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Why are companions not tanking and healing?

warz05warz05 Member Posts: 8 Arc User
Since mod 16 all the tanking and healing companions have become useless. Is this Cryptic way of saying fu.ck you to their loyal customers who spend money on the zen market to buy those expensive companions? Right now my tank and heal companions like Stalwart Golden Lion, Lillend, etc are literally useless. Why Cryptic betrayed the loyal players like this?

Comments

  • pitshadepitshade Member Posts: 5,665 Arc User
    Until the end of the Preview period, pets were doing a lot of damage. Then without notice, they were nerfed to the gutter. My guess is that it was an overcorrection that hasn't been addressed, but no official word has ever been given, AFAIK. This is why heals are so weak as well.

    Tank pets had their taunts removed as part of the realignment to the trinity and as they do no damage, create no threat.
    "We have always been at war with Dread Vault" ~ Little Brother
  • pwimagicgamepwimagicgame Member Posts: 53 Arc User
    Companions, like Professions are utterly broken.
  • xxmantaraxxxxmantaraxx Member Posts: 362 Arc User
    My favorite companion, the dread warrior, is totally useless now as well. Cant hit, its buff and heal are so small you dont notice them. we are back to an augment meta again. hoping to see an answer during the systems AMA coming up soon.

    Ara Atheanes GWF
    Traxus Atheanes GF
    Bastiel Atheanes DC
    Ellara Atheanes CW
    Keira Atheanes TR
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    -MANTARA- OP

  • sandukutupusandukutupu Member Posts: 2,285 Arc User
    I can't tell, I use invokers mostly and they pull the enemy's attention away long enough for me to run up behind them and pants them. I did notice my battlefield medic was not healing my barbarian so I swapped him with the wayward wizard (both are invokers) and she seems to be doing much better. Until they fix the companions, the augments would seem to be the best choice. They add their stats on yours and you are not depending on them to do anything.
    wb-cenders.gif
  • robai#6206 robai Member Posts: 344 Arc User
    Dps companions are useless too.
    I don't know why so few players complain on forums about companions, I guess they just left the game instead.
  • fenrir4lifefenrir4life Member Posts: 295 Arc User
    "Here, have a healer companion that can give you 5% of your health every 30 seconds!"
  • mebengalsfan#9264 mebengalsfan Member Posts: 3,169 Arc User
    pitshade said:

    Until the end of the Preview period, pets were doing a lot of damage. Then without notice, they were nerfed to the gutter. My guess is that it was an overcorrection that hasn't been addressed, but no official word has ever been given, AFAIK. This is why heals are so weak as well.



    Tank pets had their taunts removed as part of the realignment to the trinity and as they do no damage, create no threat.

    Wouldn't the increase to runestone stats improve companion damage and ability to tank or heal?
  • pitshadepitshade Member Posts: 5,665 Arc User
    When running my Cleric through Undermountain, I at one point swapped in her Angel of Protection. I wasn't ready to just give up on summoned pets but my Legendary Sellsword was doing basically nothing. The healing that the Angel (still epic) gave was around 250 HP. It really isn't possible to buff that up to a level where it means anything. This was the point that I swapped to the Black Dragon Ioun Stone I'd leveled up before the mod dropped...

    Two tips which may be of use to some. If you set an Black Dragon Ioun stone skin to the youngest possible, it's practically invisible. Secondly, slotting in the mount insignia bonuses Barbarian's Revelry and Oppressor's Reprieve will keep you alive for solo content as long as you don't overpull or act like a complete fool.
    "We have always been at war with Dread Vault" ~ Little Brother
  • sandukutupusandukutupu Member Posts: 2,285 Arc User
    pitshade said:

    When running my Cleric through Undermountain, I at one point swapped in her Angel of Protection. I wasn't ready to just give up on summoned pets but my Legendary Sellsword was doing basically nothing. The healing that the Angel (still epic) gave was around 250 HP. It really isn't possible to buff that up to a level where it means anything. This was the point that I swapped to the Black Dragon Ioun Stone I'd leveled up before the mod dropped...

    Two tips which may be of use to some. If you set an Black Dragon Ioun stone skin to the youngest possible, it's practically invisible. Secondly, slotting in the mount insignia bonuses Barbarian's Revelry and Oppressor's Reprieve will keep you alive for solo content as long as you don't overpull or act like a complete fool.

    Currently Dirk (my cleric) is running the Skeleton (Prince Rurik) at epic and this is because of invoker bolster rating. The Prince seems to block some of the attacks from the group, or I would not be using him. Meanwhile I am gathering up other companions for him to use in the Mystic category. If I am not mistaken, isn't the Black Dragon Ioun Stone and Angel of Protection in this category?
    wb-cenders.gif
  • tribbulatertribbulater Member Posts: 187 Arc User
    edited June 2019
    @sandukutupu :+1:

    You probably already know this, but if you go to the Collections window and check the Companions tab, you can see all the pets in each category (Invokers, Beasts, etc.)

