[2021] Bioware, why was the change made to stop us customising returning story companions

Hi TrixxieTriss. Had to do some digging. Off the bat, if a companion is considered a guest companion, meaning that they have not permanently joined your party, and you equip them with items, you can lose them if you lose the companion or reset your quest. The change made was to prevent that loss from happening as we did not want players to lose those items.