You are not supposed to do all the damage - the fight has a mechanism to get it done very quickly (under 2mins), if you only look.

Yes I know...we are supposed to draw the cyborg into the fire...yet with a Healing Sorc...or sage... the Comp draws all the agro and it is not possible to lure the cyborg into the flames. Not sure if you ever played a dedicated healer... by the way... i respected to lightning and did the cyborg in 3 minutes flat without flames. but this is not the point.... the point is that there is a class that can not do this (and other bosses) except by fluke or respecting. So why does this class exist at all if it is not viable?

I never said it was difficult I simply stated in my original post with the video:

"for the inevitable level comp to 50, get higher presence etc... yeah eventually they will level but this is the game I am stuck with right now. is it easy when I actually participate yeah it's pretty easy but it's not as easy as some people make it out to be, at least with our non maxed legacies/influence etc buffs."

 

and getting level 50 influence seems to take forever the highest I have is T7 on my level 55 sentinel and t7 is only at 32 influence. I had bought all the gifts I could afford at the gift vendor which got him to 12 or 13 at the beginning then started to get really low returns, the rest was from convos. I did buy the 3 tiers of the perk to get the 30% boost, is there a guide on how to get influence up? all of the guides I have seen were from pre 4.0 changes and buying gifts which I did.

My highest companion is lv 24 influence. However, I do have Datacron Master, the Human Presence bonus and 5/8 class stories completed. I found the nerf to be no big deal.

IMO, the best way to level influence right now is to buy the rank 6 gifts with common crystals or from the GTN.

I would point out that you seem to be saying something like "you cant play a pet class on easy mode, except when you can".......

 

Again, this confusion was common with 4.0. A few points.

 

It used to be, prior to 4.0, that H4s were generally murder.

H2s could be done even while leveling if you knew your class and were geared properly, but they posted a strong challenge.

Players had the choice to run content at below required level (hard), at proper level (medium) or outleveled (easy)

 

The changes in 4.0 removed all of that challenge.

 

Simply put, I believe that if level sync was optional 4.0.2a would not have been necessary. As long as it is mandatory it is.

 

The entire core of the problem is NOT companion strength. It has rarely if ever been an issue and it was not an issue in all three of the patches....the issue is forced level sync.

 

As long as that is in place the ability to customize ones difficulty has been reduced. They have to err on the side of the majority as long as the system is in place, and that likely means leaning toward easy.

First I have to say this actually gave me a giggle... you go from

Ok, I guess it is necessary to point this out again.

 

Proof was posted in this very forum and on reddit that there were plenty of situations where you COULD NOT simply order your comp to attack a mob and walk away...And it is not as if Bioware was likely not privy to this information...they had quite a few sources, unless of course you feel openly false information about the very game they develop can fool them.

to reading that either the lead dev was fooled (base on his "make tea" comment), or you were wrong or the one engaged in hyperbole. None of these can be acknowledge of course SO off to the irrelevant Warlock argument. Why irrelevant

When I make arguments I make them in context we face and not one out of the land of false equivalencies. I pointed out the POSSIBLE circumstances to show they are completely irrelevant to this discussion. It doesn't matter if the warlock pet can kill a rat if we are talking about a companion here killing 3 wolverines and a grizzly bear.

I was trying to point out that perhaps in a hypothetical, and completely impractical as well as irrelevant situation it might work because I am not a fan of 100% universal statements.

Moving onto your last point...

I think you miss something. I think you will have me seen time and again during this nerf/buff cycle that I agree the issue is level sync. People wanted the OP companion not so much because they absolutely positively don't want to grind, there has always been a grind here. The problem is they don't want to grind stuff they did 50 level ago. This exacerbates the distaste and as I said I entirely agree.

What is missed is this. Now I actually appreciate the mechanic from a pure story aspect. Where is the drama inherent in liberating an entire world if I am roflstomping across the world while watching Netflix, eating a sandwich and petting my cat? The thing is though from a player's mental perspective many will find it hard to accept that that content is not the roflstomp. Regardless of this though, the genie is out of the bottle. There is no going back for this expac. With the exception of the story quest and two versions of the Star Fortress the only content relative to lvl 65 is via level sync, this game is going to have enough trouble maintaining a sizeable active player base between Chapters with the new new version of the companions, it would fail horribly in that regard without level sync because of their ridiculous lack in new lvl 65 content.

