Not sure what the best design way would be for your systems, but here's an example of how it maybe could work:

Example: You get Lana to level 50 influence. This gives you an achievement and a special item. When the item is consumed, it unlocks something in collections. If you account unlock it (could just give it some cheap cost like 5 CC), you can now claim that item on any character to boost Lana to level 50 influence instantly.

Kind of convoluted, but I'm thinking of the way Hexid worked.

General idea would be, you can use it if you want to bypass influence for a specific companion in the future, but it's optional. And you have to do it with each companion if you want to bypass influence for that companion in the future, so there's something to work towards.

You may be wondering... why? Well influence is already meaningless in the context of story. It's only used for gameplay bonuses. And there are story situations where certain companions aren't available which can be very frustrating if you've sunk a lot of time and energy into building their influence. This would give people a way to bypass some of that frustration and boost companions that would otherwise be weak, that they've maxed out on other characters in the past.

Way more alt-friendly, in other words, and not feeling like you have to start over every single time.

Not sure what the best design way would be for your systems, but here's an example of how it maybe could work:

 

Example: You get Lana to level 50 influence. This gives you an achievement and a special item. When the item is consumed, it unlocks something in collections. If you account unlock it (could just give it some cheap cost like 5 CC), you can now claim that item on any character to boost Lana to level 50 influence instantly.

 

Kind of convoluted, but I'm thinking of the way Hexid worked.

 

General idea would be, you can use it if you want to bypass influence for a specific companion in the future, but it's optional. And you have to do it with each companion if you want to bypass influence for that companion in the future, so there's something to work towards.

 

You may be wondering... why? Well influence is already meaningless in the context of story. It's only used for gameplay bonuses. And there are story situations where certain companions aren't available which can be very frustrating if you've sunk a lot of time and energy into building their influence. This would give people a way to bypass some of that frustration and boost companions that would otherwise be weak, that they've maxed out on other characters in the past.

 

Way more alt-friendly, in other words, and not feeling like you have to start over every single time.

IMO... they should do away with the entire companion "influence". BW has all but turned companions into a meaningless block of wood that simply hangs about our necks like some sort of healing amulet.

Unless there is some sort of genuine return to companions being an ACTIVE role complete with companion quests and more meaningful interactions (see note)... then B/W might as well do away with the influence racket as well. The whole influence system is IMO ... just a money pit !

I'd be fine with that. As it is now, money pit seems like an apt description. That and busywork. All to get minor gameplay bonuses.

Credit sink.

Without credit sinks, the inflation of prices on the GTN would be worse than it already is. "Remove only the credit sink that I don't like" is not a winning argument.

I don't agree with this one - building the companions' influence is part of building up your character from Level 1. There's already that Compendium item you can buy to turbo-raise influence to 50 on a companion if you really want to.

If they return companions to a viable part of the game... not just a meaningless block of wood ... and I'll agree with you. Other wise the process is a money... errr (sorry) CREDIT sink. Couple that with all of the bugs in the companions ...

Well... you get the picture.

Fix, return and grow the activities of the companions .. and yes. The level 50 influence means something again !

If they return companions to a viable part of the game... not just a meaningless block of wood ... and I'll agree with you. Other wise the process is a money... errr (sorry) CREDIT sink. Couple that with all of the bugs in the companions ...

Well... you get the picture.

 

Fix, return and grow the activities of the companions .. and yes. The level 50 influence means something again !

*sigh* The level 50 influence isn't beneficial from a story standpoint. Players want influence raised because the companions help you more and are more effective in combat. With or without the story, even if they're from the Cartel Market, you need them to be able to help you fight. If you don't want to raise your companions' influence and can get by with them on Level 1, you don't have to. Others might choose differently.

*sigh* The level 50 influence isn't beneficial from a story standpoint. Players want influence raised because the companions help you more and are more effective in combat. With or without the story, even if they're from the Cartel Market, you need them to be able to help you fight. If you don't want to raise your companions' influence and can get by with them on Level 1, you don't have to. Others might choose differently.

I know !

But originally (like before rise of the Hutt Cartel) ... the companions were a lot more ! Their over all functions have been reduced to a minimum.

Please believe me when I tell you... I really do understand where you are coming from. Companion influence is only on part of the puzzle. Or at least it use to be !

I know !

 

But originally (like before rise of the Hutt Cartel) ... the companions were a lot more ! Their over all functions have been reduced to a minimum.

 

Please believe me when I tell you... I really do understand where you are coming from. Companion influence is only on part of the puzzle. Or at least it use to be !

 

You really don't need to explain the game or the companions' roles to me. And I'm one of the most story/companion-oriented posters on this board, probably.

But in this case we're only talking about the specific topic of companion influence, and it's illogical to remove that, and thus hinder players' combat, when one is displeased about another aspect of companions that has nothing to do with this particular issue. Influence is one of those things where if you put in the work, you reap the reward of getting more help in fights.

