of that. With noob players not ever playing HM before saying a compain can do better then you. Well that hurts. I hope you guys can fix things up as I rather be the one healing then some NPC.

 

The healer companions were lowered too much then buffed again but they are somewhere in the middle now of 4.0 and 4.02. I have parsed them and no way they heal better than a live healer. So you should not be having any issues.

[Katahn]

Here is the problem... Read the OP. You did it today. I purposely chose not to do it yesterday and am going to wait. Why...if you read the OP completely...

 

 

 

In essence they believe the nerfed companions were in line with their estimates. Now for the sake of Heroic missions they are going to do this buff BUT they want to keep the Heroic SF, to be renamed later, in their originally intended state so they are going to retune as well as rename the Heroic SF. Today it is effectively broken content due to the companion healing power.

 

Read my post again. I did try it post-nerf and pre-buff. I got destroyed post-nerf and pre-buff in the third stabilizer room. Koth got caught in a self-healing loop when about 10% of room aggro got on him and the remaining 90% demolished me. Even with DCDs he couldn't get caught up and in a minute or two we were reduced to paste.

 

Pre-nerf I soloed all 6 heroic SFs with Alliance buffs.

Post-nerf I tried the Tat SF for "All for One" and died on the third stabilizer.

Post-buff I tried the Alderaan SF for "All for One" and made it through the third stabilizer and then killed the boss.

[Ghisallo]

Read my post again. I did try it post-nerf and pre-buff. I got destroyed post-nerf and pre-buff in the third stabilizer room. Koth got caught in a self-healing loop when about 10% of room aggro got on him and the remaining 90% demolished me. Even with DCDs he couldn't get caught up and in a minute or two we were reduced to paste.

 

Pre-nerf I soloed all 6 heroic SFs with Alliance buffs.

Post-nerf I tried the Tat SF for "All for One" and died on the third stabilizer.

Post-buff I tried the Alderaan SF for "All for One" and made it through the third stabilizer and then killed the boss.

 

I see what you wrote. I honestly think, based on their description that I quoted and Eric's here....

 

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.

 

That particular achievement is supposed to be what an achievement once was...a PITA to get... Something where the first few time you try...as intended you die more than once.

 

Not saying its right or wrong but they definitely think the current companions break their vision for the H2 SF and the One and Only achievement. There are reasons for the words EXTREMELY hard and Aspire to be used.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Ghisallo

[sjscorpiomark]

Read my post again. I did try it post-nerf and pre-buff. I got destroyed post-nerf and pre-buff in the third stabilizer room. Koth got caught in a self-healing loop when about 10% of room aggro got on him and the remaining 90% demolished me. Even with DCDs he couldn't get caught up and in a minute or two we were reduced to paste.

 

Pre-nerf I soloed all 6 heroic SFs with Alliance buffs.

Post-nerf I tried the Tat SF for "All for One" and died on the third stabilizer.

Post-buff I tried the Alderaan SF for "All for One" and made it through the third stabilizer and then killed the boss.

 

But in the OP they referred to adjusting SFs in the future to make them match their designed difficulty level, right now they are 'undertuned' is what I took away from that. I think that is the point he was making as well.

[Ghisallo]

But in the OP they referred to adjusting SFs in the future to make them match their designed difficulty level, right now they are 'undertuned' is what I took away from that. I think that is the point he was making as well.

 

Exactly...what we as individual players may want does not always meet dev design.

[sjscorpiomark]

in regards to those who claim you can navigate to a group and send your healer comp in and make a cup of tea or whatever and come back to dead mobs and full health

...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB0lMqE4gT4&feature=youtu.be

 

Level 38 Sage, not that it matters since I did not participate in the fight

legacy level 15, 10 datacrons, 488 presence, level 6 Qyzen.

 

The video finally uploaded.

Edited November 25, 2015 by sjscorpiomark
wrong player level

[TUXs]

The video finally uploaded.

 

Very nice!!! Kinda nice to see that those who pretended that was the case, lied.

[CaptRogue]

in regards to those who claim you can navigate to a group and send your healer comp in and make a cup of tea or whatever and come back to dead mobs and full health I decided to fraps a heroic group using my Qyzen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB0lMqE4gT4&feature=youtu.be

 

Level 38 Sage, not that it matters since I did not participate in the fight

legacy level 15, 10 datacrons, 488 presence, level 6 Qyzen.

