Please, Don't Roll on Items for Another Class in Your Team

Do you know what is really funny to me? I've been called greedy, entitled, selfish, etc in this thread because I need what my PC can use and pass on what other players in the group can better use. This makes me greedy/selfish/etc because I expect the same courtesy when something drops tailored for my class.


With that said, the people on the other side of the argument may go through a FP as a Guardian and end up with piece of Willpower gear, Heavy STR gear, Medium STR gear and a double bladed lightsaber due to lucky rolls while the sentinel, shadow and sage get nothing for their contributions that run.


My way, I may get one drop in every 5-10 drops. Their way, they may win 10 drops out of 10 if RNG is with them. And I'm the greedy one.

And this I call a broken concept.

Companions should not gear from the same source as player characters.
Additionally, companions are not as strong as player characters, so would you really need for a lightsaber for your companion, when other player could make much better use out of it?

Nope, you don't have to play with anyone. Bioware is aware of how the looting process can generate debate. It's up to the players to come to grips how they will deal with it.

Player - the human being behind the screen that uses the keyboard and mouse to interact with the game
Player-character - characters in the game that are under the control of a player (main character, companions)
Non-Player-Character - characters in the game that are not under the control of a player (quest NPCs, vendors, mobs, base guards, etc.)

I can make my main character walk around and I can make him attack mobs. I can make my companion walk around and I can make her attack mobs. The base guards just stand there no matter what I do (the friendly ones do, anyways). Mobs attack me or not based on their own decision-process (although I can game that decision-process using taunts/detaunts/etc).

Seems pretty straightforward to me which characters in the game are under player control and which are not.

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But they do, and that's how the game was designed.

Honestly, Bioware could easily fix this whole issue by changing companion attributes to something unique. For instance, all companions could use "Comp" as their main stat. Just copy all of the in game armor designs with this new "Comp" stat and no one else would roll need on Aim, WP, STR or Cunning for their companions and everyone could roll on the "Comp" drops because everyone could use it equally.

If companions didn't use the same gear as players this wouldn't be an issue; if they had a companion loot box on each boss' loot table and made all other loot class-specific, people wouldn't be gearing their companions outside of those boxes and quest drops/world drops/GTN purchases.

It's a lot of "ifs" however. The reality is companions do use the same gear as players. As a result, it's a player's choice if they want to gear their companions up with gear from Flashpoints or Operations, or just use quest rewards and purchases (commendation or GTN). That's what we're advocating: let the player decide their own criteria for need, and not have to justify it to other players.

Which is the way the system is: each player can determine their own needs and roll accordingly. Yes, it means sometimes (often, in fact) someone is going to lose out on something they really wanted. Them's the breaks: going into a Flashpoint doesn't guarantee you gear, just a shot at it. People often walk out with nothing. It's been this way for awhile in MMOs. You go in for a chance that you wouldn't have if you didn't go in, but you aren't guaranteed anything.

What someone does with their winnings is up to them. No other player has the right to decide it for them, nor does a player have the right to tell another player their Need roll "isn't valid" just because the first player has different priorities.

Why is it broken? Armor is armor - why should there be two parallel sets designed when one set can serve everyone?

My companion doesn't use lightsabers, so I wouldn't need on those. She uses techstaffs and my previous companion used blasters. In any event, she carries the highest quality weapon possible because she generates much of the dps of my solo "team".

If your companion isn't very "strong" then maybe he/she needs better gear. +presence gear on yourself can help a lot too.

If a good techstaff drops, you bet I will be needing.

I've not really seen this as a big deal in levels 0-49. The game is easy and my companion naked could still win 99.99% of the battles. If you are having this problem is operations or hard flashpoints, then it's up to the guild leader to rectify. If the guild is not on board with your idea of looting, then move on to a group of lick minds.

I found this to be true up to around level 30. Then the mobs started hitting hard -- without good gear my companion took damage faster than I could heal it. I think it was Alderaan where I really noticed a big difference in mob power.