Tank companions

I finished my class story on my Sage. With her, i used Qyzen until roughly Voss when the damage he took was getting too much and the downtime of keeping him up seriously slowing me down. I then went to Nadia and for difficult enemies, Tharan. Smooth sailing ever since.

Not only do the tank companions have a lot of health to begin with, they also actively draw aggro away from you.
They can't also have the same advantages as healers without disrupting balance.

Oddly enough, this exact topic was brought up in todays QnA. I will quote what was said -
http://www.swtor.com/blog/community-qa-july-6th-2012

In regards to the QnA question, the problem is the presence stat. In a world with 0 presence Nadia would die much quicker since her gear is strength heavy while qyzens is end heavy. But with high presence companion gear becomes worthless and it simply comes down to abilities. DPS is better.

Tons of people already replied with good responses to your supposed "dilemma", and all you did was shoot them down because they are "not efficient enough".

Let's review what we've got so far:

1. DISMISS/RESUMMON: 2 seconds.
YOUR ANSWER: "Now if you choose to dismiss/re-summon your companion, that is AT MINIMUM 2 seconds. .5 seconds to dismiss and 1.5 seconds to summon. Add that up for EVERY SINGLE ENEMY FACED FOR A SINGLE LEVEL, and we are talking longer than a crew mission at mid level."

I average 2 days before gaining A SINGLE LEVEL. [depending on whether i'm doing pure PVP or just watching the GTN market on the fleet] One mid-level crew mission [level 20-is to 33] takes about 5 minutes. Are you saying you CANNOT tolerate 5 minutes out of about 8 hours of gameplay to heal your companion?

If you're really, REALLY bothered by that half-second lost using resummon instead of mount/dismount, I suggest you sit back and re-evaluate your reasons for playing an MMO. Because I don't think you realize that in a virtual world, you *are* wasting a lot of time doing stuff that amount to really NOTHING, and being "efficient" in an MMO only means being "efficient" at wasting time.

And you use recuperate after EVERY SINGLE ENEMY? Meaning if you fight the next mob at 70-80% HP, you are completely guaranteed to DIE??? I mean..... if that was me, I'd start checking my equipment and my tank's, ask around what I'm doing wrong. Maybe your comp is probably terribly geared to begin with, or you're not fighting efficiently. If you're not fighting efficiently, then it's not the companion we've got efficiency problems with.

2. MOUNT/DISMOUNT: 1.5 seconds.
YOUR ANSWER: The speeder trick requires being outside.

So what? If you can't mount/dismount, option 1 is still there. Mount is simply a quicker option than number 1, and only costs .5 seconds longer.

3. USE A DIFFERENT COMPANION. WHY USE A TANK?
YOUR ANSWER: There is no real reason to use them in the game. Personally, on my Mercenary, i would LOVE to have Blizz out all the time as he is just awesome. But using him makes leveling quite slow and cumbersome. Not hard by any means, just slow when compared to Gault or Mako.

So you admit that you have the option to use other companions, but you want to use your tank. You are aware of the consequences of using a tank [i.e. NEED TO HEAL], but you still want to use your tank. So your solution is to make a tank need less heal?

Every companion has a strength and a weakness. Ranged comps don't need heal as much since they shoot from far away, but once the enemies catch up to them they're toast. Healer companions don't need heal from you because they can heal themselves, but they really can't do much damage. Now tanks, their main job is, get this, TAKE DAMAGE. Naturally, you have to heal them. If tanks were to remain tanks but did not need much healing, or could be healed in less than 2 seconds between fights, you're basically making them invincible, and people will find little reason to use any other companion.

Really, you already found the answer to your question here. You said it yourself, you use another companion since you find it more efficient to use them. News flash, certain classes go well with certain companions. If your class isn't having a grand time levelling with its tank, get another companion that will suit your class. Otherwise, this thread is all about you trying to stick with your tank when you shouldn't, and insisting to get it your way.

4. Take up Bioanalysis and make heal stims that heal both you and your companion. Those Healstims are 100 times better than any you can get off venders!
YOUR ANSWER: Except someone already mentioned, it would require HAVING Biochem and possibly Bioanalysis and then to craft those companion medpacks. And that is almost like making those two crew skills ''required'' for leveling.

Back to number 3. Some companions go well with certain classes. If you insist using a tank even though it's obviously giving you a hard time, then you have to make certain concessions. YES, if you want to keep your tank alive, get Biochem. If being required to stick with Biochem hurts your feelings, then don't get a tank.

TO SUM IT UP:
Really, 1 and 2 should be sufficient but I wanted to address every pompous demand I've seen on this ridiculous thread and make sure I don't leave any standing, in case it breeds and spreads cancer.

But hey, somewhere down the road maybe you can stand in the middle of the fleet, bragging how "efficient" you were as you tried to get to 50, that you didn't even agree to spend 2 seconds healing your tank, while everyone else looks at you quizzically since they have already reached 50 months before you did, and nobody remembers hreaing anyone else ever giving a flying f**k to the 2 seconds they spent healing their companions.

Having a lot of health doesn't mean anything. You can have all the health in the world but if you cannot mitigate the damage then it's pointless. I agree with the OP saying that tanks need a slight buff and really the buff that is needed is armor which is lacking. I say around 10-20% more armor increase should do it.

What? lol.

Presence stat is worthless. Compnaions benefit from primary stats much better than presence. There was a topic about this the other day. It's better to gear you companion with regular gear such as their primary stat and secondary stats, then get the presence buff from legacy.

The problem with presence is it only boosts health, damage, and healing, each not by a lot. But the thing is you get more from the primary stat, such as if you want your companion healer to heal then it's better to get power or their primary stat than presence. if you want an effective tank sure you want some health but defensive stack will triumph more than just more health from presence. Or better yet End will do (if you need more health).

I tested this on two charas back when 1.2 was released. I made about 5 pieces of level 49 purple command and leadership prefix for my healer companion. I swap it out with some random purples from FP drops and sadly even with about +100 more presence plus primary stats the healer lost effective healing because the level 50 epics from HM FP I had previously were better.

This whole thread is rendered moot with the question posted on the QnA. The devs know its an issue now, so i really could not hope for a better outcome. Even if my effort in this thread didnt help it along.

Thanks to all who replied with constructive discussion. Much appreciated.

(btw i didnt actually know there was a problem with tank companion threat, so there ya go)

I get your point but for the most part some of us like to run with a tank companion to provide that "barrier" between us and the target. IDK how many times on a DPS toon that I have had to play "the bouncing threat" game with a DPS companion. I know most don't use tank companions but they are a role that can be filled within play and some of us like to rotate companions to keep it fresh and interesting. More to the point, I would love for BW to put a mini talent tree into effect for companions like the hunters/warlock had for their pets in WOW. I know a tank companion isn't suppose to do the job of a real player but it would be easier IMO and brings the bridge that much closer.

Speak for your self. I also run with with a tank companion, if I'm playing a dps. It makes for much faster dailies. Gear them in dps gear, throw them in tank stance, pole through enemies, when you speeder up, they get all their health back and go on to the next pack. Much faster running dps and tank then dps and heals.

By the way, nice necro'ed thread.