Creature companions, in the grand scheme of things, are a new thing for DDO. It would stand to reason that we may not have been fully prepared for their creation when we initiated them as a way of adding extra value/profit.

DDO initially allowed 2 summons per person, but this was revoked to help with lag when lag had become too severe to handle. Unfortunately, the issue isn't as easily remedied in the case of creature companions, as people have spent real-life money to get these in many cases...

What do you think could be a potential fix that wouldn't upset players as much as completely removing them?

I personally think a "time-out" effect could be placed on creature companions similar to summoned pets, so that if someone's not actually playing, their pet isn't adding to the lag load. Or, if someone doesn't actually want their pet out, but leaves it out anyway, it also wouldn't add to the lag load if it times out.

How long of a "time-out" effect do you think would be both fair, and yet effective for the purpose of reducing lag? Or perhaps the pets should un-summon whenever you enter a quest/raid?

10 minutes? 20? 30? Less/more?

Please share your thoughts.