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Think tank: Companions
ambisinisterr
Member, Neverwinter Moderator Posts: 10,462 Community Moderator
Hey guys,
I would like to get us to collaborate in a think tank fashion about companions.
Companions are a much discussed subject on the forums but normally in little spurts. I think it's about time we got together as a community and voiced our opinions about companions respectfully and logically in order to get the best feedback possible.
In order to do so I have come up with a list of questions to answer. Speak from your heart but just to make life easier on the Devs it would probably be better to at least answer the questions before creating a wall of text, unless, like you'll see in my post, the answers to the questions are walls of text.
1. Have you purchased a Companion? Why? (Gold Currency and Content Pack Companions Excluded)
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Additional Comments:
Just try to keep the posts in good tastes. I know some have some pretty heated opinions about this topic but feedback is best received when spoken firmly but not angrily. Let's get our opinions out and generate a good discussion for our feelings about companions. If you have any suggestions to aid in this please let me know!
Have fun and be honest.
I would like to get us to collaborate in a think tank fashion about companions.
Companions are a much discussed subject on the forums but normally in little spurts. I think it's about time we got together as a community and voiced our opinions about companions respectfully and logically in order to get the best feedback possible.
In order to do so I have come up with a list of questions to answer. Speak from your heart but just to make life easier on the Devs it would probably be better to at least answer the questions before creating a wall of text, unless, like you'll see in my post, the answers to the questions are walls of text.
1. Have you purchased a Companion? Why? (Gold Currency and Content Pack Companions Excluded)
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Additional Comments:
Just try to keep the posts in good tastes. I know some have some pretty heated opinions about this topic but feedback is best received when spoken firmly but not angrily. Let's get our opinions out and generate a good discussion for our feelings about companions. If you have any suggestions to aid in this please let me know!
Have fun and be honest.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
1. Have you purchased a Companion? Why? (Gold Currency and Content Pack Companions Excluded)
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
Non-Augment - $5 to $10
Augment - $10 to $15
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
Uncommon: 1,500. Rare: 2,000. Epic: 3,000-3,500.
Costs to Upgrade One Rank based on Zen Values of 1 Zen Equalling 200, 350, 500 Astral Diamonds.
Common: 1,000; 714; 500. Uncommon: 2,500; 1,429; 1,000. Rare: 3,750; 2,143; 1,500.
This gives a total cost of upgrading from white to epic the cost of: 7,250; 4,286; 3,429.
That's $34-72! For a single companion.
And 1:500 is a horrible AD Price. In fact it's as low as Cryptic allows AD Value to go and it's certainly not a basis to state a fair price since Zen should, ideally IMO, go between 200-400 AD.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Companions need much more HP or base mitigation in order to survive longer in fights. Combat companions would be overpowered if they didn't risk death but they need to survive much longer in order to be truly viable.
I think before any changes are made to the way non-augment companions function (as in increasing their power and effectiveness) they should first be balanced to survive a decent length of time. No amount of improvements to their combat effectiveness would matter if they still die within moments of a large fight.
Additional Comments:
Ultimately I think products such as companions and mounts have to stop being looked at as additional items and start getting viewed as what many players view them as: customization options. I would love the option to equip my characters with numerous cool mounts and upgrade them but the prices as they are force me to be very elitist in mentality and that's not me. I want to toss five to ten bucks a month just on stupid stuff like companions but due to the prices both of companions and their cost to upgrade I can't do that, I'm forced to consider whether I would even use the product instead.
In terms of companions, I have absolutely no issue with the current prices if companions are made redeemable to all characters but as long as they are a single character single purchase with upgrades costing far more than the cost of a full epic I really feel pushed away from spending anything on them.
If every companion and upgrade price was cut in half (not 10%, not 20%! 50%) I would be throwing a lot more money into the game and I suspect there's many people who feel the same way.
i have not purchased a companion from the zen shop but i have farmed for companions (skeletal dog, pig) and purchased companions using drake and glory... which i suppose is in a way farming or grinding. companions are a neat part of the game even if they are not anywhere near as proficient as we are. as for the augment side of things, i do not know as i have yet to purchase an augment companion.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
to spend that much money (or earned AD converted to Zen) on what simply could very well be just an ornament, i'd rather put that effort into better gear or enchantments. i've considered buying an augment companion but price wise, i am not convinced that it'll be worth the purchase. there are people that swear by them... but... they're just too much.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
depending on the type (normal, rare, epic) maybe $3-5, $5-10 and $10-15 respectively.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
i think they are unreasonable considering the cost based on current zen/ad exchange rates, you are better off just buying an epic companion. it's like a gamble because we have no guarantee that the upgraded companion is even going to be worth the investment.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation? either nerf augments or buff non-augment companions. companions need better AI to be able to do things like step out of red zones or if not, buff their defense. although to me, augments are really a whole different breed of companion. it's almost like wearing a magical pair of gloves except it is a stone or a cat or whatever.
