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Compedium of Suggestions Vol. I: Companions
almondum
Member Posts: 313 Arc User
Greetings esteemed Developers and fellow Players,
I remember hearing on a twitch stream that our Dev team makes plans for a whole year, so I would like to post a list of suggestions I have regarding the companion system, in hopes some of them might get into the 2019 game-content plans. On other note, I'm unaware of our Dev's team size and would like to apologize in advance if my suggestions are inadequate. Fellow players, I urge you to comment on these ideas.
Thank you for your attention. @nitocris83 @noworries#8859 @terramak (I don't know all of you ^^, spread the word!)
Additionally, companion's damage might be reduced by enemies' damage resistance as former lack decent armor penetration. I don't have decent ideas to overcome this obstacle, but it must be considered if companion's role in battle is to be improved. Maybe a new passive companion power that increases its resistance ignored when we upgrade the companion (Example: Expert Striker 60% Resistance Ignored/Master Striker 80% Resistance Ignored)
Still within this topic, I would like to suggest a new variable that will increase companion's strength (not shareable via bondings) based on how much boons the player has, this will ensure that the companion will scale with new content and perform accordingly to player's strength, growing with him/her.
- Currently each companion receives and shares stats through 3 items slots, I believe this is enough, although to further increase companion's relevance and customization I would like to suggest 3 new items slots: an armor, a weapon and a pocket. Each on of them would provide stats solely to the companion (non-shareable) to increase its powers output (Example: Leader's Symbol of Striking +"X" power/+"X" Critical Strike. Usable by Leader type companion. Requires companion level "Y"; Companion's Armor of Protection +"Z" defense/+"W" HP. Requires companion level "Y").
These items could also have gem slots, which would enchance companion's role (examles: Gem of Fury: +10% to companion damage/Gem of Aid: +10% to companions healing/Gem of Enmity: +10% to companion's threat) and could be refined to increase their effect.
Additionally to this topic, I would like to denote that many companions share a humanoid model, which means they could be compatible with armor fitting algorithm (I honestly don't know, this is a naive guess) our characters are using. Tied to the new armor and weapon slots, our companions would show the armor model they are currently wearing, unless the owner chooses to use one of the original skins the companion possesses.
- Last of this section, but not the least, I would like to suggest an improvement to companion's AI, mainly improvements to companion's power usage and positioning. I'm aware how hard it is to program an AI and by this I'm not trying to ask for "miracles", just minor improvements, where a companion will be aware that he is standing on a "damaging entity" (Example: companion being aware of standing in a red zone that does damage over time and being able to change its attacking position to a place without red, whether possible).
- Firstly, I would like to suggest the drops we would get in SCA, as this might be the most important thing for Devs, when they assess the viability of this endeavour (bots) . SCA would drop ONLY (with 1 exception linked to usage of ZEN) Bound to Account items, and these items would include: Sword Coast Adventures Strongbox (LOCKED - can drops companion items, companion gems, consumables, etc), seals, RP, companion gear, companions, artifacts (?), companion gems (for those 3 new item slots I suggested above) and mounts.
- Secondly, I wish to suggest the consumables players could purchase with ZEN (money) for their adventures in SCA (all consumed on use): Key of the Sword Coast - opens SCA strongbox (since ZEN is used in this proceduce, the contents of this box would be possible to sell in AH); Scroll of Rest - instantly recovers companion's stamina (that resource that was consumed every time a companion entered a dungeon); Mass Scroll of Rest - instantly recovers the stamina of a group of companions (by group I mean the number of companions that are used to do a dungeon in SCA); Skeleton Dice - resets the used dices that a companion used on an encounter and allows to reroll them; Scroll of Tymora's Blessing - increases item drop chance by X in the next dungeon.I believe with items like these, the SCA platform would generate enough revenue to justify an extra employee for its maintenance.
- Companions would have the same dices as the previous SCA and the goal would be the same, a group of adventurers (four companions) navigate a maze/dungeon/etc in hopes of defeating the last boss. I suggest new dungeon tiers that would target companions with higher ranks.
- The 3 new companion item slots I suggested above could also have "sets" with useful bonuses within SCA and In-game (Example: Regalia of Lathander set with Greatsword of Lathander (weapon) + Plates of Lathander (armor) + Statuete of Lathander (pocket) - SCA bonus -> if your companion didn't obtain enough dices on its last roll within an encounter, it may roll an additional time with its base dices. This effect may occur once per 3 encounters; In-game bonus: if your companion falls in battle, it is ressurected with full health and becomes immune to damage for 5 seconds).
- Additionally, to boost companion customization, I would like to suggest the change appearance feature extended to companion's armor. It would use the same dye pack players use at the moment and special dye packs that would drop in SCA.
I believe this is it, thank you again for reading and your time.
Have fun!
Almondum
I remember hearing on a twitch stream that our Dev team makes plans for a whole year, so I would like to post a list of suggestions I have regarding the companion system, in hopes some of them might get into the 2019 game-content plans. On other note, I'm unaware of our Dev's team size and would like to apologize in advance if my suggestions are inadequate. Fellow players, I urge you to comment on these ideas.