That's why I say there really is no use arguing about it. Mechanically they can't revert it and it would be a disaster to do so if they could because of how little content hey have. The choice on this is NOT in BW's hands at this point it's in ours. Say "I can accept it for this expac" and keep on playing or say "I hate this idea I am gone" It really is that cut and dry and issue at this point.

Thank you for letting us know your thoughts.

the present choice of the Developers to fiddle with companion stats is substandard (to say it mildly).

Many quicker and easier solutions to the problem have been suggested.

my solution...simple:

Provide an overall optional Companion buff available to all classes. Players then have an option if they

wish to make their companions more powerful or not.

The present Companion-gift option is...well, a pain in the nectar.

First I have to say this actually gave me a giggle... you go from

Im not sure what the point is your making here based on the "giggle" comment.

to reading that either the lead dev was fooled (base on his "make tea" comment), or you were wrong or the one engaged in hyperbole. None of these can be acknowledge of course

I am fairly sure I never made any of those comments, if that is what you are getting at (I concede that may not be the case). I did, of course, point out it was unlikely that Bioware was fooled by any of the false information posted by BOTH SIDES of the issue here and abroad. But I digress...

SO off to the irrelevant Warlock argument. Why irrelevant

 

When I make arguments I make them in context we face and not one out of the land of false equivalencies. I pointed out the POSSIBLE circumstances to show they are completely irrelevant to this discussion. It doesn't matter if the warlock pet can kill a rat if we are talking about a companion here killing 3 wolverines and a grizzly bear.

 

I was trying to point out that perhaps in a hypothetical, and completely impractical as well as irrelevant situation it might work because I am not a fan of 100% universal statements.

My comments were speaking to your errors in sweeping comments about ease in other games, and then specifics in games with pet classes (WoW to be exact). You were, after all, the one that made the comments Ghisallo. And your specific comments in that regard were not accurate.

I have to say I have been noticing a disturbing trend with you lately. It seems that, when confronted with evidence that you may be in error (which, of course is not exactly a tragedy, we all make them) you become quite evasive, dismissive, and most of all refuse to accept the reality of the situation.

Other than that one flaw I find our conversations enjoyable. I just wish you didn't have such a seeming obsession with being right all the time...because you are most definitely not.

Neither am I. Nor many others that have participated in the discussion. That is the nature of things. We talk, we work things out, we learn.

At any rate, perhaps the discussion sparked from "point out one game where X happens" drew on far too long.

I stand by all of my comments, as well as my opinions on 4.0, 4.0.2 and 4.0.2a.

Im not sure what the point is your making here based on the "giggle" comment.

 

 

 

I am fairly sure I never made any of those comments, if that is what you are getting at (I concede that may not be the case). I did, of course, point out it was unlikely that Bioware was fooled by any of the false information posted by BOTH SIDES of the issue here and abroad. But I digress...

 

 

 

My comments were speaking to your errors in sweeping comments about ease in other games, and then specifics in games with pet classes (WoW to be exact). You were, after all, the one that made the comments Ghisallo. And your specific comments in that regard were not accurate.

 

I have to say I have been noticing a disturbing trend with you lately. It seems that, when confronted with evidence that you may be in error (which, of course is not exactly a tragedy, we all make them) you become quite evasive, dismissive, and most of all refuse to accept the reality of the situation.

 

Other than that one flaw I find our conversations enjoyable. I just wish you didn't have such a seeming obsession with being right all the time...because you are most definitely not.

 

Neither am I. Nor many others that have participated in the discussion. That is the nature of things. We talk, we work things out, we learn.

 

At any rate, perhaps the discussion sparked from "point out one game where X happens" drew on far too long.

 

I stand by all of my comments, as well as my opinions on 4.0, 4.0.2 and 4.0.2a.

No my issue is this. I do not become evasive. I am perhaps overly anal retentive, it is a weakness at times I will admit.

As an example I was looking at this game and the level of content in terms of the devs intent. So my calculus is looking at only something that meets the following the following definition of Heroic missions and up...

To complete this content, a player should have a good understanding of their class and game mechanics, as well as level appropriate gear. ... We expect some players to find these challenging initially—maybe even needing a friend’s help--but once the player earns better gear, a few levels of Influence with their companion, and has a greater understanding of the game

Now in that "world" (so to speak) no game in my experience, including WoW has allowed pets/companions to clear the content for you. I mean clearly one does not need a good understanding of a class and mechanics to just lauch a pet at mobs, correct?