Additional Comments: just yesterday i purchased the jagged dancing blade because there really isn't anything else for me to buy with glory (another issue that should be addressed) as everything seems to be bind on pickup. no more selling pvp gear on the ah, no more transferring it to other toons, guild members, etc. you have to earn it. but once you have better than it, glory is useless. of course, unless you like the idea of collecting and leveling a zoo of companions like me... and therefore the jagged dancing blade is just one more to add to your growing inventory of idle companions. except... it is bugged. i cannot bind it to my character. unlike other purchased and/or acquired companions, when you double click it, it does nothing. it does not say 'double-click to bind' on it - it is pre-bound to my character like everything else from the pvp glory vendor. and this, to my knowledge, is actually a new problem to an already much-reported buggy companion. i have faith that eventually these issues will be addressed. i mean, changes have already been made towards companions with the feywild patch. but hopefully companions get better on both the augment/non-augment side of things. and thanks for starting this thread.
ps. i already posted a thread about the jagged dancing blade in the bug report section and submitted a separate ticket.
2. Overvalued price, lack of account unlock and again, poor AI.
.
3. If improvements to AI and available account-wide were made, no more than 500 zen. Probably.
4. Insanely overpriced. Until companions become more than cannon fodder and actually useful, there is no way I will waste AD.
5. I am pure F2P (although I do sub to another Cryptic game), so have had no experience of these. However augments seem far more useful than the current companion detritus that can be found in game.
Additional. The concept of companions is sound and I like that there is a way to upgrade them. But as it stands, the comical AI coupled with the farcical AD costs detracts from what should be a great game feature.
I have a LvL 30 phoera and LvL 30 Aranea (lockboxes) and a lvl 25 Ioun stone of allure (zen) i bought the latter because is absolutely needed to do well in the high end dungeons.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Utility mostly, i can spend dimes if the tool is useful to make my toons more powerful and dungeoneering smoother, but right now, there is no pet (other than the augment ones) that offers anything to endgamers.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
Does not matter to me if is augment or non augment, as long as the pet is really useful, meaning that it offers something to a highly geared player, i can spend money on it, even 20$ (my stone).
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
You already know the answer, you have the results and stats of how many players are upgrading pets and you are seeing that is a lot less profitable than you were expecting, that's why you're doing this survey, 300-600-1000 zen would be a lot more reasonable (same with mounts, 2,8 million ad to upgrade a mount???? 8000zen 80$?????? ) get the prizes adjusted and start making more money.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Improve would mean something is wrong with that, in my experience anything that makes toons more powerful will be always the first option for endgames, and the solution for making the non augment pets better for the game is easy, allow players to run an augment and a non augment pet at the same time, so people will actually buy more pets, and people will run non augment pets to dungeons.
Obv, the AI and endurance of the pets itself would be nice to get improved, but that's something you already know.
Additional Comments: What's the passive buff of aranea at lvl 30?
I purchased three ioun stones of allure directly from the Zen shop. $20 for what is arguably one of the best companions is an ok deal. I've purchased a couple of other companions (such as the Phoera) for AD from the AH.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
The price of the non-augment companions is to high for their value. I like many of their appearances. But two things are stopping me. At the current price they need to be account-wide like mounts. And they need to be improved somehow.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
Can't say. Right now the most I've spent is the $20 for the ioun stone of allure. If something amazing showed up I might go beyond that though.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
LOL. NO. The first upgrade should be dirt cheap to draw people in. The second a bit higher. The final one should be between 300K and 500K, at the most. The current pricing suffers from the same problem as mount training. Its many times cheaper to buy an epic pet than it is to upgrade a pet to epic.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Several things. First off fix the bug with one of CWs spells that makes non-augment pets go *poof*. Then, make it so that when you revive a pet in combat it comes back at full health.
I also think the pets need some type of extra resistance and damage. Something beyond what is possible with the regular stats for players. For a damage increase I'd try speeding up the rate of their attacks. Maybe they'll do enough damage to be noticeable that way and players see their companions doing stuff.
Additional Comments:
Some of the companion just don't fit the game as it is now. I'm not talking asthetics, but mechanics. For example: Why make a controller companion when none of the companions have the AI to fill that role intelligently. Why give a striker pet (wererat) an AOE knockback that annoys mostly everyone.
Overall though, I have to say the thing that hurts the sales of the companions the most is the fact that they aren't account-wide and using one is a downgrade. I would love to use my skelly dog with one of my characters. But Me+Dog isn't as strong as Me+Stone.
Its also been suggested elsewhere for us to be able to change the appearance of the stone to one of our other companions. Of course it'd lose its ability to fight. But then for example I could have my skelly dog following me and still have the benefits of an ioun stone.
Yes. I have the Galub, Honey Badger, 5 Stone of Allure, and Portal Hound (I included this because it was the only reason I got the Feywild adventurer pack). I bought the Galub and Honey Badger because I was new to the game and didn't realize how poor companions were. I currently do not use either of them so they were a waste of money. I bought the stone because I found out it was the only useful companion. I bought the portal hound because I loved the way it looked (I like Huskys and to me it looks like one) and I needed something to soak up some damage on my DC since she is a paper doll. My DC is the only character I have that doesn't use her Stone when solo because her health drops pretty fast. She is level 60 with a high GS and still gets the HAMSTER beat out of her (even my CW takes less damage that her) so a tanking pet helps a lot.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
The price is way too high for such low quality items. If they were account wide the price would still be too high. They need to be useful AND account wide to justify the current price.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
Well....I already spent $30 for two of them and $20 for the other 2. I have no plans on purchasing anymore unless they become useful and account wide/bound. If they made some significant changes to companions and put a little ingenuity into their design I would purchase more because I like to test them out and see how they work.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
Absolutely not. The prices are outrageous and there is hardly any upgrade to the companion. The price needs to be more in line with the cost of the companions sold in the Zen store. They may need to remove the AD cost and just sell tomes in the Zen store so the cost is controlled and market fluctuations do not affect the price as much. And....they need to drop the price of all companions.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
The companions need to have an improved AI, live longer, and do more damage. A ranged companion should not run right up to the mob and stand in the big AOE. They also need to have a pet bar so we can control them a little bit. Basic settings is all they really need so we can set them to be aggressive, defensive (protect the summoner), or heal only. They also need to move out of the red
Additional Comments:
Companions need to be either account wide or have the price drastically reduced. If they refuse to do either then they need to make companions account bound at the very least. This way you could DELETE the companion on your character and reclaim it with an alt on the same account. Then if you decide to delete your character you will still have the companion. You paid for it so you should always keep it no matter what.
