Why allowing us to have two companions out is a strong idea

[Rolodome]

For starters, let me acknowledge that yes, allowing us to have two companions out at once would likely require overcoming some technical hurdles and doing a bit of tuning to the difficulty of solo-oriented content.

 

That said, here is why I think this is a strong idea:

 

1) The game is increasingly solo-oriented. Most heroics can be done solo, class missions are solo, side quests can be soloed, exploration missions... even KOTFE, the current flagship content, is all solo. It's possible you're planning to give future KOTFE content some co-op, but even so, the solo option would likely remain a part of it.

 

2) The combat in this game was designed for a group dynamic. The "holy trinity" as it's called: Tank, Healer, and DPS. And although most content is solo now, the combat mechanics have not changed. One of the common frustrations for me is the tedium of dealing with CC from elite mobs: Stuns, knockbacks, pulls, even interrupts. None of this would be frustrating if I was playing as a Tank. As a Tank, it's expected that you're going to get knocked around a bit; it's part of the challenge of the role, maintaining aggro while dealing with nasty tricks from mobs.

 

As a DPS getting pocket healed by a companion, it's just tedium. Your rotation is interrupted for 1-3 seconds every time some elite wants to CC you, you never face any real danger of dying, and even if your healing companion draws aggro, they can still facetank a solid group of mobs before getting in real danger of dying.

 

If I was playing these mechanics as a group, the tedium would largely be gone. The Tank, Healer, and DPS would each be able to focus on their respective roles and enter a state of flow, where time passes by more quickly because they are concentrated on carrying out their respective rotations/tasks.

 

With the most practical and common way to play solo content (as a DPS while your companion heals), your rotation is constantly getting interrupted while you attempt to fill the role of both a Tank and a DPS.

 

3) The only other ways I see of handling this problem are: A) changing the combat mechanics or B) making hybrid roles. But changing the combat mechanics means unnecessary complication when groups actually do want to play together and making hybrid roles (if interviews are any indication) is simply something that is not going to happen for this game, for the reason that classes need to feel unique.

 

That leaves the most straightforward solution, which is allowing us to have a "solo team" of 3 (including ourselves). Two companions and one player. This opens up the opportunity to do Tank/Healer/DPS and enjoy the combat as it was built to be enjoyed, even as a solo player. It's not a perfect solution; Tank companions will likely be pretty dumb, for the most part, just as companion healers are. But at least players can get back to focusing on the one role that their specialization is built for.

[MayhemofChaonus]

For starters, let me acknowledge that yes, allowing us to have two companions out at once would likely require overcoming some technical hurdles and doing a bit of tuning to the difficulty of solo-oriented content.

 

That said, here is why I think this is a strong idea:

 

1) The game is increasingly solo-oriented. Most heroics can be done solo, class missions are solo, side quests can be soloed, exploration missions... even KOTFE, the current flagship content, is all solo. It's possible you're planning to give future KOTFE content some co-op, but even so, the solo option would likely remain a part of it.

 

2) The combat in this game was designed for a group dynamic. The "holy trinity" as it's called: Tank, Healer, and DPS. And although most content is solo now, the combat mechanics have not changed. One of the common frustrations for me is the tedium of dealing with CC from elite mobs: Stuns, knockbacks, pulls, even interrupts. None of this would be frustrating if I was playing as a Tank. As a Tank, it's expected that you're going to get knocked around a bit; it's part of the challenge of the role, maintaining aggro while dealing with nasty tricks from mobs.

 

As a DPS getting pocket healed by a companion, it's just tedium. Your rotation is interrupted for 1-3 seconds every time some elite wants to CC you, you never face any real danger of dying, and even if your healing companion draws aggro, they can still facetank a solid group of mobs before getting in real danger of dying.

 

If I was playing these mechanics as a group, the tedium would largely be gone. The Tank, Healer, and DPS would each be able to focus on their respective roles and enter a state of flow, where time passes by more quickly because they are concentrated on carrying out their respective rotations/tasks.

 

With the most practical and common way to play solo content (as a DPS while your companion heals), your rotation is constantly getting interrupted while you attempt to fill the role of both a Tank and a DPS.

 

3) The only other ways I see of handling this problem are: A) changing the combat mechanics or B) making hybrid roles. But changing the combat mechanics means unnecessary complication when groups actually do want to play together and making hybrid roles (if interviews are any indication) is simply something that is not going to happen for this game, for the reason that classes need to feel unique.

 

That leaves the most straightforward solution, which is allowing us to have a "solo team" of 3 (including ourselves). Two companions and one player. This opens up the opportunity to do Tank/Healer/DPS and enjoy the combat as it was built to be enjoyed, even as a solo player. It's not a perfect solution; Tank companions will likely be pretty dumb, for the most part, just as companion healers are. But at least players can get back to focusing on the one role that their specialization is built for.