I simply find it irrelevant to talk about circumstances that do not mirror such a specified intent. That sometimes leads to an almost myopic focus on the subject at hand. If the devs had not defined their intent so specifically I probably would have just left it at "this is stupid imo" but they defined the rules and that is what I was applying the pet/companion issue to.

Make sense? Sometimes different perspective create an argument that really never should have occurred in the first place.

Agreed but the combat isn't fun and I don't see it ever becoming fun ( for solo play, mechanics in many operation/FP fights makes it far more fun imo but that's group content ).

 

It looked like they might have wanted to start playing with solo combat with the SF's but because they stuffed up companions so bad to begin with people expected it to be a certain way/ease and now they've had to bow back down to that more or less leaving the mechanics irrelevant to the challenge of passing them.

Not that they were that wonderful to begin with but in the scope of this game it was a change in terms of solo play.

 

KoTFE on the other hand ... the story gameplay, more or less proves they have no interest what so ever in making gameplay more fun.

 

I personally find it more fun knowing I can die if I make a mistake ( not saying "see you can still die" when I go out of my way to die, that supports no argument in this debate ) thus I was against overly buffed comps, removing comps entirely isn't an option because I do want to play with my comps there and getting rid of them entirely takes it from challenging to super difficult ( let's be clear - I dislike super difficult games i.e. dark souls as much as I dislike super easy games i.e. kotfe story ).

 

I think they need to get the BWM/E team down to work on their combat etc. whilst BWA continues on story ...

 

Won't happen though, the majority love the easy combat so that's great for BWA, they can spend less time and resources on innovation and keep making money because continuing to keep it easy means less balance testing etc. so far easier profit for them to make.

 

Now in that "world" (so to speak) no game in my experience, including WoW has allowed pets/companions to clear the content for you. I mean clearly one does not need a good understanding of a class and mechanics to just lauch a pet at mobs, correct?

But your WoW experience is out of date or fictional. My hunter with no heroic or mythic raid gear or mythic dungeon gear and with no valor upgrades dropped on a Iron Wargronn (elite) with 5 times my health in the daily quest zone. I did not press a button; I did not tell my pet to attack. The npc attacked me and the pet responded. It was a tanking pet so took nearly three minutes to kill it but the pet did not drop below 90%, A Fel Overseer and two scouts got the pet to 75%, Four Felsworn Vanquishers got the pet to 60%. But the pets passive self healing usually had it back to full health before the fights were over. It is ok to think 4.0.0 was bad or unintended design. But the claim that 4.0.0, R.I.P., was significantly easier than the largest 2015 MMO is just demonstratively wrong.

No my issue is this. I do not become evasive. I am perhaps overly anal retentive, it is a weakness at times I will admit.

 

As an example I was looking at this game and the level of content in terms of the devs intent. So my calculus is looking at only something that meets the following the following definition of Heroic missions and up...

 

 

 

Now in that "world" (so to speak) no game in my experience, including WoW has allowed pets/companions to clear the content for you. I mean clearly one does not need a good understanding of a class and mechanics to just lauch a pet at mobs, correct?

 

I simply find it irrelevant to talk about circumstances that do not mirror such a specified intent. That sometimes leads to an almost myopic focus on the subject at hand. If the devs had not defined their intent so specifically I probably would have just left it at "this is stupid imo" but they defined the rules and that is what I was applying the pet/companion issue to.

 

Make sense? Sometimes different perspective create an argument that really never should have occurred in the first place.

Ok, I will just say fair enough on all points and we can move on to the next matter at hand.

I Just hope they aren't to strong. I liked the nerf they had. At 4.0 I took a Sith Marauder from start to the end or Narshada without having any gear because of how strong the companions were. I hope they aren't anywhere near that strong.

 

Also open world PvP was impossible with how strong they were.

Having no gear has nothing to do with it. You're leveled synced to a certain amount of hit points and power level regardless of gear. So the OP'ed comp wouldn't have mattered.

Thank you, Backus.

 

I liked the 4.0.2 nerf. I also understand I'm probably in the minority here. Oh well.

 

Companions were insanely OP prior to the nerf, especially if they had really high influence. After the nerf, even with an Influence 3 companion and starter insta-60 gear, I was able to complete a One and Only run through Heroic Star Fortress on a Sentinel. Was it more difficult than before? Well yeah but I was purposefully undergeared and using a low influence companion. I would have liked the devs to let the original nerf run another week to allow people to level up their companion of choice with high influence, maybe get some better gear on their character too and then try it out; you know, put some time in to try and overcome the challenge. You could run the Heroic Star Fortress with a friend, too.