Yes. I bought the Galeb Duhr when I started playing my primary character, a DC. This was a simple attempt to help the survivability of the (heal-specced) DC while leveling. I still use that companion today when soloing, for example in Feywild or the summer festival. I feel this is money well spent.
I also bought the Ioun stone for my DC and I expect to buy a cat for my GF when he hits 60.
I have also purchased two "promo" companions from elsewhere - the Faithful Initiate and the Mercenary. Both are (most importantly) account-wide, meaning that I have access to them for all my other alts. My GF is quite happy running around with the Faithful initiate, and I expect my TR (which I just started) will too.
I have also collected various random drop companions (the skeleton dog, phoera and the CtA wolf), and have bought a few other inexpensive ones just for fun
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
I have spent around $300 on the game - fair, considering how I value the hours of enjoyment I have gotten out of the game, but considering how Cryptic/PWE handled the "Lucky Player" nightmare fiasco, I have decided not to spend a dime more of "real" currency on the game for now - so that means no Zen companions for me. I am also getting pretty sick and tired of bugs, nerfs, the destruction of the crafting professions and toleration of exploits, so my long-term support of the game is somewhat uncertain. If Cryptic/Pwe cleans up its act, then yeah...maybe.
As for AD companions, the reason I don't buy them is that they are basically useless "fluff" - I have the companions I actually need.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
As mentioned above - nothing at this time. If things change for the better, I'd say $5 for non-augment, unless it is something I would really like for roleplaying purposes (like a pseudodragon for my CW), then a bit more However - it depends on the companion level, abilities and whether it is account-wide or not - not to mention whether it is actually useful, or just "fluff" that follows me around PE. If I can get a green, useful account-wide companion for $5 (the faithful initiate), that sets a certain expectation level.
For augment - the price I paid for my ioun stone was just right - I later paid to upgrade it to level 30 - a bit disappointing that augment pets gain no new abilities, but it was still worthwhile for me.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
With pretty much everybody just using non-augment pets only while leveling, it really makes no sense for anyone to level them up. As for the augment pets, yes - it is worthwhile to upgrade them, if you have BiS and are decked out in lvl 8(9 enchants and so on - for that market segment the companion upgrade is a relatively inexpensive way to get a few extra points. So, for that market the prices are not an issue....if you have spent tens of millions of AD on your gear, the augment upgrade is peanuts.
For everyone else, the price is around double what I would consider fair. I will most certainly not be spending AD on upgrading any of my other companions.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Depending on the character, the non-augment pets may actually be superior when soloing, but in dungeons, in particular in boss fights, it currently makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to use anything but stone/cat. The reason is the utter stupidity of the killable companions - they simply don't survive long enough to make a meaningful contribution. Not only that, but they may also interfere in unwelcome ways with the group strategy.
Ioun stone and cat for two different toons. They boost stats. Acolyte of Kelemvor because I wanted to try a build revolving around her skills, didn't work because she's not working like tooltip says.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Cryptic being incompetent. They should make pets no longer aggro enemies just by walking past them and to learn to walk away from red zones occasionally, that would solve the most glaring issues with using them. Cryptic should also pay me to give them suggestions because I understand the game better than they do.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
2 million ad.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
Total upgrading costs should equal the cost of an epic zen store companion. If cryptic would look at what people are saying, and look at statistics, people simply aren't going to use companion upgrading when it costs 115-145% more, depending on exchange rate and from what quality you upgrade from to epic.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Give companions unique third skills that work. I recently got an Acolyte of kelemvor and regret it because the tooltips lied very badly, switching around the cooldown of the first two skills that renders the damage reduction power and third power half as useful. I want a refund because cryptic is incompetent.
Additional Comments:
Cryptic is incompetent.
