What is sad is that every player will have the same companion. LOL! At least in WoW, there are hundreds of different pets available to hunters to mix things up. In WoW they go even further and let you actually pick the skills of your pet adding even more diversity. In SW:ToR, players are very limited, like Rift. So your companion will look and behave just like the next players companion.
These aren't pets. They're companions, meaning they're full characters that join you, just like in Mass Effect.
The pets in WoW are just animals or NPCs that you train and/or subjugate to your will and that you have to micro-manage. Not the same thing at all.
Eh... in Mass Effect my party felt pretty unique, in SWTOR... I am worried about everyone having the exact same skill set, story, companion, and visual look as me. That has always been my biggest concern with SW:TOR.
That and the graphics/animations. The aforementioned is just a personal problem though.
I think the main saving grace for SW:TOR is talking about the major story points with your friends as well as any "true to memory" star wars experiences. Other than that, I can't imagine game play is going to be a major selling point at first.
People think it's fun to pretend your a monster. Me I spend my life pretending I'm not. - Dexter Morgan
What is sad is that every player will have the same companion. LOL! At least in WoW, there are hundreds of different pets available to hunters to mix things up. In WoW they go even further and let you actually pick the skills of your pet adding even more diversity. In SW:ToR, players are very limited, like Rift. So your companion will look and behave just like the next players companion.
Every class will have 5 companions unique to that class. So that will be 40 unique companions in the game. Each has just as many slots as your character for gear. As well as a kit slot to change the companions trinity focus. So unless every class selects the same companion with the same gear. Which would have 8 different companions, you will see a lot of different companions in TOR.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them? R.A.Salvatore
Eh... in Mass Effect my party felt pretty unique, in SWTOR... I am worried about everyone having the exact same skill set, story, companion, and visual look as me. That has always been my biggest concern with SW:TOR.
The only way that's possible is if everyone around you has made the exact same choices in the exact same order as you with respect to character creation and to the story, and if they had the same exact build as you in their advanced classes and skill trees.
Also, with each class having five unique companions, everyone around you would have to bring out the same exact one at the same time to look the same.
I quite enjoy pet taming classes in mmos, so having all these characters (with their own stories) provided to me will be a differant mmo experience. I normally played ranger or some form of pet class in BioWare games, even with all of the campanions, but this step is a continuation of KOTOR. I'm realling hoping the Jedi Counselor has a badass creature pet err campanion
Im not a big pet class fan usually. From what ive heard though the companion systems seems like its gonna be a really cool story and mechanic feature to this game.
The thing is there are no real pet class type characters in star wars. As ive stated maybe if u consider the dathomir witches. Otherwise star wars is about your freinds and droids. to me c3 po and r2 d2 are some of the most iconic characrters in the star wars universe.
No pet class isnt a bad thing because in star wars lore if u look at it there is really no pet class type characters. Now companions i can see as u have han and chewie, u have luke and r 2, U have leie and c3po and jedi knights and there padawans.
Companion system fits the lore alot better then pet classes in my opinion.
companions are a really bad idea imo. it kinda kills the small niche that pets have in MMO's... in TOR everyone has a freaking pet.
This might be a problem if there were dedicated pet classes in the game. There aren't.
well thats my whole point: there are no pet classes. bad decision.
Why are pet classes needed at all?
simple. it's an additional play style for people to enjoy. the whole point of MMO's is to give players options on how to play through the world. if youre taking out pet classes, then youre shooting yourself in the foot by excluding players who like playing that way. it's not a big deal at all, but it matters.
companions work in ME2 because youre the centre of the world. you get to look unique and powerful all the time. in addition, there are cross-companion power combos which lead to dozens of different playstyles, in addition to your character's spec. TOR has nothing like this. the novelty is gonna disappear when you see another bounty hunter running around with Blizz. and they cant even be customized to look different.
Some people like pets, alot of people hate them with a passion. Why force the majority into something they dislike. Have a petclass ffs and get rid of this crap.
"The game is not designed to be played without companions especially when your not in groups" - Darth Hater
....a horrible idea for an MMO. Dragon Age 2's system was terrible, and that was a single player game. I can see Mos Eisley now, packed with NPCs. Raids and PVP..will be a huge mess. The companion feature alone has made up my mind not to buy this game.
It worked fine in GW but there these companions are known as henchmen. They were really helpfum especially when no players could be find to party with.
Having those companions is probably going to be better than micromanaging a bad tank or healer that doesn't understand english or at least the words "taunt" or "heal".
Of course having them also means that you don't have to wait around for hours and hours just for a healer or tank.
