I found a lot of information about which gifts your followers like, but nothing apart from an old thread on how many gifts you need to buy from the fleet vendor (in the GTN) to level up your follower influence.

 

Important Notes!

To maximize influence gain, do not have any Companion Conversations before buying as much influence as you can bear! When you first get your companion you should immediately find the nearest Gift Vendor and begin the process.

 

I have purchased the 3 "Legacy of Altruism" character perks from the Legacy system . Without this, add 30% to the numbers below (see post by Erevan_Kindelar below)

 

I took a bit of time out and created the following tables:

 

| from - to influence level | how many gifts of rank 1 required | how much influence rank 1 gifts give | how much influence rank 2 gifts give |

 

Influence 1 - 5: +- 20 gifts rank 1: 166 influence

Influence 5 - 10: +- 50 rank 1 gifts: 133 influence

Influence 10 - 11: 21 gifts rank1: 100 influence rank2: 133 influence

Influence 11 - 12: 23 gifts rank1: 100 influence rank2: 133 influence

Influence 12 - 13: 25 gifts rank1: 100 influence rank2: 133 influence

Influence 13 - 14: 27 gifts rank1: 100 influence rank2: 133 influence

Influence 14 - 15: 29 gifts rank1: 100 influence rank2: 133 influence

 

Influence 15 + : 3100 influence needed. Influence rank 1 gifts give 66 influence, rank 2 give 100.

 

Why buy rank 1 gifts?

 

Since the price of rank 2 gifts are 600CR (3x the price of rank 1 gifts at 200CR ie 300%) and the improvement is only 1/3rd (33%) at all levels, you are much cheaper off giving rank 1 gifts. Going from influence level 1 to level 15 will cost 39000CR using rank 1 gifts. Going there with rank 2 gifts will take 129 gifts costing 77400CR.

 

It takes 70 rank 1 gifts to get from 1 - 10 (166 Influence until 5, then 133 Influence until 10, then 100 Influence until 15) at CR200 / piece. Rank 2 gifts at influence level 10 gives 133 influence, so better to stay with rank 1.

 

The Quick and dirty:

 

Starting at influence level 1

Buy 20 rank 1 gifts for influence level 5

Buy 70 rank 1 gifts for influence level 10

Buy 195 rank 1 gifts for influence level 15 (or 129 rank2, but will cost a lot more!)

 

I hope this helps some people!

 

Sources and useful information

 

Companion Gift Likes Table 4.0 (Easy Flow):

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=847673

 

Links to:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JjbE--ch0E2sE6BcZBfwtFwXIci4yEgNq_rmgqKXfXM/edit#gid=605536924

NB This spreadsheet links to other sheets showing basically the same information in different formats

 

Dulfy SWTOR Fallen Empire Companion Influences Guide

http://dulfy.net/2015/10/21/swtor-fallen-empire-companion-influences-guide/

 

Gamepedia list

http://swtor.gamepedia.com/Gift

 

Thread on how to get other gifts:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=817466

 

The original Quick and Dirty guide to raising Companion Affection by Grayseven

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=573213

Edited January 10, 2016 by VitoRazoR

Nice 1

It looks as though you have also purchased the "Legacy of Altruism" character perks from the Legacy system, am I correct?

(Each level gives 10% more Influence when giving your companions gifts).

IInfluence 1 - 5: +- 20 gifts rank 1: 166 influence

Influence 5 - 10: +- 50 rank 1 gifts: 133 influence

Influence 10 - 11: 21 gifts rank1: 100 influence rank2: 133 influence

. . .

The Quick and dirty:

 

Starting at influence level 1

Buy 20 rank 1 gifts for influence level 5

Buy 70 rank 1 gifts for influence level 10

Buy 195 rank 1 gifts for influence level 15 (or 129 rank2, but will cost a lot more!)

First, you failed to mention that the point values for gifts are based on unlocking the full 30% bonus in your legacy (which costs 90k credits - per character). Without the legacy bonus, you will get fewer points per gift, and thus need to buy more gifts (and do more clicking). How much more depends on if or how many of the unlocks you have (IOW, getting 0, 10%, or 20%, instead of 30% bonus).

 

Second, you get 166 points per rank 1 gift all the way to influence rank 6, not just to rank 5. So your chart really needs to put the first "break point" there.

 

I'm not aware of any significance to influence rank 5, since rank 6 is where the points per gift drops off. But with the full legacy bonus it takes 16 rank 1 gifts, not 20, to hit rank 5 (at least 2500 total points): 16 gifts times 166 points = 2656 points. 20 gifts (3320 total points) would get you well beyond the minimum for inflluence rank 5, but still not quite to rank 6 (at least 3600 total points). You did get the total number of gifts for rank 10 right, though. (And in addition to being the next "dropoff point", it's the equivalent to the old maximum possible affection for companions).

