We (forum users) don't know why. Maybe there's technical reasons, maybe there's just too many binds already, or maybe - and most likely - there's so little need for a companion keybind that they're not going to bother with it.

And seriously, why would you need a keybind? Most of the reason for keybinds is speed - but when do you need to summon a companion that quickly?

[...]

And seriously, why would you need a keybind? Most of the reason for keybinds is speed - but when do you need to summon a companion that quickly?

some of use collect all the companions.... to find a specific companion can be more than a bit painful

what I'd actually prefer is some sort of favorite tagging to float them to the top of the list (same for crafting... I have more than max 50's but some I just want available for content, and others just for crafting.... it'd be nice if my preferred crafting comps were at the top of that list.

some of use collect all the companions.... to find a specific companion can be more than a bit painful

That just says that there's an advantage in having a better way of finding and summoning the companion we want to use. And yes, I feel that pain, too.

It doesn't, however, say that "keybind for a companion" is justified. Keybinds are, normally, for things you want to be able to do "instantly", and there's *no* circumstance where that's relevant for companions.

However,

what I'd actually prefer is some sort of favorite tagging to float them to the top of the list (same for crafting... I have more than max 50's but some I just want available for content, and others just for crafting.... it'd be nice if my preferred crafting comps were at the top of that list.

that sounds like the way to go to ease companion summoning / crewskilling woes.

sadly, a hotkey is more likely, since it'd require less new coding (literally reuse the skill coding containers, and dump in the summon button logic...

... whereas my idea requires a new container to cross reference against existing stats, a new active selector, and some previously undeveloped manual sorting mechanism....

... ah but I can dream

I'll take anything that'll let me summon a companion instantly but we wouldn't really need a feature like this if they'd wouldn't disappear all the time.

Pets disappear constantly as well but at least we can put them onto our quickbars, so having something similar for companions would be great.

Pets disappear constantly as well but at least we can put them onto our quickbars, so having something similar for companions would be great.

Umm, this makes me want to ask - you know you can summon your current companion by just clicking on the little gizmo below their portrait, right? (Even when the portrait is blank.)

This makes me wonder if the OP and some others, summon their companion each time by opening the Companions and Contacts list, and then finding and selecting the companion. I could see why they'd want a keybind. 🙂

Umm, this makes me want to ask - you know you can summon your current companion by just clicking on the little gizmo below their portrait, right? (Even when the portrait is blank.)

Except when the portrait thing is *missing*. That happens way more than it should.

Except when the portrait thing is *missing*. That happens way more than it should.

^ this

frequently the companion window just ceases to exist, usually triggered by being in, or having recently been in, a group.

it's also a matter of not being completely effective even when it is available, because it only summons the last companion you had out which is not necessarily the one you want (and if that companion is crafting, it cancels their queue)

I use different companions for different content... sure, most of the time its just a healer comp, but sometimes I want a dps, and even rarely a tank (and no they really are not all equal, even beyond melee/ranged).... I'm also a person who hotswaps tacticals (assassin's have at least 4 to use conditionally for any spec)

frequently the companion window just ceases to exist, usually triggered by being in, or having recently been in, a group.

 

it's also a matter of not being completely effective even when it is available, because it only summons the last companion you had out which is not necessarily the one you want (and if that companion is crafting, it cancels their queue)

Yes, at the infrequent times when the companion portrait is not there, you do have to go through the long, tedious, process of clicking and scrolling through the companion list. Oh, the humanity! 😍

If you're wanting a keybind for each companion, it ain't gonna happen. The closest we can hope for would be for the favourites to bubble to the top like in the stronghold list. (Fingers crossed. 🙂 )

Yes, at the infrequent times when the companion portrait is not there, you do have to go through the long, tedious, process of clicking and scrolling through the companion list. Oh, the humanity! 😍

it's also the case when changing companions

If you're wanting a keybind for each companion, it ain't gonna happen. The closest we can hope for would be for the favourites to bubble to the top like in the stronghold list. (Fingers crossed. 🙂 )

that is my preference actually, but it's technically more work...

the containers for skills alread feature an image, drag drop, and activation logic, so applying the same to to the contact list, and pulling the summon button logic into it is mostly copy paste work

vs

creating a new container to house sorting logic, a new sorting criteria, and differentiation for both summoned and crewskills companions.

I WANT the second... if I got the first, it'd still be an improvement

the containers for skills alread feature an image, drag drop, and activation logic, so applying the same to to the contact list, and pulling the summon button logic into it is mostly copy paste work

vs

creating a new container to house sorting logic, a new sorting criteria, and differentiation for both summoned and crewskills companions

Well, I don't have your insider knowledge about the inner workings of the SWTOR engine, so I won't make any statements about what would be easiest. 🙄😉

Except when the portrait thing is *missing*. That happens way more than it should.

Bingo.

Well, I don't have your insider knowledge about the inner workings of the SWTOR engine, so I won't make any statements about what would be easiest. 🙄😉

pfft, it has nothing to do with engine knowledge and everything to do with the basics of programming.

Existing functions that use existing resources are are always easier to add than new features using new resources.

doesn't make 'em better... just easier.

We (forum users) don't know why. Maybe there's technical reasons, maybe there's just too many binds already, or maybe - and most likely - there's so little need for a companion keybind that they're not going to bother with it.

And seriously, why would you need a keybind? Most of the reason for keybinds is speed - but when do you need to summon a companion that quickly?