 

Now the companions have been buffed back a little bit. Hopefully this is enough to appease those who couldn't handle the content after the nerf but not so much of a boost to the point where you can just hit control-1 and walk away (as was the case prior to 4.0.2).

 

The planet heroics were a joke before and after the nerf. They will still be a joke after this recent boost too.

It has nothing to do with people who can't handle the content. It's everything to do with the increased time and tedium it took to get those things done. Leet boys like you, can't seem to understand that fact, and you can't understand normal thinking.

Or you could just roll back the idiotic changes to companions made with KOTFE. Make gear matter for them. Give them back their individual charms like Khem Val's Zash voiceover, or Lokin's transformation, or HK's assassination ability. By making them all generic, they're essentially a worthless cosmetic skin. The exact same function could be performed by a selectable self-buff (auto self-heal, defense boost or damage boost) that engages when not in a party, and save the engine the rendering and ai-pathing trouble.

The developers' stated "intent" behind influence instead of affection was to allow players to play with whatever companion they wanted without it compromising their choices/playstyle. I guess they missed the big glaring tautology that the only reason any player would "want" any particular companion was because that companion already matched their playstyle. In what can only be described as a fog of weapons-grade obliviousness, their solution was to remove any reason to want any specific companion at all, and to make your conversation choices not matter at all. The only companion now who is any different than the others is the ship droid, because at least he can shut up during combat.

Just admit this was a horrible mistake, roll it back, and let's move on.

Or you could just roll back the idiotic changes to companions made with KOTFE. Make gear matter for them. Give them back their individual charms like Khem Val's Zash voiceover, or Lokin's transformation, or HK's assassination ability. By making them all generic, they're essentially a worthless cosmetic skin. The exact same function could be performed by a selectable self-buff (auto self-heal, defense boost or damage boost) that engages when not in a party, and save the engine the rendering and ai-pathing trouble.

 

The developers' stated "intent" behind influence instead of affection was to allow players to play with whatever companion they wanted without it compromising their choices/playstyle. I guess they missed the big glaring tautology that the only reason any player would "want" any particular companion was because that companion already matched their playstyle. In what can only be described as a fog of weapons-grade obliviousness, their solution was to remove any reason to want any specific companion at all, and to make your conversation choices not matter at all. The only companion now who is any different than the others is the ship droid, because at least he can shut up during combat.

 

Just admit this was a horrible mistake, roll it back, and let's move on.

They cannot go back to change it though. It isnt a mistake to get rid of the gear, it is a carefully chosen plan. The entire point of the changes to companions was designed around the idea of attracting a new player. The biggest stumbling block to attracting, and maintaining, new player in an MMORPG is they have to "catch up" to the existing players at end game. The thing stopping the "instant Lvl 60" that helps with this, in SWTOR, was the companions. So how do you address this? Reset the companions.

So yes if your concern is existing players it is a mistake but this expac, right or wrong, in about new players and not us.

My healer got killed easily by 4 silvers in a heroic on nar shadaa.

Rank was maybe 15.

I call BS on everyone claiming comps still can't die. Not everyone has rank 50 + whatever other perks available.

Tbh comps need to be boosted even more. Especially tank comps. They are squishy atm.

They cannot go back to change it though. It isnt a mistake to get rid of the gear, it is a carefully chosen plan. The entire point of the changes to companions was designed around the idea of attracting a new player. The biggest stumbling block to attracting, and maintaining, new player in an MMORPG is they have to "catch up" to the existing players at end game. The thing stopping the "instant Lvl 60" that helps with this, in SWTOR, was the companions. So how do you address this? Reset the companions.

 

So yes if your concern is existing players it is a mistake but this expac, right or wrong, in about new players and not us.

Ridiculously absurd. "The entire point of the changes to companions was designed around the idea of attracting a new player." Really? Name one new player that said "Gee, I wasn't going to try the game before, but now that they made the companions generic and boring, now I'm buying some cartel coins FOR SURE!" New players don't give a flip about whether they can lose or replace some companions after level 60, because new players by definition haven't gone through the story to learn anything about their companions.

