That sounds really...spiteful. If my LI got killed, yours should be, too. Not a great argument. And that aside, the kill option has to make sense from a story standpoint. I'm sorry, but that just doesn't exist in the case of Lana, no matter how much some people dislike her. Maybe she'll betray the commander in the future, but until now she hasn't done anything other than mildly creep out a handful of people for dubious reasons, allegedly hang around too much, and give advice considered questionable. Those aren't killable offenses unless you're the darkest, wackiest Sith ever. Reasons to not want to be best friends with someone, sure, but not to pull the trigger.

 

Anyway, can we please punt the "Let's Kill Lana!" fury back over to its own thread? This thread is about giving ALL companions more screen time--a worthy goal that I'm sure you can agree with.

Your bias is showing pretty heavily there, insisting people have no legitimate reason to want to get rid of Lana. The character might not have done anything worthy of death/dismissal from your perspective, but that's not true for everyone. Hell, in this story patch those who chose to side with the Republic apparently found out the SIS had been trying to contact the Alliance Commander and Lana hadn't been letting the messages go through and didn't tell your Outlander about them! That's pretty disturbing. It would definitely be worth a "Sorry, I can't trust you anymore, please leave" dismissal for a lot of toons, and possibly a murder from some of the more paranoid and violent protagonists.

As far as bringing up the 'kill/get rid of Lana' subject goes, blame the troll.

Your bias is showing pretty heavily there, insisting people have no legitimate reason to want to get rid of Lana. The character might not have done anything worthy of death/dismissal from your perspective, but that's not true for everyone. Hell, in this story patch those who chose to side with the Republic apparently found out the SIS had been trying to contact the Alliance Commander and Lana hadn't been letting the messages go through and didn't tell your Outlander about them! That's pretty disturbing. It would definitely be worth a "Sorry, I can't trust you anymore, please leave" dismissal for a lot of toons, and possibly a murder from some of the more paranoid and violent protagonists.

Okaaaaay...I guess it takes more to convince me to kill someone or send them out to pasture than you. But I still think you're mostly motivated by the argument that "My LI got killed, so yours should too." And that ain't a great look.

Okaaaaay...I guess it takes more to convince me to kill someone or send them out to pasture than you. But I still think you're mostly motivated by the argument that "My LI got killed, so yours should too." And that ain't a great look.

All I said is that if kill/dismiss options for LIs are a thing, then it shouldn't only happen to some LIs and not all LIs but one. Honestly I'd much prefer if there were no kill/dismiss options for LI companions period, but axing everyone except one single dev favorite companion only engenders resentment in large parts of the player base, as we've seen here on the forums. It's worse than kill options for all--and kill options for all, I repeat, is a very bad thing. It's basically picking the lesser of two evils in my book.

But again, as you said, this thread is about talking about more companion interactions overall, which I definitely support. I'd like to move away from The Lana Variety Hour and have more of an ensemble cast again like the early days of the Alliance storyline.

Very classy of you to go out of your way to insult and upset other people on a subject where emotions are already running high. I admit, I took the bait. Hope you're proud of yourself. The fact you won't even apologize for trolling and making a tense situation worse for giggles tells me everything I need to know about you.

You may think of me what you want, I realy don't care. Though you have the right to be pi***d and i don't hold it against you.

I hate how the most vocal Space Waifu Lana fans insist anyone who isn't also in love with Lana is either a kill all the things edgelord or a homophobe..

Can't remember me doing such a thing at any time.

I don't like kill options for LIs; I agree they were a horrible idea and I wish the devs could retcon them all out of existence and give people some proper companion interactions again. That said, if they're going to be a thing, I think it's a hell of a lot more fair for all LIs to have a kill option rather than for most LIs to have a kill option (and vanish from the story afterwards) while a lucky few dev favorites remain immortal.

I understand your reasoning, though i think your conclusion is fundamentally wrong. Destroying someone elses sandcastle because a bully just destroyed yours has nothing to do with fairness. Repeating a wrong doing doesn't set things right.

