I’m not sure when this happened, maybe it was months ago, maybe it was last patch.

Let me explain so people don’t think you can’t customise your companions anymore.

**possible spoilers if you’ve never done these chapters before**

Yes you can still customise companions and their gear. But there is a big caveat....not at the start

It seems it’s now locked “until” after their re/entry mission / chapter to come back into the story is finished. This is very disappointing if you like them in their original look or “purchased” companion customisation and you prefer them to be dressed a certain way. This completely ruins the RP feeling of the story for me. I’m not a big RP player and mine is basically in my own head, but it’s still annoying and I’m surprised big time RPer’s aren’t screaming blue murder.

Before Christmas Id finally gotten around to running my Merc through Kotfe (used to just pvp with her). I was able to customise Lana, Koth, HK and Theron when they first appeared. I then took a story break over Xmas/NY’s and have just started again this week and first noticed this restriction when I went to update Jorgan’s Armor at the start of his scene (I nearly always update and have done on many other Alts).

When you go to add in the customisation or remove their gear, you get a red popup that states - “You cannot modify this companions equipment”. Pretty annoying seeing as I just paid for the Aric Jorgan customisation 5

At first I thought it was just Jorgan and a typical bug. Then I get to Kaliyo and find I can’t customise her either.

Ok, so neither are Merc comps and it doesn’t totally ruin the RP at this point in time and I’m still praying it’s a bug.

Then today I start the story where Gault and Vette join and discover I can’t put Gault back the way I like him setup and I can’t apply my Vette cartel market customisation 9 that makes her green instead of blue. I also can’t swap their Armor for better looking Armor. This was really off putting and totally ruined the whole chapter for me. I’m not big into rerunning these chapters as I’ve already done them about 20 times across other classes, but this was my very first Merc).

Of course once these opening chapters are complete, you can customise them to your hearts content. But it’s too late by then because the cut scenes you want to see them in are over.

I’ve also noticed that Scorpio is no longer in the companion list. She hasn’t betrayed me yet, so she should still be available to call up and I always put on her “gold” looking customisation. Now that’s not possible either because she’s not even on the list (not even the unavailable list).

The real clincher and what made me make this post was when I got to the chapter with Torian. I had married him and he had a special look. I made sure that I had everything ready when the chapter started so I could set him up. But when I went to apply the customisation and his “proper” looking Mando Armor, I get the same stupid message that says I can’t modify this companion.

This was a massive let down and totally ruined the experience and I logged off. I’m sure it wasn’t the intention of the devs when they made this change to piss players off and maybe it was made to fix some bug in the system. But it’s completely put me off playing my Merc story or buying anymore Mando Armor sets off the Cartel Market

Has anyone else noticed this or am I the first to discover this change? Does it bother any of the RP community that this has happened? I can’t find any patch notes regarding this change, but maybe I missed it?

Maybe if Jackie is reading this, she wouldn’t mind finding out from the team if this was intentional and if so, why was it done?

Knowing why might make it more palatable to accept then just accidentally discovering you can’t play the game the way you’ve been playing it for years.

Part of me is still praying it’s a bug. But this seems to be an intentional change and my expectation is it won’t change back.

R.I.P. RP returning companions 2021

See this

Quote: Originally Posted by https://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/129...ame-update-6.2

Guest Companions no longer have slots for equipping or changing their appearances. Only permanently recruited companions can have their appearance or equipment altered.

I guess the reason why I didn't notice this issue is because I skip to Ossus after I turn 70. Sometimes that's already at the end of the vanilla story, sometimes it's a bit further. I think I made it to Rishi once.

Anyways, companions disappearing at the start of KotFE has always been an ill conceived plan and this is just another part of that issue as I see it. The whole story side but also the implementation of it.

See this

Quote: Originally Posted by https://www.swtor.com/patchnotes/129...ame-update-6.2

Guest Companions no longer have slots for equipping or changing their appearances. Only permanently recruited companions can have their appearance or equipment altered.

Yeah, but they aren’t guests. They are returning companions, not guests. It’s rather annoying and a silly change as it ruins people’s immersion if the are RPing.