 

I totally call bull on the ones saying that.

But in their argument the ones "claiming" this are level 65, comp 50 affection, all datacrons & presence, etc...

[Katahn]

I see what you wrote. I honestly think, based on their description that I quoted and Eric's here....

 

 

 

That particular achievement is supposed to be what an achievement once was...a PITA to get... Something where the first few time you try...as intended you die more than once.

 

Not saying its right or wrong but they definitely think the current companions break their vision for the H2 SF and the One and Only achievement. There are reasons for the words EXTREMELY hard and Aspire to be used.

 

I have the human legacy presence bonus.

I have the presence bonus for completing every base classes' companions' stories.

The average quality of my gear is 216.

I am an experienced player, specced for tanking and using a healer companion (max defensive/life-sustaining combo).

Companion Influence at 30.

 

I still had to use my DCDs periodically.

The fights were challenging and I felt a couple of times where I was at real risk of dying.

 

How much more difficult are they supposed to be? The heroic Star Fortresses I mean?

 

I had a lot going in my favor from the level of influence the companion had and the massive bonuses to presence I brought to the table. My gear is in the upper range of being good (yeah, missing augments and not full 220s but still better than average by at least a little). Even so I found it to be an engaging set of fights (the stabilizer rooms, especially the third is what I am referring to here) and not faceroll easy by any stretch.

 

So, seriously, how much more difficult is getting that achievement supposed to be? Maybe my expectations are wrong here, if so that's fair and I'll accept it. But I'm an experienced player with a lot of baked in buffs to my companions' performance. Pre-4.0 I would expect that a tank with a well-geared healer could solo a H2+ in most circumstances as well as could a healer with a tank companion. Both combinations are built for high survivability and low DPS and so long as you can compensate for the incoming damage you will eventually win.

[sjscorpiomark]

I totally call bull on the ones saying that.

But in their argument the ones "claiming" this are level 65, comp 50 affection, all datacrons & presence, etc...

 

indeed I mentioned that in my first post. If those making the claims fraps the same first pull with all their buffs/crons/influence and the companion wipes the floor with the mobs then BW should nerf the amount those things effect companions because they are OP, not nerf companion base stats and screw those who don't have all the buffs yet.

 

so here is a call to all those who claim their companions solo content with no participation from the player. proof or it didn't happen.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

This is where a toggle option comes in. That way people could play how they want without effecting others.

 

Also, sorry for bring a ***** before.

 

Indeed, this has been eldued to before and I even raised it in a discussion in one of the other threads I'm posting in as to a reason why Bioware really don't care as long as they are making money else they would find a solution to suit all the players as opposed to just one side or the other.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Killing things wouldn't be tedious if the combat was fun. Games with WoW like combat are annoying. If I am playing a Jedi I want to feel like I am playing a Jedi and not have to push buttons.

 

I want a combat system like Kingdom Hearts II, Heavenly Blade, Force Unleashed, etc. The blaster classes could have been done like the shooting in Mass Effect 2 or 3.

 

If a Mass Effect MMO does ever come out it can't be like TOR. It has to have the gameplay of ME 2 or 3.

 

Agreed but the combat isn't fun and I don't see it ever becoming fun ( for solo play, mechanics in many operation/FP fights makes it far more fun imo but that's group content ).

 

It looked like they might have wanted to start playing with solo combat with the SF's but because they stuffed up companions so bad to begin with people expected it to be a certain way/ease and now they've had to bow back down to that more or less leaving the mechanics irrelevant to the challenge of passing them.

Not that they were that wonderful to begin with but in the scope of this game it was a change in terms of solo play.

 

KoTFE on the other hand ... the story gameplay, more or less proves they have no interest what so ever in making gameplay more fun.

 

I personally find it more fun knowing I can die if I make a mistake ( not saying "see you can still die" when I go out of my way to die, that supports no argument in this debate ) thus I was against overly buffed comps, removing comps entirely isn't an option because I do want to play with my comps there and getting rid of them entirely takes it from challenging to super difficult ( let's be clear - I dislike super difficult games i.e. dark souls as much as I dislike super easy games i.e. kotfe story ).

 

I think they need to get the BWM/E team down to work on their combat etc. whilst BWA continues on story ...

