Lookit Light on Mar 2, 2021 wrote:

Alright, so, does anyone remember the old series of threads I used to make, discussing ideas on improving underwhelming Companions? Well, with the prospect of new updates on the horizon, I thought it would be a good time to bring it up again.

Essentially, the idea of this thread is to take companions that are generally unusable in most forms of combat, and suggest ideas to make them at least a modestly good choice. These companions are really not given a second thought due to their lack of promotions, Epic Talents, powers, or some combination of the three.

Allow me to give an example of what I mean by 'improve.' Nanu Nanu is a Privateer exclusive companion with base Epic Talents of Turn the Tide 1 and Cheap Shot 1. This Water-mole promotes once at Level 30, giving him the Epic Strike Talent and the choice of a single additional Epic Talent. Nanu Nanu is not even remotely considered on any Privateer's team due to a crippling lack of good powers or Epic Talents. So, how to improve Nanu Nanu?

Nanu Nanu could be improved by giving him one or two additional Promotions as he levels up. This could improve his base skills by giving him another rank of Turn the Tide or Cheap Shot, and improving his Epic Sitrike to a Mega or Super Strike. He could even an ability he doesn't have yet, such as a rank of Repel Borders, or a second power with a different effect. These improvements would bring him up closer to the level of other Companions as you progress through the storyline.

The same improvements could be made to other companions which have the same issues. If you look back at my history on these Message Boards, I made several posts in the past discussing similar ideas for other companions that are still usable.

I'd like to hear the thoughts of other players, either on certain Companions or on issues present in more than one of them. Who or what would you like to see improved or changed?

Short answer, the ones who haven't received any promotions. Especially the WD animal companions - batacuda, Scorpius, Skysnake & Crokogator.
I would mind seeing Froggo get some attention, although for a companion without epic hits he's pretty good!

I feel like Nurse Quinn has the potential to be a really cool companion but, even with talent-given accuracy buffs, just doesn't hit consistently enough for me to want her on the field.

My idea would be to give her a promotion so that she can either get another epic that gives some kind of buff or heal. Maybe, in addition to Rouse, she could get Rally or Valor's Shield so she can be played like a doctor and doesn't have to focus on fighting
Or
she gets access to the talent Second Chance and/or gets an "epic strike" epic. I remember she missed a fair bit when I tried using her in Cool Ranch, and it made it difficult for me to want to continue to bring her to the front lines, especially since she doesn't really hit for a lot of damage when she does hit.

Lookit Light on Mar 2, 2021 wrote:

Alright, so, does anyone remember the old series of threads I used to make, discussing ideas on improving underwhelming Companions? Well, with the prospect of new updates on the horizon, I thought it would be a good time to bring it up again.

Essentially, the idea of this thread is to take companions that are generally unusable in most forms of combat, and suggest ideas to make them at least a modestly good choice. These companions are really not given a second thought due to their lack of promotions, Epic Talents, powers, or some combination of the three.

Allow me to give an example of what I mean by 'improve.' Nanu Nanu is a Privateer exclusive companion with base Epic Talents of Turn the Tide 1 and Cheap Shot 1. This Water-mole promotes once at Level 30, giving him the Epic Strike Talent and the choice of a single additional Epic Talent. Nanu Nanu is not even remotely considered on any Privateer's team due to a crippling lack of good powers or Epic Talents. So, how to improve Nanu Nanu?

Nanu Nanu could be improved by giving him one or two additional Promotions as he levels up. This could improve his base skills by giving him another rank of Turn the Tide or Cheap Shot, and improving his Epic Sitrike to a Mega or Super Strike. He could even an ability he doesn't have yet, such as a rank of Repel Borders, or a second power with a different effect. These improvements would bring him up closer to the level of other Companions as you progress through the storyline.

The same improvements could be made to other companions which have the same issues. If you look back at my history on these Message Boards, I made several posts in the past discussing similar ideas for other companions that are still usable.

I'd like to hear the thoughts of other players, either on certain Companions or on issues present in more than one of them. Who or what would you like to see improved or changed?