Yeah, but they aren’t guests. They are returning companions, not guests. It’s rather annoying and a silly change as it ruins people’s immersion if the are RPing.

At the moment that they reappear, there is the choice still of accepting them or rejecting them. So for that time their status is guest.

That puts them in the guest category even if only temporarily and I think that's where the problem lies. Look at it this way... let's say that in the background they have categorised companions. So there is category for permanent companions and guest companions and inactive companions. That means you would only need three categories keeping things simple. So you have companions then (because of the KotFE thing) that switch from permanent to inactive. As soon as they reappear in the quest for their re-entry, they go to guest and then depending on your choice either back to inactive or permanent.

I hope that makes sense. So because BW wants to keep it simple for themselves, they burden the players with the consequences.

It affects *all* "guest" or "temporary" companions, even in "vanilla".

Didn't you see those threads complaining about being unable to give Corso or KIra gear?

The ones where I contributed:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=987138

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=987727

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=843875

It affects *all* "guest" or "temporary" companions, even in "vanilla".

 

Didn't you see those threads complaining about being unable to give Corso or KIra gear?

 

The ones where I contributed:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=987138

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=987727

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=843875

Sorry Steve, I missed those, I rarely visit the new player help section as it’s been mostly dead for years.

These changes really are a sad state of affairs. After all these years they make this change and some of us have purchased customisations to change our companions from day one.

I really hope JackieKO can come back to us with a reasonable explanation that is palatable to the players. Of course she is only the messenger, so if it’s a ridiculous reason, I hope people remember that she’s only passing on what she’s told.

Fingers crossed it’s not something like they didn’t think this when they changed x for y.

Have they actually explained why they've done it, just wondering.

Not that I’ve found, which is why I’m asking Jackie if she could get an answer from the team. If an answer has already been given, then I apologise and would greatly appreciate if someone can point me to the info.

Good question! I actually ran into this issue when I tried to change Talos Drellik out of his silly outfit at the beginning of his Alliance Alert. I would be interested to know the reason for the change as well, though Tsillah's guess about what's going on under the hood sounds reasonable to me:

At the moment that they reappear, there is the choice still of accepting them or rejecting them. So for that time their status is guest.

 

That puts them in the guest category even if only temporarily and I think that's where the problem lies. Look at it this way... let's say that in the background they have categorised companions. So there is category for permanent companions and guest companions and inactive companions. That means you would only need three categories keeping things simple. So you have companions then (because of the KotFE thing) that switch from permanent to inactive. As soon as they reappear in the quest for their re-entry, they go to guest and then depending on your choice either back to inactive or permanent.

except, why does the clothes matter, even if it is a char who can be removed, why does it matter what they were, it shouldn't affect what category they fit in to. The clothes shouldn't affect anything, this doesn't make any sense at all. Unless there is something they are planning, that this has to be done, so that new bugs don't appear.

Because any gear you put on them becomes inaccessible if you reject them after you give it to them. It's OK, kinda-sorta, if it's just a CM piece that you claimed from Collections, but not if it's something irreplaceable like:

* That Esseles weapon you still have lying around.(0)

* That piece of armour with a Black/Black dye in it.(1)

The idea, I guess, is to stop us giving that stuff to companions who aren't going to stick around, either by BW's design or by our intent. (Yes, I know, they could have had the companions mail stuff to you as they die or leave, I guess.) That it also catches out companions that we are going to keep, and "vanilla" class companions during the class story, is the usual collateral damage caused by the rather blunt instruments that BW seems keen on for such things.

(Sorry, I'm feeling a bit negative about this one, since it's another one of those ill-considered things they seem to be fond of, like stopping us taking Marr, HK or Acina with us when we step out of chapters, as a not-thought-of consequence of something about Jedi Under Siege.)

(0) That one is absolutely irreplaceable, since it stopped dropping in The Esseles when 4.0 came out.

(1) Yes, I know you can replace the B/B dye, but how much does that cost?

Sorry Steve, I missed those, I rarely visit the new player help section as it’s been mostly dead for years.

These changes really are a sad state of affairs. After all these years they make this change and some of us have purchased customisations to change our companions from day one.