 

I'm all for having up to 7 companions out at one time, not just three. But I'll back this too.

[Halinalle]

I guess we have enough bad damage dealers already:

- gold!

- no interrupts ("remove Terminate or else...")

- ignoring adds in boss fights (last boss in Battle of Rishi seems to cause a lot of trouble)

 

So, no thanks.

Edited August 19, 2016 by Halinalle

[dkounter]

I like this idea, and hope it gets implemented.

 

The solo aspect of this game is one of it's biggest draws for me. My life simply isn't conducive to being able to devote large amounts of uninterrupted time for groups/operations. Hell, it's rare I can go an hour without having to leave for a few minutes at some point. Groups are difficult, and operations are simply out of the question.

 

It would be nice to have a shot at being able to complete a star fortress solo, or finish the arena on my own. This idea sounds like the easiest to implement and would really help out people in my position.

[Limariko]

With STO, my characters head out with an away team of selected bridge officers which overall works pretty good. I rotate around who I bring with so I can go heals/debuffs heavy, dps heavy, engineering support heavy or just go with an even balance. It's still possible to die to mobs if you don't pay attention or if you prep wrong going into a fight.

 

I'd like going out with multiple companions in the same way.

[KevMeup]

Although, I love companions and more of them sounds like a blast, this would remove almost all challenge from solo play. I could completely stop doing OPs as I wouldn't need to gear up to challenge myself with solo HM FPs or get through heroics faster.

 

I think it would be a blast to have this as an option though in solo flashpoints. I'd much rather have a healer and tank companion instead of a "Jesus Droid".

 

I can imagine adding a second and third companion tool bar would be a bit challenging. Whoever works on companions now doesn't have the focus to pull something like this off if they wanted to. Not one Cartel companion functions as advertised for example.

[Screaming_Ziva]

So basically the OP wants a second companion out because he's tired of being interrupted and stunned?

[Nempo]

I like this idea, and hope it gets implemented.

 

The solo aspect of this game is one of it's biggest draws for me. My life simply isn't conducive to being able to devote large amounts of uninterrupted time for groups/operations. Hell, it's rare I can go an hour without having to leave for a few minutes at some point. Groups are difficult, and operations are simply out of the question.

 

It would be nice to have a shot at being able to complete a star fortress solo, or finish the arena on my own. This idea sounds like the easiest to implement and would really help out people in my position.

 

Build up a companion to the 20+ rank, do a lot of heroics so you are in a full set of blue data crystal gear. Have all 4 of the leads of your alliance at 10+ so you can use every cache you find. You'll be able to solo it. Also remember to grab the buffs from your people at the beginning.

[DjMeta]

I like the idea, but not in open world areas. Solo FPs already have the Jesus droid, and I'd rather take 2 companions for those (Hell, I'll take HK as a second companion, at least he has dialogue).

 

Interestingly, in the later chapters of KotFE, there are sections where you have multiple companions (Don't want to spoil too much, but I think there's a section where you have 4 total people following you), so it doesn't seem like a technical limitation. To me, it seems like having more than 1 companion is just too overpowered. If current companions were nerfed then I'd see it making more sense, but the current companions are OP enough solo once you get them to rank 20+.

[kaitoichika]

ditto +1

[Nempo]

I like the idea, but not in open world areas. Solo FPs already have the Jesus droid, and I'd rather take 2 companions for those (Hell, I'll take HK as a second companion, at least he has dialogue).

 

Interestingly, in the later chapters of KotFE, there are sections where you have multiple companions (Don't want to spoil too much, but I think there's a section where you have 4 total people following you), so it doesn't seem like a technical limitation. To me, it seems like having more than 1 companion is just too overpowered. If current companions were nerfed then I'd see it making more sense, but the current companions are OP enough solo once you get them to rank 20+.

 

Chapter 16, at the beginning you have 5 people following you so yeah it isn't beyond the scope of the game.

[Rolodome]

I like the idea, but not in open world areas. Solo FPs already have the Jesus droid, and I'd rather take 2 companions for those (Hell, I'll take HK as a second companion, at least he has dialogue).

 

Interestingly, in the later chapters of KotFE, there are sections where you have multiple companions (Don't want to spoil too much, but I think there's a section where you have 4 total people following you), so it doesn't seem like a technical limitation. To me, it seems like having more than 1 companion is just too overpowered. If current companions were nerfed then I'd see it making more sense, but the current companions are OP enough solo once you get them to rank 20+.

One possible way this could be done: If you have 2 summoned, the damage strength of each is roughly halved (or whatever number makes 2 be about the same strength together as one). The aim would be that if you try to double up on damage or heals, you aren't going to gain much of anything.