There were a lot of cut promotions for catbeard, monkey king, Hawkuleus, etc so maybe it's possible there are some unused promotions out there for some of the less viable companions. All Kingsisle would have to do is to make a quest for companions like Hawkeleus or monkey king or just make you pay to promote companions that arent as important like Nanu Nanu for example.

The assets are there in terms of their designs so I'm sure it wouldn't be that outlandish for Kingsisle to consider these promotions!

Two specific companion I really hope gets a promotion to become more viable is Monkey King and Hawkuleus which had cut animations and appearances for their promotions that never saw the light of day. Both are just average as of now.

For a fairly underrated pick I'd love Corporal Sanders to be more viable. He doesn't have much compared to the other picks.

Lookit Light on Mar 3, 2021 wrote:

You flatter me. It's really just one of my interests.

You're absolutely right about the imbalance between main-story Companions and side-story Companions. Companions like Bonnie Anne and Ratbeard are far stronger than certain side companions like the Monquistador. They generally need more Promotions to make them better. (Especially, as Anecorbie said, the ones that currently have none.)

Best-case scenario, I would like some side Companions, one or two for each Pirate, to be upped to the level of Ridolfo Capoferro. Ridolfo is a Swashbuckler side Companion obtained by Musketeers in Valencia Part 1. He has three promotions, higher than any other side companion, giving him an excellent Epic Talent pool. I love using him on my Musketeer because he is a genuinely good choice. If some other companions could get as many promotions as Ridolfo, they would not only be up to the level of other Companions, but could also play a legitimate role in combat.

One thing that's been on my mind is how to deal with Companions obtained near the end of the game, namely the ones in Aquila. Since they are near the end of the current story, giving them a number of promotions would be... unorthodox. A solution I can think of would be to give them a larger pool of base talents (Talents that they have when recruited, before you assign any yourself) instead. If, for example, the Serpent Augur naturally came with a rank of Improved Mojo Blast and Coward's Bane, that could offset the low number of Epic Talents you can give to it. Similar things could be done to Companions in Mooshu and Marleybone, albeit on a smaller scale.

I absolutely agree. It feels unfair for some companions to be so strong when compared to others. It feels like only the story companions from Skull Island and El Toro are used.

On my Privateer I've been trying my best to use every companion - I've actually turned on First Mate mode and play that way - and it's so much fun. Every battle feels different and I don't get bored like I did on my swash who used the same team, basically, the whole way through. If I make any more pirates, I'm definitely playing with at least first mate mode on.

I really like your idea of later companions starting with more epics. I do feel like it would help balance the scales a bit.
A great example of a companion like this is the Inoshishi Clanlord. He starts with Cheap Shot 2 and Hold the Line 1 and because of this I actually enjoy using him, and he feels really impactful in a fight, especially paired with Repel Borders 2. On top of this, he actually has a critical strike ability which I feel like that alone would fix so many companions.

I'm not saying every companion should be able to have 10 epic talents like Bonnie and Ratbeard do, but it does feel like most companions should have more then 5 - like the Monquisitor and Froggo Villa unfortunately have.

Another thing I think causes this huge gap between the Skull Island companions and every other companion is the fact that you can choose your team in every fight. From what I've heard, this game used to be mainly in first mate mode, and that forced people to be able to play around these "worse" companions, which I feel like made them easier to understand. There was no "this, this, and this should always be around you they make battles easier." You always had a chance for your team to not have, say, a damage dealer or not have a ranged attacker and you were forced to adjust with what you did get.

Lastly, in my opinion the biggest gap between companions is the lack of abilities. Stuff like Froggo Villa just don't have any abilities at all whereas Commander Emmett has 6. At the least a companion should have some sort of epic hit or summon or something.
A lot of Cool Ranch companions actually have this problem fixed once they promote, like the Toreador Maestro. When he promotes he gains an epic strike, which paired with bladestorm allows him at least one guaranteed chain on an enemy.
Gracie Conrad actually kind of fixes this problem as well. She gets two amazing abilities (on top of a critical strike) that makes her a companion lots of people consider to be the best tank in the game.

I can only talk about privateer companions, but there's a few to look at.

