I'm sure this must have come-up before as I've seen a lot of complaints about organization of the Companions & Contacts (N-) window, but it would be a great boon to be able to summon comps from the Crew Skills (B-)window.

Personally, I find the N-window completely redundant. I realize it's a place to pick up callings, but mostly, it's a poorly organized list of past, present, and guest companions. I have 25 toons, and only one did I bother to fill out all of the companion affections and so forth. So that leaves 24 other toons that use the companions strictly for business (either to summon as a solo mode helper or to run crew skills missions). The B-window does everything I could possibly want for 99% of my game time, but I constantly have to slog through the N-window every time I port back from a WZ/arena just to get to the companion who is highest in affection rating b/c he's obviously the one I want healing/tanking/dpsing with me.

Edit: forgot to mention that the N-panel DOES NOT IDENTIFY WHICH COMPANIONS ARE ON CREW SKILLS MISSIONS. to spell it out here, you have to open 2 windows or else you summon someone on a mission and interrupt the mission.

My question to the community: is there a down side to summoning comps from the B-window that I'm unaware of?

Or, my question to Bw: is there some technical difficulty with this solution that makes it impossible to implement?

it seems like a no-brainer to me....

oh. er...prolly need a mod to move to suggestion box? (I mean...if you're not too busy tossing warnings and erasing posts - tough life, I know )

My question to the community: is there a down side to summoning comps from the B-window that I'm unaware of?

Nope. In fact, before KotFE there was no N-window and you summoned your comps using B. I'm with you. I hate the N-window and wish we could use crew skills to summon again.

For my oldest toons, B is for bags, N is for skills and semicolon is for summoning.

For my newer toons, I is for bags (inventory, I assume), B is for tradeskills, and N is summons

I like N and the descriptions it has there of each character etc. It does do more then just summon.

It also has quick travel to advisors and quest npcs from alliance alerts and what not.

And if I am not mistsken all the alliance alerts go there too.

For my oldest toons, B is for bags, N is for skills and semicolon is for summoning.

For my newer toons, I is for bags (inventory, I assume), B is for tradeskills, and N is summons

so you changed the default binds. gratz.

I like N and the descriptions it has there of each character etc. It does do more then just summon.

It also has quick travel to advisors and quest npcs from alliance alerts and what not.

And if I am not mistsken all the alliance alerts go there too.

perhaps I misworded this. the problem is that it's the only place to summon, and there's another window that (realistically) requires it. (see the edit) personally, I don't care if ppl like the N-window or use it. I'm not advocating taking it away. but...it's pretty arse for crafting and summoning, which are (I think?) by far the common uses for it?

so you changed the default binds. gratz.

If so, it was so long ago, I don’t recall doing it. I thought it was changed.

Time to standardize

If so, it was so long ago, I don’t recall doing it. I thought it was changed.

Time to standardize

lol yeah. the defaults are N and B. I only used them in the post b/c I didn't want to type out "crew skills" and the other title every time.

lol yeah. the defaults are N and B. I only used them in the post b/c I didn't want to type out "crew skills" and the other title every time.

Thinking back, I must have been trying to line up the keys with WoW back in 2011

Thinking back, I must have been trying to line up the keys with WoW back in 2011

It wasn't you. It was BioWare.

When the game first came out in 2011, the "B" key, by default, opened your inventory. I'm not sure, but I think that the "I" key also opened your inventory, by default.

I am virtually certain that the developers did that only because that's how it worked in World of Warcraft. There was no other logical reason, that I could see, for "B" to open your inventory.

They also set the Num Lock key to automatically have your character move forward for the same reason. Presumably, they did this just to make it easier for long-time World of Warcraft players to slide smoothly into playing Star Wars : The Old Republic.

I remember playing SW:TOR for the first time, and bringing up the "Skill Trees" interface (the feature that would eventually become Utility Points in Combat Proficiencies) ... I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The game mechanic was copied virtually wholesale from the "Talents" feature of World of Warcraft.

In its original form, SW:TOR seemed to be determined to do a lot of things to make World of Warcraft players feel right at home.

the problem is that it's the only place to summon, and there's another window that (realistically) requires it. (see the edit)

"Requires" is a strong word, even taking into account the edit you made. After all, something in the N window that indicates that the companion is on a crew skill mission (or busy crafting) would suffice. Maybe make it a pop-up thing as well.

EDIT: er, a pop-up warning thing, if you ask to summon a busy companion.

The B-window has the added advantage that companions are sorted by influence level. A similar feature in the N-window would be welcome. When you have many comps it's difficult to find your strongest or favourite ones to summon them.

As much as I like the background information on each companion provided in the N-window, I dislike its organisation (categories that don't make a lot of sense, impossibility to sort and filter companions, no view on whether they're on a crew skill mission, etc.). There is much room for QoL improvement!

"Requires" is a strong word, even taking into account the edit you made. After all, something in the N window that indicates that the companion is on a crew skill mission (or busy crafting) would suffice. Maybe make it a pop-up thing as well.

 

EDIT: er, a pop-up warning thing, if you ask to summon a busy companion.

except, as others have mentioned, the sorting feature in the N-window is horrible for 1) selecting the best questing companion and 2) selecting the best crew skills companion. And this is for the same reason: there's no way to sort companions in the N-window based on affection level. I'm sure I'm not alone in having a ton of comps that I haven't leveled affection with b/c they're alts.

Random observations...

When the game was new, default binds were different ('B' did open the inventory) - over time the defaults have changed.

The original crew skill pannel (currently default 'B') allowed summoning of companions - it was removed when alerts and associated UI panel was added.

The crew skill pannel is IMO superior to managing companions for crew skills AND summoning as it ONLY shows actual companions AND is sorted by influence, unlike the alerts panel that shows various story characters, dead companions, missing companions, base support personel, temporary story companions, etc AND does not have any logical sorting.

Random observations...

 

When the game was new, default binds were different ('B' did open the inventory) - over time the defaults have changed.

That makes more sense. These were characters created during early access. So I guess it’s possible that my default binds remained unchanged. I think I have the old keyboard layout sheet that came from the original AAA priced box lying around somewhere. I should see if I can dig that up.