 

I really hope JackieKO can come back to us with a reasonable explanation that is palatable to the players. Of course she is only the messenger, so if it’s a ridiculous reason, I hope people remember that she’s only passing on what she’s told.

 

Fingers crossed it’s not something like they didn’t think this when they changed x for y.

IMO Trixx it's just one more in the long list of BUGS !!

Although I'm quite certain that some are tired of me saying it .. the fact remains that there are way too many things like this which have been "thrown into the mix" (so-to-speak).

Quite honestly if the team thinks it's frustrating their end .. good grief ! It's just as frustrating to us (perhaps more).

And for the record ... yes I did notice it as well. To be perfectly candid about it ... our companions have been shoved so far to the back of the list of items to be dealt with until I have just about quit posting anything else about them !

IMO Trixx it's just one more in the long list of BUGS !!

 

Although I'm quite certain that some are tired of me saying it .. the fact remains that there are way too many things like this which have been "thrown into the mix" (so-to-speak).

 

Quite honestly if the team thinks it's frustrating their end .. good grief ! It's just as frustrating to us (perhaps more).

 

And for the record ... yes I did notice it as well. To be perfectly candid about it ... our companions have been shoved so far to the back of the list of items to be dealt with until I have just about quit posting anything else about them !

I’m about to reach a similar position on my trooper who just Married Jorgan. All of my Havoc squad has purchased CM customisations on them, including Jorgan (I didn’t like him orange).

So I’ve just finished the original class story chain on the trooper and eager to proceed into the next phase. But I’m completely put off at the idea that when I see Jorgan again he will no longer have gray fur, but orange. Elara Dorn will no longer be cyborg with dark skin and dark hair, Yuun will no longer be greenish blue looking, Vic won’t have his cool looking customisation and MX will look like a standard tin can droid.

Like with my Merc, I’ve spent thousands of Cartel Coins and 100’s of millions of credits to set up these companions to look a certain way. I’ve even made 3 armor sets for each of Havoc Squad (not including MX) to Role play different scenarios. Like jungle green, snow, black ops (my Havoc colour is Black Yellow), etc.

I’ve spent more time on the whole team than any other alt because I’ve only one commando and because much of the commando story can be bland if you play it without doing your own little side RP action.

But like my Merc, Im putting her on hold and back on the “alt shelf” until we hear back from BioWare. Hopefully this will be fixed in the future and I can continue player those 2 classes.

What’s sad is if I’d done these classes last year it would not have been a problem. And the reason I didn’t was I’ve always been too busy pvping. But with the stupid pvp changes last year, I’ve stopped. The only thing I still liked doing in the game was story stuff. Now that’s be crapped on too it seems. I’m now wondering what’s the point of continuing to sub.

I’m about to reach a similar position on my trooper who just Married Jorgan. All of my Havoc squad has purchased CM customisations on them, including Jorgan (I didn’t like him orange).

So I’ve just finished the original class story chain on the trooper and eager to proceed into the next phase. But I’m completely put off at the idea that when I see Jorgan again he will no longer have gray fur, but orange. Elara Dorn will no longer be cyborg with dark skin and dark hair, Yuun will no longer be greenish blue looking, Vic won’t have his cool looking customisation and MX will look like a standard tin can droid.

That was a problem way back when, but they fixed it ages ago. The customization is the one piece of gear that gets transferred from the old companion to the new one on Return Day.

That was a problem way back when, but they fixed it ages ago. The customization is the one piece of gear that gets transferred from the old companion to the new one on Return Day.

Not on mine it didn’t 😢 (In reference to my first post about my Merc, not the one about my Commando).

This change in 6.2 may have broken that. You might want to double check if you have any Alts available to do so.

Not on mine it didn’t 😢 (In reference to my first post about my Merc, not the one about my Commando).

 

This change in 6.2 may have broken that. You might want to double check if you have any Alts available to do so.

Huh. Well, that sucks. As you say, it's probably a consequence of the "no customising" thing.

I'm about to get all grumpy about software QA again, I think.

