I would also like to let the companions level up as their creators intended. If I have to do it myself, everyone will end up more or less optimized and it's not the most interesting or fun route.
That said, Larian should put some good effort into planning these characters. I haven't seen that so far. During EA, I've seen the companions' stats bounce around here and there, using default stats, cool looking custom armor having sub-par stats and being instantly replaced.. no thought given to stats or equipment.
Funnily enough, Lae'zels starting armor always was top tier from level 1 even though that armor is something you can loot in an armor starved EA. Shadowheart's Sharran "upgrade" armor from Grymforge had the same chain shirt AC. Adamantine armor has sub-par stats. Game is full of equipment with weird conditional abilities that can't match a simple +1. It seems they don't put a lot of thought into these matters.