You can always just not use them and leave them on your ship if you wanted to go completely solo. Bioware is not known for making hard games, I'm pretty sure it'll be easy enough to solo most of the content you wouldn't normally need a team for if you're skilled enough. If a quest turns out to be downright impossible, maybe you need a team, companions, or do underlevel quests. Maybe you can go exploring, I'm sure surface trash mobs on the way to a mysterious temple would be a fine workout.
Having companions adds a whole new option that wasn't there yet and it's a wonderful thing.
companions are a really bad idea imo. it kinda kills the small niche that pets have in MMO's... in TOR everyone has a freaking pet.
It's ignorant based on current available information to call them pets because they do far more than pets when compared to any other game and they interact like 'companions', not pets. Second, did you not read Gaou's post? There are a different options available to play without a companion if you don't want to play with them. Why eliminate the choice for most who are going to disagree wtih you and enjoy having them around?
They are pets..period. No matter how the developers or players try to explain it any other way. Every single rl player will be required to have pets with them the entire time. Otherwise, you're just hurting yourself by not using them.
Is it OK if I remove your 'period', because again its not accurate? Please read Gaou's post above. If you choose to ignore the facts, I don't know how else to help you....exclamation point!! lol
Originally posted by sonoggi simple. it's an additional play style for people to enjoy. the whole point of MMO's is to give players options on how to play through the world. if youre taking out pet classes, then youre shooting yourself in the foot by excluding players who like playing that way. it's not a big deal at all, but it matters.
Have Bioware ever had a dedicated pet class in any of their games? This might be a clue as to whether or not they'd put one in TOR.
Bioware are playing to their strengths as a developer with TOR. They're going with what they're good at and with what they can best offer with the best level of polish they can accomplish. If they'd rather go with companions over a dedicated pet class, then clearly that's what they're going to do.
companions work in ME2 because youre the centre of the world. you get to look unique and powerful all the time. in addition, there are cross-companion power combos which lead to dozens of different playstyles, in addition to your character's spec. TOR has nothing like this. the novelty is gonna disappear when you see another bounty hunter running around with Blizz. and they cant even be customized to look different.
Five different companions per class, each no doubt useful in different situations and with different strengths to compliment the player class. Plus, there are the different advanced classes, armor sets, skill trees, and story choices that players will make along the way, so two Bounty Hunters side by side may well be very different characters altogether.
They are pets..period. No matter how the developers or players try to explain it any other way. Every single rl player will be required to have pets with them the entire time. Otherwise, you're just hurting yourself by not using them.
You're saying one thing. The developers are saying another.
I'll take the word of the people actually making the game. They're not pets. They're companions, just like in ME.
I quite enjoy pet taming classes in mmos, so having all these characters (with their own stories) provided to me will be a differant mmo experience. I normally played ranger or some form of pet class in BioWare games, even with all of the campanions, but this step is a continuation of KOTOR. I'm realling hoping the Jedi Counselor has a badass creature pet err campanion
well i believe the only consular companion we currently know about is trandoshan bounty hunter(which is the consular's first companion). does a lizard man count as BA enough.
(this is a year old image, so his appearance may be different)
"The game is not designed to be played without companions especially when your not in groups" - Darth Hater
....a horrible idea for an MMO. Dragon Age 2's system was terrible, and that was a single player game. I can see Mos Eisley now, packed with NPCs. Raids and PVP..will be a huge mess. The companion feature alone has made up my mind not to buy this game.
It depends. It works in Guildwars. Of course it is annoying as #¤%& in Dragon age, it depends on AI, combat system and how often you can group with other players.
It can be pretty fun in GW to duo with some heroes actually. As long as you don't must have the silly companions it isn't a problem but an option for loners and soloplayers.
It also makes finding a full real group harder, I hope they have solved that.
Does anyone can tell me if companions can be customized a la Star Trek Online?
i don't know anything about STO but guessing they allow you to fully customize them? if so, then from what we currently know we won't be able to customize body or face of our companions. In TOR, the customization for companions comes in the form of gear and kits. for gear, the humanoid companions have equipped gear appear the same way players do. the more odd companions such as blizz the jawa or bowdarr the wookie won't have the gear they equip appear. instead they get unlockable appearances that you can change between for them. the kits that you can equip to them can give them an extra ability that can enhance their role or give them a new one. some examples of kits seen at E3 are Stasis kit, Shockwave kit, Medipac kit, Grenade Pack kit.
maybe this will change at some point but at this time, they haven't said if it or not.
Can anyone tell me if companions can be customized a la Star Trek Online?
Only with gear and a kit right now. They take part in a lot of dialogue cutsceans, so the facial features have to stay the same to fit the VO. But at least the gear will make them look a bit different.
Edit: Beaten to it again.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them? R.A.Salvatore
Does anyone can tell me if companions can be customized a la Star Trek Online?