Being able to keybind the full range of companion abilities would certainly help in some fights where you need to move them around or get them to use specific abilities first.

When you are a keybinder and not a “clicker”, having to click abilities can be a bit awkward for people.

If they don’t want us to control our companions, why did they ever give us the abilities to “click” on. So they should already have keybinds for them, the same as we have for all our other abilities.

Sadly, the game is so old now that adding the keybinds for companions would probably be really difficult or time consuming to do and would probably end up breaking something else.

As much as it would be a good QOL function, I would be against them even trying to do this.

What they could do is fix the bug that makes the companion window disappear when you come out of pvp or sometimes zoning into a new pve area. But that would require them fixing a bug. And we know hell is likely ti freeze over first

Except when the portrait thing is *missing*. That happens way more than it should.

An old bug that should have been fixed 4 years ago when it started.

There seems to be a lot of variation in what people want here.

Some people seem to want a keybind for each companion, or a group of favourite companions. There are too many companions for that to be practical. How many keybinds, that aren't already in use, would that take?

Some people just want a keybind to summon their current companion. This could be useful in some cases, like when the companion portrait disappears. But then again, if the lack of portrait means that the system no longer knows what companion is currently "in use", then the keybind probably wouldn't know either.

I'd suggest that the only feasible way to approach this would be to have the companion list be sortable either by "favourites" or by "last used".

There seems to be a lot of variation in what people want here.

 

Some people seem to want a keybind for each companion, or a group of favourite companions. There are too many companions for that to be practical. How many keybinds, that aren't already in use, would that take?

less than vehicles, pets, or weird off skills that almost never gets used for sure.

Some people just want a keybind to summon their current companion.

no one has said that... it's just ONE use case, just like having a specific keybind for a vehicle can be duplicated by summon random with only one favorite

I'd suggest that the only feasible way to approach this would be to have the companion list be sortable either by "favourites" or by "last used".

I would suggest you are wrong.... there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Some people just want a keybind to summon their current companion. This could be useful in some cases, like when the companion portrait disappears. But then again, if the lack of portrait means that the system no longer knows what companion is currently "in use", then the keybind probably wouldn't know either.

Curiously, it *does* know. If you look in the companion list in the "N" panel, the one you had out before the portrait doodad disappeared (e.g. after you come back from a Warzone or something like that) used to show the "go sell grey junk" button(1).

But in any event, the fix for that whole quagmire is to stop the portrait thing from disappearing.(2)

(1) That caused its own problems, of course, such as the problem where you only had one companion in the list and the grey junk button wouldn't summon it. If you had two or more, you could summon another and then summon the one you wanted, but if you only had one, you had to relog.

(2) More accurately, the fix is to make it reappear, since it *must* disappear while you are in a Warzone/Operation/GSF.

less than vehicles, pets, or weird off skills that almost never gets used for sure.

 

 

no one has said that... it's just ONE use case, just like having a specific keybind for a vehicle can be duplicated by summon random with only one favorite

 

 

I would suggest you are wrong.... there is more than one way to skin a cat.

How many mounts do you need hot keyed? Last I checked, you can only ride one at a time. If the random button, with only one selected is just fine, why wouldn't that be just fine for your favorite companion? Pro tip: You don't have to summon companions to send them out on missions or to craft, and, as a bonus, they are already sorted by influence. You can only send 8 out, so what good is a hotkey going to do for that? It's not like you don't have to have the crafting window open to select the missions anyway, right?

So the only functional use for a comp hot key is summoning a comp, and since you can only have one at a time, the exact same system for mounts would fine. There may be more than one way to skin a cat, but you don't have to use every single method on one cat. Sorting the default N key by influence would be great, or adding a favorite check box, or both, it would make finding the comp I want to use easier, but having an excess of 20 comps, I don't need hotkeys for each of them. Even better, in my eyes, would be adding the summon button back to B, on the window it used to be on. It's already sorted by influence, so the comps that I have, and summarily ignore, won't be cluttering the list of comps I want to use.

So the only functional use for a comp hot key is summoning a comp, and since you can only have one at a time, the exact same system for mounts would fine.

I'm going to challenge you on this: which "exact same system" would that be?

Because summoning a mount is an *ability*, you can drag a hot button for a mount to your quickbars, same as you can the "summon random mount" ability.

And you can bind a hotkey to that cell in that quickbar and have a hotkey for *that* mount. Not for "a random favourited mount", but, regardless of the favouriting status of any mounts, *that* one.

So which "exact same system" are you referring to?

* A "summon random favourite" ability.

* A "summon this one" ability.

Note that neither of these is currently an ability **for**companions**, nor is it an inventory-located consumable (grenade, stim, medpac, etc.), so *something* would need to be added, along with some oddities about how the buttons show or otherwise handle:

* Summoned status

* Available-for-summoning status when not summoned (e.g. because the companion is blocked by story)

* Existence of the companion (e.g. the difference between "alive" and "dead")

* The fact that a class companion before the beginning of KotFE and the allegedly same class companion after its return after the beginning of KotFE are ***not*** the same companion.

* If the companion is currently busy on a crew skill task.

* If the companion is currently away selling grey junk items.

* If some *other* companion is currently away selling grey junk items. (Summoning someone else doesn't work in that case.)

All of these can be solved, but none of them (except possibly summoned status) is *obviously* trivial to solve.