 

Won't happen though, the majority love the easy combat so that's great for BWA, they can spend less time and resources on innovation and keep making money because continuing to keep it easy means less balance testing etc. so far easier profit for them to make.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Very nice!!! Kinda nice to see that those who pretended that was the case, lied.

 

I did this numerous times pre the nerf, it was riddiculous - are people claiming they are still doing it or are you lieing?

Are they claiming they are doing it in heroics or are they doing it in story against golds etc. or are you lieing?

 

I'll need to test both, don't have max presence but I do have a 50 inf comp and other various levels. I certainly hope at least the heroics are fixed.

 

If I can still do KoTFE story quests and pulls tons of mobs including golds and then go make my cup of tea ( as I did literally in 4.0 ) to come back to them all dead then the story is still too easy. It should at least be possible to die.

 

Interestingly that was in tank stance too which was supposedly broken at 65 ( I noticed the issues well after 65 ) as in weakened over what it should be.

[Barleron]

Hello, everyone.

 

My name is Michael Backus, and I’m the Lead Designer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. I wanted to take a minute to apologize for the recent Companion changes and address combat balance. I wanted to do so personally because as fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic and our customers, we cherish your feedback and value all of you, and I feel you deserve to hear this information directly.

 

 

I would like to go over why the changes were made, what we’ve learned, and what’s going to happen going forward. There’s a short summary at the bottom if you want to skip the Why’s and get to the What’s.

 

Why the changes were made

Combat balance is a tricky thing. So many factors contribute to the question of, is this too easy or too hard--ability rotations, number of enemies and their abilities, player play style, player skill level, player class choice, Companion role, and even how well your computer can run the game. All of these things and more impact how well you play and how successful you are in combat. Jennifer might say, “This game’s a snap,” while Joe might say, “This is the hardest thing I’ve played in my entire life,” and there’s literally no way to tell who is “right”. The best we can do is create goals and do our best to make sure as many players as possible hit those goals. We posted our goals with different content types recently, here.

 

The one thing that was obvious was that Companions were overpowered in 4.0. We came to this conclusion, not only from player feedback and our own playtests, but from watching how players were playing—it is not ideal to send your Companion into combat in a [Heroic 2] and then go make tea, only to come back and collect your loot. We want combat to be engaging, to be fun. We want combat to be something, since you do it for so many hours, that can challenge you. If it’s too easy, we risk players not being engaged and getting bored. If it’s too hard, we risk players leaving and not even trying certain content anymore.

 

So, in 4.0.2 we toned down Companion power significantly to be in line with our stated goals. And that’s where the problem occurred.

 

What we didn’t realize was how with Knights of the Fallen Empire gameplay had evolved. As a community, you were playing differently than we had expected. I’ll give you an example.

 

Emergent Gameplay

[Heroic 2]s. Before Knights of the Fallen Empire, Heroics were not very utilized content. Most players ignored them after doing them once. So when we highlighted areas of improvement for our leveling experience, we knew we wanted to make Heroics sexier. We wanted players to have good reason to go do them, but also give players a reason to join up with their friends. What we failed to realize was how much most of you would enjoy them, but also how frequently you would engage in them. [Heroic 2]s were initially meant to be challenging content for what we would say is an “average” player. If you had good gear and really knew how to play well, you could solo them but you’d still have to pay attention to what you were doing. If you had expected gear for your level and didn’t think of yourself as that skilled, you’d probably find a friend to join you so you could both reap the rewards together.

 

With Companions being the power level they were, “everyone” began enjoying them. And that was the point that we hadn’t realized. By reducing Companion power, we took that away from a lot of you. You could still engage in [Heroic 2]s and beat them, but they had become arduous, even grindy to many players.

 

Our misstep was in not realizing that our goals we had set no longer fit with the game all of you were enjoying. The emergent gameplay that was created didn’t fit what we had embraced as our mandate within the Design Team.

 

Going Forward

So, what does that mean going forward? We will be increasing the power level of Companions. And while they won’t be as powerful as they were when Fallen Empire launched, the increase will be significant. I have gotten together with the Design Leads and we have re-discussed our goals for combat and content difficulty. We want players to enjoy [Heroic 2]s and level up their Alliance. You can find the exact changes coming in tomorrow’s patch, below. And I assure you, we will continue to carefully watch how content is being enjoyed and adapt as necessary.