From what I see in the developer posts linked in this thread, they're full characters with inventory slots of their own. Weapons, armor, and all that would have to be updated through the game for them to remain effective at your side. At least that's my understanding.
I quite enjoy pet taming classes in mmos, so having all these characters (with their own stories) provided to me will be a differant mmo experience. I normally played ranger or some form of pet class in BioWare games, even with all of the campanions, but this step is a continuation of KOTOR. I'm realling hoping the Jedi Counselor has a badass creature pet err campanion
well i believe the only consular companion we currently know about is trandoshan bounty hunter(which is the consular's first companion). does a lizard man count as BA enough.
(this is a year old image, so his appearance may be different)
I think a trandoshan is a pretty cool campanion, the further away they are from looking human is the best for me - its Star Wars and I want some of the more exotic appearing species to be present and purpsoseful. I'm looking for something along the lines of Thon in Tales of the Jedi though : D I can wish...
Honestly i don't even want to imagine how all those pretty much same companions next to every single character will look like, talk about an immersion killer...
Honestly i don't even want to imagine how all those pretty much same companions next to every single character will look like, talk about an immersion killer...
If every single person had them all out at the same time? Sure.
There will be, at launch, five unique companion characters per class. Plus your resident butler/crafting/welcome home droid on the ship which is different per faction.
That means over forty CCs in the game with more than a dozen romances, intricate plotlines and hundreds of hours of development. Plus some surprises including a character with 100% different story content and skills depending on how you brought them into your party, one with drastically different forms, etc.
That’s as specific as I can be without spoilers but they’re deep, fun, and you can do a great deal with them. There is no limit to how many CCs you can possibly have in the long run and there is a reason you have far more slots than there are revealed CCs.
Hope that helps!
Daniel
How can anyone confuse that with pets from WoW is beyond me
In SWTOR you are only allowed to control 1 comapnion at a time. so the most companions you could ever get in a group is 2, 1 for each player equaling a group size of 4.
Player + Companion + Player + Companion = Full group
Player + Player + Player + Companion = Full group
Player + Player + Player + Player = Full group
This needs to be repeated over and over and over until people get it.
Comments
Eh... in Mass Effect my party felt pretty unique, in SWTOR... I am worried about everyone having the exact same skill set, story, companion, and visual look as me. That has always been my biggest concern with SW:TOR.
That and the graphics/animations. The aforementioned is just a personal problem though.
I think the main saving grace for SW:TOR is talking about the major story points with your friends as well as any "true to memory" star wars experiences. Other than that, I can't imagine game play is going to be a major selling point at first.
People think it's fun to pretend your a monster. Me I spend my life pretending I'm not. - Dexter Morgan
Every class will have 5 companions unique to that class. So that will be 40 unique companions in the game. Each has just as many slots as your character for gear. As well as a kit slot to change the companions trinity focus. So unless every class selects the same companion with the same gear. Which would have 8 different companions, you will see a lot of different companions in TOR.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
Why are pet classes needed at all?
Personally I am glad of the no pets idea... I will not miss it. The only reason I would forsee anyone wanting a pet is to irritate people during PvP.
The only way that's possible is if everyone around you has made the exact same choices in the exact same order as you with respect to character creation and to the story, and if they had the same exact build as you in their advanced classes and skill trees.
Also, with each class having five unique companions, everyone around you would have to bring out the same exact one at the same time to look the same.
I quite enjoy pet taming classes in mmos, so having all these characters (with their own stories) provided to me will be a differant mmo experience. I normally played ranger or some form of pet class in BioWare games, even with all of the campanions, but this step is a continuation of KOTOR. I'm realling hoping the Jedi Counselor has a badass creature pet err campanion
Im not a big pet class fan usually. From what ive heard though the companion systems seems like its gonna be a really cool story and mechanic feature to this game.
The thing is there are no real pet class type characters in star wars. As ive stated maybe if u consider the dathomir witches. Otherwise star wars is about your freinds and droids. to me c3 po and r2 d2 are some of the most iconic characrters in the star wars universe.
No pet class isnt a bad thing because in star wars lore if u look at it there is really no pet class type characters. Now companions i can see as u have han and chewie, u have luke and r 2, U have leie and c3po and jedi knights and there padawans.
Companion system fits the lore alot better then pet classes in my opinion.
simple. it's an additional play style for people to enjoy. the whole point of MMO's is to give players options on how to play through the world. if youre taking out pet classes, then youre shooting yourself in the foot by excluding players who like playing that way. it's not a big deal at all, but it matters.
companions work in ME2 because youre the centre of the world. you get to look unique and powerful all the time. in addition, there are cross-companion power combos which lead to dozens of different playstyles, in addition to your character's spec. TOR has nothing like this. the novelty is gonna disappear when you see another bounty hunter running around with Blizz. and they cant even be customized to look different.
