You know the ones i talk about. The crafting and crew mission mules who still wear the gear they came with, and who never leave your ship.

Biggest problem i see with all those excess companions, is there is never a reason to bring them out.

On my bounty hunter, i am quite happy to have Mako out permanently as i just enjoy the character. Same with Corso on my smuggler. Those characters i would consider to be lucky, as the one i want to have with me just happens to be the most efficient companion for them.

But, on my Sage i want to use Nadia all the time as i quite enjoy her story and her character. Warrior, i want to have his girl Vette with him on his adventures. My inquisitor, i want her romance out with her all the time - Andronikos.

The list goes on, but you get the picture.

A lot of these characters ive tried and tried to do my missions from 10-40 but without their most efficient companion counterpart, it is just way too slow.

For example, ive fully kitted and tweaked Nadia to the best i can on my 44 telekinetic sage. I can quite easily kill things, but after every fight i have lost between 10-40% of my health. If i continue onto the next set of enemies, it drops even lower. If i pause to heal back up, that is downtime and it adds up when you have to do it after every fight.

If i have Tharan out, im knocking over missions so fast i practically finish entire planets in one session.

I know. I had no complaints about my warrior because Quinn was who I wanted out.

But on my bh, I wanted to keep Torian out because he was my romance companion but I got so tired of healing after every fight. Then I wanted to try Gault, because he's cool, and then I wanted to try Blizz because he's cute.. but I always had to go back to using Mako.

Now I'm playing an agent and I really dig Vector but I just know I'm going to fall back into using the healing companion when I get him. It's just too tempting, and such a relief not to get so hurt all the time.

Interestingly, for my sorcerer I just used whoever was my newest companion and didn't have too much trouble. There wasn't a specific person I wanted out all the time - plus I could heal and bubble myself. I guess that made a big difference and "set me free" so to speak.

For example, ive fully kitted and tweaked Nadia to the best i can on my 44 telekinetic sage. I can quite easily kill things, but after every fight i have lost between 10-40% of my health. If i continue onto the next set of enemies, it drops even lower. If i pause to heal back up, that is downtime and it adds up when you have to do it after every fight.

 

If i have Tharan out, im knocking over missions so fast i practically finish entire planets in one session.

Nadia must not be as good as Kira. With Kira out I can do a group of mobs very quickly. So quickly that even with healing between mobs, we are a lot faster than with Doc. Probably because Doc rarely actually kills the mob he is fighting himself and I have to finish them off. Also if there's 2 or more strong, I will still have to heal after the fight. Though I'm more likely to survive a fight with 2-3 Strongs if Doc is out.

I would say Doc is easier to fight with but not faster. If I run with Kira it's because I want affection so I progress the romance.

I do tend to favor a single companion, particularly for the tougher content

However I am starting to spread around as I want to unlock all of my companions in legacy

Bioware has given a nice incentive to do so, and I am enjoying outfitting and using all of them now.

Nadia must not be as good as Kira. With Kira out I can do a group of mobs very quickly. So quickly that even with healing between mobs, we are a lot faster than with Doc. Probably because Doc rarely actually kills the mob he is fighting himself and I have to finish them off. Also if there's 2 or more strong, I will still have to heal after the fight. Though I'm more likely to survive a fight with 2-3 Strongs if Doc is out.

 

I would say Doc is easier to fight with but not faster. If I run with Kira it's because I want affection so I progress the romance.

Force Armour dont protect worth a damn and the stuff Nadia is not actively attacking, attacks me and therefore i take damage once that crappy shield takes its 2 damage and breaks.

Im not walking around in level 10 gear, i am properly kitted out in customs with latest mods and everything. So unless i can kill packs in 3 seconds flat or stun them all til death, i WILL take damage. And that damage adds up when you dont have a healer companion out.

When i got Nadia i did every mission with her as i really loved her story. Trouble was, the really terrible inefficiency of no heals from the companion seriously slowed me down.

And i dont have companions out for affection during mission. I just power level their affection to max from the gtn.

The only companion I've found I've had no use for on my Consular is Irresso.

I can barely remember why I got him and even less why I'd take him out!

