I just wanted to say that while I understand the feeling of those who say we have too many companions, I disagree. And the expansion that launches today (5.7) is disappointing to me because from what I understand, the companions that are returning are going to be class specific. So...the smuggler will get Corso and Risha and the Sorcerer will get Andronikos and everyone else gets zilch.

Personally, one of the strongest selling points in building the Alliance has been recruiting companions to your cause regardless of where they came from. And now, that is being lost without so much as a sorry to those of us who have enjoyed the storyline. Please reverse this decision.

I just wanted to say that while I understand the feeling of those who say we have too many companions, I disagree. And the expansion that launches today (5.7) is disappointing to me because from what I understand, the companions that are returning are going to be class specific. So...the smuggler will get Corso and Risha and the Sorcerer will get Andronikos and everyone else gets zilch.

 

Personally, one of the strongest selling points in building the Alliance has been recruiting companions to your cause regardless of where they came from. And now, that is being lost without so much as a sorry to those of us who have enjoyed the storyline. Please reverse this decision.

There are, indeed, way more companions available than we need. After the effects of the assorted casualties and other potential losses, we are left (at the time of writing) with potentially only four or five companions, but that requires you to do NO alerts, and to not recruit the two ship droids on Odessen and to not recruit Yuun and to have a murderous rate of KotFE/ET companion attrition.

If, on the other hand, you recruit enthusiastically, you can end up with more than 40 companions. My commandogirl main is missing at least a couple of CM companions, and also Koth, Quinn, Skadge, and Elara Dorne(1), but she recruited everyone else - all the normal alerts and all the extra alerts and all the various reward companions (yes, I have all of them) and all the Star Fortress companions - and is beyond 40 as a result. Most of them are idle most of the time, since the game mechanics only allow nine of them to be doing anything useful for you at any one time.

So yes, we have too many. Sure, that gives flexibility in who we recruit, but if we recruit indiscriminately, we end up with way more than we could possibly have any use for.

(1) She left in a huff after discovering the events of Chapter III (reactor) and Chapter X (Spire).

There are, indeed, way more companions available than we need. After the effects of the assorted casualties and other potential losses, we are left (at the time of writing) with potentially only four or five companions, but that requires you to do NO alerts, and to not recruit the two ship droids on Odessen and to not recruit Yuun and to have a murderous rate of KotFE/ET companion attrition.

 

At this point, if you've done that, you have killed, annoyed, been betrayed by, and so on:

* Koth (self-exiled or killed by your hand)

* one of Vette and Torian (guaranteed one is killed by Vaylin)

* Senya (killed by your hand)

* Theron (betrayer, AT THE TIME OF WRITING, possibly reversible later)

* Arcann (killed by your hand)

* one or both of Kaliyo and Aric Jorgan (killed by your hand)

* SCORPIO (killed by your hand or released into the Iokath network)

 

Leaving you with:

* Lana

* T7

* Gault Rennow

* the other of Vette and Torian

* Possibly one of Aric and Kaliyo (if it isn't possible to kill them both)

 

If, on the other hand, you recruit enthusiastically, you can end up with more than 40 companions. My commandogirl main is missing at least a couple of CM companions, and also Koth, Quinn, Skadge, and Elara Dorne(1), but she recruited everyone else - all the normal alerts and all the extra alerts and all the various reward companions (yes, I have all of them) and all the Star Fortress companions - and is beyond 40 as a result. Most of them are idle most of the time, since the game mechanics only allow nine of them to be doing anything useful for you at any one time.

 

So yes, we have too many. Sure, that gives flexibility in who we recruit, but if we recruit indiscriminately, we end up with way more than we could possibly have any use for.

 

(1) She left in a huff after discovering the events of Chapter III (reactor) and Chapter X (Spire).

Though I do agree, the amount of companions seems ridiculous, if BioWare is smart, they would find a better way to use the companions. I mean, we're now the leaders of an entirely new faction within the galaxy!! Here's what I think would make this issue better;

- have the ability to send companion groups on missions, not just crew skills. These mission would yield unique items, as well as gaining reputation points from the companions that were sent. The down side is, if the mission is a failure, then one or all the companions become out of service until they are healed.

