I am one to avoid pet classes in most mmo's, And swtor gives you no choice in the matter, you have to have one, every single class does., you will die without one, game was made from ground up with excpectation your using your pet. exuse me your companion

Oh and I dont like them but most people do I think   which is great for them but give me the option to not have to use them!

Originally posted by tzat

Oh and I dont like them but most people do I think   which is great for them but give me the option to not have to use them!

if you want options outside the 3 choice dialog you are playing the wrong game

Group up.  You don't need companions when you're grouped up.

so pick a class were using pets is sort of volaintary, like bounty hunter/sith warrior/ jedi knight/trooper... Id still go with either dps companons or healers but thats just a choice to choose to do that, if your still having a hard time go for biochem crafting and stock up on medpacs.

Alt play in groups, this eliminates the need for companions all together

yea but wouldnt it be nice to have option not to have to deal with companion?  I mean give me the choice to solo without them, and don't say you can solo same level mid bosses or mobs same level, not happening.

Originally posted by tzat

yea but wouldnt it be nice to have option not to have to deal with companion?  I mean give me the choice to solo without them, and don't say you can solo same level mid bosses or mobs same level, not happening.

Im playing a sith warrior (lvl 48) I have np soloing both regular mobs and bosses, sure its tougher then using my companion and quite frankly I fail to see why you wouldnt want to use your companion but its very much a possibility. Its all about making the right choices, picking the right class (because obviously not all classes will be able to solo this, in fact Im betting only the tank classes will be able to solo mid range/same lvl bosses, Im fairly certain of that)

As much as i hate to admit it the fact that the companion gives you so much of a boost that most classes, as well as players either need or find it vastly easier to solo wih a compainion is kinda bad design. They should be largely an option for your class to use, giving you an advantage in many respects, but not completely making going without one a big gimp to your proformance. To me all classes having a compainion takes away from compainion/pet/minion playstyles in that they are not as intergrated into the classes as a true pet-based class would be. That is one thing that bothers me about tor is that neither side has a true pet-class at all. To me compainion should have been a side-mission that you could undertake to gain them (with no real division between which classes could get what compainion, but only between the the factions themselves. Ie a empire player could not get a republic compainion, and vis versa.), while the game would be largely crafted about not having the compainion, yet s you reached where you could do thoe side-quests to obtain them you would find a higher difficulty that would make taking them a good idea yet not a requirement. Pet/minion/compainion playstyle is just not everyonee's cup of tea, and so largely having such a heavy penalty for not using/taking them is kinda weird.

Also to me your profession choice should not be what makes your class choice/playstyle choice viable, but merely makes it work better instead. As such having it that to solo without a compainion only being really viable is by having the correct profession chosen seems odd, as well as forcing you to play how they want not how you wish to play. Although i do love the fact of outfitting your compainion, since i had always wished other games woould do it more allowing you to put armor as well as weapons on your pet for both looks and stat bonuses. 

Originally posted by Elricmerren

As much as i hate to admit it the fact that the companion gives you so much of a boost that most classes, as well as players either need or find it vastly easier to solo wih a compainion is kinda bad design. They should be largely an option for your class to use, giving you an advantage in many respects, but not completely making going without one a big gimp to your proformance. To me all classes having a compainion takes away from compainion/pet/minion playstyles in that they are not as intergrated into the classes as a true pet-based class would be. That is one thing that bothers me about tor is that neither side has a true pet-class at all. To me compainion should have been a side-mission that you could undertake to gain them (with no real division between which classes could get what compainion, but only between the the factions themselves. Ie a empire player could not get a republic compainion, and vis versa.), while the game would be largely crafted about not having the compainion, yet s you reached where you could do thoe side-quests to obtain them you would find a higher difficulty that would make taking them a good idea yet not a requirement. Pet/minion/compainion playstyle is just not everyonee's cup of tea, and so largely having such a heavy penalty for not using/taking them is kinda weird.

 

Also to me your profession choice should not be what makes your class choice/playstyle choice viable, but merely makes it work better instead. As such having it that to solo without a compainion only being really viable is by having the correct profession chosen seems odd, as well as forcing you to play how they want not how you wish to play. Although i do love the fact of outfitting your compainion, since i had always wished other games woould do it more allowing you to put armor as well as weapons on your pet for both looks and stat bonuses. 

good post and I agree.. while I do enjoy the companion system to an extent  I don't like how its pretty much forced upon you since its part of your class story. This worked great in KOTOR and sure that's why it was decided to implement it here but themepark or no most people I talk to in MMOs like choices.. Yes you can choose to group and choose to not even take your companion at all but grouping isn't always ideal for many people all the time and not ot mention the class story are primarily a solo afair. Then by not taking your companion you are greatly gimping yourself. Yes its possible to fight in solo areas with no companion but why gimp yourself it's like playing the game with only wearing half your armor.

It's all down to the design desicions they made and I feel they just went little to far towards the single player side of things than the MMO side... hopefully in the near future they will be fleshing out the MMO side of things more and offering more choices for the players.. I'm really hoping for a talent tree revamp cause honestly I have not found a single talent tree I really like period. The march patch has some promising things but hopefully well get some good updates much sooner than that.