Sorry for sounding rude.

But Bethesda should really add in a "flee button" for your companion.

Why can't I order a companion to flee, and she hurr's so much, she durr's...

I lost Lydia, but in the same scenario, I didn't lose Stenvar, he would always crawl and then the enemy would stop attacking him.
Which also doesn't make sense... Why wouldn't an enemy kill off my companion, just because I might cry and post on the forum "omg I'm 12 and this svcks"?

They coded something in that doesn't make sense (enemies not finishing off companions) while they could have also coded in a "flee now, meet up later" thing.

Love the game though, of course...

Just a small rant, I ordered Lydia to wait, and she kind of did, but still attacked a way more powerful Ice Troll, committing suicide...

tell them to leave
"it's time for us to part ways" or something is the dialogue option
mercs will go back to where you found them
housecarls return to their city (or house if you bought one)
and your spouse will just head back home (wherever you told it to live)

advice get them bette gear for armor enchant it with health, melee weapon enchanter with absorb health its awesome , im playing paladin so i also heal them ! just to finish i like range type followers (aela <3)

Companion AI is made of hurrdurr.

I'm sure mods will combat these issues, unless you're on the console, which in that case you're screwed

All followers fall to the ground to regenerate when their health reaches a certain point. Enemies will not attack them in that state. You killed lydia.

Not necessarily true, I had Lydia die once when I was fighting some bears, I noticed only when the battle was over. If their attack is powerful enough, it can bypass the health limit before going into "cower mode"

I don't know, I thought this was a good compromise between followers being absolutely invincible and so fragile as to be useless... but come to think of it, it's actually in a way more forgiving that New Vegas where the followers when downed during a fight would not get up until the fight was over. Here, the follower will kneel but when their health recharges will get back up and fight again.

I like how it works here, they aren't so powerful that they do my work for me but sometime they're helpful.

Well, i think to "run away and meet up later" might cause a fair deal of bugs, seeing as followers are already getting lost all the time. The "crawling on the floor" kinda solves that problem.
One annoying thing is, when i ask you to WAIT, YOU BLOODY WAIT THERE. YOU DO NOT GO AGGRO AND RUSH INTO BATTLE LIKE A BLOODTHRISTY MANIAC.

I use followers as meatshields and packmules

urrr urrr urrr...

"You killed Lydia"

Hahaha, no way man.
I first healed her a bit (rp'ing paladin) and decided to just run away because Stenvar used to just be next to me when I enter an inn...
But not with Lydia, she was probably killed off by some frost damage when she was low hp or so.

I think the OP is talking about combat options and battle commands.

There is a premium on tactics in this game and it's ashame that you can't be too tactical with a companions. Combat commands to engage in hand-to-hand, engage with bow, engage with magika would be boss. You could simplify it: Tank, Ranged, Magika, Buff, Stealth.

The aggro thing is the worst. I am playing a thief, and recruited the dark elf in whiterun because she seemed stealthy. I even outfitted her with a +30 sneak necklace and a +15 sneak ring, but she still causes us to be seen when we sneak into baddie territory.

She then engages them straight up, which makes it impossible for me to backstab or bypass the enemies.

Very frustrating. Anyone know of a mod to fix this?

Companuions can make things interesting. I generally used one for my mage and I think he has gone thorugh 3 or 4. I have Lydia now and use healing hands quite a bit, it is nice bcause it raises my restoriation. Which is good because she always kamikazes traps and my AE hurts her fairly often. So far she is only in Steel plate with low level enchants but has some decent weapons, she is crazy about staffs. I agree that generally companions die due to my AE damage however I have seen them get on shotted by certain mobs which told me to stay away for now.
I don't use them for stealth builds as they are detrimental to that play style in my opinoin. I am pretty sure the modding community will make them more interactive, it would be great if they could use potions as well.