People who ninja for their companions

Man all you can do is leave the party or kick the guy , ignore him and tell you friends to do the same , with time when he gets lvl 50 he will then have problems to pub and thats it.

Then you would be a jerk, because you don't need that specific piece of gear.

the first pugger that rolls need on an item for his companion before a player, gets the boot in any group of mine.

If they ask first and no other player needs it, that's something different but then i expect everyone in the group will roll need as they probably all have a companion who can use it.

This ^

Completely agree.

So lets put that to use then. Your in a restaurant and you have just received your food. The waitress hands it over to you and you proceed to bury your face inches deep into the concoction - then, violently jerking your head back in forth, you effectively coat all members of the table in a thick drape of the said food you were eating.

But hey, you payed for it so you deserve to be able to do things like that. Besides, the only reason people didn't want you to throw food all over they're bodies was so they could enhance they're chances of having an enjoyable evening.

I sense this will be the LFG issue of SWTOR.

People are going to want to have the best for their companions because there is such a large solo aspect when questing and companions are needed lest you die .

Call em ninja's, but if they aren't selling it but are using it the powers that be probably will say..working as intended.

Because it will be Working as Intended

I fear that people will be accused of Ninjaing just because the win a loot roll, because that's how "Hardcore, Pro-Games" roll...

This debate is boring, because the two sides will never agree and the continued bickering is just diversive.

Wanna stop this? Simple, AGREE LOOTING TERMS BEFORE YOU START...

A person can't use items anyway. The character is what uses the items. And the companion is part of the character. It doesn't matter what little tab I'm on when I equip it. If I can go to the companion tab and be able to equip the item then that's good enough. I'm not always in groups, sometimes I'm soloing and when I solo, the companion needs decent gear equipped. People aren't entitled to not have their feelings hurt.

A few things to add to this discussion. I think they're pretty reasonable, but we'll see.

First, to the people arguing the semantics of whether the Assassin in the original post is a, "ninja" or if his ability to roll and win makes him simply greedy: I understand that by definition being able to roll precludes him from being a ninja. A ninja is someone who by some means unilaterally takes an item without any opportunity for competition from his group mates. That being said, I think we all know what the people using the terms interchangeably mean, and pointing it out every 8 or 9 posts is just derailing the (arguably) productive discussion. If its a pet peeve of yours, I think you'll get a much more positive response by sending a polite and informative PM. You can even save yourself a little time. Write a nice summation of the difference between this assassin and a ninja, post it here once, and if anyone manages to miss it just copy and paste it to them in a PM.

Second, I've read most but not all of this thread so there is a chance this has been answered and if so I'd really appreciate a PM with the details from anyone with a minute to find and copy the information. If not, my question is this: Does a companion character's output grow at the same rate as a player's in relation to increases in its primary and secondary stats?

Companions have always been described in interviews with developers as close to a player character in capability but marginally weaker (I think the figure I've heard is 75-80% as effective as a PC). Because of this, I was under the impression that a player character received a greater increase in output from the same increase in primary or secondary stat

This is obviously a huge oversimplification, but it was my understanding that a PC's base damage, for instance, was calculated by something like Y(X) where, "Y" is a number comprised of base weapon damage, level, etc. and X is a multiplier derived from the sum total of the PC's primary stat.

By comparison, I thought Companion damage was calculated by (again, super simplified) Y(.75X). Where Y and X represent the same factors, but benefit gained from the stat multiplier plays a reduced role.

If this were the case, I think that the argument against rolling need PC versus Companion would have a much stronger case. If a Companion's benefit from stats is somehow diminished as compared to a PC it would be my opinion that PC's should always have precedence over a Companion for gear. If the same total stat points would always increase a PC's output more than a Companion's then to my mind the PC is receiving greater benefit and should be given priority.

Conversely, if Companions and PC's have the same rate of return on stat benefits I think that although it might, "Feel wrong" to give a Companion equal priority it's probably the fairest way to do things.

Does anyone have any information on this? Less benefit from stats always seemed to me like the obvious way to gate companion effectiveness, but now that I've thought about it, it could be anything from lower base values for abilities to a slower progress curve from leveling to a combination of factors including the disadvantage of not having a real person able to intelligently select each able as the encounter develops.

I imagine without a combat log this might be kind of difficult to test, but not impossible to get a somewhat accurate sense of the role stats play in output PC versus Companion.

Third, and finally, as so many others have said this problem can be completely avoided with a little effort from some or all of the group to clarify how loot priority will be handled.

To be completely honest, I think that responsibility lies more with someone planning to roll need for there companion than not. The precedent from other games in the genre is clear: Need is for an upgrade that the character you're playing at that moment will immediately benefit from. Companions are a new element in MMO's and as I mentioned earlier the idea of a companion winning an item over a PC (no matter how logical and convincing the argument) just, "Feels wrong". As the game and population grow I'm sure companion ettiquette will evolve right along with it and eventually there will be a more or less accepted way of handling things, but until that time people are going to expect loot to be handled in a way similar to past games they've played. If you roll need for your companion without first clearing that with your group I think they have every right to be pissed at you and many people are simply using the lack of agreed upon procedure to justify bad behavior.

Holey Moley! That was so much longer than I thought it would be. Thoughts anyone?

completely agree