Companions are underwhelming.

My chocobo dies every time I do an alexandrite map. It stands in all the AoE, then tries to heal itself, and then dies.

It's not a big deal, but it's a LOT of work grinding chocobos to rank 10. Mine feels pretty useless at level 50 at rank 10.

The companion system feels in general a bit of a wash. Mildly useful for leveling jobs and FATES but other than completely useless.

Anyone else feel this way?

Yeah, that's why my chocobo is sitting at Rank 4 lol. It would be nice if we could micro-manage our companions like ACN/SCH/SMN pets - although that would kind of complicate things for those three classes.

I soloed 80% of my alexandrite maps using only my Chocobo. I have her set up on healing stance only. I can honestly say without my Chocobo I would never have gotten my novus. And mine was only rank 4 healer...

Made mine a 3/7/6 hybrid'bo and it's survived every alexandrite map. Does a damned fine job of keeping a dps with pathetic defense/self-heals (aka a bard) up soloing boss fates and whatnot too. Reagan peppers are easy to get, try it out.

I have Titan-Egi tank everything away from the chocobo, although it takes a short while to get it into a position where cone AOE's overlapping one another on bad angles won't somehow hit it (just keep moving Titan-Egi around until everything's in a good position).

Healer stance could use some tweaking for sure. Rather than shadow your movements (poorly), they should make it where it doesn't stand so close to you.

Last time my rank 7 Healer Choco died during an Alex map was because I forgot to Overpower some adds (Peapuks) and they swarmed him. Didn't notice it til he was dead. :(

Think I got about 60 of my 75 Alex through soloing as a WAR with my Choco. He died maybe 3 or 4 times, usually due to healer aggro and me not grabbing adds before they swarm him. Think once may have been AoEs, but I think that was because I pointed all 4 Gargoyle AoEs at him...twice. Sorry Snowball...

Oh, and my Choco is on Free Stance...and almost Rank 8 :D

I soloed five maps just this evening with my choco. He's rank 10, 4 def/4 heal/7 att.

Saving the rest of the SP for when I can actually rank him again. >.>

I think the AI could use some work. I've had instances where he's been so busy healing himself (even though he was no longer under attack) that he's let me die. I couldn't help but laugh, honestly. I really do wish the healer stance would let you place the chocobo somewhere a short distance from you, or at least back off a bit and not just stand with you in front of every cleave attack and cone aoe that the mob throws your way.

The main issue with chocobo buddy is they changed their minds on the gambit system they said that would have happened. That would have given us insane control over its A.I.

Place / Heel, the only things I ask :(

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Originally Posted by Tupsi

The main issue with chocobo buddy is they changed their minds on the gambit system they said that would have happened. That would have given us insane control over its A.I.

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This would have been awesome. I wonder why they scrapped it? Too complex? PS3 Limitations?

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Originally Posted by Alukah

Place / Heel, the only things I ask :(

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Just this. Nothing more :)

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Originally Posted by TheRogueX

This would have been awesome. I wonder why they scrapped it? Too complex? PS3 Limitations?

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Same reasoning that they gave us for certain macros: "We don't want the game to play itself for you."

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Originally Posted by Jeykama

Made mine a 3/7/6 hybrid'bo and it's survived every alexandrite map. Does a damned fine job of keeping a dps with pathetic defense/self-heals (aka a bard) up soloing boss fates and whatnot too. Reagan peppers are easy to get, try it out.

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I had just reached Level 10 yesterday and changed it stats exactly like your 3-7-6 combination. Freaking coincidence! I feel that combination is probably the most useful and more all around better stats for your Chocobo.

The way I keep my Chcocobo alive is when you hit the mob, the side you hit is the side where your Chococbo is going to attack, so from there I run to the opposite side and keep the mob facing me. That way if it has any cone AOEs, it will only be in my direction. Chocobo is screwed if it is a circular AOE though.

I don't think they should be overly strong. I think the balance of their healing potency is just about right. It turns semi-perilous content like Alexandrite maps into soloable content for most jobs. I wouldn't be able to kill a few of them (The Cyclops and the Puks, for example) without my Chocobo's Cures. They are underwhelming, for sure, but I think that's by design. The most annoying thing about them is they push monsters around when in Healer stance. This is extremely annoying and is the main reason that the only time I use my Rank 10 Healer Chocobo is on Alexandrite maps, since his presence for some of them will be the difference between life and death.

Now he's Rank 10 I literally couldn't care less about using him simply because of how he pushes every monster around.

Hmm, when I was still doing my Alexandrite maps I used my Healer Chocobo on every one and it never died, unless I died, which rarely happened. But then after the first few maps I ended up duoing them with a friend too, and she used her chocobo as well. So yeah. Still though the Chocobo has been a huge help. Back when I was doing those books for the Animus I used my chocobo for every fate and there were definitely some fates that it was quite handy having a portable healer around for.

I kinda wish they would heal the Titan-Egi though. Instead they only heal actual party members, but they do it well enough that as long as you aren't taking tremendous amounts of damage you're perfectly fine. It definitely makes things that might be difficult to solo a lot easier.

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Originally Posted by Alukah

Place / Heel, the only things I ask :(

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+ Sic/Assault command.

While I agree they are underwhelming, my tank chocobo has become pretty valuable for me as a dragoon on my Alex maps. The ones with multiple enemies I hit the first one, which is the one your choco will attack, then I switch to the others and point them away from my choco. This way it tanks the one saving me from getting hit with extra damage. And whenever I need a positional buff like heavy thrust I can swith to my chocobos mob to do it. They could be better but the Alex maps have given them some use at least.

I think the benefits they provide should match the restrictions they come with. They have already said that the reason you can't que or recieve an invite with your chocobo out is because they worked so hard for a system where your chocobo is an actual party member. If you want your chocobo to tank, you should be able to have him pull, like a real party member would do. Players can level up and gear up to get better at their jobs, we should be able to do the same with chocobos, we should be able to either gear them to make them better, or the chocobo's stats should raise according to our gear.