- As we are now a whole new faction, why not allow us, the player, the opportunity to design our uniforms from the options that we have unlocked through the market. If we no longer conform to Republic nor Imperial ideals, then way do we still have to wear the armor linking our soldiers to their former allegiances? [i know this is a long stretch, it's just a thought]

- Going along with the previous item, allow armor sets, collected through flashpoints or operations, added to the collections tab. I would love for my forces to wear the Ascendancy Soldiers set as the standard uniform.

- If running through a Solo flashpoint, instead of giving us the Tank Droid, give us the option of forming our team from the available companions. We already have the ability of changing their roles.

These are just my personal opinions, yet I think it would bring a lot more to the game and make it more personal to the player. I really miss my former companions who have not shown back up. i.e. Mako. I mean, it's not like our faces haven't been plastered all over the galaxy. They would have to have been living under a rock to not know that we have returned from the dead by now.

And the Alliance will -- well maybe, anyway --- fall apart ----

then, what do we do with all these people --- ship is small, barely room for us and five others. RP playing wise ...

and logically, if we don't have time ( and I understand some of us did, but I didn't ) to get ALL of them up to 50 influence ... that leaves me with lots of companions I will never use --- it was fun for awhile, but I am done .....

On the flip side .... some classes have lost ( or potentially lost) up to 2 of their original comps --- now that is a bugger --- they need the comps to get a full crew compliment imo --- I didn't kill anyone. didn't see the "need" --- but Scorpio is alive and part of Iokath, so my agent is still lacking a fifth .... what will she do ... get a choice? ( now THAT would be cool) --- or do we get Lana or Theron ?

We simply do not know enough yet

I disagree. Class specific companions is exactly the right move for the rest of the companions. Number of companions doesn't matter in my opinion.

There are certain companions who would under no circumstances join certain players. Scourge only really cared about the Emperor's death, and thus his ties to the Jedi Knight were really the only plausible relation. Khem Val will never join anyone but the Sith Inquisitor. Jaessa would never join the Jedi. Andronicus hates the Republic, so trooper and most republic classes are out. Kira would be extremely condescending to the Consular, and is the primary companion of the Jedi Knight. She would never join a Sith class. It goes on.

I applaud the changes made in returning to separate class story arcs. The whole "Alliance" thing was kinda outlived.

I disagree. Class specific companions is exactly the right move for the rest of the companions. Number of companions doesn't matter in my opinion.

 

There are certain companions who would under no circumstances join certain players. Scourge only really cared about the Emperor's death, and thus his ties to the Jedi Knight were really the only plausible relation. Khem Val will never join anyone but the Sith Inquisitor. Jaessa would never join the Jedi. Andronicus hates the Republic, so trooper and most republic classes are out. Kira would be extremely condescending to the Consular, and is the primary companion of the Jedi Knight. She would never join a Sith class. It goes on.

 

I applaud the changes made in returning to separate class story arcs. The whole "Alliance" thing was kinda outlived.

Yes and yes. The Alliance's purpose was to defeat the Eternal Empire which has now been accomplished. It's time for it to change and become the new power in the Galaxy - lead either by the new Emperor or the Peacekeeper.

Going back to the roots of this game aka making the classes matter again and giving us more personal content is definitely a step in the right direction. You make a good point about why some of those companions would never join certain Outlanders - same could be said about Aric Jorgan... it felt very wrong for him to happily join forces with the Emperor's Wrath for example.

Yes and yes. The Alliance's purpose was to defeat the Eternal Empire which has now been accomplished. It's time for it to change and become the new power in the Galaxy - lead either by the new Emperor or the Peacekeeper.

 

Going back to the roots of this game aka making the classes matter again and giving us more personal content is definitely a step in the right direction. You make a good point about why some of those companions would never join certain Outlanders - same could be said about Aric Jorgan... it felt very wrong for him to happily join forces with the Emperor's Wrath for example.

Here's my take on it -

We aren't getting personal content. We're getting half-assed Alliance Alerts for returning romanced companions, which means no story for them...nothing. Paperweights. If you need confirmation of that, just look at the returns that were just released today. The reason why they went back to class-specific returns is because they couldn't come up with a way to include them in the story.