Yes, i do have couple of Zen store and AH companions. I have purchased them as extra feature of my characters. Acually i like "role play" this game. Also of course i had hope to get some help offered by companon, like tank for CW, or striker for GF. I must say sometimes i got really
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Each purchase was serious decision, and thats does mean its wrong in case of "F2P" business. Problem of course is a price of companions, in fact almost each companion from Zen store is worth a full new game from my local store. Thats really too much, specially when we analyse what exactly we get for our money when we buy companions in their current state.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
I would like to enjoy this game in my "role play" style. So i would be really happy to buy companions, clothes, mounts etc without runing my budget. At current moment its impossible. In my opinion upper price level for companion is about 10$, couple beers less, one interresting companion more - sounds like good deal and nice income for PWE. Players should be able to throw money without feeling that they are doing wrong by giving so much for bunch of pixels. Fun with beer, or fun with companions - with amount like 10$ that really doesnt matter.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
As everybody before said - curent prices of upgrades are just silly, as is much cheaper to buy epic companion from store than upgrade other. In theory when lets say new companion would be worth 10$, full upgrade from normal to epic i would set to lets say 12-13$. A bit more than new companion, but if someone does like his current one, would pay that without feeling of being robbed.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
First of all - nonaugument companions are fine only to certain level, after that its very clear that current tasks are above their limits. Im not saying that my Galeb should be changed into indestructible hulk, but it would be nice if he could assist a bit more. And Galeb is considered as one from BEST companions. Maybe good idea is to scale stats of companions in moment when we enter intoto new dungeon/area ? Scale HP of tanks and attacks of strikers according to average health/dmg of enemies in given area. Something like that
Give companions better AI to at least allow them to avoid AoE attacks, if thats impossible give them some "hidden stats" cutting down damage taken from AoE. Some companions suffer because really buggy behavior making them useless - nobody would buy such companion after quick research in internet.
Pretty much every thing you have said is spot on. On champions I can purchase vechiles and sidekicks and power replacemnt items and there usable by all my charecters so I dont mind purchasing them. I will not spend about
Account wide Non-Augment companions, single purchase Augment-Companions. If the Dev's really have the time and are willing to invest it, then they could add small tree specs for non augment companions so they could function more with the users play style. Of course increase the survivability of Non-Augments.
Just to clarify tree spec: feywild boons. Of course not for every companion but the class type: striker etc~.
100% agree.
Slightly off-topic: mini boss pet companion chance to drop/reward from DD chest
--> No. The prices are too high and the companions are not really game breaking anyway (but augments). With the ones you can buy ingame you can do quite good.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
--> Price and the weakness of them. Often when a mob is almost dead and my companion is on it I think "Ok let him do the job" only to see that he hits him 3 times in a row and the mob still isn't dead, so i nuke him once and it is over.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
--> 5 Bucks
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
--> They are way too high. For new players unreachable. They can't even try this feature out because it is too expensive and you have more important things to spend you money on. Also the 3rd abilitiy often looks very weak. An epic companion in store is cheaper than one you upgrade. That is ridiculous. Also there are no previews of the locked skins and all companions look the same - no way to individualize them but with the skins provided. Cannot put different armor on, different dyes etc. Not even change the gender of the companion.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
--> Personally I think augments are the wrong direction to go. It is like a constant potion you use to enhance you stats. Since all of the augments are paid available it is basically a pay to win situation. You see that this is one-sided because people in chat look for groups often like this "12.4k CW with stone looking for group" - never saw someone that said "12.4k CW with pig looking for group".
And one additional comment: Companions should help you while soloing and questing. That's why other games introduce such stuff. Having companions around while being in a party is stupid in my opinion. Most people use the healer anyway making the role of the "real" healer less important in the team. When I sometimes group with another guy to do Witch Fen or whatever most of the time they come with the healer companion - although I am a DC! There is no need for a healer companion once they are with me! But often they don't even have another companion that deals damage.
I think companions should be dismissed once being grouped and should be solely used for soloing content. Rather make party sizes of 6 people than 5 people with 5 companions, most of which will die to the bosses anyway unless you use augments that doesn't die.
Also companions need a separate action bar with commands like "Attack my target", "Come to me and retreat", "Be offensive and hit everyone that is in range", "Be defensive and only attack if I am attacked". I want to send my companion for the first hit, or I want him to attack target 1 while I deal damage to target 2.
Additionally: Melee companions without AOE immunity are pointless.
And last but not least: If I put a companion in idle mode and my backpack is then littered with his items that does not motivate me to get more pets with more items that block my backpack. The items should remain on the companion even if he is idle if I have not removed it before. I have to use text documents to write down which companion uses what item! And if you level other toons this become even more complex!
Nope, I rather spend the zen on an account wide item such as a mount. I think more people would buy pets if they were account wide just like the promotion pets.(mercenary, healer uncommon)
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Answered in number 1. people like to collect things, let them collect pets. Make the pets account wide so we have access to them on all our toons. Even if we have to level the pet up again on all the toons, that's part of the fun. This is only for cash shop pets. The in- game pets such as cat, tarmalune bar pets are fine because they are in-game rare items.
3.What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment
I never bought a pet with zen, I only paid for the ign promo of 6.95 for the account wide uncommon healer.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why
Since I only have uncommon pets and 5 toons, I would say No. However if you only play with 1 toon the upgrade prices are fine. It would take time and a lot of ad farming still with 1 toon, but for people with multiple toons, its not worth upgrading because the pets die too easily endgame. So endgame your better off sticking to the augmented pets (cat, ioun stones) for the best value for your hard earned cash.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Screw the A.I., give the player the option to control the spells. Once you target a mob the pet auto attacks with its at-will attack, give the players 3 more buttons to choose when to use the encounters. Maybe a hold command and follow, I know the controls are what make this game fun and fast paced, but it is a mmo and we are playing with a keyboard and mouse not an xbox controller. Allow equipping armor and weapons on non-augmented pets, increasing there stats. I'm ok spending 30 bucks on a pet, let me enjoy having it out!!! Bring some value to them, hate to compare neverwinter to another game but check out Rappelz my gosh if that games pet system was in neverwinter I would be so broke!!!:) On a side note release a pet that you can ride and when you dismount you can use it in combat, LoL to sum it up fix your A.I. scale more for endgame so the non-augmented pets are viable options and not just cosmetic. Give your players more options with them, and we will spend money!!!
