The new sidekick

[seventhcross]

so, has anyone figured out the mechanics for the new sidekick? I see he has a max level, but no current level, does anyone know if it is based on your characters level? If not, has anyone figured out how long it takes to level him up?

Also, feel free to post any impressions of him/her/it and the college.

[Cristiona]

Sidekicks don't have levels. Heroes do.

[seventhcross]

Sidekicks don't have levels. Heroes do.

so, that explains why there is no level shown on the stat table for him. It does kinda seem odd that you get him one level before he maxes out though. I guess we'll have to transmog to really get him good and spaded then!

[Ryme]

This is also going to be a "first ascension" type thing. Later times through (and I know I don't have that yet) you'll have the sidekick all the way through.

[seventhcross]

sounds good, can't wait to find out if he's as good as the other sidekicks or not.

[Cristiona]

It's a whole new design space, so I would assume more options will eventually show their faces.

[Jesus]

I'm wondering if the various versions of the sidekick will have different avatars, since right now it's just a question mark.

It really does scream for a picture frame equivalent.

Although I'm guessing it's easier to get the TH style on an avatar right than it is to get it on something the size of the sidekick's image.

[Ryme]

Yeah, that's still kinda being debated, how to handle the picture.

[the SUPERnaturalist]

well the new sidekick definitely acts less and does less damage when i'm at a lower level, but i'm too lazy to spade it

also, why not just display a dollar sign for +item understudy, karate belt for karate understudy, etc, since to fit a face or figure in there would either look weird or too blurry

[Olaf]

A couple of the existing sidekicks have faces that don't look that bad.

[Corrupt Shadow]

Yeah, that's still kinda being debated, how to handle the picture.

If you need help... y'know...

[Corrupt Shadow]

Use a normal face for the vanilla version and add stuff to it depending on the flavor? E.g. head band for karate master.

I didn't see that one. That's actually a pretty good idea.

[Hannahmaus]

Same here, great idea BongBob. BongBob's own avatar is a good example of TH-style art working really well at depicting a person in avatar size. I'm loving the new sidekicks, it's a brilliant addition to the game and I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.

[Ryme]

Impossible to determine from 4 words. What are your standards for "useful"? Undoubtedly this is a subjective discussion anyway.

[MagiNinjA]

Aren't sidekicks kinda useless?

Off topic, but that's a name I haven't seen in a VERY long time. Are you KckKryptonite? THE KckKryptonite?

[Cristiona]

My standards for "useful" is the definition of the word itself as determined by the opinion of the individual of course, which, by nature, one can only assume to be subjective; I though I could omit this presumption. Aside from my own experience with it (which, I'll admit is not much), I was just trying to get a meter, that's why it came in the form of a question.

That doesn't really answer the question.

What metric are you using to define "useful" in this particular case? Do you want items? Sidekicks are useful. Do you want additional damage? Sidekicks are useful. Do you want chips? Sidekicks are useful. Do you want damage absorption? Sidekicks are useful. Do you want damage prevention? Sidekicks are useful. Do you want turn duration reduction? Sidekicks are useful. Do you want bonus XP? Sidekicks are useful.

Indeed, just about every aspect of the game can be affected by sidekicks.

[Corrupt Shadow]

I love my smuggler sidekick. He gets me more item drops than if I weren't using him. Therefore, he is useful.

[Olaf]

Right now I don't find them all that great, but I am at a really low level.

If the ingame player "incarnate" is you, I see you're currently level 5.
Later on, you'll get a permanent sidekick and more temporary sidekick options.
Don't say mountains are short if you've never been out of Kansas.

[Ryme]

I wasn't trying to. Have you read my post? A simple "No, they aren't" would've sufficed, it just threw me off when he asked me how I measure "useful".

"Hey, was that movie good?"
"Ahem, how do you measure good?"
"In inches"

"Dude, that printer is useless"
"Well how do you measure that? It might have been broken for 5 years and missing a few pieces but we can still use it as a paperweight"

I think you took my question the wrong way. It was intended as, "well, what do you want to do?" If your answer is PvP, then I'd say yeah, sidekicks can't help you. If your answer was "get lots of items" then I'd say there's several sidekicks that help in that respect. If you said something else, then it depends.

As for "is that movie good?" ... I'm very likely to follow up with "well, what kind of movies do you like? Because it's a chick flick, so if you like that kind of thing it's great but if not stay away." Until I know someone well enough to know what they like, I'm far more likely to ask for their tastes than to give my opinion as the definitive answer.

Or "that printer is useless." "Hm, that's weird, I print to it every day. What's not working, that you'd call it useless?"

[Satan]

Sidekicks aren't a "Win" button. The aren't going to double your item drops or make you invincible.

>.> Actually <.<

[Muhandes]

I was just going to say something like what Satan said If indeed the smuggler is 45-50% like it seems, with proper items it can almost double your item drop. AND it makes you close to invincible with a bit of thinking. It's as close to a win button we have in the game.

[Corrupt Shadow]

Man, incarnate, you're a cranky fella, aren't ya?