Also, it's really not a credit sink if you're smart. You can farm influence from the Black Talon and Esseles, get free companion gifts from the Alliance and Command Crates, exchange the free jawa scrap from Conquest/crates for more gifts, and get even more from some of the KOTFE companion missions. I've got an entire tab in my Legacy hold of companion gifts saved up from these things, so my new toons are set up right away to bump up their companions' influence without spending a single credit.

You really don't need to explain the game or the companions' roles to me. And I'm one of the most story/companion-oriented posters on this board, probably.

 

But in this case we're only talking about the specific topic of companion influence, and it's illogical to remove that, and thus hinder players' combat, when one is displeased about another aspect of companions that has nothing to do with this particular issue. Influence is one of those things where if you put in the work, you reap the reward of getting more help in fights.

 

Also, it's really not a credit sink if you're smart. You can farm influence from the Black Talon and Esseles, get free companion gifts from the Alliance and Command Crates, exchange the free jawa scrap from Conquest/crates for more gifts, and get even more from some of the KOTFE companion missions. I've got an entire tab in my Legacy hold of companion gifts saved up from these things, so my new toons are set up right away to bump up their companions' influence without spending a single credit.

ummm ... nope.

Good idea with the tab in legacy though ! Me personally.. I never have any left over. Most of my companions are 20 or below. The only ones that are 30+ is from purchasing the gifts specifically for them to the tune of about 1.2 mil each for every 10 point of influence gained. We all have a LOT of companions. Admittedly I don't use all of them. We all have our favorites. Some of mine come from the ones I picked up from KotFE/ ET like Vette Gault and HK-55 and of course Lana and Theron.

Aside from that: you have your opinion (And I respect that) .. and I have mine. One is just as viable as the other.

ummm ... nope.

 

Good idea with the tab in legacy though ! Me personally.. I never have any left over. Most of my companions are 20 or below. The only ones that are 30+ is from purchasing the gifts specifically for them to the tune of about 1.2 mil each for every 10 point of influence gained. We all have a LOT of companions. Admittedly I don't use all of them. We all have our favorites. Some of mine come from the ones I picked up from KotFE/ ET like Vette Gault and HK-55 and of course Lana and Theron.

 

Aside from that: you have your opinion (And I respect that) .. and I have mine. One is just as viable as the other.

ROFL.

As mentioned, there are plenty of ways to raise influence without spending a lot of credits. If you're doing enough heroics to get the Alliance Specialists to 20, you're getting 360 gifts just from that, and some of them are going to be gold, which will raise the companion's influence 1000-2000 points in one go. You can spend credits on the legacy perks that will raise influence via gifts and conversation, which is one investment for all companions per toon. If you choose to take the path of buying gifts without doing any of the other available things, that's a choice, not the only way.

At any rate, the conversation has been sidetracked enough, so I won't be responding to you again.

You can farm influence from the Black Talon and Esseles

Only on the companion you get on the starter worlds (T7, Kaliyo, Aric, Qyzen, Mako, Khem, Corso and Vette), and only on the "old" (pre-KotFE) version of them.

Only on the companion you get on the starter worlds (T7, Kaliyo, Aric, Qyzen, Mako, Khem, Corso and Vette), and only on the "old" (pre-KotFE) version of them.

It's still a valid point that before you go into KOTFE, you can raise influence significantly on those eight through the flashpoint farming without spending a credit on gifts.

I don't agree with this one - building the companions' influence is part of building up your character from Level 1. There's already that Compendium item you can buy to turbo-raise influence to 50 on a companion if you really want to.

And nothing about what I proposed in the OP would change this. You would still be able to build them up from level 1 if you wish. You would need to get each different one to level 50 at least once to be able to bypass effortlessly.

Right now, influence is not alt-friendly at all, in a game where some people like myself have many alts.

In my proposed system, building the companions' influence can still be part of building up your character from level 1 if you wish it to be. You can also bypass it if you've maxed out that companion on another character.

I don't see how there's anything odd or out of place about this. We already have shortcuts like getting a few different companions (depending on what you were here for) mailed to you, that you can have at level 1. It's not as though another optional shortcut is going to ruin the experience. In fact, I came up with the idea of it being something you do for each companion, tied to achievements, to give people something more to do with themselves and tie an MMO-like goal to it, since people seem to love those in MMOs for some reason. It's not like it would be easy or instantaneous to get into the state of, unless you already have every single companion at max 50 influence, which is unlikely.

The compendium is hot garbage when it comes to alts and that aspect of it. Maybe it's somewhat useful if you're looking to max companions on a single character and don't mind sinking some cost and time for it. But the cost of it if you get into alts is just ridiculous. I would never bother to waste my time on that thing.

