City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Allies not using their secondaries

AngryRedHerring

By AngryRedHerring,
Posted on: 2009-05-08 06:19 in Mission Architect

 

Posted

I have a mission with two allies, one DM/Shields and one AR/Regen. It seems that since the last patch, they aren't using their secondaries at all. They both have their secondary cranked up to Hard (for survivability, since they're lieutenants) but my Shield character was running around without her shield out, and my Regen guy wasn't healing at all, even when he was almost dead. He did rez when he died though.

Anybody else have this happening? Is it just because they're lieutenants, or did allies in general just get squishier?

Also they weren't playing their "stranded" animations on a warehouse map, but played them just fine on an outdoor map.

Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper

Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World

 

Posted

I have this same thing going on. In my Arc I have an AR/Pain Cor that is the main contact and also helps you in the 2 missions that have AVs. I have him in there to help people that solo. I have his primary at the lowest setting and the secondary at the highest setting so that he heals more then he shoots.

Well he is not using his secondary after this patch and overall runs around like an idiot doing pretty much nothing. Before he was an asset for solo and small teams but nothing overpowered.

I hope this is some sort of bug and not WAI. I fear the Devs gimped any allies because they were being abused in farms and have gone way overboard as usual and made them sucktacular.

 

Posted

The thing is, my allies' secondaries only affect them. How do self-only defensive sets help farmers? They just make the ally live longer so they can leech more xp and tickets. That's why my allies are lieutenants, they are part of the story but I don't want them to leech. I would like them to not be shredded though.

And my elec/rad ally is using his heal just fine, when he is injured. He AMd me too.

Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper

Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World

 

Posted

I doubt this was an AI change - my guess would be the powers available in your critter's secondary changed, and the AI handles the new set of powers less smoothly than it did the old set. You might need to play around with the critter to get it back to something you like.

And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines

 

Posted

Huh. Well, all I can say is I have heard nothing about intentional AI changes, and I've been watching for them pretty carefully.

And for a while things were cold,
They were scared down in their holes
The forest that once was green
Was colored black by those killing machines

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I hope this is some sort of bug and not WAI. I fear the Devs gimped any allies because they were being abused in farms and have gone way overboard as usual and made them sucktacular.

[/ QUOTE ]

None of the more notorious farm methods used allies (they just got in the way) except for stationary ones (like a bubbler, "I'm staying right here!"). The problem seems to be on indoor maps. My solo arc has an OP ally (she's supposed to be a demigoddess, a handmaiden of Frigg) and she works fine on outdoor maps but put her indoors and she turns into basically a freed hostage. It's annoying but I just stick to outdoor maps if I want to use her.

@Remianen / @Remianen Too

Sig by RPVisions

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I hope this is some sort of bug and not WAI. I fear the Devs gimped any allies because they were being abused in farms and have gone way overboard as usual and made them sucktacular.

[/ QUOTE ]

The thing is, allies are little kill-stealers. Only defensive allies truly aid in a farm. I was worried I had created a farm in a particular mission, until I saw they were stealing my xp (which was what I had hoped would happen, actually).

.
Check... and Mate (poster) - Arc ID# 15095 (comments)
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Global @ARH
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Posted

I noticed this too. It appears that any ally with support secondary is not using it for some reason.

The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.

 

Posted

I encountered this problem in beta. I had a passive NPC following you (named "Cameraman") and a combat ally, a Mastermind, following. But the MM never used her secondary or even her summons.

I asked the devs about this and was told that only the OLDEST joining member of your party gets to use summons and secondaries. It's an antifarming measure, to ensure you aren't tagging along with a fleet of bubblers and healers.

Since the cameraman was added to my group first, even though he had no powers, he was the designated support guy. The MM became a blastermind. So, I used a more linear map, swapped their positions around, and now things are fine.

Global @Twoflower / MA Creator & Pro Indie Game Developer.
Mission Architect Works: DIY Laser Moonbase (Dev Choice!), An Internship in the Fine Art of Revenge (2009 MA Award Winner!) and many more! Plus Brand New Arcs for Issue 21!

 

Posted

I'm having a similar problem, with only a single Ally objective in the mission. Broadsword/Shield and he never has his shield out or activates any toggles. I suspected that the Captive objective I had in the same mission may have been interfering, but switching the order, the positions in the map and eventually removing the Captive altogether make no difference. My Ally is still without protection.

Edit: After changing the difficulty of the Ally's Shield set, it appears that he is activating the toggles, as he now gets the effect of Active Defense (I think, not too good with the Shield powers); only the shield model is not appearing following a redraw of his sword - or any other animation, I presume.

Justice Hunter, 50 Inv/SS Tank

Slenszic, 50 Sword/Energy Stalker

MA Arc IDs: 1355, 2341, 2350