OK, QA isn't, as such, in any formal sense, my job. Yes, it's part of my job to make sure that stuff I change works correctly, but it isn't 100% of my job - I'm a developer, not a tester. However, I've done enough of that stuff, and I work closely with the guys(1) who test stuff, and I know all about "regression testing". That's the sort of testing that makes sure that stuff that used to work still works, and, more relevantly here, that stuff that was fixed in an earlier release is still fixed.

BioWare's regression testing seems a little ... lacking.

(1) Where I work, R&D employs *one* woman in my site, and she's not a QA person, so the QA people do, indeed, count as "guys".

Still need to customize Arcann (waiting since day one), my favorite companion ever

At least, in the meantime, give players the ability to get a Sith dressed Arcann, and a Jedi dressed Arcann on the D vs L vendors in Supply section. For the love of companions, Let Arcann evolve already:sy_lightside:

Still need to customize Arcann (waiting since day one), my favorite companion ever

That's a different problem to what's being discussed here, and as such doesn't really belong.

The "permanence" excuse is a terrible one anyway, frankly. I guess no class story companion should be customizable during the class story, you're going to lose them for KotFE and might not get them back. No matter customizing companions that can die in the story, either. And ones that will leave no matter what, well, might as well remove certain character customizations from collections and such because they'll never appear.

Honestly, it's the class stories disabling them that makes me the most annoyed. There's no such thing as a "temporary" companion in those, so there's no reason not to make all of those companions equippable/customizable immediately.

The "permanence" excuse is a terrible one anyway, frankly. I guess no class story companion should be customizable during the class story, you're going to lose them for KotFE and might not get them back. No matter customizing companions that can die in the story, either. And ones that will leave no matter what, well, might as well remove certain character customizations from collections and such because they'll never appear.

 

Honestly, it's the class stories disabling them that makes me the most annoyed. There's no such thing as a "temporary" companion in those, so there's no reason not to make all of those companions equippable/customizable immediately.

I think this is it here. IMO there is something in the coding of the new class stories that is disabling the customizations. (***)

Just a thought !

(***) probably unintentional ... therefore more than likely a BUG. And since it does not "break the game" the way some of the other BUGS DO ... it's unlikely this will ever be addressed ..

(again) ...

Honestly, it's the class stories disabling them that makes me the most annoyed. There's no such thing as a "temporary" companion in those, so there's no reason not to make all of those companions equippable/customizable immediately.

There is, indeed, no such thing as a *temporary* companion in the class stories (except possibly for when you first meet T7 as a JK on Tython - he's with you until you get back to the village and then you don't see him again for a while), but there are what I usually call "guest" companions.

A guest companion is one who is going through the process of joining you. Some do it like this, some don't. The "never guest" list includes Kaliyo - she becomes a full companion *directly* when you have the conversation with her and Keeper - and the "does guest" list includes Kira (for a while in the last part of Coruscant), Corso (raiding the sep base), and Talos Drellik (last part of Hoth).

In all cases, the transition from "guest companion" or "not a companion" will be marked by text in the chat log (unless you turned that message type off) saying that such-and-such a compaion has joined you.

Notice that I didn't mention "permanent companions" in this post, just "temporary", "guest", and "full".

EDIT: changed a wrong word.

There is, indeed, no such thing as a *temporary* companion in the class stories (except possibly for when you first meet T7 as a JK on Tython - he's with you until you get back to the village and then you don't see him again for a while), but there are what I usually call "guest" companions.

The point is that there's no need for this to be the case. The companions join you as "guests" and then immediately join you as "permanent" one mission later (T7 being a short exception, granted, but even he still ends up joining you). Drawing an arbitrary line at which point the game says "oh, they weren't your companion before but now they are" is pointless and only serves to be a source of frustration now that they've made this hare-brained patch. If they're set on sticking to it, then they need to change a few flags in the mission code and let them join when they actually join, not at some arbitrary later point.

So that's why I can't take torchy off Corso's hand on my new smuggler.

Please, Bioware, let us customize our companion. It's already a pain in the afterburner that we can't color sync companion clothes, don't make it more difficult.

And also, fix the ugly undershirt bug on Scourge and Vector I'm begging you.