I can't speculate on where they're going from here after the Theron debacle is wrapped up, but our old companions are done.

I disagree. Class specific companions is exactly the right move for the rest of the companions. Number of companions doesn't matter in my opinion.

 

There are certain companions who would under no circumstances join certain players. Scourge only really cared about the Emperor's death, and thus his ties to the Jedi Knight were really the only plausible relation. Khem Val will never join anyone but the Sith Inquisitor. Jaessa would never join the Jedi. Andronicus hates the Republic, so trooper and most republic classes are out. Kira would be extremely condescending to the Consular, and is the primary companion of the Jedi Knight. She would never join a Sith class. It goes on.

 

I applaud the changes made in returning to separate class story arcs. The whole "Alliance" thing was kinda outlived.

I respectfully disagree.

LS Jaesa would join the consular/knight.

Andronikos would join the BH,same goes for Akaavi .

Corso - JC/JK/trooper

Zenith - JK,trooper,smuggler

DS Jaesa - BH,Inquisitor,IA

Besides, we have more than one example of comps from the opposite faction accepting to work with the Outlander : Aric Jorgan, Rusk, Kalyio, Torian, Vette, Gault.

First, Everyone makes some good points. I believe that there are too many companions, in relation to what you can do with them. I also believe that when you add in the droid and animal companions that you can’t even send on crew skills that the number is even more rediculous. That being said, I do however like the options of companions.

I think they should still bring back the companions

-class specific for story lines

- once story is completed then all can unlock through companion terminal. Kinda like the legacy use to do

Since it’s so hard to put an ops group together let us use the companions to form a solo ops group. (J/k I know the programming on that would be a nightmare).

Eventually though this alliance is gonna have to die and get back to Jedi vs Sith war. Make the ashes a criminal organization or militia group or something that can be written to fight for either side.

Personally I think creating a third empire took something away from the game. But hey that’s just me.

Having all the companions isn't a bad thing.

I even think they should have likely left all the non LI ones out of the main story and used just the LI ones and continue to use those ones.

Lana, Theron, Koth, and then 19 other companions is more than enough to have running around for story purposes

I disagree. Class specific companions is exactly the right move for the rest of the companions. Number of companions doesn't matter in my opinion.

 

There are certain companions who would under no circumstances join certain players. Scourge only really cared about the Emperor's death, and thus his ties to the Jedi Knight were really the only plausible relation. Khem Val will never join anyone but the Sith Inquisitor. Jaessa would never join the Jedi. Andronicus hates the Republic, so trooper and most republic classes are out. Kira would be extremely condescending to the Consular, and is the primary companion of the Jedi Knight. She would never join a Sith class. It goes on.

 

I applaud the changes made in returning to separate class story arcs. The whole "Alliance" thing was kinda outlived.

Eh, I thought this too until Jorgan joined every swinging dick out there. He HATES the Empire, and yet Imperial classes get him as a companion (unless they kill or exile him). But he chose to stick around.

So some companions won't care and others will.

Having all the companions isn't a bad thing.

 

I even think they should have likely left all the non LI ones out of the main story and used just the LI ones and continue to use those ones.

 

Lana, Theron, Koth, and then 19 other companions is more than enough to have running around for story purposes

Some of the best companions are not LIs though. Gault is an absolute hoot, as is Blizz. Scourge is awaited by many.. it would be sad to have him just fade into nothing. I also adore Pierce.. Has always annoyed me that LIs for female toons have never included a single masculine companion. Iresso and Andronikus come closest in personaility, but neither are even close to Scourge or Pierce. It's like the devs have no clue that women actually like strong men. Instead they make them in their own self deluded images.

Some of the best companions are not LIs though. Gault is an absolute hoot, as is Blizz. Scourge is awaited by many.. it would be sad to have him just fade into nothing. I also adore Pierce.. Has always annoyed me that LIs for female toons have never included a single masculine companion. Iresso and Andronikus come closest in personaility, but neither are even close to Scourge or Pierce. It's like the devs have no clue that women actually like strong men. Instead they make them in their own self deluded images.

Now, I may not get this because I'm lesbian, but by "strong," do you mean "kind of sociopathic?" Because Pierce and Scourge definitely seem to be Not Nice People.