Don't give me this "Can't" nonsense. The devs CAN go back and change anything they want. Companion effectiveness is still dependent upon effort, just now it's influence instead of spending credits, or farming flashpoints, or getting commendations... in fact, looking at it that way, they've actually limited players options to improve companion effectiveness. If your big objection is instant lvl 60's will have ungeared companions, something that can be remedied in 60 minutes of playtime, how hard is it to give an instant 60 a starter gear set for their companions since the player himself gets one anyway?

But you're missing the forest for the trees here... they only went the influence instead of gear route because they made the companions all generic and interchangeable, which absolutely was a boneheaded mistake. "Carefully chosen plan" is a fantasy belied by this very OP. Homogenizing companions was a haphazard scheme to be lazy in the future when coding character interactions. Same as the shift to Mastery was a haphazard scheme to be lazy when coding new gear items. Same as not including new ops was laziness... Same as skipping retooling some of the old ops was laziness... same as cutting nightmare modes out of future ops was laziness. There's definitely a pattern here that BW needs to break, because by continuing to ignore and abuse late game players, they're creating a death spiral of pump and dump free-to-players. How long do they think they'll keep getting new players, if all of them tell their friends the game has no retention value?

My healer got killed easily by 4 silvers in a heroic on nar shadaa.

Rank was maybe 15.

I call BS on everyone claiming comps still can't die. Not everyone has rank 50 + whatever other perks available.

Tbh comps need to be boosted even more. Especially tank comps. They are squishy atm.

My inf level 15 healer cannot be killed by 4 silvers, on any normal planetary 2H ATM, I do not have any holocrons, never was one for puzzles, I only have standard buffs from legendary.

Tanking and dps companions need a tweak as they are too low, but healers are a little bit to high, just a bit though.

Nothing to do with balance.... It's just Theron hasn't changed his clothes in 5 years. Can I correct that?

It has nothing to do with people who can't handle the content. It's everything to do with the increased time and tedium it took to get those things done. Leet boys like you, can't seem to understand that fact, and you can't understand normal thinking.

You can still have companions wear different clothes and armor. It will just be an aesthetic.

All companions but the brand new ones. I realize it's just an aesthetic, but I don't want it to be denied to the new ones, like Lana and Theron, anymore. I have outfit designs planned for him.

My inf level 15 healer cannot be killed by 4 silvers, on any normal planetary 2H ATM, I do not have any holocrons, never was one for puzzles, I only have standard buffs from legendary.

Tanking and dps companions need a tweak as they are too low, but healers are a little bit to high, just a bit though.

someone posted a video of his comp being killed in ' build a better beast ' heroic on nar shadaa. i went there myself to see if the video was correct. sent my healer comp in to fight 4 silvers. she died quite fast.

i'm calling BS on your claim.

Ridiculously absurd. "The entire point of the changes to companions was designed around the idea of attracting a new player." Really? Name one new player that said "Gee, I wasn't going to try the game before, but now that they made the companions generic and boring, now I'm buying some cartel coins FOR SURE!" New players don't give a flip about whether they can lose or replace some companions after level 60, because new players by definition haven't gone through the story to learn anything about their companions.

 

Don't give me this "Can't" nonsense. The devs CAN go back and change anything they want. Companion effectiveness is still dependent upon effort, just now it's influence instead of spending credits, or farming flashpoints, or getting commendations... in fact, looking at it that way, they've actually limited players options to improve companion effectiveness. If your big objection is instant lvl 60's will have ungeared companions, something that can be remedied in 60 minutes of playtime, how hard is it to give an instant 60 a starter gear set for their companions since the player himself gets one anyway?

 

But you're missing the forest for the trees here... they only went the influence instead of gear route because they made the companions all generic and interchangeable, which absolutely was a boneheaded mistake. "Carefully chosen plan" is a fantasy belied by this very OP. Homogenizing companions was a haphazard scheme to be lazy in the future when coding character interactions. Same as the shift to Mastery was a haphazard scheme to be lazy when coding new gear items. Same as not including new ops was laziness... Same as skipping retooling some of the old ops was laziness... same as cutting nightmare modes out of future ops was laziness. There's definitely a pattern here that BW needs to break, because by continuing to ignore and abuse late game players, they're creating a death spiral of pump and dump free-to-players. How long do they think they'll keep getting new players, if all of them tell their friends the game has no retention value?

It's not nonsense...its about looking in context. First though look at what I wrote..

"The biggest stumbling block to attracting, and maintaining, new player in..."