The fair thing would be to give other LIs the same screentime as Lana is getting, not bricking Lana too. But with the limited ressources of SWTOR and thanks to the incredible short sighted and dumb kill options we only have Lana, Gault and T7 left for sure. The devs have to decide how to invest the limited ressources in a most effective way, not because they love Lana so much but because they catered to people who insisted on having Therons head for his supposed betrayal. Using Lana as main NPC allows them to cover a main LI and story voice acting with a single voice actor (or 3 if you take the different game clients into account)

Using any other companion would mean to reallocate ressources and money towards content, some players may not even see. We witnessed the result in 5.10: What could have been a longer story was cut into half because the community wanted seperated story lines for empire and republic.

Until SWTOR gets more ressources the devs options are very limited. They can stick to Lana as main NPC + LI and cover the rest with ingame mails or they brick her too, introduce new NPCs and stay away from further kill options. There is no money for a middleground because the middleground, even if it'd be just 30 seconds for every LI, would result in tremendous costs at the expense of actual story content. Everything the devs include comes at the cost of something else, that's how it is right now. And everything has to be done 3 times (english, german and french game client, tripeling the cost for a single piece of voice acting)

This is about business vs creative decisions and from a business point of view including NPCs with kill options makes no sense at all. It'd be a waste of money because every scene had to be created in different versions with different NPCs.

I wish we'd get more LI content, but instead enough people call for more LGBTQ options for old companions. So the devs are doing just that, again at the cost of content for already existing LIs that might have gotten their own sunset scene. But instead Jaessa now confesses towards a female Sith warrior, i hope it was worth it, while our smugglers continue dreaming about what their beloved Risha might be doing right now during this glorious sunset on Odessen.

And untill you want 6.0 to be a single LI expansion where every character is getting 10 minutes with their LI but then only a 15 minute fetch and retrieve quest to play, the other LIs will stay bricked until EA allows the reallocation of money and personal towards SWTOR. That's the sad reality

All I said is that if kill/dismiss options for LIs are a thing, then it shouldn't only happen to some LIs and not all LIs but one. Honestly I'd much prefer if there were no kill/dismiss options for LI companions period, but axing everyone except one single dev favorite companion only engenders resentment in large parts of the player base, as we've seen here on the forums. It's worse than kill options for all--and kill options for all, I repeat, is a very bad thing. It's basically picking the lesser of two evils in my book.

 

But again, as you said, this thread is about talking about more companion interactions overall, which I definitely support. I'd like to move away from The Lana Variety Hour and have more of an ensemble cast again like the early days of the Alliance storyline.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree about what's the lesser of two evils. But I do love my Theron, Torian, and other lost companions, so I'm all for the campaign to see more of them. Whatever Bioware can do to bring companions back into the fold, I support it.

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree about what's the lesser of two evils. But I do love my Theron, Torian, and other lost companions, so I'm all for the campaign to see more of them. Whatever Bioware can do to bring companions back into the fold, I support it.

That's how I feel and why I made this thread I know the Lana hate is spilling over into here (I knew it would by page two lol!) and I love Lana myself (as someone who is the L part of LGBTQ) but I'm also someone who started out hating Theron and grew to adore him by the end of the Traitor Arc. He's now one of my favorite characters, and he got the ol' Kill Option and his one line of dialogue makes me sad. I also love Senya, she's probably disappeared forever along with Arcann (and if THAT'S all they can come up with for the ladies and dudes that wanted to romance him, well... meh. Just meh.)

I just think the devs need to understand how much these companions are valued by the players, and try their best to give something to everyone, as the forums show players are going full dark side over this issue lol!

Of course it's *possible*. It isn't feasible. (That is, the cost is unreasonably high.)

 

OP also hasn't addressed a key point: Are all these bits of content "side" elements? If Iresso, Aric, and Rusk are supposed to lead some block of troops *in the main storyline*, who leads those troops for non-Consulars (only Consulars get a return-alert for Iresso) who killed / rejected Aric *and* Rusk?

 

Also: why this insistence on turning *all* the companions "playersexual"? Even the pro-LGBT folks here acknowledge that some of them don't seem to suit that. I, personally, can't see Doc ever falling for a man, and I'd be really surprised and a little disappointed if we get a call from Kaliyo that runs like this:

 

Commanderess: Hey Kaliyo, what's up?