Nadia is the best geared companion and nicest story but Zenith has always got me out of trickier fights so gets some tlc from me.

Tharan lurks around too and Quizen is a stalwart but after having him around so much early on kinda gets a bit forgotten.

Watching my wife play her JK though I am more than a bit jealous as Lord Scourge is pure awesome as is Rusk and Kira. Always felt that the JKs companions much better suit going down the dark side

I do tend to favor a single companion, particularly for the tougher content

 

However I am starting to spread around as I want to unlock all of my companions in legacy

 

Bioware has given a nice incentive to do so, and I am enjoying outfitting and using all of them now.

Buy them gifts, no need to actually use them as active companion.

I just tested all this on a few packs on Voss.

With Nadia out, i take on average 20% damage PER FIGHT. So that is 3 seconds between fights im healing up.

With Tharan out, i take the same amount of damage BUT! by the time ive looted the corpses, im 100% again.

Really annoys me how good healer companions are compared to damage dealing ones in terms of efficiency.

LOL transfer Tharan's healing abilities to Nadia and her melee to Tharan and i would be so happy.

OP: here's an interesting variation on your point. My main is a 50 Seer Sage - as a healer character, Tharan is a bit redundant. I do like Nadia's character, I like adventuring alongside my fiancée, and I feel quite efficient doing missions with her. But since I maxed out her affection way sooner than everyone else, and she has a Diplomacy bonus, more often than not I have to take out someone else because she's out working.

@Dalyn: as mentioned, fighting mobs with a given companion does nothing affection wise. You can buy them gifts, or you can do the actual missions with whoever you enjoy more, and then call out the other one when delivering the mission or picking new ones. There is a potential problem with this - in some cases (particularly before boss fights), the end of the conversation is immediately followed by a fight, so you have to kill the mob with your non-favorite companion. And of course, it is a bit less efficient to be swapping out companions all the time. But still, I feel it is an OK system.

@The_Butler: I have actually played a lot alongside Iresso. My reasons are:

- As a Seer, having a tank companion is the easiest and most convenient way to play - a DPS one is possibly more efficient, but also more stressful.

- Around the time I got him, Qyzen had way more affection than everyone else, so he was on crafting / diplomacy missions most of the time.

- This is now outdated because techblades are finally moddable, but before 1.2, Iresso's gear was quite easier and cheaper to keep upgraded.

Companions not used:

Commando: 4X, Yuan, Tanno Vik (Use Aric all the way to 50, but used elara for dailies when I switched from healer to DPS).

Shadow: Qyzen, Zenith, Iresso, Nadia (Once I got Theran I didn't use anyone else).

Sage: Iresso, Nadia, Theran (Used Qyzen until I got Zenith, then used him the rest of the way).

Smuggler so far: Bowdar, Risha, Akaavi, Guss (Level 38 healer right now...haven't used anyone other than Corso).

Some companions just come too late or aren't even viable for your companion compliment.

For example, Pierce and Broonmark are the last two companions you get on the Warrior... both are tanks. Why they couldn't give you a Tank earlier, in case you played a DPS, I don't know. Instead you get Quinn so early that if you do play DPS, it's completely unnecessary to worry about using a Tank pet. If you play Juggernaut, you probably don't even care that you got a couple Tank pets last. Why are you even getting both roles last anyways and not more mixed in so that actually using a tank early in the game might be more viable?

Look at Smuggler... the complete opposite. You get two tanks as your first two pets. Why would you need two tanks to choose from? They even agree to the same conversational attunments, and now that Corso's Harpoon shot is gone, they are both practically the same by being melee tanks.

Let's see, I went a Lightside Smuggler/Scoundrel. I really only used my ranged tank (Corso) with his harpoon shot/jet pack shut OFF, as well as his AOE abilities. I would have swapped to Bowdaar, given a Scoundrel is essentially a melee class but... I hate hate hate HATE the sound sheathed vibroweapons make (that metallic clicking sound drives me INSANE!)

I never took Risha, Akaavi, or Guss out of the ship. Risha became my go-to girl for slicing, with C2 running easier slicing missions. Guss would have been nice, but as a scrapper/Scoundrel I wanted a tank to keep the heat off me. Akaavi might have worked, but she suffers from the same problem Bowdaar did and that "nails on chalkboard" sound of the vibroweapon, plus she was essentially the darkside companion for the Smuggler (Risha is more neutral). As I said before, I went Lightside.

