SWTOR Companions
I’ve been managing to find time to play SWTOR some. Just in bits and pieces. Enough time to work on leveling my Sith Inquisitor but never enough of a stretch to join my guild for any Ops or Flash Points. I’ve now gotten my third character past 20 and I’ve started to notice something.
Companions are all clumped together in the middle levels. You get your first companion right before leaving your starting world, so around level 8 or 9. You’ll get the ship droid around 15-17 but I don’t count him. Here’s the planet progression break down and where my smuggler got each of his companions:
- Ord Mantell/Tython (1-10) – Smugger/Jedi Companion #1
- Coruscant (10-16) – Jedi Knight Companion #2
- Taris (16-20)
- Nar Shadaa (20-24) – Smuggler Companion #2
- Tattooine(24-28)
- Alderaan (28-32)– Smuggler Companion #3 (well, class quest after leaving)
- Balmorra (32-36)– Smuggler Companion #4/Jedi Companion #3
- Quesh(36-37)
- Hoth (37-41)– Smuggler Companion #5
- Belsavis(41-44)
- Voss (44-47
- Corellia (47-50)
For the smuggler, there’s almost a 15 level gap between Companion 1 and 2. Then, you get the next three within the next 15 levels, almost back to back to back. With the Jedi Knight, you get your second pretty quickly on Coruscant, but your first was a droid. You don’t get another one for about 20 levels. I’m not sure yet where you get your final 2.
This all serves to have you working with one particular companion for a good half of the game. Then several are thrown at you at once. You don’t really get a chance to get to know them as well. It’s also problematic mechanically. You get use to using a certain type of companion that your skills and gear are set up that way. It’s hard to switch play style for a new companion when you’ve learned your class using the other one for 20 levels.
It also seems, that the early characters are the ones with actual quests, rather than just dialogue missions. Maybe Bioware had to scrap a lot of the later companion quests and stories. Or maybe those are planned for an expansion. I’d love to help Bowdaar free some Wookiee slaves.