Bought 3 different companions for 3 different characters off the auction house all below 90k ad. Also got a blue skeletal dog from the launch event. I like having something follow me around especially the cute animal ones.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
High cost. Especially the single purchase ones in the zen store.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
2500 zen for augment and 1500 zen for non-augment IF they were account wide because there not those prices should be cut in half before I would even consider buying one.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
No. Right now it’s far cheaper to buy a purple one then to upgrade a white one to purple, it makes no sense to me. Because you pay in parts it ok to have the upgraded one be higher but not by this amount.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Companions simply die to often its normal they die against big enemy’s / bosses but they should hold their own against normal enemy’s at least with durability.
Additional Comments:
I’m still holding off to buy a T3 mount and I have been wanting to for a while now I think the price of it is fair however the price is so high I want to wait until I see one I really like because I won’t soon (or ever) buy another one. If the prices were lower, lets say $10, I would have bought one already and bought another one when I see one I really liked and probably another one to fit a specific character (dwarf on a bear would look better then on a unicorn in my opinion.) because the 10$ is easier to spend I would do it more often, the 30$ is holding me back somehow (like buying a house you want to do it right the first time). For companions this is even worse because of the single purchase. For the current prices and conditions I would simply not buy a companion off the zen store.
Survivabilty is the most crucial down fall to non-agument companions, the best solution all round would be to make them all immune to the deadly 'Red Zones' and give them a passive heal over time, as they dont have the luxury of a cleric healing them and never will.
It also wouldn't hurt to have at least a 25% companion bonus to player, simlar to how augments work, but drastically reduced as that's not the companions primary role
Yes, the Ioun Stone of Might/Allure (I have both). As most people know, in Epic Dungeons, an augment companion is pretty much required.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
The overall cost of companions, and the fact that they are single unlocks.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
If the companions were account unlocks rather than single unlocks, I would be happy with the price that they are currently.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
I think the upgrade prices are pretty steep, much like the price of upgrading mounts, it is much more cost effective to just buy a higher rank companion, than upgrade one that you already have. After all, I could currently buy a whole new Ioun Stone, for the same price as it would cost to upgrade my current one. For what I would gain, it is just not worth it.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
It would be very difficult to address this issue. Augments are non-combat, and just give passive bonuses, they don't run off and randomly aggro things, they don't run and stand next to the mob you are fighting, they are just so much less trouble. Whereas non-augment companions, are a nightmare. If we could command them to stay out of trouble, or do nothing, it would help, but not a lot. Even a level 30 companion, is little more than a 1 hit meat shield for most end game players.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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I have not purchased any companions using zen but I paid $7 for the IGN Promo Teifling Cleric...as an account wide companion I felt this was a good deal. Even getting roughly 6k Zen from a promotion I have not bought a companion from the market. I bought a mount instead.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Price. I like to collect companions and I have bought some from AH that were not incredibly expensive.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
I spent $7 for an account wide green quality cleric, so there is my limit.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
No, as others have stated, its a better deal to buy a higher quality companion then upgrade what you have. I think the prices should be at least a 1/3 what they are now.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Companions still need help in the brainpan. Cleric companions almost always want to tank the boss even after the adjustments.
Additional Comments:
I want to see a chicken companion that you can get through maybe a quest or something.
- JailBreak (in development)
I purchased and Ioun stone for my GF and will be buying a stone for my CW as well. The stat buff the stones grant a player is a big help in endgame dungeons like CN and Malabog.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Price mostly, the stones aren't cheap, but at least they have utility. The other pay companions are just visual baubles that I'd never actually take into a dungeon, thus are worthless to me.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
Since I've already spent the money on an augment, I'd be willing to spend up to $20 on an augment. However this isn't a price point I support. I would prefer to see the prices of augments drop to $10-15 as well as for the companions to be account wide.
I would never buy a non augment as they currently stand, unless it collected 100K refined AD for me each day or something like that.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
The prices are beyond absurd. I would never pay to upgrade any companion, it's simply more cost effective to buy a high rank companion in the first place, either with zen or with AD.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Buff the non augment companions so they don't die withing 20 seconds of a fight. There is little point in bringing any companion that spends the entire 5 min fight on the ground into a dungeon.
If the attacks that non augment companions use and their behavior could be customised by the player(similar to the Bioware RPG companion tactics menus) then perhaps companions would have more of a place in fights. This would have to go hand in hand with an improved companion AI.
Additional Comments:
2.Price I have bought a few off the AH and i have the collectors panther and dire wolf so its not spending money that keeps me from buying them its that one pet for one character isnt worth what they cost.
3. If they were account wide 5 or 10 dollars for green 15 for rare
4.Upgrade prices are too high for both pets and mounts. It cost more to upgrade both pets and mounts than its worth. Cheaper to start out with a purple.The upgrade costs keep me from using some of them and keep me from wanting to even get the pig from the event as i know i wont upgrade it. The costs should really be for the mounts and for the pets 1/3 of what they are then youd see diffrent pets and mounts. And people actually using the rank one pigs (mount or pet ) because upgrading wouldnt be such a money sink.