Kaliyo: You remember when I told you that head games are all I'm good for with women, and that I'm getting too old for head games?

Commanderess: Uh, yeah, what about it?

Kaliyo; Turns out I was wrong. Kiss me!

Commanderess: ...

 

Hugely out of character.

Hi That was just an example off the top of my head but I see the issue. I was thinking of stand-ins and branching paths similar to the final chapter of KOTET. If Senya & Arcann are alive, they go with you. If not, Lana & Theron come on that mission. They managed some small differences in players stories there and I do think they could manage it again.

Well as an LGBTQ person I'm probably being blinded by my own wants a bit lol. But some original companions would make sense with SGR I think, and bringing these characters back for a flirt option in the main story will give them relevancy again, thus a cut scene also for straight players, and everybody wins

I have so many freaking companions...who the hell could write a story for ALL of them? Who'd want to play a story for ALL of them? Even if I had to take each one on a different daily mission I'd go nuts...please NO....they're mindless pets...leave them as such. I don't want to pretend I have any connection to ALL of them...

Maybe not all then, just the love interests?

I just think they should utilize what they already have. They're already coming up with new characters, including a romanceable droid lol!

Maybe not all then, just the love interests?

 

I just think they should utilize what they already have. They're already coming up with new characters, including a romanceable droid lol!

That I agree with...bring our former companions back into play. I wonder if some of the choice to create new companions revolves around voice acting and paying less for lesser known talent?

Have you actually counted how many companions you have? And you expect all them to have relevant content in 6.0? You are a real optimist, I give you that. Though might want to check your expectations a bit, like, to a level of realism.

This companion galore was a big mistake if you ask me. I surely never wanted to have 50 companions, and I definitely have no use for them. I use one or two. I pimp up few just for crafting, and I don't bother even with that much anymore. My favorite got practically written out of the game already, and I honestly wouldn't mind if about 30 other companions would meet the same fate. I definitely don't want more of them, though I will again get one more mouth to feed without asking for it, because yes, I absolutely wanted to have one more useless companion as a reward. Not.

Edit: Actually all of my LI's have been written out of the game. So all my three LI's can be dead in other peoples games. That means they will never have relevant story content. They will never be part of the story in real sense. It is a real mess that has led to situation where companions are more bugged than an ant hill, no one soon knows what companion should be where or if they should even be alive. Someone should've stopped this train long ago.

Have you actually counted how many companions you have? And you expect all them to have relevant content in 6.0? You are a real optimist, I give you that. Though might want to check your expectations a bit, like, to a level of realism.

 

This companion galore was a big mistake if you ask me. I surely never wanted to have 50 companions, and I definitely have no use for them. I use one or two. I pimp up few just for crafting, and I don't bother even with that much anymore. My favorite got practically written out of the game already, and I honestly wouldn't mind if about 30 other companions would meet the same fate. I definitely don't want more of them, though I will again get one more mouth to feed without asking for it, because yes, I absolutely wanted to have one more useless companion as a reward. Not.

I'm the same. I only use 4 at most on each character, usually Lana, Theron, Senya (if she's alive) and Vette.

The fact that there are too many now is the reason I think they should refrain from going overboard with introducing like 10 new characters into the main storyline of 6.0, because you know they'll just end up in that huge companions list never to be used by 90% of players.

I'm the same. I only use 4 at most on each character, usually Lana, Theron, Senya (if she's alive) and Vette.

 

The fact that there are too many now is the reason I think they should refrain from going overboard with introducing like 10 new characters into the main storyline of 6.0, because you know they'll just end up in that huge companions list never to be used by 90% of players.

This is also why I wish they'd concentrate on giving more material to existing companions instead of bringing in new ones, as much as I'd like to see some new F/F romances. They don't even seem to have enough time/money/interest in maintaining the LIs they have now, and they want to pile more in?

I think the devs bit off way more than they could chew and now they've created a monster that they don't know how to control.

Creating one huge meandering story arc where they tried to fit in forty different companion stories, and making every player participate whether or not their character had ever met that companion, was a mistake.