So I went up to 50 with Corso... and a lot of frustration (due to other reasons), and never took any of the other companions out even once. Bowdaar only has a few + relationship points with my smuggler from a random dropped gift or two....

What would have been nice, is for Bioware to have given us a reason to use the companions that are not suited your class or advanced class. If your best off with X companion, you will pretty much play with only that companion until the end of time. Which kinda sucks as the other companions are designed to be pretty good on their own.

Actually, what would have been nice would be the ability to customize your Companion's abilities. Who says that Mako has to be relegated to Healing... why can't she have backstabbing attacks and be a melee dps? Give Kaliyo some ranged dps to rival that of Vette. Why can't Jorgan be a healer? Companion Customization would have opened up tons of possibilities. You could easily have a healer, dps, and tank in almost any given companion, allowing you to choose the companions you want to use instead of filling a role.

Actually, what would have been nice would be the ability to customize your Companion's abilities. Who says that Mako has to be relegated to Healing... why can't she have backstabbing attacks and be a melee dps? Give Kaliyo some ranged dps to rival that of Vette. Why can't Jorgan be a healer? Companion Customization would have opened up tons of possibilities. You could easily have a healer, dps, and tank in almost any given companion, allowing you to choose the companions you want to use instead of filling a role.

Either this or try to minimize downtimes when playing with a dps / tank companion. Got bored one night and tested what the actual DPS is the types provide with DPS in Columi (ranged and melee) both being at ~ 500, tanks do almost 300 if dps stance is active and healers pull up to 150 or so with dps (not that you would actually use them for dmg ).

So, just comparing tank to dps the problem is pretty much that tank comps take too much dmg, even when well geared and with a ton of presence (my Broonmark is almost full Rakata for example but his health goes down SO fast cause I can't effectively heal him) that it's just not worth it. You end up dismissing and resummoning them (or mount/dismount etc) to get them back to 100% health, it's just plain annoying. DPS is similiar but with less downtimes overall and faster killspeed. Still with both (if you can't heal) you get into trouble when pulling something you didn't really want to pull or when fighting two strong type mobs without available CC or something like that.

Having your healing comp out just allows for so many errors on your part without consequences and you never ever have to stand still and feel like you're doing nothing. You do kill stuff slower (in a fight with a grp of 3 you have to kill all three and not just two of the mobs) but you never have to regen. Healing is just too strong compared to dmg or tanking.

That's the reason I'd give any class some passive ability to heal their tank companions by dealing dmg for example, for DPS companions it should be healing you and them when they DPS by a small percentage. You'd still end up regen. sometimes and all but they'd be more effective and you could actually play with the comp(s) you like instead of the easiest one (now, I did play with vette/jaesa all the way on my mara, but from my experience with 3 other 50s all leveled with healer as soon as they were available life just gets SO much easier). DPS comps could maybe also get an interrupt to lower inc dmg or some other form of CC... just something to make them as good a choice as healing comps so you can choose a personality you like, not their skillset.

I know my Smug only interacts with Corso (Chuck, he's my main tank if I get stuck and just my main man period), Bowdarr (Crowbar, helps the lower guildmembers through swaths of mobs and is kind of the guardian of our crew), and Akavi who eventually I warmed up to and goes with me EVERYWHERE!!! She's fully decked out and an absolute machine. I just love her moves, ah I have really really gotten attached to her. I still can't stand Risha and can't be bothered to gear her or Guss. If I have Risha out me and her get creamed, and I'm a Smug Scoundrel Sawbones and don't even need Guss or C2. Plus I hate Guss's story. SO MUCH.

My Jedi Knight. Kira. That's it. I have Doc out because otherwise as said so many times above. I can't stand T7 and hate his artwork. I don't need a trooper with my jedi knight the way he's built and I certainly don't need a sith warrior pureblood following me around. Makes no sense. So if it was up to me and I could pull it off, it'd just be Kira and I.