 

This way, the feature doesn't suddenly make you super powerful in normal content; you just have a more complete role set on hand now, if you so desire (Tank/Healer/DPS).

 

Note that the halving/reduction approach wouldn't affect situations where the game gives you more than one companion (such as FPs or special story parts). Those would need to be handled separately.

[ObscureEmpyre]

Not only no, but HELL NO! In a game like GW1, having multiple companions out makes sense because you are in your own private copy of the world when outside of a town or outpost. SWTOR started out as a true MMO, and has strayed away from that. Us veteran players are wanting more MMO/group content, not a single player game housed on a MMO server.

[KWONRYU]

Wouldn't mind some Missions / Heroics that were more difficult and that required 2 Companions out (or even more?)

 

Then again, i'd also like to see them reverting Companions to their specific roles, where you'd have certain companions specialized for tanking, healing and damage-dealing.

 

Would also love to see particular dialogue and banter between Companions a la Dragon Age.

[Kalfear]

I have always been in favor of 2 companions

 

but it wouldn't be as ideal as some thing for this title

 

1) We all have memories of KotOR 1 and 2, Mass Effect 1-2-3, Jade Empire, Dragon Age 1-3 and more where our companions interacted verbally with each other.

 

This game would never put that in at this late stage so that entire concept would be lost here.

 

2) Much of the game (seriously like 90% of it) is already way to easy and simplistic with 1 companion.

Having 2 companions out would really be SWTOR very own godmode version

Which would make already damaged content (because of lack of challenge) and turn it into meaningless enounters that would get boring ultra fast.

 

The game simply is not designed for 2 companions + player and no way in hell would the devs take the time and effort to redo combat encounters so they would be challenging.

 

3) being able to summon 2 companions would dramatically effect the little bit of grouping there is now

 

I know for myself, if I get some whiny pouter rage quitter in a flashpoint

Depending on my mode that day

there is a better then even chance I will replace the player with one of my outfitted companions

If I could do 2 companions, the chances of me grouping go down drastically (except with guildies and friends of course)

 

 

So while I would have loved this game to release with 2 companion set ups

I think its just to set in stone now for them to ever up the usable companions

Just not a viable option at this stage of the game

[Rolodome]

2) Much of the game (seriously like 90% of it) is already way to easy and simplistic with 1 companion.

Having 2 companions out would really be SWTOR very own godmode version

Which would make already damaged content (because of lack of challenge) and turn it into meaningless enounters that would get boring ultra fast.

See the post where I mentioned the idea of reduction of damage or healing to account for doubling up, so that the actual overall strength of the two companions together does not significantly change.

 

3) being able to summon 2 companions would dramatically effect the little bit of grouping there is now

 

I know for myself, if I get some whiny pouter rage quitter in a flashpoint

Depending on my mode that day

there is a better then even chance I will replace the player with one of my outfitted companions

If I could do 2 companions, the chances of me grouping go down drastically (except with guildies and friends of course)

So you restrict it that you can't pull out 2 inside of tactical flashpoints.

 

My argument for this has never been to make group content soloable or to change how powerful you are. It's about taking the wealth of solo content and setting things up so that you can enjoy it with the combat dynamics of the trinity, which is what the combat was designed for.

 

In the long term, it could be a boon for grouping because you have people getting practice playing their roles, rather than learning to be rambo-solo-kings.

[josephxp]

I have always been in favor of 2 companions

 

but it wouldn't be as ideal as some thing for this title

 

1) We all have memories of KotOR 1 and 2, Mass Effect 1-2-3, Jade Empire, Dragon Age 1-3 and more where our companions interacted verbally with each other.

 

They were solo player games not an MMO where there are multiple instances. Also right now you only need 1 companion. What would you use a 2nd companion on when you can do it all just fine with just 1? If your answer if fight a World Boss, do hard mode FP's solo, tacticals solo, and other group content, then you are in the wrong game. Ya we all love our solo player action but there are some things that shouldn't be soloable especially if they already have a solo mode to them <_<

[Distracted]

Someone proposed this back in 2012 & at the time I absolutely hated the idea of more than 1 companion, but as I get older & less willing to deal with people & their drama I've become a huge fan of this.

[Rolodome]

They were solo player games not an MMO where there are multiple instances. Also right now you only need 1 companion. What would you use a 2nd companion on when you can do it all just fine with just 1? If your answer if fight a World Boss, do hard mode FP's solo, tacticals solo, and other group content, then you are in the wrong game. Ya we all love our solo player action but there are some things that shouldn't be soloable especially if they already have a solo mode to them <_<

Didn't say everything should be soloable. Just talking combat mechanics, trinity and all that. Which, I'm pretty confident, was in the OP.

