A waste of Developer time.... Companions

[Riddikulus]

Not every new addition to the game is going to be super-powerful at all levels. The Iron Companion line is meant primarily to be an aid to lower level solo players and as a benefit for roleplayers.

Rusty's deadly in those kobold and troglodyte dungeons. Sure, he doesn't keep up in Gianthold, but calling him useless would hurt his feelings, if he had any.

IMO the only problem with Rusty (and all his friends) is that they spew grease which affects yourself and party members in addition to the mobs.

Then it becomes a game of who has the better balance check.

I'm sure a cleric capable of casting FOM (or other class that can scroll it) could use Rusty to good effect, but to most people it is more trouble than it's worth.

I had it for exactly the 3 day period it took to re-respec my enhancements.

[Klattuu]

Not every new addition to the game is going to be super-powerful at all levels. The Iron Companion line is meant primarily to be an aid to lower level solo players and as a benefit for roleplayers.

Rusty's deadly in those kobold and troglodyte dungeons. Sure, he doesn't keep up in Gianthold, but calling him useless would hurt his feelings, if he had any.

I know he sure helps my Rogue with soloing or in situations where he is off on his own in an adventure as it allows him to get a few sneak attacks in which is where he is most powerful in combat. The iron companion works best at higher levels as a distraction.

[Kisaragi]

some emotes for our pets. I personally thought it'd be great if we could ride our pets instead of walking. I used this example before but...

An earth golem carrying the wizard/sorcerer above their head like a plate of food in a restaurant. The wizard stays out of melee range, and they have to take out the golem to get to the caster.

Yes I know that one would take combat scripting to accomplish but what about simple ones?

/Petreactfear - Your pet cowers in fear from you.
/Petfetch - Your pet goes to follow/stand near the target
/Pethungry - Your pet eats an object it's standing near, only it reappears a moment later.
/Petdance - Rock out with the Grateful Summoned Undead.
/Petspeak '' - Your pet says what you type.
/petroar - Your pet roars at an object and moves into an attacks stance.
/petname - Change the name of your pet
/petdismiss - Unsummons your pet.


Ultimately I'd love to be able to have pets follow me around town, named, and able to 'talk' using what I typed, but I know that might be difficult.

[DZX]

Oh how the companion quickly died it's twitching death.
It was a good idea initially. That a WF or Repair mechanic could create an iron, steel or mithril defender as a pet.

But...
Nobody really liked them from the beginning.

Now..... you practically fall of you chair laughing when someone summons one.

It's hard to believe that developers actually spent time on a grease spewing pet that more often bugged out and sat there.

I guess I'm just irritated that THIS kind of thing is what developers are spending their time on.

Spending time? They already had the animation and creatures in the game. All they needed to do was adjust stats and link it to an ability (yes I am simplifying it) I bet that took very little time overall. Find something else worth nitpicking about.

[Khestral]

It already has one emote...

/petplaydead

I love it when Greasepup gets summoned when I am tanking... I laugh so hard at the falling and trying to hit things... but I have a quirky sense of humor.

(I also as the caster or cleric to recall first so I can fight their pet so he may die an honorable death)

[Sigmoid]

I got Rusty as a first level halfling sorcerer. It's actually better than summon monster (doesn't take spell slot), lasts longer (5 minutes per rest), and allows me to solo things I couldn't with all the agro on me. Including the missing ward on hard. So if used right, can help.

[Symar-FangofLloth]

I love my drow scorpion . Of course, that's a CR 10 pet and still holds it's own in gianthold. But I might take the defender on my wf rogue when I get enough AP to do it. Still only level 2 on that one.

[Jacoby]

I guess I can agree here but it is a D&D concept. The problem is, this game has been so far nerfed from actual D&D to one extreme or another that when they introduce a new concept of the game it tends to be greatly under or overpowered. They just have nerfed up the companions yet...

[blakbyrd]

Not every new addition to the game is going to be super-powerful at all levels. The Iron Companion line is meant primarily to be an aid to lower level solo players and as a benefit for roleplayers.

Rusty's deadly in those kobold and troglodyte dungeons. Sure, he doesn't keep up in Gianthold, but calling him useless would hurt his feelings, if he had any.

This is where I don't quite get it. Feats dont just grow on trees and many classes are very limited in the ones they can get. Typically it is very expensive to exchange a feat later on as well. Why produce a feat that is intended to really only be of any use at low level then, only to become a waste of a feat later on when it becomes extremely expensive to change? All other feats that I can recall have the usefulness from the beginning to the end game, yet this particular one, you are stating is really only useful at low levels, when a feat is quite an important thing to choose wisely. If the defenders scaled along with the character level that would be different but the apparently do not and appear to become nothing more than a way to take a feat away from a character later on, until the are either lucky or rich enough to change it.

I am not really complaining, as it's something I would never waste a feat on, but as to the importance of feats, the addition of the defenders seems to go against the whole purpose of what having feats are for.

[Riddikulus]

This is where I don't quite get it. Feats dont just grow on trees and many classes are very limited in the ones they can get. Typically it is very expensive to exchange a feat later on as well. Why produce a feat that is intended to really only be of any use at low level then, only to become a waste of a feat later on when it becomes extremely expensive to change?

Companions are enhancements. They can be reset for a modest fee once every 3 days.

[Spell]

Companions are enhancements. They can be reset for a modest fee once every 3 days.

So, by Eladrin's comment, they are gearing the game towards constantly exchanging enhancements. I'm all for letting us respec characters when a new mod changes the rules on us, but the game has gotten absurd with the ability to change/tweak feats & enhancements. Especially when a favor reward is a dragon shard. But I digress.

