Barkeeper In Memoriam šŸ„ŗ

I think you may have missed the point of why people are upset. Barkeepers are, as you say, easy enough to get. However, the barkeepers people are upset to have lost are barkeepers they had named and ā€˜bonded withā€™ (and in some cases gone to the effort of levelling up) - it is not the loss of ā€˜generic barkeeperā€™ it is the loss of ā€˜named character they had begun developing a story forā€™. If you only care about the game mechanics, then any barkeeper is the same as another, but if you care about more of the experience than just the pure game mechanics then the loss can be more meaningful.

To give a different example - I have never (and will never) forgiven Funcom for the first major pet nerf I experienced several years ago - because suddenly my constant companion and protector through the first months of my playing this game was taken from me and could never again safely leave the base. Just a basic Hyena - in game terms possibly the easiest thing in the world to replace, mechanically almost ā€˜worthlessā€™ even levelled to 20. But even now, seeing the little wrecked boat outside the Crevice in the jungle reminds me of that little Hyena standing between me and several enemies I could not yet fight, protecting me as I tried to heal up and help him through it. I remember desperate runs across the map, because I had died and had to get back to him. And I remember having to retire him, because suddenly he could no longer go to the places I needed to go. For some players itā€™s not just about the game mechanics.

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I guess that is so hard of a point to understand that even Funcom hasnt got that memo when developing companions.

They could have taken the much easier route, which would save among other things, the Barkeepers, and put the companion mechanic to be built over the thralls we already have.

Most people who cares about such things already had them as such, they could just ā€œmake it into the gameā€ and be done with it. But we had to have another ā€œdisturbance in the forceā€ by adding another layered system over.

So I dont really think people are to blame for forgetting that is a thing.

Myself ? One of the first mods I had was for customizing npcs and saving such customizations, ideally off the game, so in the eventuality I lose them, I can just pretend I never did and move on.

If you are meaning to really build up things, and that was what I thought was the plan on the Age thing, you should develop things on the grounds of what you already have.

But I see now that the Age is just a fancy name for ā€œfree expansionā€, and carries no bearing on any innovation on what that means.

But still, they could have been more judicious on how much of the game to change each time.

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Oh i havent missed anything

Good armorsmiths however are not that easy to come by.

Its the only crafter in the game you really ā€˜needā€™.

Legendaries are top tier- no weaponsmith needed.

Food? Meh can get through all dungeons with ANY food buffs, IF you have top tier armor.

Potions? Meh see above.

All others you can use a tier 3

Its strange because im seeing more people online now than before?!

Makes no sense.

Was there ANY poll that said we wanted crafters changed at all?

And yet your answer here suggests that you still havenā€™t understood at all. No one here is claiming that Barkeepers (or any other thrall) is ā€˜neededā€™ for game reasons. The irritation is an emotional response - it has nothing whatsoever to do with usefulness. As I explained (I thought quite clearly), I am still irritated over the nerfing of a basic Hyena - perhaps the easiest follower of all to replace (except maybe a basic shaleback). That has nothing to do with how hard they are to obtain or how ā€˜neededā€™ they are - it is purely about the emotional connection. If you are only capable of viewing followers/crafters for their in game mechanical value, that is your choice, but that is not the only way in which they can be viewed.

Not that Iā€™m aware of.

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No polls that I remember seeing, but there were at least sporadic requests to make crafter thralls dressable. As well as requests to make NPCs more ā€œaliveā€. So itā€™s not like Funcom got this idea out of their stetson.

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