Which brings me to the key counterpoint here, which is that I just don't bother with influence if it's too much of a pain to acquire. I have one "main" who does some crafting that I care about sometimes and they have a handful of level 50 companions. Everyone else, I just don't bother. I barely even engage with influence on alts (engagement basically amounts to me choosing dialogue to get more influence sometimes on the few where that can be the case and sometimes giving random blue drop gifts to my current companion). For me to be able to do what I proposed in the OP would give me something to engage with.

It's still a valid point that before you go into KOTFE, you can raise influence significantly on those eight through the flashpoint farming without spending a credit on gifts.

Absolutely, but it's still worth noting the limitations. It's normally possible to raise them 6-7K Influence per run if you don't mind taking some decisions that don't make a whole lot of sense.(1)

(1) Examples:

Absolutely, but it's still worth noting the limitations. It's normally possible to raise them 6-7K Influence per run if you don't mind taking some decisions that don't make a whole lot of sense.(1)

 

(1) Examples:

 

* LS Inquisitors have to put up with Khem preferring that you kill the captain of the Black Talon even though doing so makes less than no sense from a military point of view (Captain Orzik is competent, if a bit too cautious for his own good, while his second-in-command is a self-important and incompetent fool).

* I believe the same is true of LS Agents and Kaliyo.

* Vette and Mako both prefer that you let the captain live, which makes military sense, but doesn't really suit DS characters.

* All the Pubside companions seem to prefer LS actions (up to a point for Qyzen), so DS characters have to go against alignment.

Indeed, being able to play a character how I want to play them without being concerned about influence gain, is one reason why this would be a benefit. Wider replay value from a game with very little new content put out.

Indeed, being able to play a character how I want to play them without being concerned about influence gain, is one reason why this would be a benefit. Wider replay value from a game with very little new content put out.

On the other hand, you cannot lose affection from the companions anymore, you just get less influence points if they disapprove of your choices. And if you want the companions to take certain actions you have to make certain choices whether they're at influence level 1 or 50 (for example, getting Vette to be friendly requires taking off her shock collar; getting Koth to stay in the Alliance requires not doing certain things).

I'm not opposed to some sort of achievement for getting the companion to level 50, in line with the achievement you get for getting 100 or 1000 kills with each companion, but a legacy unlock, I'm still not sure about.

IMO... they should do away with the entire companion "influence". BW has all but turned companions into a meaningless block of wood that simply hangs about our necks like some sort of healing amulet.

 

Unless there is some sort of genuine return to companions being an ACTIVE role complete with companion quests and more meaningful interactions (see note)... then B/W might as well do away with the influence racket as well. The whole influence system is IMO ... just a money pit !

You would have crafters burning this forum down if you got rid of influence, that is how they make their money. I mean look at the explosion during the Cartel Slot machine because it was making it easier for people to get rare mats. The crafters came on here and went nuts.

On the other hand, you cannot lose affection from the companions anymore, you just get less influence points if they disapprove of your choices. And if you want the companions to take certain actions you have to make certain choices whether they're at influence level 1 or 50 (for example, getting Vette to be friendly requires taking off her shock collar; getting Koth to stay in the Alliance requires not doing certain things).

 

I'm not opposed to some sort of achievement for getting the companion to level 50, in line with the achievement you get for getting 100 or 1000 kills with each companion, but a legacy unlock, I'm still not sure about.

I know, it used to be story locked behind affection way back when. The point is though, someone who cares about having whatever advantage they can get in gameplay is forced to make a choice between playing the story how they want and playing what is most advantageous in the long-term for gameplay bonuses (even if you don't care much about mix-maxing, at a certain point, story ends - or rather, is left to wait for more updates - and you have the intervening time where a more powerful companion makes things like heroics just a little bit easier and makes things like crafting faster). I don't believe that's a choice they ever intended, given the way affection was changed, and the way they changed their minds about some vanilla companions being killable way back in beta.

But it is nonetheless a choice you get presented with implicitly. That's not the only reason I would like a system like what I'm proposing implemented, but I think it is a solid point in favor of it. There are, of course, other ways they could address that point without doing a system anything like what I propose. For example, they could just give a baseline amount of influence points for each conversation that a companion is present for, bypassing the advantages of choosing certain choices entirely, while providing consistent gain.

But a solution like that would only address one facet of this and would likely require revisiting a lot of old quest code, so I'm not sure that's feasible at this stage.

Edit: Also worth noting that such a solution to that one facet would potentially ruin it for those who like the influence gain in conversations as it is. Whereas a system like I'm proposing is opt-in and though I could see an argument that those who want the gameplay bonuses are "of course not going to opt out," it would be leaving alone the actual mechanics of things like conversation influence gain. Only making it so that it's easier to max levels of influence on alts in the long-term.

Edit2: Purely speculative, but it could also cause a spike in interest in things like the legendary companion gifts. As opposed to people just tapping out because there are way too many companions and way too many alts.