They are programmed to run away after X amount of time of not landing a hit on their opponent. There are probably other triggers too.
I remember less than a year ago, the run AI was definitely broken and a lot of foes were fleeing the instant you attacked. This was especially prevalent with Freak Bosses in Brickstown and Crey's Folly. Sometimes they would flee even before the first shot was fired.
I actually started a thread on this in the tech issues. It is getting to be too annoying to play without some troller or dominator to immobilize all the critters now. It shouldnt come to the point where you need crowd control just to function and not take an excess about of time to kill stuff. At first I thought it was the VEAT debuffs because I been on alot of VEAT heavy teams but thats not it, they even run away on heroside now. 
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If this is "improved" AI....can we have the stupid enemies back plz.
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I remember less than a year ago, the run AI was definitely broken and a lot of foes were fleeing the instant you attacked. This was especially prevalent with Freak Bosses in Brickstown and Crey's Folly. Sometimes they would flee even before the first shot was fired.
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This has happened to me as recently as post i-11. It was especially funny when +4 Tsoo bosses in Talos that were conning purple to me would flee the second I attacked them.
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I remember less than a year ago, the run AI was definitely broken and a lot of foes were fleeing the instant you attacked. This was especially prevalent with Freak Bosses in Brickstown and Crey's Folly. Sometimes they would flee even before the first shot was fired.
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Power Tanks and their near Super Speed were bad about it also.
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They are programmed to run away after X amount of time of not landing a hit on their opponent. There are probably other triggers too.
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This part seems patently unfair to me. Defense-heavy characters have to chase their opponents while Resist-heavy ones don't? I call shenanigans on this one...
"Comics, you're not a Mastermind...you're an Overlord!"
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Anyone notice that mobs seem to run away... ALOT. Been playing my crab since I12 launch and it seems like just about everything runs and its quite annoying.
EDIT--- This happened when I was fighting scrapyarder as well... Basically he ran instantly.
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Was just noticing this last night. Fighting a bunch of family solo, every single fight the Capo Lts. would turn and bolt the instant the fight started.
Extremely irritating.
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This part seems patently unfair to me. Defense-heavy characters have to chase their opponents while Resist-heavy ones don't?
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Team with a player who might have some kind of range or hold?
Ideally they should also have tp friend to get round the sync bug and a tray full of wakies in case I die.
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Anyone notice that mobs seem to run away... ALOT. Been playing my crab since I12 launch and it seems like just about everything runs and its quite annoying.
EDIT--- This happened when I was fighting scrapyarder as well... Basically he ran instantly.
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Long ago, like I6 or I7 time frame, I posted a suggestion about high level players who come near low level spawns. The core of my suggestion was:
High level players come near low level spawns and the spawns simply sit there with no reaction. This makes it overly easy for, example, 50s to score badges.
I suggested the following AI (numbers 1 - 5 below would vary - you never would know how they would react):
1. Spawns automatically surrender.
2. Spawns cower in fear.
3. Spawns automatically run away, in fear, to the nearest door/tunnel they can find.
4. Spawns attempt to fight you as best they can.
5. Another possibility is that ALL spawns under your level con as 'whites" in difficulty, with no xp/influence awarded however.
OF COURSE... it was flamed by several as:
1. "it would grief low levels hunting for spawns".
2. "a fleeing spawn would grief a low level team if they bumped into each other".
3. "It is unfair".
You get the general replys. Basically the suggestion area is one where you put in an idea and several wait to pounce on it, no matter what, and say NO!
Well, my idea was to make them react more "lifelike". Of course, and the reactions never considered, that the fleeing spawns CAN be programmed to simply run for doors and not react to any low levels they run across. They never considered that once you leave the immediate vicinity that spawns "respawn". Spawns can also be programmed to not react if a low level is engaging them and a high level player comes in close after engagement.
Honestly, I look at the more selfish reasons for negative reactions to suggestions:
1. People like things as they are. They like the idea of something they can exploit.
2. People are so worried that closing a door to an exploit can lead to another and another.
Actually, it is an exploit. A high level toon simply dropping in on a low level spawn and instantly defeating them because they are programmed not to react is a no brainer way to get a badge - for an Accolade even and that can lead to a win in PvP.
I am Airman America... Super Hero... and I approve this message!
(QR)
Speaking as someone who's been running around Striga Isle trying to get my Legionnaire badge (defeat 100 Warrior bosses) on my 50 katana/regen, this badge is enough of a pain as it is. Warrior bosses are obnoxiously hard to find.
So if they started running away on sight, that would just make it a little bit ridiculous. Of course, I have superspeed (and, thus, stealth), so it wouldn't stop me from ambushing the first ememy in a spawn, but on, say, my claw/sr (who has SJ), it'd be really annoying.
