Companions, Henchmen, Good or Bad

uquipu

More and more games give you the option of having companions, NPCs that follow you around, perhaps help you with tanking, healing or dps.
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Is this a good or bad trend?
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The only game I've played so far that allows you to have henchmen is Dungeons and Dragons Online. After some experimenting, I found it was always best to go with a healer even if you were a healer. The other companions died too quickly or got in the way.
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With a DDO companion, you could solo a lot more content. This was good for me because I didn't like grouping in that game. If you grouped you'd wind up with some vet how had ran the instance a thousand times and he'd force you into a speed run or leave you behind.
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GW had them first I think. SWTOR will have them.
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And don't forget multi-boxing. Everyone in Eve has at least two accounts. One reason is that you can multi-box and get a companion.
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I think we'll see more companions in the future, maybe whole 5 man groups.

Hellmarauder

When is the last time you saw a mmo developer pays any attention to AI in NPC's and mobs?

So this is a very good trend.  If they focus on NPC henchmen development now, it won't be long before they'll put that work to develop better mob AI, hence making game more challenging. 

Developing AI in any pc game is very hard work with little reward.  So we should encourage the trend, even if it comes at the expense of group play dynamic.

rscott6666

Henchmen as an option for pcs=good.  Because more options = good.  (at least in this case)

kb4blu

Overall I think it is a good idea.  People don't group much anymore and I hate playing alone.  In another thread someone else mentioned it also.

As far as Eve goes one of the devs said in a blog or forum post that about 25% of people have more that one account.  Wish I could find it again but I was surprised the percentage was not higher.

MMOExposed

Henchmen are good only as a Pet class. Shouldnt be used as a main means of replacing players in group.

 

(Note I said "Main Means". Henchmen for a group could be a nice alternative means for gameplay, but never as the main form of gameplay)

GTwander

i say good, because they have never been able to truly replace a human's presence, and usually just fill a missing role in a group, or allow someone to solo better (which is their choice, so I don't care about it). AN NPC healer has never been able to truly take the place of a human-ran one, but it's very helpful on those lull days where grouping is nigh impossible. Sometimes this kind of system leads to those kinds of days, since everyone would rather use one than deal with a real person, and if so - their loss. It's never going to be that efficient.

Amathe

I like the idea of henchmen, especially as a means for people to play older games whose populations have dwindled to the point where groups are hard to find.

 

But in practice I hate them. Because once I have them, I am usually expected to manage them. And I have a hard enough time just managing myself. My guys always end up dead right away. Bleh.

 

Sovrath

Originally posted by Amathe

I like the idea of henchmen, especially as a means for people to play older games whose populations have dwindled to the point where groups are hard to find.

 

But in practice I hate them. Because once I have them, I am usually expected to manage them. And I have a hard enough time just managing myself. My guys always end up dead right away. Bleh.

 

I'm with Amathe, I like the idea of henchmen but I don't want to micro manage them or keep them alive.

zethcarn

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Amathe

I like the idea of henchmen, especially as a means for people to play older games whose populations have dwindled to the point where groups are hard to find.

 

But in practice I hate them. Because once I have them, I am usually expected to manage them. And I have a hard enough time just managing myself. My guys always end up dead right away. Bleh.

 

I'm with Amathe, I like the idea of henchmen but I don't want to micro manage them or keep them alive.

Well if you program them to handle multiple situations it wouldn't be so bad.   Honestly,  there's only so many things that can go wrong in a group (for a damage dealer).   a) don't steal agro  b) assist the tank  c) don't stand in the fire  d) don't kill crowd control  e) switch to aoe when NOT using crowd control (multiple mobs)  f) protect the healer.  

Did I miss anything?

Adamantine

Companions are an evil necessity because game companies cannot guarantee you having access to fellow players, so you need the ability to compensate.

Mardy

I loved them in Guild Wars, and really really loved them in EQ1 when they put in mercenaries.  I vote good, because it adds just that much more to the gameplay.  It by no means diminish the group game because people that want to group already grouped, and people that enjoy AI companions already were multiboxing before.  Options & choices are a good thing in MMO's.

spades07

its pretty naff. I mean lets looks at this really..

you got people wanting to group with each other but broken down by needless barriers so lets add mercenaries instead!

No doubt its useful though when you're just wanting to solo- but I kind of wonder if in EQs case- whether it would been just better making classes more capable of soloing.

jaxsundane

I'm actually quite surprised to see so many vote that it's a good thing with the usual "if you want to play solo why play an mmo" argument bandied about so often on here especially.  I voted it a good thing because grouping isn't really my thing, I am in no way against it but if it doesn't go with the natural flow of my gaming (which it usually doesn't) then I'd as soon not worry about it.  I have though in the past allowed myself to be sucked into things like instances and raids that needed full groups etc and found so many of the same problem the op mentions most of the time you wind up grouping with people who have done it a million times and are only here to get what they seek and could care less about the adventure or the experience which is what I play games for the experience not the carrot at the end of the stick so I have found myself grouping less and less in games as result.

First responder also brought up a good point that this could work good for games all around as it may force devs to focus more on building on npc AI which as it stands in most mmo's leaves something to be desired.

catlana

Originally posted by GTwander

i say good, because they have never been able to truly replace a human's presence, and usually just fill a missing role in a group, or allow someone to solo better (which is their choice, so I don't care about it). AN NPC healer has never been able to truly take the place of a human-ran one, but it's very helpful on those lull days where grouping is nigh impossible. Sometimes this kind of system leads to those kinds of days, since everyone would rather use one than deal with a real person, and if so - their loss. It's never going to be that efficient.

For me, I like companions because when I play with RL friends no one gets stuck playing "healer". Companions allow a small group of friends to have enough to do an instance together without worry about outside peeps.