Current status of pet AI

Slapshot1188 · March 2011

Here is a video posted on the official forums. Note the player continually tries to get his pet to attack him and the results are... well... not very impressive to say the least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgtc6cVUHaE

The Starvault CEO had this quote about the video: This is frustrating and confusing for us, as we tried to experience them attacking from the bottom when someone swimming above walking in houses/roofs etc, just like this video shows we got the same results, doesnt matter if its a cat, a bear or wolf.

SHOE788 · March 2011

Doesn't look like the water contains any nodes for NPCs to navigate through.

osmunda · March 2011

http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/58359-nerf-pets.html The relevent thread

http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/1115694-post134.html Henrik's full post.

wmada2k · March 2011

Yeah, he never states that it is all good today, but that they want feedback and want to change it to the better:

"We dont want to rush in here now and totally change or nerf anything until we nail out the major issues and carefully change that. But I think the AI change will be vital to be able to control the pets better."

Silverwatch · March 2011

this game is not prettier than darkfall

cirsyndic · March 2011

AI being updated/rewritten since August '09, every 3 months.

Slapshot1188 · March 2011

Originally posted by cirsyndic
AI being updated/rewritten since August '09, every 3 months.

That's what gets me. If you go waaaay back you will find statements about how revolutionary the AI was going to be, they were just waiting on an Epic Patch. Then it was the next Epic patch... Then it was the Epic Patch with Navmesh...

Wasn't the AI supposed to result in actual guards that roamed the towns instead of the demigods that get called from the sky to one shot people? Wasn't the AI supposed to result in a "living" town where NPC walked around as presented in the "town Life Trailer"?

It's 9 months and counting now... but the video shows the actual state of the AI. I really don't know if it's neutered because the network can't handle the data required for real functional AI or if it's just poor programing (or some unknown factor). Either way though, something needs to change.

ange10 · March 2011

heres a teaser for the AI

game is "paid beta" its known fact, its a work in progress, it won't be put in untl game is ready for it.

Slapshot1188 · March 2011

Originally posted by ange10
heres a teaser for the AI

game is "paid beta" its known fact, its a work in progress, it won't be put in untl game is ready for it.

Yes that is the video I mentioned. It should be noted that the video was originally published in June of 2010.

This of course is exactly my point. That video was launched before release (the link you have is actually a copy of the one from June 2nd), it's now 9 months POST release but the AI is currently functioning like the video linked in my OP. The AI is just another example of stuff that was promised or suggested at/prior to release but reality is quite different.

I don't want to get into a discussion about townlife. Let's stick to the creature/pet AI. I just mentioned the townlife as another example. They obviously have significant issues with the AI. As I said above... I don't know if it's neutered because the network can't handle the data required for real functional AI or if it's just poor programing (or some unknown factor). Either way though, something needs to change.

Jakdstripper · March 2011

it's very simple guys. when SV finaly fixed pets so that they would actually follow either their owner or their target properly pets became incredibly OP since they became an outo-attack button that never missed and would follow it's target anywere until it was dead,(for a wile) EVEN IF THEY WERE MOUNTED!

needless to say this is just extremely retarded, since all you have to do with a pet is target someone and /attack and then watch your pet do all the work for you. there is absolutely no skill involved. not to mention you need absolutely no amor or weappons to be a tamer so you can basicly kill people as a naked. there were many incidents of players using naked tamers to greef anyone that was unluky enough to encouter them (even full armored warrios) simply because they would choose pets that had the most hp (campadons) which would pretty much kill anyone before their victim had time to put out enough damage to kill them.

so SV had a big problem on their hands, and how did they fix it? the easiest way possible, they just changed it so if the target is moving at any speend faster the a slow walk the pet will miss 90% of the time.

so now all you have to do, if attacked by a pet, is continue to move arround and the pet will miss almost all the time. this however is still a pain in the ass for mages because they cant cast wile moving.

and so all the tamers are back QQing.

imo, wile they do require a little more tweeking, pets as are now are much preferable to how they were. they are usefull as a back up and support but cannot do much all by themselves, and definately cannot take on a full armored warrior wile their tamers looks from a safe distance. as it should be.

you can still use your pet to soften up your enemy before you go in to finish things yourself, you just cant have your pet do all the work anymore.

Neoptolemus · March 2011

But the issue here is that the AI is broken. Are you suggesting that SV delibrately broke the AI as a way of nerfing pets? Sounds a bit extreme, just making them do less damage or have a chance to miss would work better.

Besides, part of the issue is that the pets apparently don't run a check to see if they're on the same level as their target, enabling them to attack targets on top of buildins from ground level and people on the surface of the water from the bottom. Doesn't that make it worse?

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Current status of pet AI

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