    This link also contains good info on all the companions (and many other details of mod 16):
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fP_cUugHdsObvQDzLFijGA-mVm_qLmSy0MI62aTLkDM/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true#
    (Rainier's Mod 16 Pocket Wiki)
  • valetudo78valetudo78 Member Posts: 189 Arc User
    Cryptic needs to give defenders their taunts back and let healers actually heal again. This isn't a bug, they did this intentionally. Did the healers not work on the beta shard? I know some comps where doing too much dps but that's a entirely different issue. The fact is they want you to run around like a chicken no head while your flimsy potion cools down. They are watching you and laughing to each other while informing their bosses that they pooched the game just like they asked.
  • drartwhodentdrartwhodent Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 300 Arc User
    Healer companions need to be fixed. Yep, yep, yep.
    For dps, my Death Slaad still does a fair job of attracting aggro when he finally gets to the fight.
    Shadow Demon is still the top dps companion for single target that I have seen, dude has a mean left hook / daily.
    DON'T
    PANIC!
  • adders79#8251 adders79 Member Posts: 72 Arc User
    I think the issue Cryptic have is that if they make healing companions heal and tanking companions tank people will find a way to bypass, for example, tanks in a dungeon by everyone running tank companions to keep aggro. You would see even more 4 x DPS groups and 1 x Healer than we currently do
  • hawkeyelhawkeyel Member Posts: 389 Arc User
    This is why I changed my tank companions name to Ho Lee Fok. And my healer companion is Som Ting Wong.
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User

    I think the issue Cryptic have is that if they make healing companions heal and tanking companions tank people will find a way to bypass, for example, tanks in a dungeon by everyone running tank companions to keep aggro. You would see even more 4 x DPS groups and 1 x Healer than we currently do

    I think this hits the spot. Players always find a sneaky way t do stuff like this i.e. avoid fighting where they can, taking shortcuts etc.
  • callumf#9018 callumf Member Posts: 1,710 Arc User
    You know what?

    I would get rid of companions all together :)
  • bpstuartbpstuart Member Posts: 235 Arc User
    I have brought this up multiiple times in streams and Thomas Foss would always say " Because it is broken" and "it is gonna be fixed" but i really get the impression it is a symptom of the Mod16's hostility to people who don't play group content.

    No matter how they spin it, Mod16 is hostile to solo players and people who just play the Story adventures alone.
    Weaker damage, weaker healing, no buffs from powers, weaker debuffs all make the lone experience harder and more tedious especially at higher levels.
    I am running low on patience or faith that these concerns will be addressed.
    Ego etiam cupo recrari et amari diu post mortem meam
    I too wish to be recreated, and to be loved long after my death.
  • mightyerikssonmightyeriksson Member Posts: 842 Arc User
    edited June 2019

    I think the issue Cryptic have is that if they make healing companions heal and tanking companions tank people will find a way to bypass, for example, tanks in a dungeon by everyone running tank companions to keep aggro. You would see even more 4 x DPS groups and 1 x Healer than we currently do

    Does that really matter?
    The main focus of the game should be to entertain the players, as in; have fun.
    Too much restrictions are rarely fun.

    And if you want to play the game strictly following whatever rules you feel are important, go nuts, that's what the private queue can be used for.

    Btw, players that have fun are generally more prone to spend real money...
  • darthpotaterdarthpotater Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,259 Arc User
    edited June 2019


    Does that really matter?
    The main focus of the game should be to entertain the players, as in; have fun.
    Too much restrictions are rarely fun.

    And if you want to play the game strictly following whatever rules you feel are important, go nuts, that's what the private queue can be used for.

    Btw, players that have fun are generally more prone to spend real money...

    Yes freedom is good, everyone wants fun... But if you create a system where some roles are not needed, people with that characters feel marginated from groups, and that is not fun.

    One of the goals of M16 was that tanks and healers should be a must in dungeons. I encourage them to keep with this goal.

    As you said, you already have the freedom to play with no tanks or no healers. Go a private queue with your friends and do the stuff with 5 dps or whatever is most fun for you.
    Lescar PvE Wizard - Sir Garlic PvE Paladin
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  • raziel2004#7353 raziel2004 Member Posts: 88 Arc User
    There was time when in preview comps actually really good. Then many player cry for nerf. Then comps got the nerf hammer and player still cry over it. For me idc.. Gaming like usual..
  • tribbulatertribbulater Member Posts: 187 Arc User


    Does that really matter?
    The main focus of the game should be to entertain the players, as in; have fun.
    Too much restrictions are rarely fun.

    And if you want to play the game strictly following whatever rules you feel are important, go nuts, that's what the private queue can be used for.

    Btw, players that have fun are generally more prone to spend real money...

    Yes freedom is good, everyone wants fun... But if you create a system where some roles are not needed, people with that characters feel marginated from groups, and that is not fun.

    One of the goals of M16 was that tanks and healers should be a must in dungeons. I encourage them to keep with this goal.

    As you said, you already have the freedom to play with no tanks or no healers. Go a private queue with your friends and do the stuff with 5 dps or whatever is most fun for you.
    Even if the goal is forcing players to group more and rely on set 'party makeups', there is an alternative to nuking features across the board in order to force group play and discourage solo/DPS parties.

