companion AI in stories.

[GolgoXIII.8536]

I know this has probably been asked a million times before but are we ever going to see better AI for the companions in the story. Because I find it infuriating that they leave you to die when you are downed then when you have died they then come over to rez immediately as soon as your warm corpse is on the floor. Why can you not have "pet" commands for them to make them come and get you if your downed, attack targets you are attacking and make them run when need be because currently the AI for them less than useful. I am finding it more than a little frustrating to get things done when they could come and get you while in a downed state than let you die and then get you.

[Acheron.4576]

I wouldn't mind seeing something similar to how Heroes were back in GW1. You had a lot of control over them, but could leave them to do their thing for the most part. Basically the option was there and it was flexible. I doubt they would have us change their skills and abilities though.

[Anchoku.8142]

It sounds like you may be more comfortable with ranger.

Minions are smarter and more controlled than they used to be but they still ignore red circles and continue to do whatever after you go down. This seems like an acceptable penalty for being free dps.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Some time back, around the middle/end of Season Two, I believe, the Devs purposefully changed the AI to be...less helpful, shall we say? They didn't want the AI to play the game for us. The Devs, some time later, said they would go back and tweak some encounters. (No idea if they ever did, or which encounters might have been considered for 'tweaking'.)

If interested, you can use a search engine to find those Dev posts on the old forums/Reddit.

Good luck.

[GolgoXIII.8536]

@Anchoku.8142 said:It sounds like you may be more comfortable with ranger.

Minions are smarter and more controlled than they used to be but they still ignore red circles and continue to do whatever after you go down. This seems like an acceptable penalty for being free dps.

Thanks for your suggestion but that is not my point, it doesn't really matter there. What I am saying is the Ai comes over and tries to rez you after your dead which is a pointless exercise it does nothing for you as you can rez and run back it does nothing but prolong something that could be fixed much quicker if they acted on the situation when your downed. In that situation the Ai is AS artificial stupidity because at that point there is no point in it coming to help you.

[Celldrax.2849]

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Some time back, around the middle/end of Season Two, I believe, the Devs purposefully changed the AI to be...less helpful, shall we say? They didn't want the AI to play the game for us. The Devs, some time later, said they would go back and tweak some encounters. (No idea if they ever did, or which encounters might have been considered for 'tweaking'.)After having gone through with some new characters, it seems like some fights (and the friendly AI) have gotten a bit of a revamp.

I only started playing back in march or february though, so that's as far back as I can compare to.

[Danikat.8537]

There are some encounters where your allies will come and heal you, but I think it's only certain ones. I can remember Rox and Kasmeer coming over to help when I was downed, but not any of the other Dragon's Watch members.

It would be nice if at least 1 NPC in every story instance would revive you, both when you're downed and when you're dead. I don't think it'd have a big impact on how easy the fights are, and it would make more sense than your friends and companions watching you die.

[Healix.5819]

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:Some time back, around the middle/end of Season Two, I believe, the Devs purposefully changed the AI to be...less helpful, shall we say? They didn't want the AI to play the game for us. The Devs, some time later, said they would go back and tweak some encounters. (No idea if they ever did, or which encounters might have been considered for 'tweaking'.)

If interested, you can use a search engine to find those Dev posts on the old forums/Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/5op9c9/the_npc_ai_is_bugged_since_months_now/dcmbdwt/

They didn't want people to AFK while the NPCs cleared the area because they felt it was bad experience, and this change was only made for season 2 and the original story. The funny thing however is that by having the NPCs stand around doing nothing until they took damage, they took something that was a non-issue and created a problem for everyone, as the result simply felt broken and looked bad.

They have since fixed it by making NPCs engage when you attack.

[Rognik.2579]

@GolgoXIII.8536 said:I know this has probably been asked a million times before but are we ever going to see better AI for the companions in the story. Because I find it infuriating that they leave you to die when you are downed then when you have died they then come over to rez immediately as soon as your warm corpse is on the floor. Why can you not have "pet" commands for them to make them come and get you if your downed, attack targets you are attacking and make them run when need be because currently the AI for them less than useful. I am finding it more than a little frustrating to get things done when they could come and get you while in a downed state than let you die and then get you.

I was originally going to comment on how the ally AI seemed to change regularly, that what they did upon first release is far different than what they do on replay (on a fresh character in PS, or in the regular story mode for LW), but that doesn't seem to be your problem. You complain about what they do. Well, I'm afraid that problem isn't going to get solved. I feel like for most instances, the allies are given something else to do, like holding off attackers, while you do the actual important heroic stuff, like beat in Justiciar Adrienne's face.

No, we cannot have pet commands for Dragon's Watch. They are our friends, not minions, and have a will of their own. Kasmeer runs over to heal you because that's the kind of person she is. She wants to save you from that armor repair, if she can. Also, Dragon's Watch aren't other players, and don't use the logic that defeating a foe is always better than healing a friend; maybe they attack the wrong one, or you die a split second before the baddie is finished off. Far safer to heal you than risk your defeat. Besides, the calculations for AI is already pretty complicated, and the allies aren't necessarily decked out in 'zerker gear. Believe it or not, there are other viable options.

[GolgoXIII.8536]

@Rognik.2579 said:

@GolgoXIII.8536 said:I know this has probably been asked a million times before but are we ever going to see better AI for the companions in the story. Because I find it infuriating that they leave you to die when you are downed then when you have died they then come over to rez immediately as soon as your warm corpse is on the floor. Why can you not have "pet" commands for them to make them come and get you if your downed, attack targets you are attacking and make them run when need be because currently the AI for them less than useful. I am finding it more than a little frustrating to get things done when they could come and get you while in a downed state than let you die and then get you.

I was originally going to comment on how the ally AI seemed to change regularly, that what they did upon first release is far different than what they do on replay (on a fresh character in PS, or in the regular story mode for LW), but that doesn't seem to be your problem. You complain about what they do. Well, I'm afraid that problem isn't going to get solved. I feel like for most instances, the allies are given something else to do, like holding off attackers, while you do the actual important heroic stuff, like beat in Justiciar Adrienne's face.

No, we cannot have pet commands for Dragon's Watch. They are our friends, not minions, and have a will of their own. Kasmeer runs over to heal you because that's the kind of person she is. She wants to save you from that armor repair, if she can. Also, Dragon's Watch aren't other players, and don't use the logic that defeating a foe is always better than healing a friend; maybe they attack the wrong one, or you die a split second before the baddie is finished off. Far safer to heal you than risk your defeat. Besides, the calculations for AI is already pretty complicated, and the allies aren't necessarily decked out in 'zerker gear. Believe it or not, there are other viable options.

I have never had the pleasure of Kasmeer coming over to rez me like you say (and if you mean to heal me, there are no heal spells on the npc's perhaps you meant to say come over to help you when you are downed) Kasmeer is not healer because if she was you get heal spells put on you, not the behaviour you mentioned. I was not complaining either I was asking if the AI could be improved nothing more nothing less. Now if they were our "friends" as you say leaving you to die would be the last thing on their mind but they don't give a rats about you they just do their own thing and leave it to you.

As for the AI I am loath to say this because Swtor is a mess but the AI in that game is leaps and bounds miles better than what they have in this game with the behaviour. I am not saying it is an easy fix to get it right but gee if they can get it right in swtor surely it can be in this one, yes I know different developers. I have never said that they should react like other players either, but surely if they can make them come over and Rez you when your dead they can come over while your downed it can't be that hard.