I'll start by saying something that every fanboy (and I am such a SW and Revan fanboy! ) should say: I love The Old Republic - with 1 month pause (due to my business life) I have been a subscriber from the beta period, and now I am re-subbing for another 6 months. I really enjoy this game!

Having sad that, I strongly believe that the game needs more often updates and also events. Would be awesome if you we had some X-mas event, obviously in the Star Wars spirit.

But... what I really wanted to say is - it would be fantastic if we could have more companions. I, for one, would love to have a Jawa companion for any of my toons. They don't have to be lvl 50 companions, like HK-51 (great move by the way). We could have companions with difficult quests also for earlier levels, so that players could have more RP options, and also more potential companion-related quests. This would be a lot of fun, and also let us have more flexibility in chosing the companions. Not to mention, that it means having the F2P players pay for this content as something extra (did someone say more money for BW? Ding! Yes sir, that's exactly what I said! ).

So.. that's just my share of thoughts.. .

It's a shame that the companions have such tight constraints within game. Obviously acquisition of companions is determined by class story and is such an integral part of the class storylines I would imagine it would be impossible to unravel. That said it would be nice to see either of the following :

1) Companion versatility,

I'm fed up of having to use the companion based on their role. I hate Malavai Quinn but as a Marauder who likes a healing companion I'm forced to play with him (one suggestion was to upgrade the ship droid for healing but it's even more annoying)

It would be nice to be able to select the role the companion fills. Why can't Bowdar be ranged DPS and use a bowcaster rather than melee tank. Why can't Vette be a healer instead of ranged DPS... I could go on but I think you get the picture.

This also greatly aids players who want to play their character in a certain style but can't because the companion they need isn't available until much later.

2) Companion availability and legacy unlock

With the acquisition of HK-51 (a one time quest chain to unlock option to purchase HK-51 for other characters on legacy) it got me thinking as to why, once a companion has been unlocked on your legacy (all the way, all conversation options) why it can't then become available for purchase on other characters. I'm not advocating slavery Instead you have an extended list of companions, you select the 6-7 you want. This would add the additional option on the companion screen of having companions active (show up on ship available for crew missions or in-active not shown on ship, not available for crew missions)

It really irked me that characters were forced to have companions on the ship that would have been more likely to have been shot on sight, Skadge, I'm looking at you.

If these options were included as individual legacy perks and unlocks I wouldn't be overly upset. I'd certainly be more tempted to purchase them than the affection boosts

Yes, bounty hunters do get a jawa companion, Blizz.

And I'd love another few. Watcher 2 for my agent would be fun.

It's a shame that the companions have such tight constraints within game. Obviously acquisition of companions is determined by class story and is such an integral part of the class storylines I would imagine it would be impossible to unravel. That said it would be nice to see either of the following :

 

1) Companion versatility,

I'm fed up of having to use the companion based on their role. I hate Malavai Quinn but as a Marauder who likes a healing companion I'm forced to play with him (one suggestion was to upgrade the ship droid for healing but it's even more annoying)

It would be nice to be able to select the role the companion fills. Why can't Bowdar be ranged DPS and use a bowcaster rather than melee tank. Why can't Vette be a healer instead of ranged DPS... I could go on but I think you get the picture.

This also greatly aids players who want to play their character in a certain style but can't because the companion they need isn't available until much later.

 

2) Companion availability and legacy unlock

With the acquisition of HK-51 (a one time quest chain to unlock option to purchase HK-51 for other characters on legacy) it got me thinking as to why, once a companion has been unlocked on your legacy (all the way, all conversation options) why it can't then become available for purchase on other characters. I'm not advocating slavery Instead you have an extended list of companions, you select the 6-7 you want. This would add the additional option on the companion screen of having companions active (show up on ship available for crew missions or in-active not shown on ship, not available for crew missions)

It really irked me that characters were forced to have companions on the ship that would have been more likely to have been shot on sight, Skadge, I'm looking at you.

 

If these options were included as individual legacy perks and unlocks I wouldn't be overly upset. I'd certainly be more tempted to purchase them than the affection boosts

1) Companion Vesatility: I could have sworne that before this game was released they mentioned some companion kits that would allow us to choose our companions rollls (healer, dps, tank). Guess if they said that, it never came to be

2) I would like to see companions unlocked and available for all toons on the server, maybe when you max out on affection you can unlock that companion for all toons. Then Scourge could team up with my warrior and Ashara can be sent packing back to reps.

1) Companion Vesatility: I could have sworne that before this game was released they mentioned some companion kits that would allow us to choose our companions rollls (healer, dps, tank). Guess if they said that, it never came to be

I think you're right, didn't have a link to the original source though, back in the distant past I can vaguely remember them one of the developers saying the kits had been taken out as they felt the companions should have their own specific role and be their own person, so to speak. Unfortunately for me it just means I end up running around with the same companion day in day out, which is bearable if you like them but soul destroying if they are pathetic, whining Imperial officers who only have a vague idea of which end of a blaster pistol they should be holding. Malavai Quinn I'm looking in your direction

2) I would like to see companions unlocked and available for all toons on the server, maybe when you max out on affection you can unlock that companion for all toons. Then Scourge could team up with my warrior and Ashara can be sent packing back to reps.