[ZanyaCross]

The only time you should be able to bring out an extra comp is for solo FPs, which really should have been the thing instead of that dumb droid.

 

Otherwise, no. This game holds your hand enough as it is. Your comp can practically run heroics by-themselves now it their influence is high enough.

[Keraejis]

I would be for this.

 

1. This would get rid of the super droid we get anyway along with our first companion on story modes. Hmm.. look at that, there are two companions there already? Why not have one of your own? Oh it would make it more difficult without the super droid? I thought there were many who would welcome that?

 

2. Players could actually use strategy during combat. Instead of me as DPS just tanking while keeping my healer safe, I could focus on the things a dps should do in a 'group' environment, like gather up the adds for the tank companion, hit switches that need to be hit for mechanics, move out of the fire, etc. As it is now, you just become the punching bag for all the enemies and sit there as you take them all down same rotation after same rotation and just tank and spank. As a DPS... or a healer...

 

3. Why would this matter for those who don't like the idea? The players who are going to solo content are going to solo content. This won't change them. The players who do not solo content are not going to solo content. This will not change them.

 

4. Everything is already pretty easy. Saying this will make it easier is nonsense. Easy + Easy = still Easy.

 

5. There are still plenty of areas no matter how many companions you have that will not replace players. Companions can't do the mechanics where you have to hit buttons or flip switches. Companions will not be able to pick up plot items and use them when needed. Companions typically don't use interrupts or have ways to purge themselves of stuns or make them immune to being thrown off a cliff and die or become useless and even bug the fight. And there are plenty of encounters that use these mechanics and more.

 

6. Not all FPs have story mode. There are FPs some players like to do or would like to do but other players drop out at first sight of it on GF. Or they rage quit or etc. It would be nice to be able to try these solo if a group could not be found.

 

7. I don't understand why there is even mention of OPs since you can't use companions in OPs, or so I thought.

 

8. Arena PvP shouldn't be saying anything either since companions aren't allowed. World PvP could be a problem or BW could implement that if you are in a PvP area or instance, no second companion. This should be possible since there is a PvP instance of the world and an non-PvP instance of the world now.

 

9. Really the only viable argument against this is how much work it would take BW to do to make it possible and work correctly. That might stop them from Playing their inhouse version of Mass Effect: Knights of the Fringe Emirates for too long.

[ObscureEmpyre]

The only time you should be able to bring out an extra comp is for solo FPs, which really should have been the thing instead of that dumb droid.

 

Otherwise, no. This game holds your hand enough as it is. Your comp can practically run heroics by-themselves now it their influence is high enough.

 

It is nice being able to plow through FPs with that droid. I've met all the DvL requirements numerous times before the event. Would hate to have to take even longer getting through it the old fashioned way. Otherwise, yes. They've dumbed this game down too much. Hardly requires any skill at all to play, now. Has something to do with Disney, methinks. Bet they had a talk with EA/BioWare about it. Probably wanted more kiddies to play. D'oh!

Edited August 23, 2016 by ObscureEmpyre

[Rolodome]

3. Why would this matter for those who don't like the idea? The players who are going to solo content are going to solo content. This won't change them. The players who do not solo content are not going to solo content. This will not change them.

It's a good point, concerning the idea of how soloable stuff is. (Though for the record, I'll restate that the suggestion I'm making is not necessarily to change what is soloable. At the base level, I'm just asking for ability to do trinity combat dynamic when solo.)

 

That said, I think where the opposition comes from re: soloing is a general fear that there are those who would otherwise group, who will group no longer if they can get away with soloing stuff.

 

I will admit that for DvL, I did a number of group finder tacticals for the achievement and I would not have done those otherwise. I was very resistant to doing them at all, in fact, and they didn't turn out to be quite as bad I imagined they'd be, overall. It's kind of a fringe thing though, in my case. I still wouldn't jump at the opportunity to do group finder FPs again. There's just too much randomness in it, too much chance of ending up in a FP or group that makes the process tedious and hard to get through without the kind of motivation that DvL gave me. There was one I went into where I was seriously afraid that two of the guys were gonna end up ragequitting on each other... they were snipping at each other almost from start to finish, but finally managed to find some camaraderie in humor near the end.

 

So you are certainly right to a point. In my case, I did it with significant incentive, but at this time in my gaming life, I'm just not into grouping, for the most part, for personal reasons. And if I wanted to get into grouping, I would just join a guild no problem. I don't make enemies and get kicked out of guilds or something, ya know. Just a decision about how I want to play at this time in my life.

[JercGhyron]

Yes please, this really needs to happen as I want this so badly, as I think it will make the game more funner.

[casirabit]

Not a new idea but it has been done. Star Trek Online does it. When you have a ground mission you take 4 (if I recall correctly-been awhile since I played that game) with you so why not since this game is mostly solo anyways.