I would have been happy with something much less ambitious. Like this:

Unfortunately I don't think they have the funds or staff to do this - but I wish they would. Everyone deserves to see their LI, and I miss hearing from some of the companions even if they aren't LIs.

 

Some lower-budget ways to maybe include LIs more, in the meantime:

 

- Someone mentioned a function like the Mass Effect scene where you can find your LI and have a kiss, hug or fade-to-black. No dialogue, or recycled dialogue.

 

- Letters. They need the staff to write these, but they are far less labor-intensive than cut scenes, and getting regular letters from a LI and maybe your old class companions would make you feel more engaged with them.

 

- Animating the LIs and other characters into existing cut scenes. Maybe if you saved Vette she's typing in the war room. Maybe your character is silently sitting around a table and playing sabacc with some of the friends they've saved.

 

- Small cut scenes like the ones they had in KOTFE and KOTET for the LIs. Thirty seconds, before battles, you see your LI and they wish you luck with a kiss. Again, could probably be accomplished with outttakes or existing dialogue re-tooled.

I just want my favorite companions to participate in my character's stories again - not in some huge main character way where they are forced upon every player of every class, but in small ways that make my story feel unique.

I want to be able to choose to have them by my side for most all story content.

I want to see them standing next to me in cut scenes, like they used to, even if they don't say a thing.

If they have a line or two here or there - a chance to give their option on my decisions, or comment on the landscape as we walk through it, that would be fantastic!

That's all I need! It's these little things that make them feel alive, and make my story feel like MY STORY, for each alt I play.

I know the devs wanted to satisfy the players who were asking for cross-class companions, and I think that could have been satisfied by one small alert quest (with a cut scene) that was entirely optional. (And limited the number of companions that could be cross-class to a select few.)

I would have preferred it if we were actually limited to a certain number of companions in total...so they can be a true crew on our ship again. If you had made us pick 8 or 10 or even 12 tops, that would have made each character's choices unique, my UI would be less overwhelming, and the choices we did make would have more impact.

Forcing all 40 companions (PLUS the numerous NEW ones) onto every class is what caused the game mechanic issues we are having now. I assume that back end work needed to be done to make companions accessible to all classes, but we lost so much in the process. Unique weapons and combat abilities, landscape comments, story affection gain, functioning facial customizations, working mouths when they speak -- and now we are dealing with the fallout. Bugs, bugs and more bugs.

I wish my companions could return to their former state of game mechanics.

And I would throw money at this game in a heartbeat for an expansion where companions could be a part of my story, exploration and questing experience like they used to.

I don't think they can do it for every single comp but they NEED to do it for the LI....

In my admittedly biased opinion LIs should definitely take priority. There are some non-LI companions I adore, too (I'm talking about you, Bowdaar), but if I had to choose who got attention from the devs, it would be the LIs. I never played a game with romantic interests and I've sadly enjoyed it too much. Once again, though, IoN's earlier low-budget suggestions for getting more companions involved are great ones. Bioware should take heed.

The number of companions and their storylines across factions and classes looks so convoluted now, that I dread the amount of time that the Charles and the devs are spending on them in 6.0.

Instead, I vote to scrap all non-cartel comps in 6.0. Make more Ossus-like planets, pvp maps, and operations. And work on the class meta. If you can't give us new classes, give us new specs for each class.

4.0 and 5.0 was ENOUGH story. Give us repeatable content.

In my admittedly biased opinion LIs should definitely take priority. There are some non-LI companions I adore, too (I'm talking about you, Bowdaar), but if I had to choose who got attention from the devs, it would be the LIs. I never played a game with romantic interests and I've sadly enjoyed it too much.

Yeah, it's sad to say it, but it's pretty clear any hope of ALL companions getting time in the spotlight will likely be in vain. There's just too many of them between the class companions, the KotFE/KotET companions, the Star Fortress companions, Shae and Nico from the subscriber rewards, and so on. The money and people they had to make that happen for the class stories are both long gone.

I have non-LI companions I love too (Teeseven is actually my favorite Knight companion, because T7 + Jedi = win!), but with numbers having to be narrowed down to make it feasible it seems reasonable to single out LI companions for attention over non-LI ones. They tend to inspire stronger emotions in players as a rule.

