Companions

nowhere64 · January 2014

Is it possible to upgrade the basic or green companions multiple times -- so they can reach the same level as purples?

p.s. thanks pw, my kids love this game.

mconosrep · January 2014

Yes but it is so expensive to do so that you are usually better off just buying a purple companion

Also you can use a white cleric companion to do any solo quest in the game, and the only other companions that are useful (mainly in group Epic Dungeons) are the augment pets (Cat and Stone of Allure/Might) which just add to your character's stats.

nowhere64 · January 2014

mconosrep wrote: »

Yes but it is so expensive to do so that you are usually better off just buying a purple companion

Also you can use a white cleric companion to do any solo quest in the game, and the only other companions that are useful (mainly in group Epic Dungeons) are the augment pets (Cat and Stone of Allure/Might) which just add to your character's stats.

Thanks. Does the cleric not perform better at level 25 than at level 15? Haven't tried it beyond 15. Also, I was guessing that a tank pet might be useful (at least for solo encounters) for an HR.

mconosrep · January 2014

nowhere64 wrote: »

Thanks. Does the cleric not perform better at level 25 than at level 15? Haven't tried it beyond 15. Also, I was guessing that a tank pet might be useful (at least for solo encounters) for an HR.

The healing ability of an upgraded Cleric remains the same so all you really gain is some extra HP. If you put (cheap level 60 blue ~ 200AD) Defense/Regen/HP items and runes on her she will be fine for any solo stuff.

If you have cash to burn then there are some decent tank companions - Galeb Dhur being possibly the best choice but you could buy an account-wide mount for the same price...

Alternatively you could get the $60 Guardian pack that has an account wide mount, an account wide Purple Dire Wolf companion, and around 600 000 AD ($12 worth.) I have used the Dire Wolf on my HRs and although it isn't a proper tank companion it can easily tie up your main target. I have moved back to my DC companions on my HRs although if I can stack enough regen and life-steal I will probably switch back again to the Dire Wolf.

elusiveonen7 · January 2014

You won't need a tank pet at 60, and the clerics heals are a % of your health, so it doesn't matter what level she is.

adinosii · January 2014

elusiveonen7 wrote: »

You won't need a tank pet at 60, and the clerics heals are a % of your health, so it doesn't matter what level she is.

Actually....a tank pet at 60 can be quite nice for some classes (DCs in particular) for solo content. Useless for 5-man dungeons, of course.

pitshade · January 2014

Isn't the active bonus of a purple cleric +300 Regen? I considered going that route with a few of my chars. If that is the active bonus, then add it to the 250 Regen from the DR boon, and you'll have enough to heal between fights without stacking any regen gear. That would be a great thing for my rogues as they've only got life steal, which isn't always enough when soloing.

zyphxx · January 2014

From this thread it seems they really need to reconsider the cost of upgrading a companion or the value of that upgrade.

mconosrep · January 2014

zyphxx wrote: »

From this thread it seems they really need to reconsider the cost of upgrading a companion or the value of that upgrade.

This is true for the vast majority of players, but for end-game players the cost of upgrading a companion by a rank to get additional passive bonuses is cheaper than upgrading their enchantments.

And for anyone else it really doesn't matter - the solo campaigns are easy enough on every class other than a DC.

tesyra · January 2014

I can only offer my experience, which though limited is relevant

Im still pretty new, though i have recently hit 60 and started the Sharandar and Dread Ring
I bought the pack that comes with the wolf pet, and though i do use it, i often revert to my cleric
So while i was still unsure of what was or was not a good investment of my 600k AD from the pack, i nonetheless went ahead and began upgrading my cleric, she is currently 25
It is true what everyone says about the cleric's heal, and it is true what was said about more Regen from a higher level cleric, in fact it was this that made me decide to do it
I like the fact my cleric has 12k of HP and can heal-tank mobs for me while my CW repositions etc, i even like the way she randomly brings me a new group of mobs by aggro-ing them at times too

I wouldnt however do that upgrade again with my first big amount of diamonds, if i had a do-over id probably spend them on other things
But i will certainly get my cleric to 30 one day, think its 750k AD for blue to purple, so im saving up, but i will be buying the cat before i buy that upgrade, theres a part of me that really wants to get her to 30 just to see her new robe/skin, and im already proud that she dresses better than everyone else's cleric hehe

So take from that what you will, i dont regret upgrading my Cleric at all, but its probably not be the best investment for your first AD purchases

vengefulfury · January 2014

I personally despise my cleric at times, she dies way too bloody easily and i can't afford to "upgrade" her yet.

Maybe i have the wrong enchantments on her i dunno.

khimera906 · January 2014

pitshade wrote: »

Isn't the active bonus of a purple cleric +300 Regen? I considered going that route with a few of my chars. If that is the active bonus, then add it to the 250 Regen from the DR boon, and you'll have enough to heal between fights without stacking any regen gear. That would be a great thing for my rogues as they've only got life steal, which isn't always enough when soloing.