• Companion healing has been increased by roughly 48%. (Influence level and character level will determine exact amount.)
  
• Companion damage has been increased by roughly 15%. (Influence level and character level will determine exact amount.)
  
• Companion base stats have been increased by about 15%. (Influence level and character level will determine exact amount.)

(click the spoiler tag for specifics)

 

 

• Companion channel heal power increased by 61%
  
• Companion single target heal power increased by 42%
  
• Companion single target heal over time power increased by 43%
  
• Companion base stats increased by 15%
  
• edit, removed note about damage increase, it is redundant with stat increase above

 

Star Fortresses

Which leads me to Star Fortresses. We are going to treat Star Fortresses as a different topic from Companion balance. The initial difficulty level for Star Fortresses are clearly story content, meaning, we expect all of you to take part and enjoy them while earning new Contacts. This hasn’t changed. The difficult mode for Star Fortresses, though, we feel is a challenge that players should aspire to achieve, and not something players should easily do without gearing up their character and increasing their Companion’s Influence level. We obviously set an expectation Heroic Star Fortresses were going to be similar to [Heroic 2] content, but that was not our intention. As a result, we are going to change the “Heroic” nomenclature for Star Fortresses to something different. We’ll let you know what we decide the new name will be soon. In addition, this will allow us to balance Star Fortresses independently of Companion power, but still make it challenging without making it impossible for many players.

 

So, in conclusion, or the tl;dr for the internet savvy:

• We will be increasing Companion power. It will not be as powerful as before, but the changes will be significant.
  
• Heroic Star Fortresses will get a new moniker to denote that it’s a different type of challenge. And we will balance Star Fortresses independently of both Companion power and [Heroic 2]s to ensure they are tuned appropriately.

 

Thank you for reading and we look forward to more of your feedback as these changes go live.

 

May the Force be with you,

Michael Backus

Lead Designer

 

 

Thanks for making the changes in patch 4.0.2a, and thanks for taking the time to explain the 4.0.2 and 4.0.2a changes to the community.

[LordArtemis]

Yes I know they are weapons BUT (and I spent all night research... yeah I am like that... even had a friend on west coast time log in and go to level and gear appropriate solo mobs to test. If necessary experiment will be repeated and frapped, then linked).

 

When I say passive I am not engaging in hyperbole. I do not mean "well just have to hit one maybe 2 or three buttons." Maybe a funnel here, drain life there. I am not saying this at all. What I am saying is that in NO game, WoW included, could you do the following (again take below as literal, not hyperbole...

 

and have it work on a consistent basis. YES the bulk of a Warlock/Necro/Conjie's damage comes from the pets but they are not a passive experience like that until you have it VERY over geared (if your pets stats are based on your level) or have it over leveled. Could you do it with an single "normal" mob? Maybe two? Yes. BUT that is not the experience the the Heroic missions provide is it? Rarely groups of less than 3 and regardless of group size there is always more than just "normal" mobs in it.

 

I would point out that you seem to be saying something like "you cant play a pet class on easy mode, except when you can".......

 

Again, this confusion was common with 4.0. A few points.

 

It used to be, prior to 4.0, that H4s were generally murder.

H2s could be done even while leveling if you knew your class and were geared properly, but they posted a strong challenge.

Players had the choice to run content at below required level (hard), at proper level (medium) or outleveled (easy)

 

The changes in 4.0 removed all of that challenge.

 

Simply put, I believe that if level sync was optional 4.0.2a would not have been necessary. As long as it is mandatory it is.

 

The entire core of the problem is NOT companion strength. It has rarely if ever been an issue and it was not an issue in all three of the patches....the issue is forced level sync.

 

As long as that is in place the ability to customize ones difficulty has been reduced. They have to err on the side of the majority as long as the system is in place, and that likely means leaning toward easy.

[IzumiCurtis]

I tested a chunk of the heroics yesterday and found them much better. For some I was toast soloing after the nerf, I was able to manage although I had to keep an eye on my health in places. Seems about right to me.

[Chirru]

The Changes made now are only partly good news...

By changing the game balance again you have not taken in account many of the heroic and flashpoint bosses.

How do I know?

Solo flashpoint Manaan - Cyborg - Stivastin with a timer of 4 minutes can NOT be taken down in 4 minutes by a dedicated healing Sorceress with a DPS Companion + a combat droid. (you never tested that...did you?)

