A gripe with companions...

[Daswolfen]

blizz is a tank. A tank can't tank for very long without a healer :P

Blizz would probably be my favourite companion if I went healer spec. Or gault, depending on if I was killing AoE packs or a single tough mob.

Thats why I love my Sith Sorcerer (I love the IA story, but the Sith Sorcerer is way more fun to play). I still have some healing abilities even though I am lightning spec. I haven't played bounty hunter so I don't know if they have some base healing skills without speccing into the tree, but you are correct, to use a tank companion correctly, you need heals. I use Khem Val (at least until I get the Xalek... I am on Voss now) and with proper timing of healing and shielding, I am able to do a lot of heroic2 missions solo.

[Shamburger]

I've always been double DPS on my sorc as soon as I was able. Andronikos was alright but it really started to shine when I got Ashara. For lack of better words, me and her just, Blow. Shit. Up. Shields is usually enough to keep her alive until everything is dead.

[Duncanîdaho]

I notice the companion AI is kind of lacking at some points if your not watching them, although it has been getting better with patches.

For example, my healer companion will use his channeled 10 second carbon freeze CC on a mob that is immune. Not healing me for 10 seconds, every 30 seconds. Or my dps companions will switch targets sometimes rather then burn someone down. Just some advice to make sure your watching them like hawks and not letting them just do what they want all the time. They will do stupid things that will get the both of you killed sometimes.

[towelywarrior]

I went merc heals, and i found that it took to long to kill stuff with myself and mako. i currently use skadge and torian for dailies and what not, let them tank or kill stuff, and i just heal. Have been able to solo some mob/group heroics that other combos couldnt.

[Lord Blackmore]

I completely disagree on that. i can count on one hand the number of times I actually used Doc. He is actually completely unnecessary. Just gear up Kira properly for DPS and you have no issues at all. Properly rotate your cooldowns on harder mobs and Doc isn't even necessary.

Different people have different playstyles. I prefer having a pocket healer, as it makes it easier to kill hard things by kiting, LOS and now worrying about having to heal myself. Works quite well for me.

Also of note, I actually love coming across random Imps in the world who have a healer. I just pop a c/d, tell Kira to attack the companion and I attack the companion as well. Once that healer is dead, the Imp doesn't stand a chance.

That makes sense in a pvp situation. Always kill the healer first.

[Valeron]

As a jedi sentinal i always used Kira ( dps ). Double dps kills stuff so fast, used doc once ( whenn you get forced to ) ran back to kira as soon as i could.

I much prefer Kira on my sentinel as well. Only time I use Doc is on elites.

[ZeroWashu]

My issue is that I cannot choose who I have as a companion. Half of them I would not even pick up if given a choice, they simply become mission bait. The its so obvious a single player game wrapped in MMO clothes is that mirror classes don't get similar companions at each stage nor at the same rate. So when you play one side and bounce to the other it really shows just how much having the right companion can make a class feel great whereas having a so so companion makes it a chore.

and there really isn't a gear issue with companions, some are just more fragile. Hell they can have 2k more health than me but they don't seem to have defensive bonuses or the like

[derpkitteh]

I said it before, i'll say it again

we should be able to chose the role that our companion performs So that we can quest with what ever companion we want.

if we want a dps, we can pay a fee to respec them to dps, if we want a healer, the same. and so on.

i'd love this. i want to run around with kira, jaesa, and ashara, but i can't because i feel weak, if i could make them all healers it would be amazing.

[Valeron]

What I'd love is some sort of tactic option for the companions. We could set a priority system for them. Like in the Dragon Age 2 game.

[syn1k]

My issue is that I cannot choose who I have as a companion. Half of them I would not even pick up if given a choice, they simply become mission bait. The its so obvious a single player game wrapped in MMO clothes is that mirror classes don't get similar companions at each stage nor at the same rate. So when you play one side and bounce to the other it really shows just how much having the right companion can make a class feel great whereas having a so so companion makes it a chore.

and there really isn't a gear issue with companions, some are just more fragile. Hell they can have 2k more health than me but they don't seem to have defensive bonuses or the like

they took companion defensive bonuses out in the beta. apparently having a useful tank was op.

[Revik]

they took companion defensive bonuses out in the beta. apparently having a useful tank was op.

You don't really need it. With a tank companion you can load balance the damage through taunts. I am a shield spec vanguard and I use my tank companion 4X. We kill stuff so much faster than if I were to use my healer companion. For the most part I have been able to kill all gold mobs bosses without the need for my healer. Load balancing the damage rotating through tank cooldowns and we both walk away with ~70% life.

I think the issue mostly is that some companions need some micromanaging while other companions (healer companions especially) don't need any kind of intervention on the part of the player to be 100% effective.

[Deleted]

I notice the companion AI is kind of lacking at some points if your not watching them, although it has been getting better with patches.

For example, my healer companion will use his channeled 10 second carbon freeze CC on a mob that is immune. Not healing me for 10 seconds, every 30 seconds. Or my dps companions will switch targets sometimes rather then burn someone down. Just some advice to make sure your watching them like hawks and not letting them just do what they want all the time. They will do stupid things that will get the both of you killed sometimes.

You can turn off certain companion abilities - for example I turned off all Mako's offensive abilities

[Styxz]

You're using viable wrong i think...

All the comps are viable, meaning they have their niche and fill their roles well when geared.

However, some are better depending on ur role as a player. For example, as a dps player, healer comps are optimal for minimum downtime Though a dps comp is still viable, meaning you can still beat the single player with them, but there could be more downtime.