That would be very costly. If you want Regen and you're a Rogue, consider buying a Fawn companion, put the ring from the Seal of Pegasus vendor that gives Regen (I forgot the name), and a Necklace that gives Regen and Power. That should give you more than enough Regen. The regular Cleric Disciple should be enough for a Rogue though. It got me through all the solo content (leveling + endgame) just fine.
I suggest you focus on Life Steal though, as Rogues have high damage and that works well with Life Steal. Regen works best on characters with high HP.

pitshade · January 2014

As far as the expensive, I have enough chars with rank 20 leadership that it's not really an issue. My rogue used to use her cleric as a tank, until she got a stone. Now that they've changed the cleric AI, I can't really go back to using the CD as she won't stand still, so the stuff chasing her won't either. When I don't want to use the stone, my dire wolf is actually useful while soloing, whereas the cleric no longer is. I've got enough lifesteal to easily keep me topped off unless things get really bad (too many mobs aggro, etc..) which is where regen kicks in. Unless I switch my powers around to stay in stealth entirely, lifesteal will only keep my health constant, it won't heal serious damage I've already taken and it stops once the last mob is dead. I don't like perma stealthing on the maps because its too slow. I save that for boss fights mostly. So having regen on top of my lifesteal would be pretty useful. There's also the PVP artifact, but I hate PVP.

flayedawg · January 2014

mconosrep wrote: »

the solo campaigns are easy enough on every class other than a DC.

My experience, both in Beta & now, is that this isn't necessarily true. From 40th level on, the basic, non-upgraded Cleric companion becomes less & less able to properly heal, especially during boss fights in the solo campaign. For example, in the Skull Fortress mission, my Cleric was entirely unable to deal with Commander Haim's damage output.

To the OP: if you're going to play past 45 or so, do what I'm getting ready to do: fork over the money & buy the purple companion. You'll save yourself a good deal of stress.

mconosrep · January 2014

flayedawg wrote: »

My experience, both in Beta & now, is that this isn't necessarily true. From 40th level on, the basic, non-upgraded Cleric companion becomes less & less able to properly heal, especially during boss fights in the solo campaign. For example, in the Skull Fortress mission, my Cleric was entirely unable to deal with Commander Haim's damage output.

Well I have played with every class from Open Beta till now with the white Cleric and she had been fine, even in the latest campaign dungeons, although I have only done the new boons campaigns with GWF, HRs and CWs. Given I can't even remember the last time even my white DC died in non-Foundry solo content, she can do fine with Defense/Regen/HP runes and items.

beckylunatic · January 2014

khimera906 wrote: »

That would be very costly. If you want Regen and you're a Rogue, consider buying a Fawn companion, put the ring from the Seal of Pegasus vendor that gives Regen (I forgot the name), and a Necklace that gives Regen and Power. That should give you more than enough Regen. The regular Cleric Disciple should be enough for a Rogue though. It got me through all the solo content (leveling + endgame) just fine.
I suggest you focus on Life Steal though, as Rogues have high damage and that works well with Life Steal. Regen works best on characters with high HP.

If you need more PvE regen on a rogue, put the Pegasus seal ring on your augment pet of choice (they all have ring slots) and have the stat transfer directly. The cat and stone of might can also wear a Thickgristle's Sturdy Belt, which is no longer a waste of stats since the HP will transfer.

Life steal is great if you're hitting stuff more than you're getting hit. If you get punted around by a lot of red zones or whatever and are near death at the end of a big fight, then it's nice to chill out and regenerate for a bit before moving on.

flayedawg · January 2014

mconosrep wrote: »

Well I have played with every class from Open Beta till now with the white Cleric and she had been fine

You may be a better player than I am, which would explain your greater success

But in both Beta & now, with a TR, I've seen a distinct drop-off in the Cleric's ability to keep me healed. Admittedly, I've got farther into the solo campaign now than I did in Beta, but not much; I failed twice last night at Skull Fortress, both times because the Cleric's healing couldn't keep up.

It's not a huge issue for me, as I'm at the point where I'd rather do group dungeons & skirmishes anyway, so I don't have to rely on my companion for leveling, but I would like to finish the solo campaign

Something else I haven't seen mentioned ... people can always look for someone to group with, if the later-game solo content starts getting too hard. After all, it's a social game, right

celticgamer0 · January 2014

In my experience I have done great with the CW and DC companions. Both have saved my bacon a few times. My level 42 HR has upgraded companions to 20 (just so I can have better looking skins) and it was expensive. The best thing I have found for survivability in game is to buy the Mulhorand gear for each of my characters. It is cheaper than upgrading companions and grows with your level.

khimera906 · January 2014

beckylunatic wrote: »

Life steal is great if you're hitting stuff more than you're getting hit. If you get punted around by a lot of red zones or whatever and are near death at the end of a big fight, then it's nice to chill out and regenerate for a bit before moving on.

I know you can't have an ideal situation every time, but as a Rogue, you're supposed to kill things fast. That's the main mean of damage mitigation for a DPS class - get rid of the damage source.
I go for all out offense stats mixed with Lifesteal. Combine that with some CC powers like Dazing Strike or Smoke Bomb, Stealth and the great Deflection that Rogues have, plus the healing Companion, and that makes you very hard to kill in single-player. I hardly ever use potions outside Dungeons. I'm not saying this is the better way to go, I'm just saying it's perfectly viable.

flayedawg wrote: »

You may be a better player than I am, which would explain your greater success But in both Beta & now, with a TR, I've seen a distinct drop-off in the Cleric's ability to keep me healed.

The problem it's not her healing. The healing stays constant because is a percentage of you total HP. She just can't stay alive long enough to heal you as long as she did at lower level. Try to give here defensive gear and Runestones - HP/Defense/Regen. Remember you can buy level 60 blue gear from the AH for next to nothing.

Companions

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