[Riddikulus]

So, by Eladrin's comment, they are gearing the game towards constantly exchanging enhancements. I'm all for letting us respec characters when a new mod changes the rules on us, but the game has gotten absurd with the ability to change/tweak feats & enhancements. Especially when a favor reward is a dragon shard. But I digress.

Yeah, I saw that too.

With HSinclair gone I think Eladrin has been going to town on the enhancement system... and as a result it is moving toward needing to do a reset every level up.

[Eladrin]

So, by Eladrin's comment, they are gearing the game towards constantly exchanging enhancements. I'm all for letting us respec characters when a new mod changes the rules on us, but the game has gotten absurd with the ability to change/tweak feats & enhancements. Especially when a favor reward is a dragon shard. But I digress.

I'm not quite sure how my comment that the Iron Companion enhancements are primarily geared towards low level characters can be construed as embracing constantly changing your enhancements. It's more along the lines of admitting that Rusty's not quite as valuable at level 14 as level 3.

I've attempted to add more variety in the enhancement system to provide more tools for diversifying characters. Paladins and Clerics can choose a faith, Rogues and Bards can choose specializations... Expect more of that to come in the future.

I see feats as long-term character choices, and enhancements as more mutable, but one of our desires is to avoid a "forced enhancement respec every time you level". Once an update? Maybe, if a new enhancement came out that interests you... But that means we came out with something interesting, so that's good!

I do think that enhancements are something people are likely to be more willing to experiment with; that's one reason the respec of them is relatively cheap.

[Hendrik]

I'm not quite sure how my comment that the Iron Companion enhancements are primarily geared towards low level characters can be construed as embracing constantly changing your enhancements. It's more along the lines of admitting that Rusty's not quite as valuable at level 14 as level 3.

I've attempted to add more variety in the enhancement system to provide more tools for diversifying characters. Paladins and Clerics can choose a faith, Rogues and Bards can choose specializations... Expect more of that to come in the future.

I see feats as long-term character choices, and enhancements as more mutable, but one of our desires is to avoid a "forced enhancement respec every time you level". Once an update? Maybe, if a new enhancement came out that interests you... But that means we came out with something interesting, so that's good!

I do think that enhancements are something people are likely to be more willing to experiment with; that's one reason the respec of them is relatively cheap.

And how! The more things you add to enhancements the more I find myself playing around with different combo's. Right now playing with a new Bard and loving the new enhancements for them. I cannot wait til I get more XP and play more with the enhancements!

IMO, what Heather did with the new enhancement system is THE greatest thing done to DDO. Keep her work alive and keep adding to it!

[Fallout]

I do think that enhancements are something people are likely to be more willing to experiment with; that's one reason the respec of them is relatively cheap.

What about respecs that cost more? We can change enhacements. We can change feats. Why can't we change attributes? Pay a big cost for that. Say you change a feat out, but some feats require attribute preqs. You change the feats, but still stuck with the attribute you put in for the preqs. If you allow feat change, then should allow attribute change.

[parvo]

I'm not quite sure how my comment that the Iron Companion enhancements are primarily geared towards low level characters can be construed as embracing constantly changing your enhancements. It's more along the lines of admitting that Rusty's not quite as valuable at level 14 as level 3.

I've attempted to add more variety in the enhancement system to provide more tools for diversifying characters. Paladins and Clerics can choose a faith, Rogues and Bards can choose specializations... Expect more of that to come in the future.

I see feats as long-term character choices, and enhancements as more mutable, but one of our desires is to avoid a "forced enhancement respec every time you level". Once an update? Maybe, if a new enhancement came out that interests you... But that means we came out with something interesting, so that's good!

I do think that enhancements are something people are likely to be more willing to experiment with; that's one reason the respec of them is relatively cheap.

The companion was a good idea. Having Grease affect friendlies when almost every other AoE effect doesn't, is a bad idea. So, Eladrin, you're cool but the spell affect dev isn't

[binnsr]

The companion was a good idea. Having Grease affect friendlies when almost every other AoE effect doesn't, is a bad idea. So, Eladrin, you're cool but the spell affect dev isn't

What'll be fun is when fireball, firewall, etc. affect us -- you won't thank the caster for his max/emp firewall then

[Sue_Dark]

The companion was a good idea. Having Grease affect friendlies when almost every other AoE effect doesn't, is a bad idea. So, Eladrin, you're cool but the spell affect dev isn't

Grease is one of the most fun spells out there, tho most of my Characters no longer are in danger of falling prey to it's wiley charms. I dont carry clickies, cause at one point my guild leader threatened to boot me from guild if i ever greased him off Velah's perch again.....

[Katrina]

I'm not quite sure how my comment that the Iron Companion enhancements are primarily geared towards low level characters can be construed as embracing constantly changing your enhancements. It's more along the lines of admitting that Rusty's not quite as valuable at level 14 as level 3.

I've attempted to add more variety in the enhancement system to provide more tools for diversifying characters. Paladins and Clerics can choose a faith, Rogues and Bards can choose specializations... Expect more of that to come in the future.

I see feats as long-term character choices, and enhancements as more mutable, but one of our desires is to avoid a "forced enhancement respec every time you level". Once an update? Maybe, if a new enhancement came out that interests you... But that means we came out with something interesting, so that's good!

I do think that enhancements are something people are likely to be more willing to experiment with; that's one reason the respec of them is relatively cheap.

I'm extreamly appreciative that they're so cheep to swap out and experiment with. It's way too easy to select the wrong enhancement line with a two year old on your lap mashing the keyboard.....

[Mad_Bombardier]

The companion was a good idea. Having Grease affect friendlies when almost every other AoE effect doesn't, is a bad idea. So, Eladrin, you're cool but the spell effect dev isn't

Eladrin is the Developer for spells, too.