Also yes I know there are alot of ways to earn astral diamonds in game but if your time is limited so is your ad and your less willing to spend it on high price upgrades.
5. I dont know about augment pets as i haven't bought one. Id like to try the cat but its expensive and bought with AD that i use for other things. Though it seems they are required end game so i might have to.
I have paid for the IGN Promo Teifling Cleric as it was account-wide and also looks good. Nothing from the Zen store as 1/8th of my bloodline expressly dislikes the high pricing structure and see no value in it - even for the stones.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Price. Price, price and the fact they are not account-wide. Yet my green promo cleric is - better value clearly. Zen prices should drop to 25% of the CURRENT value if single character unlocks - 30-35% if account-wide. This would then represent true value and return and you might sell more of them. Economics 101 - microtransactions, not macrotransactions.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
I would no more than what I have already done on the promo cleric - $6.95. A better price is $5 for an account-wide companion, I might go crazy then - at least the company would get something from me which is not happening at these prices/structure.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
No, biggest lol I've had so far when I worked out the AD/Zen equivalent of upgrading compared to buying an epic companion. It's such a no-brainer, same with the mount training. If the idea is to loosen the purse strings of players, a little more subtlety is required as this just feels/looks bad and a little like a club to the middle of the forehead as a facepalm just isn't enough.
Agree with the earlier poster who said the last unlock from blue to purple should be no more than 300-500K AD with the others being much less. A structure of 50K (white to green), 100K (green to blue) and 250K for the final one feels better to me. Still a huge AD sink for newer players who are not AD rich from pre-soft launch and BoE purple drops. Without those two factors (and value!!) - AD price way too unrealistic at present.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Companions AI needs massive help/love. The green cleric seems a little better (due to slightly higher starting stats) but she still ends up in front of my TR and GWF when fighting mobs. Running up face-to-face to use a ranged attack or heal is just full HAMSTER.
Also the red zone situation can kill you as for example in the Rime Hound it spawns adds when someone is in the red. A non-augment is a nightmare at higher levels.
Additional Comments:
1. Make Zen store buys account-wide (and cut prices)
2. Cut prices
3. Rework the AI - make ranged companions use their abilites at range and not face-hug
4. Immunity to the boss AOE effects (like causing spawns)
5. Have I mentioned prices....no? Then cut prices
Yes, I bought a Stone, the advantages it provides in a group PVE setting where just to great to ignore.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Usefulness, Other then a healing companion for solo activities.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
I would not spend a dime on a Non-Augment companion because there is no return. However on an Augment pet I might spend up to 5000 Zen depending on what it offers
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why? no while I understand you have to have a way of taking AD out of the economy, I just think the prices are a little steep.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation? After looking at the overall comparisons of companions I think they should distinguish themselves in the following way.
Individual Companions - This should be all about improving the players stats only (currently covered by aug companions)
Group Companions - companions that provide useful buffs to the group your in. Say everyone gets HP or Power or a constant Group Regen or heal (the possibilities here are nice because you could have a companion boosting every stat) and people would collect them.
Combat Companions - Their focus is on what you are fighting and they give better damage returns or de-buffs then what is currently offered. This is why people don't buy companions much. If faced with having an aug companion that raises my overall damage output by 20% why would I use a pet that might only do 10% of my damage?? I'd be handicapping myself.
If companions had skills that buffed your group, or greatly debuffed a boss (better then what currently is offered) then people would look at getting them more seriously and then you guys would make tons of money selling them in the Zen shop. For example if there was a boss that used lighting attacks and there was a companion that greatly reduced the damage you take from lighting attacks or negated it all together, I'd certainly get that companion because I could clearly see how this companion can help me beat a boss. When the lines are blurry and you can't see how a companion helps you, this is why people do not buy or collect companions.
Personally, I think it would be cool if you could merge 2 companions into 1 and get different outcomes based on the levels and companions you're merging.
1. Have you purchased a Companion? Why? (Gold Currency and Content Pack Companions Excluded)
I bought a stone for my TR with zen (20$), and i have bought two cats for 830000 AD each
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Companions outside augments are useless. They aggro mobs unnecessarily, they die easily, they do no damage, they have no controlling effects, etc... If a non-augment was over 100k AD I wouldn't waste time on it.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
Non augment - somewhere around 100,000 AD. They exist solely to look cool and have limited utility
Augment - somewhere around 900,000 AD seems practical, but i suppose i would save and go higher if i had to
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
Non augment - why waste AD on something that is virtually useless anyway? I could spend my diamonds on something that is useful
Augments - I'm not sure. The stone of might from 20 to 25 probably is, the rest, I am not sure.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Absolutely nothing. Companions are for a) looking cool and b) helping you solo. All the good content in this game is 5-man so why take one with me? I'd rather have the stat boost so i can do my job more effectively.
Not really complaining here
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
No, they are too expensive, and you have to buy them for every toon. Not account wide.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Cost, especially for the fact everyone believes non-augment pets are useless at high levels. Also, not enough variety of healer companions.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
5.00 for a non epic. 10.00 for an epic. Augment or non-augment. If they are available account wide, I'd be willing to pay twice that.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
No, the upgrade prices are huge and AD is hard to come by. If I have multiple pets, and alts, how will I ever upgrade anything to epic? Too hard to make AD. I was a ranger is WoW, and collected every pet there is, so I would love to see this improved. 200-300k to go from white to purple would be nice. 1 million+, when I can buy a cat for less (and its a better pet)? Sorry no. Please make this accessible.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
Non-augment pets need to survive better. Of course if it was reasonable in cost to upgrade all pets to epic level that could help with the surviving, but even epic pets die too easily.