 

In any case, if you start from zero, it takes exactly 22 rank 1 gifts to reach influence rank 6. And then 48 more (or 70 total) to get to rank 10. There's no "+-" involved.

Nice 1

It looks as though you have also purchased the "Legacy of Altruism" character perks from the Legacy system, am I correct?

(Each level gives 10% more Influence when giving your companions gifts).

 

You are absolutely correct, thanks for pointing that out! I've edited above to reflect this

Second, you get 166 points per rank 1 gift all the way to influence rank 6, not just to rank 5. So your chart really needs to put the first "break point" there.

 

In any case, if you start from zero, it takes exactly 22 rank 1 gifts to reach influence rank 6. And then 48 more (or 70 total) to get to rank 10. There's no "+-" involved.

 

2 points:

1. No, you get 166 points per rank 1 gift up to and not including influence rank 5. I've just retested it and the table is correct. Once you have rank 5, influence per rank 1 gift is reduced to 100. The break point is every 5 influence ranks.

 

2. My +- of 20 to rank 5 is not exact, it gets you into rank 5 (but maybe so will 19, I dunno). If you say it takes 22 to get to rank 6 fine, but I haven't tested it and can't confirm this.

First, you failed to mention that the point values for gifts are based on unlocking the full 30% bonus in your legacy (which costs 90k credits - per character). Without the legacy bonus, you will get fewer points per gift, and thus need to buy more gifts (and do more clicking). How much more depends on if or how many of the unlocks you have (IOW, getting 0, 10%, or 20%, instead of 30% bonus).

 

The legacy bonus only goes up to 10%.

The legacy bonus only goes up to 10%.

 

per step (This increase is cumulative with previous gains)

ie 3 x 10% = 30%

Edited January 8, 2016 by GythralSWTOR

Thanks for updating!

 

But still a few errors.

 

As Gythral wrote. There are 3 Legacy of Altruism perks. OP, still need to correct your post to say 30% (to get the full 166)

 

And you indeed still get 166 through L5 until you hit L6.

 

22 gifts to L6, additional 48 gifts from 6 to L10.

 

And it isn't constant from L15+. Goes from 166, to 133, to 100, to 66, to 33, to 16 as you rank up from 1,6, 10, 15, 20, 30. No influence from above R40 with L1 gifts.

 

So you can actually still use L1 gifts till you reach L40! And it still makes sense to use L1 gifts (vs. L2) as long as possible, credit wise. But certainly not time-wise! I tend to stop using them somewhere between L10 and L15 just out of impatience.

 

Last, it is worth mentioning the way to Influence farm your 1st companion (for this, you'll want to buy the Legacy of Persuasion perks):

https://psynister.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/affection-farming-black-talon/

Edited January 8, 2016 by DocDAM

^ Yes this is a good way to improve influence with the first class companion for free (and get some xp) and be aware that it doesn't work after KOTFE anymore.

 

And when you buy gift for common crystals for the grind from influence rank 20+, price check the GTN for the kind you need first. For example it's a waste to buy courting gifts for crystals, buy them on the GTN and sell more expensive gifts from crystals to finance that.

2 points:

1. No, you get 166 points per rank 1 gift up to and not including influence rank 5. I've just retested it and the table is correct. Once you have rank 5, influence per rank 1 gift is reduced to 100. The break point is every 5 influence ranks.

If you actually use the link to Dulfy in your post, you will see in her charts that the first "break point"" is at influence rank 6, not 5.

 

2. My +- of 20 to rank 5 is not exact, it gets you into rank 5 (but maybe so will 19, I dunno). If you say it takes 22 to get to rank 6 fine, but I haven't tested it and can't confirm this.

At 166 points per gift it takes exactly 16 gifts to go from zero to influence rank 5. Anything more than that will get you further into rank 5. And at 22 gifts, you will hit rank 6.

 

First problem with your statement #1 is that when the points per gift drops, it goes from 166 to 133, not to 100. Secondly, if the points per gift dropped from 166 to 100 once you hit influence rank 5, it would be impossible to get to even rank 9 on only 70 total rank 1 gifts, nevermind rank 10.

 

Influence rank 5 is at >/= 2500 points.

15 gifts times 166 = 2490. Still influence rank 4.

16 gifts at 166 points each = 2656 points. Rank 5.

 

54 more gifts (to make 70 total gifts) at 100 points each (which is what you say you will get after hitting rank 5), would be 5400 more points, for a total of 8056 points. That's not even enough for rank 9 (at least 8100 total points), never mind rank 10 (10000 points).

 

Even if you use the correct points per gift (133 instead of 100) for gifts after the first "break point", you wouldn't be able to get from zero to rank 10 on 70 gifts, if the break came at rank 5.

 

16 gifts at 166 points each = 2656 points. Rank 5.