Thank you for your attention. @nitocris83 @noworries#8859 @terramak (I don't know all of you ^^, spread the word!)
Direct changes to companions:
- At the moment, most of the companions are used for 2 reasons: Bonding runestones and Debuffs on enemies. Their (majority) damage/support output in a battle is insignificant if we don't consider bondings/debuff abilities. I would like to suggest a revision of companion power damage/healing values of every companion to ensure that every companion contributes significantly to fights and that companions of the same type (striker/leader/defender) contibute more evenly to battles with their powers. Please bear in mind, by significantly I do not mean like a player, I was thinking of damage contributions between one third and one fourth of player's damage (it can't be much higher as companions also receive buffs from players).Additionally, companion's damage might be reduced by enemies' damage resistance as former lack decent armor penetration. I don't have decent ideas to overcome this obstacle, but it must be considered if companion's role in battle is to be improved. Maybe a new passive companion power that increases its resistance ignored when we upgrade the companion (Example: Expert Striker 60% Resistance Ignored/Master Striker 80% Resistance Ignored)
Still within this topic, I would like to suggest a new variable that will increase companion's strength (not shareable via bondings) based on how much boons the player has, this will ensure that the companion will scale with new content and perform accordingly to player's strength, growing with him/her.
- Currently each companion receives and shares stats through 3 items slots, I believe this is enough, although to further increase companion's relevance and customization I would like to suggest 3 new items slots: an armor, a weapon and a pocket. Each on of them would provide stats solely to the companion (non-shareable) to increase its powers output (Example: Leader's Symbol of Striking +"X" power/+"X" Critical Strike. Usable by Leader type companion. Requires companion level "Y"; Companion's Armor of Protection +"Z" defense/+"W" HP. Requires companion level "Y").
These items could also have gem slots, which would enchance companion's role (examles: Gem of Fury: +10% to companion damage/Gem of Aid: +10% to companions healing/Gem of Enmity: +10% to companion's threat) and could be refined to increase their effect.
Additionally to this topic, I would like to denote that many companions share a humanoid model, which means they could be compatible with armor fitting algorithm (I honestly don't know, this is a naive guess) our characters are using. Tied to the new armor and weapon slots, our companions would show the armor model they are currently wearing, unless the owner chooses to use one of the original skins the companion possesses.
- Last of this section, but not the least, I would like to suggest an improvement to companion's AI, mainly improvements to companion's power usage and positioning. I'm aware how hard it is to program an AI and by this I'm not trying to ask for "miracles", just minor improvements, where a companion will be aware that he is standing on a "damaging entity" (Example: companion being aware of standing in a red zone that does damage over time and being able to change its attacking position to a place without red, whether possible).
Indirect changes to companions
Many veteran players mourn and miss the shutdown of the Gateway, more specifically the Sword Coast Adventures feature. In this section, I would like to propose a viable (financially) way to re-introduce the Sword Coast Adventures platform/application (NOT the gateway with a mailbox, auction house, etc). The premise would be the same, SCA would be directly linked to player's account.- Firstly, I would like to suggest the drops we would get in SCA, as this might be the most important thing for Devs, when they assess the viability of this endeavour (bots) . SCA would drop ONLY (with 1 exception linked to usage of ZEN) Bound to Account items, and these items would include: Sword Coast Adventures Strongbox (LOCKED - can drops companion items, companion gems, consumables, etc), seals, RP, companion gear, companions, artifacts (?), companion gems (for those 3 new item slots I suggested above) and mounts.
- Secondly, I wish to suggest the consumables players could purchase with ZEN (money) for their adventures in SCA (all consumed on use): Key of the Sword Coast - opens SCA strongbox (since ZEN is used in this proceduce, the contents of this box would be possible to sell in AH); Scroll of Rest - instantly recovers companion's stamina (that resource that was consumed every time a companion entered a dungeon); Mass Scroll of Rest - instantly recovers the stamina of a group of companions (by group I mean the number of companions that are used to do a dungeon in SCA); Skeleton Dice - resets the used dices that a companion used on an encounter and allows to reroll them; Scroll of Tymora's Blessing - increases item drop chance by X in the next dungeon.I believe with items like these, the SCA platform would generate enough revenue to justify an extra employee for its maintenance.
- Companions would have the same dices as the previous SCA and the goal would be the same, a group of adventurers (four companions) navigate a maze/dungeon/etc in hopes of defeating the last boss. I suggest new dungeon tiers that would target companions with higher ranks.
- The 3 new companion item slots I suggested above could also have "sets" with useful bonuses within SCA and In-game (Example: Regalia of Lathander set with Greatsword of Lathander (weapon) + Plates of Lathander (armor) + Statuete of Lathander (pocket) - SCA bonus -> if your companion didn't obtain enough dices on its last roll within an encounter, it may roll an additional time with its base dices. This effect may occur once per 3 encounters; In-game bonus: if your companion falls in battle, it is ressurected with full health and becomes immune to damage for 5 seconds).
- Additionally, to boost companion customization, I would like to suggest the change appearance feature extended to companion's armor. It would use the same dye pack players use at the moment and special dye packs that would drop in SCA.
I believe this is it, thank you again for reading and your time.
Have fun!
Almondum
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