It's not that I enjoy hunting down grey spawns, but when there are no level 45+ Warriors, I don't really have a choice in the matter.
So your suggestion has a little problem, until they start making on-level versions of every villain type for 50's, complete with boss spawns, and I don't see them doing that.
Back on topic... with regard to mobs running away more, the only thing I've noticed is enemies with range seem to try to get out of melee range more often than I remember them doing... which is kind of annoying when I'm playing my /DA or /Fire scrappers, but does make sense.
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Back on topic... with regard to mobs running away more, the only thing I've noticed is enemies with range seem to try to get out of melee range more often than I remember them doing... which is kind of annoying when I'm playing my /DA or /Fire scrappers, but does make sense.
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This is what I am noticing too the Hellion and Skull Lts. are running away from my new scrapper, but if you let them go, they will stop when they reach the range of there guns and turn to fire on you again. So it just seems like they are playing like some of the blasters I've teamed with. 
I can understand minions running away...but I've seen a lot of AV's running lately. And I'm not talking about Dominatrix. It is annoying. Was this planned? So you have to kill EVERYTHING on the map for when the AV decides to run like a moron all over the place?
It stinks when you have the AV debuffed and he/she decides to run across the map, agro'ing everything that you haven't killed yet.
I had two reapers that were +1 to me run away when i attacked the zombies with them. They didn't come back until the zombie were dead, and they walked back as if I were gone...until i attacked them again. Then they kind of stood and fought. (They may have run again, but i put a hold on both of them.)
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(QR)
Speaking as someone who's been running around Striga Isle trying to get my Legionnaire badge (defeat 100 Warrior bosses) on my 50 katana/regen, this badge is enough of a pain as it is. Warrior bosses are obnoxiously hard to find.
So if they started running away on sight, that would just make it a little bit ridiculous. Of course, I have superspeed (and, thus, stealth), so it wouldn't stop me from ambushing the first ememy in a spawn, but on, say, my claw/sr (who has SJ), it'd be really annoying.
It's not that I enjoy hunting down grey spawns, but when there are no level 45+ Warriors, I don't really have a choice in the matter.
So your suggestion has a little problem, until they start making on-level versions of every villain type for 50's, complete with boss spawns, and I don't see them doing that.
Back on topic... with regard to mobs running away more, the only thing I've noticed is enemies with range seem to try to get out of melee range more often than I remember them doing... which is kind of annoying when I'm playing my /DA or /Fire scrappers, but does make sense.
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Now, you just sighted ONE of my suggestions, no comment on the others. As I said, people react, not to the overall QoL of the game, but, their own "beds".
Ok, guess what, I would have to live with the conditions too! With 16 level 50s, and not all have every single badge, I would need to live with any changes like this. Note I said that the conditions would vary.
Ok, you give up Danger (being a high level) for more work in the area of searching and catching. It is a small price to pay for something that you can one shot to death.
As I said, it is an exploit that high levels use to get badges easily and that needs looking at.
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I am with Airman America, make the enemy react realistically
If I was fighting someone bigger and stronger and I could not even land a punch or shoot him with my gun...I would RUUUUNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!
The low levels ignoring you, well...they could be trying to play "innocent" and hope you look the other way. How a freakshow or Circle of thorns could ever look innocent is another question.
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I find toons that run away annoying too, but in some cases it is realistic, so I can live with it. However, when my scrapper is outnumbered 3:1 by red-conning enemies and two of them take off running? That's kinda ridiculous.
As for high level badging, well, I don't have any 50s, but I have hunted grey-conning Hellions in Perez to get that badge, and I see nothing wrong with that, as long as you're not stealing kills from someone who is on a mission. The only alternative to doing that is to spend much of your early levels fighting Hellions (or CoT, or Clockwork, or whatever) almost exclusively, thus missing out on other content the game has to offer.
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High level players come near low level spawns and the spawns simply sit there with no reaction. This makes it overly easy for, example, 50s to score badges.
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Unless they PL'd, it's pretty hard to get to 50 and NOT have a Skulls/Tsoo/CoT/etc badge or be so close that it doesn't matter if you take out a few gray spawns.
Besides, it's a badge. Why do you care if it's too easy for a level 50 to get a Kill Skulls badge? If it's not challenging for you, examplar down and don't worry about it. No reason to change it for everyone. The fact they can do this has zero impact on you or the game.
Also, once a low level spawn is aggroed, they WILL be scared away by a high level character. If I'm playing a high level Defender and help some lowbie out in The Hollows, I have to watch where I move, because if I get too close, I will make all his bad guys run away from him. That's not really very helpful, so I stay back.