Horse Crossbowman is in *dire* need of any form of promotion. He has a total of four epics (with one locked into Return Fire). Mind you, Return Fire is requires the incredibly accurate Musketeer class to miss an incredibly easy-to-hit Musketeer. So on one hand, he already has one dead (or very suboptimal imo) epic, but it's impossible to invest in any specific epic without hamstringing the rest. Sure, you can use him (and I do), but you're asking for trouble if you bring him to VP2.

Monquisitor, Bison Chief, and Jim Masterson are lacking in the epics department, having one epic permanently locked into the relatively-situational Witchhunter with only ~four to spread around. If they had even one more epic, I'd be a lot happier to use them. Eric Jolly and Monterey Jack are in much the same boat.

I'm going to keep using these companions either way, but I do inwardly sigh when my team is filled with any three of them. That's a good indicator that they could use a boost.

Lookit Light on Mar 7, 2021 wrote:

At the moment, my thoughts turn to those Companions that can only be obtained from the Crown Shop. I have purchased several from it over my years playing, and I can honestly say... many of them are rather awful. While there can be a select few good picks, a good deal of them are at best subpar. If we're paying Crowns - and sometimes a LOT of Crowns - for these exclusive Companions, shouldn't we expect them to be respectable choices? These are perhaps the Companions most in need of improvement. I'd like to mention some suggestions on how some of these companions can become better.

While Nikeeta, Madclaw and El Tiburon could perhaps be excused for having less power due to their exceptionally low Crowns cost, they still could do with an additional Epic Talent or two to their name. If they were to get any form of promotion, I'd imagine it making them larger and more fierce-looking. (El Tiburon in particular I am imagining would have scars and sparks coming out of his gills.)

Moresco de Valvida needs some more power to him when he promotes. Upon reaching his current promotion, it would be a good idea to upgrade his Indendiary Shot to a Bonfire Shot. A second promotion, which I'd like to title the Flying Monquistador Warlock, would upgrade his power further to an Inferno Shot, and give him that one extra Epic Talent he needs to be worth considering.

Martin Valvida, when reaching his current promotion, should have his Evil Eye upgraded to Eye Swarm. A second promotion, for which I would suggest Undead Monquistador Lord, would upgrade it to Ocuboros. (I do not think he should gain access to Jobu's Embrace. That would be too powerful.) He should also finally be able to learn additional ranks of Relentless.

Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah is already a decent choice, but lacks the power level needed to make him truly worthwhile. Access to another promotion, giving him one more Epic talent, would probably be enough to make him strong. He could also do with an Epic Strike.

For his incredibly high Crowns cost, Oingo Boingo is absolutely pitiful. His Epic Talents are not useful without access to Relentless, and his access to them is limited with only one promotion. His Epic Talent pool needs to be reshuffled to give him access to Relentless, and he needs two more promotions in order to be worth his Crowns cost.

You raise an important point - how powerful should crown shop companions be without dragging in "pay to win"?
The better crown shop companions are the "twins" of the companions we already recruit; should all crown shop companions be at least as powerful as those?
What about bundle or pack companions? We're paying real money for those as well, some are not as powerful as others. Like the Cutthroat shark compared to Nausicca; or Handsome Dan compared to HooDoo Cornelius?

Lookit Light on Mar 7, 2021 wrote:

At the moment, my thoughts turn to those Companions that can only be obtained from the Crown Shop. I have purchased several from it over my years playing, and I can honestly say... many of them are rather awful. While there can be a select few good picks, a good deal of them are at best subpar. If we're paying Crowns - and sometimes a LOT of Crowns - for these exclusive Companions, shouldn't we expect them to be respectable choices? These are perhaps the Companions most in need of improvement. I'd like to mention some suggestions on how some of these companions can become better.

While Nikeeta, Madclaw and El Tiburon could perhaps be excused for having less power due to their exceptionally low Crowns cost, they still could do with an additional Epic Talent or two to their name. If they were to get any form of promotion, I'd imagine it making them larger and more fierce-looking. (El Tiburon in particular I am imagining would have scars and sparks coming out of his gills.)

Moresco de Valvida needs some more power to him when he promotes. Upon reaching his current promotion, it would be a good idea to upgrade his Indendiary Shot to a Bonfire Shot. A second promotion, which I'd like to title the Flying Monquistador Warlock, would upgrade his power further to an Inferno Shot, and give him that one extra Epic Talent he needs to be worth considering.

