OK, here’s a chance for me to do math. The horror. Don’t worry, it’s fuzzy math.
If Corso loves weapons, I give him a green quality level 1 weapon, he gives me +96. When he reaches 2000 affection, I need to give him a green quality level 2 weapon for that same +96. Now, a level 1 gift costs (at the vendor) 200 credits, and a level 2 gift costs 600. So I have to pay more than double for the same affection gain.
On the other hand, conversations are unchanging. He will give me +15 for an answer he likes regardless of his affection level.
See where I’m going with this?
If I at first rely on conversations to get Corso’s affection, and then I supplement with gifts later when he’s already at 4000+, I have to pay out the nose for those gifts because rank 3+ gifts are pricey. If I gift FIRST and then let conversations raise affection later on, it’s cheaper, because I’m buying the lower level gifts.
Companion economics FTW.
My Marauder has to gift early and often because it’s the only way to keep Vette’s luv out of the red.
…I’m a baaaaad bad sith. >:D
Well-said. Moreover, doing dailies at level 50, there are a couple where you can get 64 or 86 affection once you learn how to respond to the NPCs.
Sure, I hate being nice that crazy Sith collecting Esh-ka savants, but Vector really, really loves it when I humiliate myself before her. *Tries to ignore weirdness factor*
So yeah, that’s the fastest way to work on rep post 5k in my opinion. At that point, gifts are expensive and the numerical gain is small.
Somehow, in working on Treasure Hunting missions to provide mats for my insane quest to get artifact-quality artifice patterns, I’ve ended up with several of the “generic” companion gift tokens that you turn in to your Fleet’s curator (near the guild setup vendor and the skill reset trainer) for actual companion gifts that are reasonably high ranking. I haven’t tracked the exact numbers, but although I have not sold very many items on the GTN yet I’ve managed to consistently bring in more credits than I spend. And I hardly ever do dailies, since I can’t stand them unless I get to run grouped with some guildmates.
Now, this may only be valid at higher affection levels, since I think that the curator only “sells” rank 5 gifts. But if you have access to a Treasure Hunter, you might be able to get these tokens at a reasonable cost for the final push to maximum companion affection.
Most mission professions (of which I had 3 until recently) allow you to gather gifts of any level. I would usually have 3+ companions needing the same rank of gift and simply distribute the gifts as they came in from missions. The ones that nobody liked I would sell. And trust me, they sell.
A bit late to this party (found your blog through Biobreak), but still.
I see one problem with gift early, gift often: You might not have the money to buy them, nor be able to send your early companion on a mission if you are leveling. That is, if you don’t have your ship, yet. I find my countless alts sending only the ships droid on missions. And no missions before I get a ship.
For your first and even second companions, this is completely true (unless it’s an alt). However, USUALLY, you spend so much time with your first companion anyway that it just kinda “happens”. With companion #4 who comes on board at level… 35? 40? and starts with no affection, you can quickly “catch up” that companion before you start sending him out on crafting missions.
What I did with companion #1 (in this case, Corso) on my first toon, before I knew anything really, was to buy a present from the coruscant vendor every time I happened to find myself down in the Senate basement to train or log out. I didn’t really miss the money since I was doing it periodically when I was leveling and by then I could afford 200 credits every now and then. But giving him a present probably once or twice per play session really spiked his affection.