    That alternative is to make the group content more challenging, more interesting and more rewarding. At that point, players choose to form balanced groups because they want to.

    There was a company once, put out a game called City of Heroes... where people would form groups on the fly, all over the place, and run basic content together because the group content and rewards scaled to the group. That company's name was Cryptic. That was before they lost all the people who knew how to actually make games interesting and enjoyable, though.

    Ham-handed attempts to brute-force players into a single play style have never worked in any game I can recall playing. But they sure have lost tons of players for those games.
  • regenerderegenerde Member Posts: 3,041 Arc User
    edited June 2019
    Well, the players that cried for nerving the regular companions again were probably all set up with a perfect collection of Augments and didn't want to let other players to get on a similar level of usefullness with regular companions...

    And btw. aren't there allready several posts of vet. players showing that the "Holy Trinity" model isn't needed anymore, and that's better to just run the "endgame" content with one healer and 4 damage dealers?

    So what's the point in keeping companions in this broken state? Hell, if some players are so worried about their "positions", just give companions their full potential in solo content and place a 10% malus per player in a group (max. -50% in a full party) on companion abilities to keep this messed up "balance".

    Considering that we're getting closer to the Undermountain release on console, i'd say it's high time to give us much more on this matter then the "we're looking into it." line!

    Increase damage dealing and healing of companions to the weapon damage level of the player plus a little bonus from the companions level.
    Give all companions a fast but weaker basic attack/healing ability and a strong but slow secondary ability, then improve the two passive abilities to fit and support their role.
    The cooldowns on companion abilities should range from 1 second to 10s max., i mean take the Battlefield Medic as a really bad example for CDs here, "Combat Heal" has a 6s CD and "Aid All" has a 30s CD, so when those 2 abilities are on CD, that companion is doing NOTHING to actually help the player.
    "Range" companions should stay close to their player and stop running around like headless chickens, while "melee" companions should focus on the target the player is attacking, no companion should "wander off" and start looking for more "action" on their own.

    Last but not least, when companions are repaired and usefull again, then the Class Packs should also be returned in an improved version to the store.
    Post edited by regenerde on
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    Because it sends a message!
  • darthpotaterdarthpotater Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,259 Arc User
    edited June 2019


    That alternative is to make the group content more challenging, more interesting and more rewarding. At that point, players choose to form balanced groups because they want to.

    Sign me for more challenging content. I like hard content, I dont mind to repeat a dungeon 25 times and learn if the rewards are good. The problem seems to be that most of people in Neverwinter are casual players. The people who invest money in the game, seems to like not so hard content, that they can do even if they only play few hours weekly.

    I dont like this but seems that is a fact, and devs try to make this players happy since long time ago, even if the most dedicated players want harder content.

    Anyway they recognize that companions are broken so they will do some changes, who knows. There are people already running LoMM without tank because is easy for hardcore players with a good healer but they are not much. If less geared people can do the dungeon this way, that will hurt the game.
    Lescar PvE Wizard - Sir Garlic PvE Paladin
    Caturday Survivor
    Elemental Evil Survivor
    Undermontain Survivor
    Mod20 Combat rework Survivor
    Mod22 Refinement rework Survivor
  • thefiresidecatthefiresidecat Member Posts: 4,486 Arc User


    Does that really matter?
    The main focus of the game should be to entertain the players, as in; have fun.
    Too much restrictions are rarely fun.

    And if you want to play the game strictly following whatever rules you feel are important, go nuts, that's what the private queue can be used for.

    Btw, players that have fun are generally more prone to spend real money...

    Yes freedom is good, everyone wants fun... But if you create a system where some roles are not needed, people with that characters feel marginated from groups, and that is not fun.

    One of the goals of M16 was that tanks and healers should be a must in dungeons. I encourage them to keep with this goal.

    As you said, you already have the freedom to play with no tanks or no healers. Go a private queue with your friends and do the stuff with 5 dps or whatever is most fun for you.
    the way around this is to not make heals good enough to heal the whole party in a dungeon. but good enough to heal the one user. and to tank enough to be useful but not good enough that it's going to be better than a real tank. make the dps pets offer better bonuses for the dps people than slotting a tank or a healer in group content.

    it's called balancing. I'm sure it's hard to get right but they don't even appear to be trying.
  • littledanger#4115 littledanger Member Posts: 71 Arc User
    bpstuart said:

    I have brought this up multiiple times in streams and Thomas Foss would always say " Because it is broken" and "it is gonna be fixed" but i really get the impression it is a symptom of the Mod16's hostility to people who don't play group content.

    No matter how they spin it, Mod16 is hostile to solo players and people who just play the Story adventures alone.
    Weaker damage, weaker healing, no buffs from powers, weaker debuffs all make the lone experience harder and more tedious especially at higher levels.
    I am running low on patience or faith that these concerns will be addressed.

    Honestly, I think "they" are hostile towards all players - especially those that can see/figure out/call out that HAMSTER is jacked up. "Damn it guys, STFU and just buy keys - everything will be much easier that way..."
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