Martin Valvida, when reaching his current promotion, should have his Evil Eye upgraded to Eye Swarm. A second promotion, for which I would suggest Undead Monquistador Lord, would upgrade it to Ocuboros. (I do not think he should gain access to Jobu's Embrace. That would be too powerful.) He should also finally be able to learn additional ranks of Relentless.

Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah is already a decent choice, but lacks the power level needed to make him truly worthwhile. Access to another promotion, giving him one more Epic talent, would probably be enough to make him strong. He could also do with an Epic Strike.

For his incredibly high Crowns cost, Oingo Boingo is absolutely pitiful. His Epic Talents are not useful without access to Relentless, and his access to them is limited with only one promotion. His Epic Talent pool needs to be reshuffled to give him access to Relentless, and he needs two more promotions in order to be worth his Crowns cost.

(Continuation No. 2)

Doctor Noh's second promotion at level 70 does not give him the power that he needs to become a serious consideration, This promotion needs to give a second Epic Talent, as well as potentially an extra base Talent, to be worth buying him.

Some of the Yuletide Companions, namely the Yule Trogg, Prince Yulefest, the Mistle Toad, and the Holiday Treant need promotions in order to be worth their price and limited availability. For particular suggestions, the Yule Trogg could do nicely with the Charge series of abilities, The Holiday Treant could use an Epic Strike, the Mistle Toad needs to differ more from Tricky Vinny, and it would be really cool if Prince Yulefest got the Grape/Case/Canister Shot ability

Silver Angel on Mar 10, 2021 wrote:

Fin Dorsal is also underwhelming for his price ...

One I particularly like but is really bad is Weasel Gambler. he's original I guess?

Oh and I retract my previous statement about Catbeard, I forgot he gets a promotion at 70 ... tho he's still not great but he has a super strike +2 at least.

As a swashbuckler, I recruited Weasel Gambler, he's not too bad, I've used him; but I much prefer Tricky Vinnie!

Takhethis on Mar 11, 2021 wrote:

Zena needs to be put back to how she was before she got nerfed, or close to where she was. She went from being an essential main companion to being next to the last companion in my order lists, clear back on the last page.

I agree. I used to see Zeena everywhere, but now she's as obscure as Ju Hao. She really needs her old power back. (And Ju Hao is desperately wanting improvement as well. All Pirates get him, yet his power is underwhelming from the moment you recruit him.)

Lookit Light on Mar 15, 2021 wrote:

I agree. I used to see Zeena everywhere, but now she's as obscure as Ju Hao. She really needs her old power back. (And Ju Hao is desperately wanting improvement as well. All Pirates get him, yet his power is underwhelming from the moment you recruit him.)

It seems I have to remind you what Zeena's power did: her fire did damage to anyone on the board (that includes friendly units) and the damage was too powerful. This was an intelligent choice of KI to reduce the damage and make so it only damaged enemies.

Personally, I would love it if more unique powers were given to Companions. For example, I would love to see Private Mills get the same power Mark of Marleybone Grenadiers have, where he throws explosives onto opponents. When he promotes, he could even get Powder Monkey's Palisade. It would be thematically appropriate, and perhaps make him more usable.

In the same vein, it wold also be nice for Lt. Springer to get Tower of Iron Will, Masamune Goto and Taro Moomori to get Gambit of Steel, and Nanu Nanu to get Raise Barricade (And possibly Holkun Doomhorn). I'm certain there are plenty of other combinations out there as well.

Having more powers - some of them new - on Companions that don't already have them would encourage greater variety in combat, having players switch around which Companions they use and adopt their own unique playing style.

Angel Angle The Li... on Apr 10, 2021 wrote:

Make the Weasel Gambler a ranged Swashbuckler.

Oh, hello! Haven't seen you since 2019!

Maybe that could happen, but I'm not sure. Nonetheless, it can't be denied that these odd styled of Companions (Ranged Privateers, melee Witchdoctors, etc.) are rather interesting. Some of them are even quite steller, just look at Emmet.

I've seen others mention the Weasel Gambler as well. Seems everybody secretly likes this little fellow, so it would be just lovely if we could see him get better.