The fact is that by constantly changing companion specs (and other specs) WITHOUT testing these you mess up a lot of things that you did not intend to mess up but nevertheless do mess up.

please stop twiddling stats and concentrate on a solid game-play, for right now things are in a MESS...indeed...more a Colossal MESS.

[GythralSWTOR]

The Changes made now are only partly good news...

By changing the game balance again you have not taken in account many of the heroic and flashpoint bosses.

How do I know?

Solo flashpoint Manaan - Cyborg - Stivastin with a timer of 4 minutes can NOT be taken down in 4 minutes by a dedicated healing Sorceress with a DPS Companion + a combat droid. (you never tested that...did you?)

The fact is that by constantly changing companion specs (and other specs) WITHOUT testing these you mess up a lot of things that you did not intend to mess up but nevertheless do mess up.

please stop twiddling stats and concentrate on a solid game-play, for right now things are in a MESS...indeed...more a Colossal MESS.

 

You are not supposed to do all the damage - the fight has a mechanism to get it done very quickly (under 2mins), if you only look.

[Ghisallo]

 

How much more difficult are they supposed to be? The heroic Star Fortresses I mean?

 

.

 

They are supposed to be as hard as they were with the nerfed companions. Like I said... Not saying right or wrong but that is BW's vision for it and, tbh I look forward to doing it as intended. Personally I prefer that as well. Remember the latest buff in general is NOT in line with their plan they only buffed them because enough people got used to the OP level prior to 4.0.2. So use the nerfed companions as their vision.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Ghisallo

[Makillda]

indeed I mentioned that in my first post. If those making the claims fraps the same first pull with all their buffs/crons/influence and the companion wipes the floor with the mobs then BW should nerf the amount those things effect companions because they are OP, not nerf companion base stats and screw those who don't have all the buffs yet.

Or, you could go and earn that stuff yourself if you wish to have uber-comps. Using a guide, you can get every datacron in the game in an afternoon, minus the Rishi ones as the disks do take some time to farm. It takes very little time to get a character to 50 with the new leveling process. Nothing about earning those buffs is difficult, it just takes some time.

[Nommaz]

I would point out that you seem to be saying something like "you cant play a pet class on easy mode, except when you can".......

 

Again, this confusion was common with 4.0. A few points.

 

It used to be, prior to 4.0, that H4s were generally murder.

H2s could be done even while leveling if you knew your class and were geared properly, but they posted a strong challenge.

Players had the choice to run content at below required level (hard), at proper level (medium) or outleveled (easy)

 

The changes in 4.0 removed all of that challenge.

 

Simply put, I believe that if level sync was optional 4.0.2a would not have been necessary. As long as it is mandatory it is.

 

The entire core of the problem is NOT companion strength. It has rarely if ever been an issue and it was not an issue in all three of the patches....the issue is forced level sync.

 

As long as that is in place the ability to customize ones difficulty has been reduced. They have to err on the side of the majority as long as the system is in place, and that likely means leaning toward easy.

 

I told you... its like banging your head against a brick wall

 

And yes i keep saying the real issue is forced level sync, but its easier to blame the companions as the nerf brought it out to be obvious.

[sjscorpiomark]

Or, you could go and earn that stuff yourself if you wish to have uber-comps. Using a guide, you can get every datacron in the game in an afternoon, minus the Rishi ones as the disks do take some time to farm. It takes very little time to get a character to 50 with the new leveling process. Nothing about earning those buffs is difficult, it just takes some time.

 

I never said it was difficult I simply stated in my original post with the video:

"for the inevitable level comp to 50, get higher presence etc... yeah eventually they will level but this is the game I am stuck with right now. is it easy when I actually participate yeah it's pretty easy but it's not as easy as some people make it out to be, at least with our non maxed legacies/influence etc buffs."

 

and getting level 50 influence seems to take forever the highest I have is T7 on my level 55 sentinel and t7 is only at 32 influence. I had bought all the gifts I could afford at the gift vendor which got him to 12 or 13 at the beginning then started to get really low returns, the rest was from convos. I did buy the 3 tiers of the perk to get the 30% boost, is there a guide on how to get influence up? all of the guides I have seen were from pre 4.0 changes and buying gifts which I did.