AI

Some things I'd like to see from creature AI

undead and other mindless creatures

they should have a simple AI, melee attacks, range backs up and fires, they fight to the death.

Animals

I still want animals to act like animals, packs of wolves patrolling a biome, picking at you, one moves in to take a nip while another backs out and circles around for the flank, team work!

Gators need a sneak attack!

Animals flee when injured in real life, I'd like to see this with wolves and bears especially.

Intelligent foes

I like that the archers don't just stand there, I wish the meleers didn't either, they should move to and fro, and attempt to flank you when in groups, I shouldn't be able to just stand there and lure them to their death continually. They should have abilities based on their weapon and maybe even be able to back off and heal while there buddies step in.

I'd like to also see them use smarter tactics like luring you to their buddies and spreading out when hit with aoe's and such, even retreating to a more tactical position.

 

I have a problem with elven archers. When you melee them, and get right up in the face, they continue to relentlessly shoot arrows at you. Might be more realistic if they ditched their bow in close quarters and starting using a sword. I mean, realistically an archer is instantly dead in close combat with a swordsman.

 

I don't think you realize how mind-numbingly annoying good AI gets when playing a game like this. Trust me, MMO devs have been distilling this for years, and the consensus is that you don't give brains to popcorn.

You save the tricky clever AI for "boss" (for lack of a better term) mobs.

Chasing an archer down as a melee fighter might be totally fun and exciting the first time you do it, but after doing this 10, 20, 200, 500, 10000 times, the AI is old hat, and the fact that you have to randomly chase these mobs all over the area getting motion sick and aggroing 2/3 of the hex while you're at it gets old relatively quickly.

Major encounters (or bosses) merit unusual behaviour, because they are rare, and quite often novel.

This is not an arcade game.

 

so it gets old to actually have to play a game? because as is I dont have to play much at all, occasionally i go back to town for new armor and to drop off goods but otherwise i log in, set my dude in a spot and then go do the dishes or something ..... I'm certainly not going to stand there and watch that snoozefest.

 

I get your point but I don't think better AI is more mind-numbing than just sitting still and doing slash-n-hack.

 

I would prefer a more in depth AI also. Yea, it may get annoying chasing the archers for the 500th time but that is part of a game and that is how an archer would be. I loved EQ when we had to watch for mobs that were about to run and would come back with their buddies. Did it cause more work? Sure but it added a lot to the experience and made the fight a bit more dynamic. Much better than just sitting there, in one spot, clicking the same buttons. I don't want every fight as complex as a "boss mob", save all the special things for those fights but the normal fights can be a bit more involved.

And no, I don't want a twitch game or an ARPG experience, but opponents that are a bit more involved than beating up on a stump would be nice.

Still early in the development so there is plenty of time to improve on the AI.

 

If I had more "utility" slots in my locked deck, I would totally devote them to CC skills (so I'd have something to dump my active skill points pool!) to counter active/reactive/creative AI behaviors.