It's a shame there's not a little more cross over between compamions,

I can understand certain restrictions on memory, after all it would be impractical to allow each character to have a unique version of the companion. However, this was more of a level 50 perk to break up the tedium of running dailies with the same companion, day-in, day-out. So, you gain access to use the companion of another class you have levelled and unlocked. The engine seems to be able to share some of this information already as it constructs and dresses all of your characters in the legacy tree.

Maybe this could be a legacy level 50 unlock

There will most likely be more/new Companions that will be done similar to that of HK-51 [ie unlockable for all of the individual Player's Characters, so Player A unlocks HK-51 (s)he is then able to unlock HK without having to do the Quest Series again for each of his/her Characters] just as there will likely be more/new Companions added as they eventually add more Chapters to the Personal Class Storylines.

Either way, the addition of more/new Companions will take time as they do have to do Voice Overs/Species Voices (ie like Khem Val/Bowdaar/Etc)/Beeps & boops (ie Astromech Droids like T7) for each of the New Companions.

1) Companion versatility,

I'm fed up of having to use the companion based on their role. I hate Malavai Quinn but as a Marauder who likes a healing companion I'm forced to play with him (one suggestion was to upgrade the ship droid for healing but it's even more annoying)

It would be nice to be able to select the role the companion fills. Why can't Bowdar be ranged DPS and use a bowcaster rather than melee tank. Why can't Vette be a healer instead of ranged DPS... I could go on but I think you get the picture.

This also greatly aids players who want to play their character in a certain style but can't because the companion they need isn't available until much later.

I think I read in an interview that they have no intentions to allow companion roles to be interchangeable. (Though pre-launch I hear they had something like that and removed it.) I wish at the very least, the non-healer companions had *some* healing. Not to the same level as a dedicated healer, but maybe one ability with a moderate cooldown time. It would make them so much more viable and easier to use. There's a reason almost everyone you see running around has their healer companion out. Not only for their healing, but they have better CC than DPS companions.

I definitely don't want any more companions, at least not at this time.

You pretty much only use 1 or 2 while you're leveling, depending on your class. Once you get to 50 you almost never use them unless for dailies and, again, it's pretty much just one.

All they're really good for at 50 is gathering materials so you have to manage them well so that the 'correct' companion is going for the +crit skill, and even now you get the ship droid you can buy stuff for to give you a +crit to something you didn't have before. And now we have HK.

If I could send out more to gather, great, but I really need a Legacy Bank first, cuz it's already extremely tedious to try and manage my materials once I get all six crafting skills and five more gathers going.

Unless companions become 'more useful', I see no reason to add others.

I definitely don't want any more companions, at least not at this time.

 

You pretty much only use 1 or 2 while you're leveling, depending on your class. Once you get to 50 you almost never use them unless for dailies and, again, it's pretty much just one.

This is the main point I want to see my suggestions rectify. If you allow for player selection of the companions 'aspect' be it ranged DPS, melee DPD, ranged tank, melee tank or healer. Then all of a sudden by level 50 a player will have five viable companions to have at their side. Effectively you choose the aspect you need to complement your characters playstyle and then skin it with the companion of your choice.

Later on as you start to properly unlock companions by completing all their conversation options you can unlock them to other characters in that legacy (similar to the HK-51 unlock). While not having played 'Dragon's Dogma' I have read about their 'pawn' system and would imagine this along similar lines just within the legacy.

While not introducing new companions it does open up far more versatility and selection of companions for players to customise their characers more to their liking. In many respects MMOs play heavily on the 'dress up and play with dolls/ gotta collect them all' desires of players. Anything that increases character customisation can only be a good thing. Just look at the clamour for appearance Tabs, barber shops and more playable races.

If I'm playing a true Sith Sorcerer or Warrior I'm not sure why I have to have so many unclean aliens in my crew. With these suggestions you can crew with just the human companions you've unlocked. Want to have the sexy all female crew Doc dreams of then you can get in Kira, Risha, Nadia, Mako and Jaesa. Playing a mercenary healer and want a melee tank you can get Torian on the job rather than Skadge or maybe in time get Bowdar.

Far more interesting options. And No extra companions need to be added.

All they're really good for at 50 is gathering materials so you have to manage them well so that the 'correct' companion is going for the +crit skill, and even now you get the ship droid you can buy stuff for to give you a +crit to something you didn't have before. And now we have HK.

 

If I could send out more to gather, great, but I really need a Legacy Bank first, cuz it's already extremely tedious to try and manage my materials once I get all six crafting skills and five more gathers going.

 

Unless companions become 'more useful', I see no reason to add others.

I have to agree with you on the legacy bank, it would be nice to be able to pool crafting resources in a central place all characters can draw from. I have six crafters and at least all gathering skills three times over on various alts and it was getting tedious to keep track of where the resources were going. It's been made a little easier now with the additional purchase of bank tabs beyond 3. But I would like them to add legacy characters automatically into the address book, even across faction, especially across faction, to alleviate the potential of a mis-type sending all your hard earned resources off to someone elses level 5 character