My Trooper. I really hate Jorgan (Thundercat.) I hate Elara period. Neither of them are ever used. M1-4X is my main droid and we do everything together. We're inseparable. I know it'll be like 6 planets until I see my next companion but Tanno is pretty cool but for RP reasons I don't think there's a point. Yuun, exactly the same thing. No RP reason to have him.

My Sith Warrior. I instantly hit it off with 2V-R8 and we go everywhere together. I can't get enough of him. He's fantastic. Vette is annoying and would belong with my Smuggler no problem, but not my SW. I never use her.. Quinn I instantly hated and paged GM's to remove him and they wouldn't. He stays 86'ed and I use 2V happily. Pisses me off. I don't even want to hear Quinn talk. Jaesa (light) all the way, 100%. But I think I'll run into the exact same problem as my Jedi Knight. Pierce and Broon I don't know yet. I don't know them well enough.

I would love nothing more than to get rid of the above characters I discussed. There are also several NPC's I'll never get to see again that I would have just been unimaginably in love to have on my crew. My Smug. Beryl Thorne and the Jedi girl from Tatooine (why can I not find her name anywhere). Sgt. Jaxo for my Trooper, also Fuse. My Jedi Knight.. I don't know. Probably the guy I fought at the end of Tython.

Wish I had the names of all of them.. Hindsite and all that. Not that it'd do any good but I feel better having full lists of things. It adds closure I guess.

Thx for reading. I'm def. bookmarking this thread.

I've played through to 50 5 times now with a few 35+s in the mix. I've tried a few things in my day...

On my assassin I used my RDPS companion most of the time because I was so durable that I didn't need heals and I prefer Andronikos to Ashara. On my guardian I used Doc almost exclusively. For one, he was hilarious, but I also felt that I needed additional survivability a majority of the time (to be fair this was my first real push to 50 and I've since mastered the subtle nuances this game has to offer). On my operative I used Kaliyo pretty heavily simply because I needed a tank to allow me to backstab effectively.

The only real arching conclusion I've made is that I much prefer the RDPS to MDPS due to the slow reacting AI and travel time. The only time I break this rule is on my guardian-- I just don't like Rusk as much as Kira.

You know the ones i talk about. The crafting and crew mission mules who still wear the gear they came with, and who never leave your ship.

dont have any...

Biggest problem i see with all those excess companions, is there is never a reason to bring them out.

DPSspecc -> Lokin or SKORPIO

Healspecc -> Temple/Vector, depending on enemy type.

Hybrid/PvPspecc -> SKORPIO or Kaliyo, depends on enemy type.

On my bounty hunter, i am quite happy to have Mako out permanently as i just enjoy the character. Same with Corso on my smuggler. Those characters i would consider to be lucky, as the one i want to have with me just happens to be the most efficient companion for them.

Playing only with healercompanions severly gimps your character.

But, on my Sage i want to use Nadia all the time as i quite enjoy her story and her character. Warrior, i want to have his girl Vette with him on his adventures. My inquisitor, i want her romance out with her all the time - Andronikos.

Top-Tip is, you need to gear your companion properly if he has to do an actual job other than healing.

You know how people in Rads always say the Tank has to be geared better than the DD or the healer? Well, same for tanking companions. my skorpio all maxed out with cybertech-armoring barely gets a scratch and never looses aggro.

Nadia must not be as good as Kira. With Kira out I can do a group of mobs very quickly. So quickly that even with healing between mobs, we are a lot faster than with Doc. Probably because Doc rarely actually kills the mob he is fighting himself and I have to finish them off. Also if there's 2 or more strong, I will still have to heal after the fight. Though I'm more likely to survive a fight with 2-3 Strongs if Doc is out.

 

I would say Doc is easier to fight with but not faster. If I run with Kira it's because I want affection so I progress the romance.

some companions are sheerly better then others...for example.... Mako has that CC ability i just don't recall on my other healing companions. putting a mob out for 8 seconds is HUGE deal when solo leveling... are some companions have unique skills others don't.

