Pets in solo missions

[coldwarkid]

Originally posted by Ityn
Also give missions an "Intelligence" slider. Middle is normal exp, mobs as they are now, "Stupid" mobs never cast anything but give 25% less exp and 50% less exp reward, and "Smart" mobs use all their nanos and use the right ones for the right things, cooperate, cast pets act just like players, and give 25% more exp and 50% more exp reward.

This is the best idea on the subject that I've heard yet.

I liked seeing pets in solo missions (after the emergency tweak anyway) for a number of reasons. For one thing, I was used to seeing Docs and Adventurers heal, as well as seeing Fixers root and Agents DOT etc. It seemed logical that pet casters should use their pets. The other reason was that, as an Engineer I could tank the things and didn't bother moving my difficulty slider one notch after the patch.

However, as a Soldier I hated the things. I could tank the owner before the bot took me down, but only with the aid of a good reflect and probably a dose of TMS as well. That meant that the bot took damage from me, and would invariably stay to finish me off after its beloved owner had been reduced to a greasy spot on the carpet.

The paradox is that with pets gone from solo missions, the Soldier can tackle tougher missions than the Engineer can, because he's better equipped for surprise aggro etc. It gets even worse if I'm playing my Fixer...

People have suggested a device which makes you appear as more than one player to a mob, but it never quite worked for me. I may like pets in solo missions (sometimes) but even I want to gain some advantage from it other than bragging rights and an interesting set of scars. Having a Difficulty slider (level of mobs) and an Intelligence slider (behaviour of mobs) on the mission terminal, both of which are linked to reward and XP, gives the best of both worlds.

My Engineer is suited to intelligent mobs at moderate levels, while my soldier is suited to tougher mobs of moderate intelligence. We already have the Phys/Myst slider, which controls the likelihood of nano-using mobs turning up, why not one that controls the way mobs use the nanos that they have?

Cheers,

~R~

[_____Real Kinky Ityn]

A lot of people are saying that improving mob AI can't be done.

I think a lot of these people weren't around at the beginning of the game. I remember agent mobs rooting you then turning and running 30m away and start shooting at you again. I remember traders actually stacking both drains, and soldier mobs casting TMS when attacked. The AI is already there, funcom turned it off at players' request some time ago and many have forgotten. Back then mobs had fewer HP, if I remember correctly, after boosting their HP they made them dumber.

All this has done is make the game boring, fighting dumb mobs longer does not make a game more exciting. This has been funcom's mantra for the past 6 months, new dumb mobs with even more HP, and if a player is clever, uses roots, snares, calms, we'll just make the mob teleport to them, them teleport to the mob, the mob follow them regardless of what they are fighting, and so on. The process reduces everything to damage and healing and nothing more. Not only do these new changes negate the effect of a players intelligence they demand that you play the game in one way.

So much could be done to make this game more interesting, some people hate change, those people will be upset by any change, but many welcome anything funcom can bring to the game that makes it interesting to play.

[Nullifax]

Originally posted by Ityn
A lot of people are saying that improving mob AI can't be done.

I think a lot of these people weren't around at the beginning of the game. I remember agent mobs rooting you then turning and running 30m away and start shooting at you again. I remember traders actually stacking both drains, and soldier mobs casting TMS when attacked. The AI is already there, funcom turned it off at players' request some time ago and many have forgotten. Back then mobs had fewer HP, if I remember correctly, after boosting their HP they made them dumber.

All this has done is make the game boring, fighting dumb mobs longer does not make a game more exciting. This has been funcom's mantra for the past 6 months, new dumb mobs with even more HP, and if a player is clever, uses roots, snares, calms, we'll just make the mob teleport to them, them teleport to the mob, the mob follow them regardless of what they are fighting, and so on. The process reduces everything to damage and healing and nothing more. Not only do these new changes negate the effect of a players intelligence they demand that you play the game in one way.

So much could be done to make this game more interesting, some people hate change, those people will be upset by any change, but many welcome anything funcom can bring to the game that makes it interesting to play.

Hehe, you nailed it right on. The funniest part was, the reason they changed the mobs from having regular player stats was that the difficulty was "unpredictable." LMAO!! What a riot! Funcom's reason was that some mob classes were "too easy" as a result. Take a guess which mobs were too easy. Yep, the same classes that stunk at PvP. Balancing PvP of course would have actually balanced PvM as a result. Alas, that is no longer the case.

[___________Stercoral]

This post is nice.

Good idea, these sliders.

I liked pets in solo, and I'd love better AI, including better use of the nanos of the NT NPC for example.
It's a hard part to balance and make it fun, but this should give more fun to soloing (and team).