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Enemy AI does not handle DoT damage well, at all, especially if it's lengthy. I've long noticed that enemies hit with toxic, as well a SLOW-burn fire power (i.e. from the Arsonist Thug) are quite likely to flee no matter how many hp they have left. Some factions are worse than others too...Snakes are all cowardly, as are Longbow and Trolls. Freaks are well-known for their skittishness, and I guess that kinda does fit for them.
Same goes for potent debuffs. Poison MMs can vouch for that, as can Dark Miasma and Rad users. Thankfully those sets have slows available as well, which most people take (so they may not notice otherwise).
My new Widow, who does a whole lot of toxic, just assumes that every enemy is going to run and tries to deliver damage in such a way that chasing is minimized. ("Okay, Snake WILL run, so hit 'em twice with weak attack, and save the strong attack for when they try to take off.") And then I keep that Blackwand handy.
First, as MissInformed stated, low level mobs DO run from high lvl characters. This makes sense to me; they have no chance against you.
What DOESN'T make sense to me is a +3 Freakshow boss with half his health picking up and tearing across the map.
This:
-is annoying as all hell
-makes the game tedious
-seems to be happening even MORE since i12
If it's an exploit for me to defeat a +3 boss, perhaps it's time for me to hang up my spurs.
Open the pod bay doors, Hal.
The Romans seem the play hit and run tactics. As soon as you hit them, they run, return, attack, repeat.
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<QR> If they ran away to get/summon reinforcements that would be fine with me. That makes sense. running away right away is just a bad tactical decision. If they ran away to warn others (buff to perception/aggro range) that would be cool to. would give reason to haveing crowd control, you don't want anyone in this group to escape less they sound the alarm.
Roxy On DA...Finally!
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High level players come near low level spawns and the spawns simply sit there with no reaction. This makes it overly easy for, example, 50s to score badges.
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Unless they PL'd, it's pretty hard to get to 50 and NOT have a Skulls/Tsoo/CoT/etc badge or be so close that it doesn't matter if you take out a few gray spawns.
Besides, it's a badge. Why do you care if it's too easy for a level 50 to get a Kill Skulls badge? If it's not challenging for you, examplar down and don't worry about it. No reason to change it for everyone. The fact they can do this has zero impact on you or the game.
Also, once a low level spawn is aggroed, they WILL be scared away by a high level character. If I'm playing a high level Defender and help some lowbie out in The Hollows, I have to watch where I move, because if I get too close, I will make all his bad guys run away from him. That's not really very helpful, so I stay back.
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Regardless of the fact that a badge does or does not contribute to something larger, like an Accolade, makes no difference. The fact is that it should be something earned and not by simply waiting till you are so high that the only effort you expend is time... time to go into a place like the Hollows and blast entire spawns into oblivion with one shot, or time to draw your Broadsword and do a one shot on a level 10.
Make the game interesting, make badge hunting a badge worth owning - never mind the level of the player or the enemy! Make us chase them, let them surrender, let them quake in fear asking for mercy! A badge earned by exploit will never give you the same feeling of achievement as a badge earned the honest way!
I am Airman America... Super Hero... and I approve this message!
Personally I'd LIKE the mob AI to be improved but if that happens I want it to be deliberate, not a bug the devs decide to keep. This is because players are used to the maps, the spawn points and mobs behaving a certain way. If this changes drastically then tactics will also have to change.
I think the last guy in the spawn SHOULD run like nuts. Makes it a good idea to finish off bosses and Lts earlier to keep them from fleeing. But after the guy runs a certain distance I want him counted as defeated so I don't spend 30 minutes in a kill-all hunting his [censored] down.
However, EBs and AVs should NOT run beyond the room they're encountered in! I've had missions where I spent 10 minutes chasing an EB around a Council map because the little brat wouldn't hold still and I had not Immobs/Holds to stack. Yet recently I had a great Boss fight with a Rikti Boss who was very elusive. He hopped around the room but never left the room he was in.
Spawns that said running man passes SHOULD be aggroed and head for the team. It only makes sense. However if this is the case I think the spawns should be far enough apart that this will only affect ONE additional spawn. On some maps the spawns are close together and this could lead to teams being swamped just because they got a bad draw on the map randomizer.
Foes shouldn't stand idly by as they're friends are blasted all over the place. There should be a 25-30' radius reaction from one member of a spawn and the next. If one gets ganked, the rest respond. Hide would counter part of this (make it 15' or something) so Hidden characters would see some minor benefit.
However, if the mobs begin to act smarter then the exp gains should go up or (what I would prefer) the Inf reward and drops improved. I have no problem with the baseline of the game getting harder if the rewards improve.
"Comics, you're not a Mastermind...you're an Overlord!"
Anyone notice that mobs seem to run away... ALOT. Been playing my crab since I12 launch and it seems like just about everything runs and its quite annoying.
EDIT--- This happened when I was fighting scrapyarder as well... Basically he ran instantly.