Additional Comments:
Companions have a lot of promise, but unless its a cleric or a cat (at endgame), most people won't use them. Would love to see more of a variety of healing companions, and see all companions buffed in general. Right now they seem like Costumes, only there for visual flavor, and therefore not something I'm really willing to spend cash on.
Answer The Raven's Call : Featured Quest NW-DJCDSG3R9 Daily Eligible
Knowing that there will be added new companions all the time and the fact that I will have to pay for a slot if I have more than 3 companions and later on I will have to buy idle slots as well.
I'm not buying any more non augment companions. In game price for augment price is to high 500K should be max.
Zen prices would maybe had been ok if they came with their own companion slot.
Prices are way to high, you can buy a companion that's already that lvl for the prices it cost.
All companions should be cosmetics and cost the same. You then buy upgrades for them for a very reduced price and you also buy the stat set you want on them.
It's nice to see that this is being though about because I find it hard to see any future for the companions.
It will not take long before every regular player will only have the stone and/or the cat, the others are simply not useful enough.
I have bought one of the acolytes of kelemvor as a gift for my roommate, who wanted to try one, but was going through a bit of a rough patch, so I wanted to be nice. I've never bought one for myself.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
While they look neat, they aren't even close to worth the price for one item for one single character that is only marginally useful. I'm good with most of the prices on the zen store, except companions. There's so very very little value for the cost, even cosmetically.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
Considering that it's only for one companion for one character, I wouldn't spend more than $10 (US), maybe $15 if one is particularly interesting/fun (not necessarily powerful, but at least reasonable). This is for both augment and non-augments. While augment companions are currently favored, I think that both need to be almost equally useful.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
Not even bleeping close. They're too ridiculously expensive. Even just upgrading blue companions to purple costs upwards of $25 or more at current exchange rates. Going from white all the way to purple would be prohibitive, to say the least, costing more than the most expensive zen market companions. Additionally, the benefits of upgrading are not that great for everybody. just an extra cosmetic option or two, barely improved stats, and rank 30 passives, which may or may not be helpful for everybody. Word is that they still die just as easily as lower quality companions.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
I admit, I have not personally gotten an augment companion to compare, but I read/hear about this all the time. It sounds to me like non-augments need improvement to be competitive, and I can think of a few ways that would help. First, survivability. due to a combination of low stats and really bad AI, companions get killed far too easily and often. I've even watched as my healer and ranged companions run into melee range, especially when those red circles appear, as if they are trying to get killed. Second, ability. the damage/tankiness/healiness of the current companions don't need to be as good as real players, but they are pretty lacking and could all stand to be buffed at least a little bit.
Additional Comments:
During group play, I don't really care how good companions are, because we have other players to (theoretically) do all the jobs of the companions, making them pretty much irrelevant except for augments. During solo play, though, that's when companions really need to shine. defender companions really need to be able to grab aggro and take hits. healer companions should be able to at least keep up with the damage of a few standard mobs. I can understand not letting them heal boss level fights very well, but there should at least be enough that they make some kind of noticeable impact. strikers/controllers also just need to feel like they're really contributing.
I played STO for years before this came out, and I'd love to see a lot of the functionality of their bridge officers come to companions in here, since they are so similar in concept. Specifically, some basic commands would be great, like stand here, or attack. It would add to a defender companion's usefulness in particular if I could send it in to attack first. Also, I like how in STO, you could earn points that could be used to tweak the companions' abilities and improve them, or at least reduce the cooldowns on them. Something like that here could let us prioritize what our companions could do better, and give us a better sense of development on them. Lastly, I'd love some additional possible tweaks to companion cosmetic options. I like the way higher ranks open up more HAMSTER looks, but I would also like some other smaller options, like more choices of head, or even a full set of character-builder sliders for the body/face, like STO has for BOs. And maybe give them a dye slot or something for color customization. I want my companions to stand out!
PS- it's silly watching companions run along behind me when I'm mounted. Can we get a way for them to not look so silly, like letting them mount up as well, either on their own mounts or on mine? at least for the companions that would apply to, anyway. animal companions are probably fine as they are, some of them, anyway.
I have purchased a cat (after price reduction) for my sole character who has reached level 60. I will acquire augment pets for other characters as they also reach 60. I also sprang for the tiefling cleric promo, which all characters on the account can use from level 4.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Cost, by a long shot. Also, the fact that each is per-character really discourages trying them out, as a particular companion may not be very good with one character but shine with another. I like experimenting, but you can't even easily check the Zen store companions out risk-free on preview.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
Account unlocks, I would be fine with price structuring bringing them in line with mounts. Per-character, probably not more than $10, and that would have to be something pretty amazing. Maybe $15 for an augment. Maybe.
