The god MMO Skyforge will feature its own companion system: The more disciples a player gathers around themselves, the greater the benefits.
The “Companion” system is in. A year ago, there was almost only Star Trek Online in the West, but now it stands in World of Warcraft in the form of the garrison and followers, in Rift it is implemented with minions as a card game, and even in the still-in-development Skyforge, a version of this is planned. It is a type of mini-game where a powerful hero slowly gathers their own servants, subordinates, and employees, whom they can send on missions in a mini-game separate from the main game and who grant them various advantages.
In Skyforge, as the latest dev blog revealed, gods want to inspire disciples, whom they can then send on missions. In this process, they gain experience and can acquire special traits that predispose them for other missions. During the invasion events, very special missions are supposed to be available.
Also in Skyforge, a limit on active servants is planned: “Retired” disciples will become missionaries and help the aspiring god strengthen the cult surrounding them by bringing in more disciples.
My MMO says: It definitely sounds like an exciting variant of the follower system that we will undoubtedly see in many more games over the next few years.
One thing is clear in the MMO market: If a studio has a good, new idea (or has found a good implementation of a browser game idea), the others notice as well, and the trend becomes a new feature that everyone will want soon. It was similar with achievements, which today cannot be imagined without MMOs, although they were still new and innovative a few years ago.
We have extensively presented the trend towards companions in this article.
More about the god MMO Skyforge, which we still consider one of the interesting titles in 2015, can be found on our topic page.
