The Companion System

I was hoping for more interaction with the various Companions. I use very few Companions on my various toons. I usually stick with one or two of them too, neglecting to use the others. If there were more options, like Companion Missions requiring us to loot various kills, collect various materials, craft or RE etc., I'm certain I'd use all the various Companions more. Sadly, Companions are just not a huge part of The Old Republic at this stage of the game. Could be we'll see some form of a continuation of the various Companion Storylines available for sale on the Cartel Market in the future.

Does anyone use all their Companions for Combat?

We should be able to choose the role of our companions, to be able to play with the companion we want. There's some companions I never use because of my spec and their role, so either I have to swap my combat companion with my conversation companion at each convo (but it becomes quite annoying) or I just end playing with my "best" combat companion even though I would prefer another one.

For me having a companion with some class/spec makes the game too easy and remove any challenge in the game and thus makes that class/spec quite boring to play in PvE. In particular, glass cannons.

I think more customizations for their look would be good. Some companions have something like 4 options and 2 being in the security key vendor.

The necessity to be in a cantina or ship to have conversations with them make the progression of relationships quite strange. As I don't go to ship/cantina each time a companion wants to start a convo, it's only when I finish a planet that I talk with them and so I get a burst of convos, one after the other. We should be able to start converstations with companions wherever we are.

I remember before launch when they talked about light/side choice, how they wanted that each path would be interesting and rewarding enough so we could choose how we wanted. It seems they completely forgot about that with the affection system. As I'm crafting a lot, I need to have max affection for the advantages it gives, there's no reason at all to lose affection.

I would like also more interactions with companions, even when I can't progress further because I don't have enough affection for the next step. Companions should interact more during class/world quests. Quite often, even if you lose a big amount of affection because of a choice, there's not even a line from your current companion to express that he disagree with you.

My smuggler has, including the ship droid before she got her dedicated healer companion. One of the issues (especially for a first character, which my smuggler was) is maintaining equipment for several companions. It just isn't viable. By the time you have the credits to gear up more than one, your companions are all but retired. To that end, I wish there had been more and better mission rewards for our companions than the (mostly) green junk provided.

Now I've said that, I'm wondering if the issue is with 'green' items generally or even just my perception of them.

The other issue is lack of time. Levelling is so fast, you're at the multi-player stage proper before you know it and sadly the opportunity to get to know some companions as well as others has gone. But it's a MMO, so I don't lament this fact, it is just how it is.

While the quality of the green junk we get as mission rewards is generally acceptable for the place where you get it during your progress, it's a pain that we can only pick 1 item out of several. So while one companion gets a few upgrades, the other companions are severely lacking by the time you move to the next planet. I don't think it would hurt the companion system one bit, if those missions that reward companion gear simply rewarded ALL the pieces instead of only 1 piece for 1 specific companion. Currently, we are simply encouraged to bring the same companion every time, where I think a better system would be if we could simply pick the companion we WANT to bring along for the occasion.

Another option could be, to allow us to buy the full set found for each companion on a planet through commendations. That way, we could pick the rewards for Companion A while doing missions on a planet, and then later buy the rewards for companion B through commendations as an all-in pack. 24 comms sounds about right for that I think, same price as a prototype box, but then with the outfit for 1 of your companions instead. Having 2 geared companions is more encouraging to occasionally switch than having only 1 geared companion and a bunch of scrubs.

Well - after this time, some breaks into other games, and playing again for a while....

Companion system is at the core a great system.
Yes, it's designed to 'replace' human players, but more to the point - it's designed to give you flexibility in playing and I like that.
Being able to group up with a friend or two and pull out a healing companion or DPS companion - yeah, that's good.

However, the implementation leaves a lot lacking which is the focal issue with TOR. Good ideas; bad or lacking implementations.

When they first announced companions - I suspected more in tune with Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. More fleshed out and 'solid' companions. This was especially based on the statements that the companions would agree or disagree with you and possible betray you and all those development-hype statements.
However that dream shattered when they removed the option of betrayal because MMO players in beta couldn't handle the permanency of it.

Whether true or just an excuse because they couldn't deliver ME/DA style companions is unknown - but the interaction and scope of the companions leave very much let to desire.
The affection system is rather pointless and just allures to what could have been. (Sure it gives bonuses to stats etc, but we're talking about companion interaction).
The 'fade-to-black' companion "quests" looks like a cop-out because it should have been actual quests you partook in which could succeed or fail and would shape your relationships with the companions.
Lack of 'inter-interaction' between the companions save a few quest related cut-scenes is also a dead giveaway that they really did not know where to go with it.

So as so much in TOR; the idea is there, but Bioware failed in the implementation of it.
But I still like the flexibility it gives. It's just so lackluster compared to what it should have been.

I like it. It makes the game feel like part of the KOTOR series like it should. Also makes the game more fun for me.

I find it odd people keep saying that they expected more of Mass Effect and Dragon Age, when this is a sequel to KOTOR and KOTOR already had the system.
A big difference is in the first planet or so, they give you Carth, Bastilla, Mission, Big Z, the droid companion, and Canderous. So from the begining you have a squad. Why am I getting companions in chapter 3, that is just weird.

Another thing is the companions rarely interact with each other like in all the other BW games. Yes it is a MMO but some companions are more interesting than playing with other players.

I like the idea of being able to get the equivalent piece for all companions rather than being able to pick just one (and why is only droid armour always moddable and nothing else?) and it would work alongside the companion set from comms idea.

As for interaction between our companions, there is a certain amount of interaction aluded to during conversations you have with them, which is nice and (for me) enough for a multi-player game. The only thing that puzzled me was when one of my companions spoke of a conversation they had with a second crew member before my own character had even met them, let alone asked them to become a member of my crew

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