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
Absolutely not. Players want to upgrade their companions, but it's completely unaffordable for people levelling and/or doing solo PvE who get a lot of use out of their non-augments (even the common ones), and people who could afford the current prices view it as a huge waste of ADs they could be spending on better enchantments, etc.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
In a functional party, I'm not sure that this will ever change, as the supporting role a companion plays while soloing should be filled by your teammates, and an augment makes you a better support for your teammates. For solo play, companions simply need better AI, or possibly a basic system to assign them offensive/defensive scripts. They need to not stand in red zones, and the ranged/squishy companions need to not go nose-to-nose with big monsters.
Additional Comments:
I have one character that I've been happy to turn into a bit of a pet collector, but I've drawn the line so far at companions I can acquire without sacrificing huge amounts of currency needed for other things.
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
Yes. I have bought the Cleric of Kelemvor and the Ioun Stone of Allure.
2. What factor prevents you from buying companions the most?
Majority of companions are Combat Pets and therefore don't properly have a place in endgame dungeons.
3. What is the most you would spend on a companion? Augment and Non-Augment.
2000-2500 ZEN
4. Do you feel like the upgrade prices are appropriate? Why?
Haven't commited to the prices because of the lack of use for combat companions in endgame.
5. Most players feel that Augments are far superior to Non-Augment Companions, what could be done to improve this situation?
1.) Companions should self rez after 5sec of being downed. ((A player is more then likely not gonna take the time to rez his pet mid Dragon fight)).
2.) Companions need a passive that allows them to mitigate so much % of AoEs. Companions will never pump out the damage or function like a player so beefing them up with mitigation won't throw off any balance.
EDIT: I think Augments was a poor choice to add into the game. Before game came out I was hesitate to agree to everyone have a pet then after beta I was convinced its ok. Now that there are pets that just greatly increase you stats its made it so you have an Augment or you don't use a companion.
NOTE: I almost did NOT buy these companions, the deciding factor was the ability to spend Astral Diamonds to unbind them and pass them between my alts.
Stated above: the fact that they are CHARACTER-BOUND and now that the the ability to unbind them (make them transferrable) was intentionally removed (the ability was intentionally there, but broken) - means they are way too expensive.
I've made Z-Store purchases, buying your (Cryptic Studios) expansion packs (Hero of the North, Knight of Feywild, Legacy of Romulus) among a regular monthly spending habit - for four years steady, on a regular basis. However, the current state of Neverwinter Z-Store pricing and specs (account-bound versus character-bound, etc) and this Companion status "SNAFU" and caused me to lock away my wallet.
I will continue to spend in the Champions and Star Trek Z-Stores, but refuse to spend any more Zen in Neverwinter Z-Store until pricing is better balanced (as compared to STO and CO Z-Stores, for example). I invite anyone from Cryptic to PM me and we can have a telephone or email conversation about this if desired (I am in Washington State/Pacific time zone) - I know better than to hold my breath on that, though.
For an Account-Bound companion (like the Panther, Wolf and Sylph that come in the packs) the EXISTING prices are fair (were they Z-Store available as an example).
For a Character-bound companions (the way they are right now) not a single Zen Point more than 1000 for a Purple-level companion. (I make this judgement based on the actual usefulness of these Companion AI - they aren't *that* useful, to be frank about it).
TL;DR easy-to read version:
Character-bound versions:
Z1000 for Purple
Z750 for Blue
Z500 for Green
Not a single Z Point more
Account-bound versions:
Existing prices are fair. (I'd buy another Galeb Dhur this very moment if this were the case. But, alas, I'll keep my money this time around.)
If you mean the in-game Astral Diamond cost to upgrade a quality level?
Srsly: not "no", but "hell no".
Will. Not. Do. it.
I disagree - the only benefit of an "Augment" companion is that they almost never "die" (and stop working). This is the only, singular, most ballyhooed benefit.
To "equalize" benefits of Companions, either give the AI companions more hit point and have them "act" more quickly or cause the Augments to stop working when a player's hit points drop to 50% or something.
Here's the problem with Companions the way I see it:
Why would I want one at all (any of them, even the white in-game versions)?
Because some of the combat in solo environments is ridiculously out of balance. Without the companion and playing solo some of these Bosses are too over-powered /or/ there are too many adds. Case in point: Jethro Grymm (or whatever the Boss Pirate's name is) - I've played that solo dungeon on my fifth character just the day before yesterday. Still had to respawn twice.
Companions are practically useless because they are too stupid and too slow. My Panther, Man at Arms, Cleric, Honey Badger, Sylph, Dog, Amphora (whatever: the burning bird I got from a lockbox) are all too slow. They attack the same bad guy I'm attacking and I usually kill them before the Companion reacts for the first time (dumbass Panther leaps onto a corpse as he attacks).
The one and only companion I purchased that I love is my Galeb Dhur. Why? Because he take aggro of the Boss (allowing me to handle the adds) and he's a purple Quality. But because he's character-bound I'll never buy another one. Ever. If the price drops to Z1000 for him, then I will - MAYBE.
Z-Store companions, as character-bound items, are ridiculously over-priced.
There's my too sense. Cryptic can take it or leave it.
As for Z-Store Companions: I intend to leave it unless they go account-bound or the price drops drastically.
P.S. Have a close look at my billing history and purchase logs. You'll discover I am your target customer: someone who hangs around a long time and spends a lot of Z-Store money on a regular basis. But the simple fact is that the Neverwinter Z-Store Companions pricing-to-availability (account-bound versus character-bound) scenario has me outright miffed.