@taylor1864
From the 4.0 patch notes here
Companion System Changes
The current Affection system has been replaced with Influence. Companion characters react to your conversation options by displaying their reaction when the choice is made (e.g. Vette approves your decision, M1-4X will remember this, etc.). Whether a companion agrees or disagrees with your decision, you will still build influence with them depending on their reaction and severity of the action. We want to reward you for spending time with your companions and not worry about losing progression or standing by making decisions the way you think your character should.
As you gain Influence, you'll increase your Influence Rank with that companion. Increasing your Influence Rank with a companion directly increases that companion's combat and crafting performance in the form of a bonus to Presence, Crafting Speed, and Crafting Critical. Each point of Presence now provides a percentage bonus to a companion's performance, rather than flat numerical bonuses. This means Presence will scale better at higher levels. Additionally, Crafting bonuses are now entirely driven by Influence rank. As such, the inherent Companion Crafting Bonuses for specific Crew Skills have been removed (e.g. "+5 Armormech Critical").
All players' Affection totals will be converted directly into Influence at a 1:1 ratio, so you keep the points that you’ve gained thus far; however, Influence goes beyond the previous 10,000 limit for Affection. You’ll be able to gain even more Influence with each of your companions!
Additional Companion-related changes:
- New Rank 6 Companion gifts have been introduced!
- Class Companion conversations will now unlock based upon class story progression, rather than affection/influence thresholds.
- All companions are now capable of performing all three combat roles (Tank, DPS, Healing), and can be freely switched between roles (so long as they're not currently in combat). No need to worry if you love M1-4X but really need a healer!
- Companion gear is now purely aesthetic. Players no longer need to worry about companions underperforming because of their outdated gear. While equipment will still change the visual appearance of companions just as it did before (it's important to look your best when you're adventuring across the galaxy!), companions will no longer gain combat stats from their gear. Due to this change, any gear slots which have no effect on a given companion's appearance will be removed from that companion. Any gear in those slots will be returned directly to the Character's inventory.