It also a gear thing for example... how can i rationalize giving up my mako for example is decked in modable gear blues, ect for someone in greens generally has less gear then my main companion... this WOULDN'T be as big a dealif actually gave companions decent stance buffs...made them a threat UNFORTUNATELY they are really sub-par in that area...

if Khem had a real tanking stance with a good armor boost, wouldnt even care about my healing companion...why? because he'd actually be able to take hits...

I always found that I don't do a whole lot of experimenting with my companions simply because it requires me to gear them up in order to do so. In the end, sure, I can give them all a whirl and see their strengths. I'm not at all about to get myself creamed as I go, though, because I somehow thought a companion in full greens six levels too low might be helpful.

Some of it is class mix too, though.

On my Vanguard, I was delivered the wondrous gift of two tanks. I've got no positional attacks, I've got harpoon, and in a pinch I can choose to not close the gap at all and do it from range. A healer is indispensable, not having aggro is borderline worthless. There are times that it is kind of fun to run with another DPS, but Jorgan noticeably knocks the doors off Yuun for this just because of class dynamic--with the scoundrel I like the melee DPS, with the Vanguard I find him too soft.

I had rather wished Yuun was another healer, or a healer/damage hybridish jobber that wasn't real good at "heal the tank" style, but great for downtime reduction and a modest fight contribution. His recruitment story would certainly lend to the notion that he's something of a "utility". Obviously, he turned out to be nothing but a stick waver.

Ironically, I'm also an Armormech, which means that these two tanks are also my primary affection investments because Vik has bonuses to Armormech and Underworld Trading, Forex to Scavenging.

On my scrapper Scoundrel, I felt like I got a touch better mix. Starting with a tank was a bonus. I don't much care for Corso, so I geared Bowdaar and he served well enough. Risha was a dud for me, as a scrapper I simply soak too much damage for someone that just doesn't share it without fancy pet control that I can ignore with others. Akaavi turns out to be startlingly decent, her DPS is pretty high and she's scary nasty in area effect situations which means fast fights and no overaggro for me. I haven't geared her at 50 yet, but it''s planned.

Lastly came Guss, and I've noticed that plenty of others don't care for him too much, but he's my preference. Yes, I take some hits and yes, I don't get back blasts off quite as much. I do, however, get to practice my nut kick stick and maneuver to reapply back blasts, though, which keeps me sharp. I usually let him take healing aggro on multiples, which gives me a large opener on them as well. With the tanks I often found myself shutting down my DPS to heal them the last tick of the fight, which meant downtime. With Guss, my downtime generally consists of needing more energy.

I haven't played the other classes far enough for any kind of honest appraisal, though.

dont have any...

 

DPSspecc -> Lokin or SKORPIO

Healspecc -> Temple/Vector, depending on enemy type.

Hybrid/PvPspecc -> SKORPIO or Kaliyo, depends on enemy type.

 

Playing only with healercompanions severly gimps your character.

 

Top-Tip is, you need to gear your companion properly if he has to do an actual job other than healing.

You know how people in Rads always say the Tank has to be geared better than the DD or the healer? Well, same for tanking companions. my skorpio all maxed out with cybertech-armoring barely gets a scratch and never looses aggro.

Seriously, you need to learn a few things.

Seriously, you need to learn a few things.

Unfortunately there is no way to prove either side wrong.

But, if youre having trouble utilizing all companions its not me who has to learn a few things.

Unfortunately there is no way to prove either side wrong.

But, if youre having trouble utilizing all companions its not me who has to learn a few things.

It's not about trouble, it's about the easymode healing companions offer compared to DPS or (even worse for anything but healspec) tank companions with the almost immortality you have no matter what you do and the nonexisting downtimes they offer. Biggest downtime for tanking and dps is healing after combat though (for squishy dps classes this is especially true) and it would not be that hard to give tank/dps comps some abilities here to regen faster when combat's finished.

And again, I dnt know what you guys talk about, I rarely have downtime and never use a healingcompanion (Juggernaut/Operative/Mercenary). On the other hand my dps-companions let me tear through those "kill 30 sandpeople"-quests like a hot knife through butter and my skorpio lets me do stuff (like soling H4quests) which is nearly impossible with a healingcompanion.

I´m not trolling, I just disagree with this thread, I think its my right to do so. I even brought arguments and solutions into the conversation.

greetz,

uvi