The underlined is pretty important there. New players check out MMORPGs all the time. The issue is MAINTAINING or, in essence turning the new player into an "existing player." So lets look at the whole expac.

1. The introduction of the "instant lvl 60"

2. Reset of all companions which is required for that to work (since leveling the companions the "traditional way is tied to the character leveling process which has been streamlined at a minimum, removed if you are willing to sub or buy a token.)

3. Only 1 instance (in different versions) of new content outside the story which is phased in over many months.

4. All other content being old content made relevant through lvl sync or retuning the content to level 65 and adding a bolster mechanic for those not 65.

5. The CFO at the Q3 2015 earnings call calling out BW.

Star Wars: The Old Republic also contributed to the segment, with the expansion, Shadow

of Revan, attracting many more people into the game with its epic new storyline. Star Wars

fans remain deeply engaged with The Old Republic universe, and we’re excited to see how

that will build as we get closer to the launch of the new Star Wars movie this December.

translation? Operative word build...BW added players with SoR and we expect MORE growth in the fall.

So we have an expac that story wise reset the story, reset the companions, added instant level 60's and then made all of the instanced content relevant to them and made, via level sync, all the solo overland content relevant as well.

Do you actually think an MMORPG about existing players would have an expac that essentially gives them only ONE instance? Where that existing player is complaining that stuff he may have done over and over again for 3 years, 15-60 levels ago is not not a steamroll but rather requires some effort? No they wouldn't. A new player however would come in, use his instant lvl 60 gizmo, and say "omg this world is huge, look at all the dungeons, raids and solo quests." The initial drop of this expac is clearly about trying to attract new players in the window where they can ride the coat tails of the new movie marketing.

BTW this isn't new either. I, and others, called all of this on these forums starting in July of this year (originally I said May in some earlier posts but I used the search function and found my prior posts on this subject, they started in July). But lets say you want to ignore the totality of the circumstances that lead to the new over old players concept...

Technically, from a coding point, could they go back and change it, put the gear back in? Sure, the thing is this. With the INCREDIBLE lack of new content there is one thing to get you doing the heroics that you did 15-60 levels ago...the currency and the Alliance faction. What do you get via the alliance faction boxes? The gifts to level companions. With out the need to level Alliance faction and Companions the reason to do those quests is GONE.

That reason is the main thing making us do them. So reverting the companions and giving them back gear removes the ONE thing driving people to grind the rather poor design of the playable content of this expac. So even if you want to dismiss my theory on this expac being about trying to attract and maintain new players while just minimizing current player loss, the fact the companion affection is one of the few things fueling playing, and thus paying, means they can't revert it otherwise their game play model undermines their financial model.

BTW I am not saying ANY of the above was a good idea. Back in July when I went over all of this on the forums I said it was a BIG gamble and that they risked losing players who have been loyal for the hope that they would attract, and maintain, more new players than they lost. Only that this was actually predictable, a bunch of us called it 5 months ago. This game, in terms of it's overall design... the new companion advancement, level sync, bolstering, little new content, is really not open to any practical revision. They can tweak overall balancing of course but those foundations are pretty much locked in until the next expac. So we all have a decision...stay and play or walk with our wallets.

It has nothing to do with people who can't handle the content. It's everything to do with the increased time and tedium it took to get those things done. Leet boys like you, can't seem to understand that fact, and you can't understand normal thinking.

Who are you to define "normal"? If they would have launched the expac with the 4.0.2 companions no one would not any different. The initial concept that both Eric and Michael noted would have been maintained and the "this is a grind" vs "thats an MMORPG for ya" argument every MMO has would have gone on. That would have been the "normal thinking" then. Normal is subjective based on circumstance.

As for "nothing to do with people who can't handle the content." Please first, go to the thread Eric started explaining the change, where people said "it's impossible now!!!!" Then go to the OP of this thread where Michael says...

If you had good gear and really knew how to play well, you could solo them but you’d still have to pay attention to what you were doing. If you had expected gear for your level and didn’t think of yourself as that skilled, you’d probably find a friend to join you so you could both reap the rewards together.

 

With Companions being the power level they were, “everyone” began enjoying them.

So they designed the expac, originally, with the knowledge that "everyone" would NOT be able to "handle" them solo, and that the OP companions allowed "everyone", counter to their intent, to do so. The complaints with the nerf only confirm this because once instituted some people claimed they were impossible. UNLESS of course you want to say that all of those players AND the lead designer are all lying.