Some people like pets, alot of people hate them with a passion. Why force the majority into something they dislike. Have a petclass ffs and get rid of this crap.
It worked fine in GW but there these companions are known as henchmen. They were really helpfum especially when no players could be find to party with.
Having those companions is probably going to be better than micromanaging a bad tank or healer that doesn't understand english or at least the words "taunt" or "heal".
Of course having them also means that you don't have to wait around for hours and hours just for a healer or tank.
You can always just not use them and leave them on your ship if you wanted to go completely solo. Bioware is not known for making hard games, I'm pretty sure it'll be easy enough to solo most of the content you wouldn't normally need a team for if you're skilled enough. If a quest turns out to be downright impossible, maybe you need a team, companions, or do underlevel quests. Maybe you can go exploring, I'm sure surface trash mobs on the way to a mysterious temple would be a fine workout.
Having companions adds a whole new option that wasn't there yet and it's a wonderful thing.
Is it OK if I remove your 'period', because again its not accurate? Please read Gaou's post above. If you choose to ignore the facts, I don't know how else to help you....exclamation point!! lol
There Is Always Hope!
Have Bioware ever had a dedicated pet class in any of their games? This might be a clue as to whether or not they'd put one in TOR.
Bioware are playing to their strengths as a developer with TOR. They're going with what they're good at and with what they can best offer with the best level of polish they can accomplish. If they'd rather go with companions over a dedicated pet class, then clearly that's what they're going to do.
Five different companions per class, each no doubt useful in different situations and with different strengths to compliment the player class. Plus, there are the different advanced classes, armor sets, skill trees, and story choices that players will make along the way, so two Bounty Hunters side by side may well be very different characters altogether.
You're saying one thing. The developers are saying another.
I'll take the word of the people actually making the game. They're not pets. They're companions, just like in ME.
well i believe the only consular companion we currently know about is trandoshan bounty hunter(which is the consular's first companion). does a lizard man count as BA enough.
(this is a year old image, so his appearance may be different)
It depends. It works in Guildwars. Of course it is annoying as #¤%& in Dragon age, it depends on AI, combat system and how often you can group with other players.
It can be pretty fun in GW to duo with some heroes actually. As long as you don't must have the silly companions it isn't a problem but an option for loners and soloplayers.
It also makes finding a full real group harder, I hope they have solved that.
Can anyone tell me if companions can be customized a la Star Trek Online?
i don't know anything about STO but guessing they allow you to fully customize them? if so, then from what we currently know we won't be able to customize body or face of our companions. In TOR, the customization for companions comes in the form of gear and kits. for gear, the humanoid companions have equipped gear appear the same way players do. the more odd companions such as blizz the jawa or bowdarr the wookie won't have the gear they equip appear. instead they get unlockable appearances that you can change between for them. the kits that you can equip to them can give them an extra ability that can enhance their role or give them a new one. some examples of kits seen at E3 are Stasis kit, Shockwave kit, Medipac kit, Grenade Pack kit.
maybe this will change at some point but at this time, they haven't said if it or not.
Only with gear and a kit right now. They take part in a lot of dialogue cutsceans, so the facial features have to stay the same to fit the VO. But at least the gear will make them look a bit different.
Edit: Beaten to it again.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
From what I see in the developer posts linked in this thread, they're full characters with inventory slots of their own. Weapons, armor, and all that would have to be updated through the game for them to remain effective at your side. At least that's my understanding.
I think a trandoshan is a pretty cool campanion, the further away they are from looking human is the best for me - its Star Wars and I want some of the more exotic appearing species to be present and purpsoseful. I'm looking for something along the lines of Thon in Tales of the Jedi though : D I can wish...
Honestly i don't even want to imagine how all those pretty much same companions next to every single character will look like, talk about an immersion killer...
If every single person had them all out at the same time? Sure.
What are the chances of that really happening?
DanielErickson
Joined: Oct 2008
06.14.2011 , 11:54 AM
Hey folks,
There will be, at launch, five unique companion characters per class. Plus your resident butler/crafting/welcome home droid on the ship which is different per faction.
That means over forty CCs in the game with more than a dozen romances, intricate plotlines and hundreds of hours of development. Plus some surprises including a character with 100% different story content and skills depending on how you brought them into your party, one with drastically different forms, etc.
That’s as specific as I can be without spoilers but they’re deep, fun, and you can do a great deal with them. There is no limit to how many CCs you can possibly have in the long run and there is a reason you have far more slots than there are revealed CCs.
Hope that helps!
Daniel
How can anyone confuse that with pets from WoW is beyond me
This needs to be repeated over and over and over until people get it.