54 more gifts at 133 points each = 7182 points, for a total of 9838 points. Not quite the 10000 needed for rank 10.

 

I have tested this, more than once, and I know my numbers are correct, on both counts. The first "break" comes at rank 6. And the points drop to 133 at rank 6, and then to 100 when you hit rank 10.

 

And just in case you still doubt me, here's a screenshot. Note that I am getting 166 points for gifts after hitting rank 5, and the drop from 166 to 133 comes after hitting rank 6.

Hey VitoRazoR. Thanks for the guide though I have to admit it took me time to realize a benefit of it. I was like "but there are 50 ranks" so where is the rest

 

I have 65 Juggernaut but I haven't put much thought into gifts so Jaesa is 29 and rest is below 20 or 10 because I don't use them. But I tried it for my newly created Trooper and it is great way to reach those first 15ranks easilly (and to get little help in crafting). Though it must be really expensive to reach higher lvls over 30 and so.

I think over level 30 you can't buy influence using rank 1 gifts any more. As an indication, for rank 29 - 30 requires 5900 influence points. At 33 influence per gift, that's 179 gifts!

Important Notes!

To maximize influence gain, do not have any Companion Conversations before buying as much influence as you can bear!

 

why avoid the conversations?

And is level 15 significant? Are companions more than capable of handling whatevere comes once they reach 15?

Edited February 24, 2016 by Bearhide

Important Notes!

To maximize influence gain, do not have any Companion Conversations before buying as much influence as you can bear!

 

why avoid the conversations?

And is level 15 significant? Are companions more than capable of handling whatevere comes once they reach 15?

 

Because influence gain form conversations is constant, while influence gain from gifts is not.

 

You get same influence gain from conversation whenever your companion influence is lvl 1 or lvl 40, but you get less from gifts the higher influence you have, so it is better to save conversations on higher influence levels.

Edited February 3, 2016 by ShawDou

 

Because influence gain form conversations is constant, while influence gain from gifts is not.

 

You get same influence gain from conversation whenever your companion influence is lvl 1 or lvl 40, but you get less from gifts the higher influence you have, so it is better to save conversations on higher influence levels.

 

So would it not make more sense to have as many conversations as possible at low level?

It would mean purchasing less gifts and the impact of conversations would be more significant at lower levels than at higher ones.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Bearhide

 

So would it not make more sense to have as many conversations as possible at low level?

It would mean purchasing less gifts and the impact of conversations would be more significant at lower levels than at higher ones.

 

We talk about price efficient.

 

Lets make an example: On 1 lvl you buy gift for 200 credits and it will give you 166 influence. On 6lvl same gift will only give you 133 influence. If you use companion conversation to get you from 1 lvl to 6 lvl you will than for same money you spend for gifts get only around 4/5 influence. While if you do it other way around affection from companion will be still same. So you get more for same price.

 

To make it simple. The higher lvl, the more will 1 influence point cost you with gifts. But with conversations it will be same. The most efficient way would be use gifts to the point when conversation will be enough to get you to 50 but you dont really know when exactly is that point.

Edited February 3, 2016 by ShawDou

Here is how I do it.

 

Once I know what a specific companion's favorite level 1 gift is, I just buy 195 of them to get them to level 15. (Must have the legacy bonus unlocked.)

 

I also do this for the new companions we get with the expansion. Before I start the expansion on a new character, I just buy a couple of stacks of their favorite gift and use them when I unlock each of them as a companion.

 

Time consuming? Yes.

 

But on a PVP server, it can be a life saver. People don't expect you to have a level 15 companion in the pvp enabled swamp.

 

They also don't expect you to have a full set of tier 2 augmented pvp gear either. That is why I always got a character to level 65 before I would do the expansion. Costume designer can be a fun feature at times.

 

But I digress ...

 

After 15 though, I stop using the level 1 gifts. Heck, I don't even use level 2 or 3 after 15 unless they are blues or better. Simply not enough storage space available for all of these lower level trinkets.

And is level 15 significant? Are companions more than capable of handling whatevere comes once they reach 15?

Beyond Influence Rank 15, it just becomes incredibly time-consuming and carpal tunnel-inducing to give your companion those "green" Rank 1 gifts from the vendor.

 

Personally, I only bother with getting them to Influence Rank 10. And that's only 70 gifts total.

 

Rank 10 is 10000 total influence, and enough to get them equivalent to the old "max affection" crew skill bonus (+5% crit chance). And the +500 Presence bonus makes them reasonably effective in combat. Rank 15 gets them to 7.5% crew skill crit bonus, and +750 Presence bonus.

 

For me, even the 125 additional gifts to go from 10 to 15 is just too much time spent clicking that box over, and over, and.... Another 265 gifts after that to go from 15 to 20? No thanks. And then 1515 more to get to 30? Sooo not gonna happen.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Adric_the_Red