Runners still run too much

Archers and Mages mobs still run arround like chickens.

 

Yeah, Its terrible. I won't even bother fighting them.

 

It is very frustrating. Especially when you nearly kill em, then they then zap back to their start point and regain full health!! Would be cool if they switched to a melee weapon or something, or even be given the ability to entangle/hold you to stop the chase.

 

Yup, i avoid them all the time too, it's just not worth it.

 

I honestly like the challenge and realism of the AI. Archers covet range.

 

Sorry but that's not an challenge at all. It is an very annoying design, feels and looks totally akward.

In no game the past two decades or so i have seen such wierd acting ranged mobs.
They don't even do serious damage to you, they just run and run and run. That's not what i call an challenge.

 

Realism? I stab/hack/slash them with my sword and eviscerate the **** out of them and they are still running away and kiting me at full-speed. Minute later they are at full health again and running circles around me. Nope. No realism there. Just frustration.

 

Archers covet range, therein lies the realism.

I don't get frustrated.

 

You never get frustrated?

 

Really? in real life you would constantly run and run and run and not do any damage to your opponent?
You would really just run and run only to get hit and hit again and to finally die?

Wouldn't you atleast use your Bow in close combat to DEFEND yourself in close combat or use a knife, dagger or even your own fists to just DEFEND yourself as soon you notice that you simply can't run away?

Now where is the realism there? Take a guess...

 

In real life I would never be chasing a skeletal archer or mage.

Nevermind. Honestly, I'm still kinda new here but learning fast that there are really some places I should just avoid. This was a wrong turn. I'm out.

 

That's exactly why the debate about realism for a game is "sometimes" not a good idea at all.

A game should be fun in the end, and not frustrating or whatever because "realism" is so important.
Realism doesn't always work well for an game or for all things in an game.

 

The game should be intuitive. An enemy archer should not STAND within melee range of you, ever... if it can be helped. Or if he has to, like he's cornered, he should pull out a melee weapon and start beating on you. Or you should have to slow/trap/root him to make him stand still. The running around doesn't bother me too much, yes it's annoying when he gets all his buddies by running back to them, but that's life. What IS annoying is when you've got him on the ropes and he "tethers" back to spawn and instantly gets full health, that's a different issue in my book than ranged mobs attempting to stay "at range".

 

Let's just say for a moment you are an archer.
I manage to get in close combat range to you with my sword, you then would turn your back voluntarily to me to attempt to run away?
Sometimes it would make sense, but not always non stop, without you having a chance to shoot off an arrow at me. All you are concerned about is running away and away turning your back at me so i can just kill you?

What would make more sense in such an situation as an archer would be to run backwards and shooting as fast as you can some arrows at me with your bow as soon you notice i am coming for you!
Then, as i come closer strafe left or right and keep shooting arrows at me, but never ever turn your back at me if i am at close range!

 

If I could run faster than you could swing your sword, ya, I'd probably turn and run, maybe find a rock to jump onto and make you run around it while I pelted you with arrows And ya, I play an archer, and I definitely run backwards/180 twitch fire as I run, a ton, while soloing, maybe they should just allow NPCs to run backwards too. (slightly slower pace)

 

Yep, would be great if NPC Archers could do that instead of the nonsense running and running away

 

Yes, our ranged guys run (by default) when too close - this is by design.

Big guys like the Troll and Dragon have melee and ranged attacks and will now use proper attacks based target ranges. We don't want to add melee weapons to all ranged guys - but prefer to have them use the weapon they have.

For ranged mobs that are only ranged - they have new functionality to stand and fight even if too close - periodically. The code support was added Tuesday morning, but the feature will not be enabled for this release. It needs more testing and an entire mob pass to setup. We don't want to end up breaking ranged combat for all mobs by turning this on just yet. If anything changes I'll post here.

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Looks like bzus did some additional testing and took a pass at some of the ranged mobs. Next patch should have some ranged mobs that will stand and fight a bit more.

 

They run all the time and the melee ranges still seem short.

I get that it makes sense for someone at range to try and stay at a distance. If/when there is a cover system. maybe they'll run less and stay in cover.

Another possibility is to add an attack of opportunity system akin to D&D.

If I get in range of a mage and they're running away rather than attacking, I should get a bonus melee attack while they flee without actively defending themselves. That should make these mobs less annoying.

 

Ok, thanks for clarifying.
Of course you shouldn't add an melee weapon now to all ranged mobs.

I was already guessing that the current AI must be a placeholder for ranged mobs. I am glad to hear that you are improving it because, yeah, i can only repeat:
An real Archer would never act like that constantly unless he doesn't care what happens to his opponent and to his life :/.

Wish it was already activated, but i understand where you guys are comming from, i am an programmer as well, it's my job, so i indeed do understand!

Thanks again.

 

After looking into it a bit more - this is a new bug. They *should* have been attacking after each run. I fixed a bug earlier this week where they would run into a room and shoot through the walls.... apparently the fix to that issue caused this bug.

For the next patch they should once again attack after running a bit, and hold their ground periodically if the player is within melee range (with bzus's mob pass this a.m.).

It should be a lot better now - but it still needs some work.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention this morning before the next patch

Look for the fix in build #334