Yeah, it's sad to say it, but it's pretty clear any hope of ALL companions getting time in the spotlight will likely be in vain. There's just too many of them between the class companions, the KotFE/KotET companions, the Star Fortress companions, Shae and Nico from the subscriber rewards, and so on. The money and people they had to make that happen for the class stories are both long gone.

 

I have non-LI companions I love too (Teeseven is actually my favorite Knight companion, because T7 + Jedi = win!), but with numbers having to be narrowed down to make it feasible it seems reasonable to single out LI companions for attention over non-LI ones. They tend to inspire stronger emotions in players as a rule.

Agreed. The halcyon days of the vanilla story are gone, so when it comes to companions it's about finding a way to make the most players happy with the least amount of money spent. That probably means LIs have to come first. (But I too looooove T7--he's my top companion for my main JK. I was so pleased to get him back early on in KOTFE.)

The number of companions and their storylines across factions and classes looks so convoluted now, that I dread the amount of time that the Charles and the devs are spending on them in 6.0.

 

Instead, I vote to scrap all non-cartel comps in 6.0. Make more Ossus-like planets, pvp maps, and operations. And work on the class meta. If you can't give us new classes, give us new specs for each class.

 

4.0 and 5.0 was ENOUGH story. Give us repeatable content.

Well, that doesn't sound like a game I'd like to play.

The bread and butter of Bioware games/SWTOR has been the story. Some players such as myself have zero interest in PvP or Ops. Those things are great for people who enjoy them, but they shouldn't be the only content we get.

Agreed. The halcyon days of the vanilla story are gone, so when it comes to companions it's about finding a way to make the most players happy with the least amount of money spent. That probably means LIs have to come first. (But I too looooove T7--he's my top companion for my main JK. I was so pleased to get him back early on in KOTFE.)

That "T7-O1 missed you" notification when the JK first gets rescued from carbonite is such a sweet moment.

I love having T7 on all my characters now, Republic or Imperial, and he's actually the one I'm worried about disappointing/leaving my Imperials with all this stuff about returning to the factions. Especially since that Darth Special Guest from the Imperial story is back and he's got some past history with T7.

Well, that doesn't sound like a game I'd like to play.

 

The bread and butter of Bioware games/SWTOR has been the story. Some players such as myself have zero interest in PvP or Ops. Those things are great for people who enjoy them, but they shouldn't be the only content we get.

I fully agree with this.

I've been in a guild, done some ops, a bit of conquest and a bit of PVP during the DvL event, but none of that actually appeal to me.

I only like the story side of this game and the interactions with the companions. Without that, i'd have no interest in playing this game.

Well, that doesn't sound like a game I'd like to play.

 

The bread and butter of Bioware games/SWTOR has been the story. Some players such as myself have zero interest in PvP or Ops. Those things are great for people who enjoy them, but they shouldn't be the only content we get.

Ditto. I don't PvP or do Ops, and I love the story content & my companions. That's the beauty of SWTOR--it caters to all of us. Maybe we don't all get as much of what we like as we'd want, but that's no reason to throw the baby out with the bath water. (I just realized now, but that is a horrible expression, isn't it??)

That "T7-O1 missed you" notification when the JK first gets rescued from carbonite is such a sweet moment.

 

I love having T7 on all my characters now, Republic or Imperial, and he's actually the one I'm worried about disappointing/leaving my Imperials with all this stuff about returning to the factions. Especially since that Darth Special Guest from the Imperial story is back and he's got some past history with T7.

I know exactly what you mean. That little droid can really get to me. If T7 goes, I'm rioting!

That I agree with...bring our former companions back into play. I wonder if some of the choice to create new companions revolves around voice acting and paying less for lesser known talent?

That's probably true but it's a lame reason. It's time they put more of swtors money back into SWTOR. I can maybe, maybe understand ignoring a couole of the least used/liked LIs, although that shouldn't be nescessary, but not the more popular ones. I'm tired of the lack of space excuse, whose space? Do they think we care if the downloads bigger?

If they need to charge us for some of the dlc to make them decent then do it !