A Brief Warning: There are a few very minor spoilers in this article for the Sith Inquisitor. If you do not want to know anything about the Sith Inquisitors story or companions, you may want to skip to the bottom, after the interview.
This first companion we were told about is named Kim Vaal, a Dashade who can join up with the Sith Inquisitor. This companion is a melee focused fighter with the unique racial ability to soak up force power from enemy force users. His ability to neutralize force user abilities makes Kim Vaal the perfect companion for an Inquisitor who plans on hunting Jedi. This also allows the Inquisitor to take a less active melee role, for those who choose to stand away from combat.
Kim Vaal
The second example they showed us is Xalek, a Kaleesh force user who has been crafted in the image of Darth Maul. In an interesting story reveal, this character becomes the apprentice to the Sith Inquisitor at some time during the main story line. Unlike the more tank-ish abilities utilized by Kim Vaal, Xalek is pure DPS; his combat abilities greatly augment the Inquisitors damage output.
Xalek
These two companions allow a player to use different play styles with the Sith Inquisitor. Do you like being the the middle of combat and want extra DPS? There is a companion for you. Would you rather stand back and let a companion take the brunt of the damage? There is a companion for you too.
Jake Neri and Blaine Christine reassured us that players will encounter many different companion characters, allowing them to find the optimal compliment to their play style. They also pointed out that every class will have their own separate, unique companions; meaning that Kim Vaal and Xalek will only be available to Sith Inquisitors. Once the presentation was over we were able to talk with Jake Neri and we asked him to expand on the companions and what they mean to players.
Dover: Speaking of companions, we were able to see a couple examples of how companions can go along with a different class. One of the examples was a melee companion that went along with the Sith Inquisitor.
Sado: That sucked force powers away from the user.
Dover: Right, so it kinda supplies the frontline role so the Inquisitor can fall back. And then another example was a melee guy based off of Darth Maul. So, as we look at the rest of the classes, is there a feeling a companion is meant to supplement a specific class to make sure it is able solo throughout the entire game? How do companions work along with the classes?
Jake Neri: We have to make sure companions work and we have to make sure people that don't want to have companions have a fun experience. What we have to do is provide options for you as a player to make sure you can customize your play style the way you want. It is really simple. We talked about it a lot today, but we feel each one of these classes has things they are inherently strong at and the companion should provide a different variation on that game play style.
I think you saw Kim Vaal as the Dashade character for the Inquisitor that you were talking about. His main cool feature is that he is a big guy; he has a big giant sword, and he will keep the heat off you so to speak but he is also able to neutralize force power.
It can be very useful in a situation where you only got a couple of people, you're going in and damn, I cant get through this because that Jedi has insane force power Well, now you have a companion that might be able help you through that. And maybe you just like playing with him, he is fun, and he has a cool story as well.
That is the other thing about our companions: each one has a unique story. Each one allows you to betray or romance or all sorts of crazy things and he just one of those guys in your play experience.
The other one we were trying to show there was if you had a situation where you were wanting to play down a lighter healing tree or things that do not do as much damage, now you have a companion that can do a lot of damage quickly. Maybe he has some cooldowns associated with that. In a situation where hey, that's just the way I like to play now I have a companion to offset that.
When trying to work that into a group, if you're in a group on Friday night and you guys both want to play your Inquisitors, but damn, there are tons of giant beasts out there your trying to fight. Well, now you have a couple of companions you can use to customize the experience and you don't have to go looking for the right group. You have some extra tools at your disposal to get through the situation. That is what were trying to do with companions and I think that answers your question.
During the interview we realized that BioWare plans on using companion characters to solve the looking for tank/healer problem seen in other MMOs. This should come as good news to anyone who has had a gaming night ruined because of a missing class. This will also allow soloers and small teams to retain a level of autonomy if they wish to play by themselves.
Unfortunately we weren't able to learn many more concrete facts about companion characters. However, based off everything we saw, there are a few points we do feel comfortable speculating about. We got the feeling that you would be restricted to having a single active companion at any one point in time, however you will most likely have a larger pool to draw from. It was also implied that companions will be able to be active in all forms of PVE play, be it solo or grouped, in both open world and flashpoints; we don't feel comfortable speculating about PVP play.
It does appears that BioWare intends for your choice in companion, or lack there of, to be an integral part of building your character; possibly as important as your own characters skill path. When coupled with the possibility of romance and betrayal story lines, its easy to see exactly how complex this system will be in The Old Republic. We cant wait to learn more about companions, because if any team can pull off this RPG aspect in an MMO, we are fairly certain BioWare can.
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Posted 8/13/2011 2:38:53 PM2... the devs once stated that they were considering having your first companion be outfitted as a healer or dps or tank (they were talking about kits, which are now no longer in the game) . This was because the bounty hunter levelled faster than anyone else due to his first companion being a healer. Is this still their intention ?
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Posted 12/12/2009 7:38:00 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/7/2009 5:07:15 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/6/2009 2:33:36 AMI'm predicting however that once you get a companion you'd keep it in a "stable" so to speak (like Wow’s hunter's pets). Obvious as it may be, I never considered it til now. However how switching your companions that you’d want to have out for another is beyond me, and where would they stay? Certainly couldn't be a stable (well I think that Kim Vaal dude would have a fine time there ;) ) Maybe a bar or something on Nal Hutt, maybe different things on different planets. We’ll see.
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Posted 12/6/2009 3:57:14 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/6/2009 1:41:36 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/5/2009 8:18:15 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/5/2009 1:12:38 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/6/2009 2:03:30 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/5/2009 1:07:33 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/5/2009 1:55:34 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/3/2009 3:22:11 PMHave a look AJ: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Grievous
Basically what you're looking at is an un-pimped Grievous. Rather well spotted in my opinion!
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Posted 12/3/2009 2:00:21 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/3/2009 1:40:33 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 12/3/2009 12:59:12 PM