This has been going on since MA came out. The only buffing set that Allies use properly all the time is Empathy, go figure.
Any mob in AE that isn't a basic, in-game mob with no buffing features is currently buggy on power usage.
They still haven't fixed the "Oh no! I've been debuffed! Time to run away in terror, even if I'm an Archvillain!" issue, either.
Well this is lovely, was testing an arc of mine and now my Empathy ally is not behaving right either. No Clear Mind and almost never heals anymore either. *grumble*
I think something changed relatively recently. I just reran "The Case of the Late Richard Faraday" and the allies that used to attack with abandon now mostly just sit there. I actually could measure how many times they attacked by measuring how much XP I lost and it looks like they threw an attack every 5-6 spawns.
Maddening.
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
They definitely reduced ally interaction. Probably a good thing.
I'd say WAI. They probably did this to all possibe 'buffing' allies in the MA to curb explotive farming techniques in the MA (and people say exploitive Farming doesn't affect of players in the game 
).
On the plus side it does reduce XP leeching, but that's more than balanced by the loss of ally aid when it is actually needed (read: AV fights in solo-friendly arcs) and the RP violation (here's this big bad angry guy supposedly bent on revenge, and all he does is pick his teeth?).
It might not be bad to have an "almost pacifist" setting for allies to reproduce what we have now, but I'd much rather get back the behavior we had a few patches ago.
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
[ QUOTE ]
I'd say WAI. They probably did this to all possibe 'buffing' allies in the MA to curb explotive farming techniques in the MA (and people say exploitive Farming doesn't affect of players in the game ).
[/ QUOTE ]
This speculation is refuted by observing that the change affects all allies, not just buffers. Also, the biggest balance issue related to buffers is having pacifist allies with toggle AoE buffs, which AFAIK is still a problem and totally unaffected by changing how AI click powers work.
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
[ QUOTE ]
This has been going on since MA came out. The only buffing set that Allies use properly all the time is Empathy, go figure.
[/ QUOTE ]
I dunno, the Earth Control/Pain Domination Elite Boss Ally that I add to all my solo arcs does a fantastic job of buffing. Heals when I need them and perma Painbringer (I'll admit once in a blue moon she puts Painbringer on the back burner until every mob in her sight is dead).
She has:
Earth Control
Stone Prison
Fossilize
Quicksand
Earth Quake
Volcanic Gasses
Pain Domination
Nullify Pain
Soothe
World of Pain
Painbringer
Out of her powers, however, she has more trouble with her Earth Control than she does Pain Domination. She has never used Earthquake or Volcanic Gasses, which surprises me since Volcanic Gasses is even a manditory power.
Other than that old NPC 'Don't attack controlled targets' mentality that leads her to damage every mob in my spawns, she's by far the best buffing ally (AI wise) I have had in AE missions.
Favorite Hero: Computer (Empathy/Energy Blast Defender)
Favorite Villain: Gimp Computer (Fire Control/Psionic Assault Dominator)
I've had to crank all my allies up to aggressive to get them working again. This was getting really annoying seeing them stand around doing nothing.
<QR> I was doing an arc just last night that had an empathy ally in it, and she was Forting/CMing left and right. She even buffed my imps at times. I have no idea what she was set on (it was Consequences of War Pt 1 by @Dalghryn if anyone wants to ask him- and I haven't finished it yet, so Dalghryn if you read this, that's why I haven't sent feedback yet), but Ally AI just generally buggy as hell. Sometimes they randomly decide to stop following you, too.
I'm just a holy fool, oh baby it's so cruel
Thessalia, by Darkchildx2k
After testing my ally again it seems that she only uses her buffs one third of the time and even then it's often a case of buffing you when you rescue her and then forgetting that those powers exist for the rest of the mission.
Question, Lazarus, do you have any other non-enemy NPCs in your missions? Even non-combat NPCs that you have to rescue?
I tested this issue quit a bit back when MA was first released, and it seemed having any 'save me!' NPC's would mess around with your buffer's AI.
I also had the best luck using Pain Domination and Thermal Radiation.
I ran a big test of this a while back where I made a bunch of custom allies and swapped them out to see which ones worked and which didn't. Empathy was the only consistent one and that seems to be over as well.
I dunno how you got Pain or Thermal to work, every time I try those they don't do jack most of the time or only buff once per mission. Even when they're the only damn non-hostile in the entire mission.
I included a /kin ally in one of my MA missions, mainly so solo players could get Speed Boost. The latest patch seems to have stopped the ally from using Speed Boost at all. In fact, most of the /kin powers seem to get unused, the critter relies completely on his attack powers even though they are set to fight defensively.
Are others noticing this? Any suggested workarounds? I was hoping to create a series of mission which didnt result in people begging for a fire/kin to join the team.