Foes Fleeing...Enough Already!!!

This happens with foes regardless of level. In my fights, there is ALWAYS at least one enemy who runs away mid-fight no matter what I do, and oftentimes I see multiple.

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Heheh, try a Meele guy on Champions lol they run ALOT more

I was just making the point that in the particular instance outlined in the OP, the behavior isn't especially strange.

Yes, one or more enemies will sometimes flee. The level of the enemies themselves doesn't really matter. But when you are level 37 fighting level 33s, you should expect more of them to run.

Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.

Granted, a significant level difference does guarantee that ALL enemies will run, but look at the core of the problem. One enemy will almost always flee and multiple enemies will flee semi-frequently. This is NOT good design. As far as I'm concerned, even one enemy should very, VERY rarely flee and multiple enemies reasonably close to your level should NEVER flee under ANY circumstances not specifically involving Terrorize, Afraid or Avoid effects.

A few points:

1. We were told of a change that made Taunt stop fleeing enemies. To the best of my knowledge, this has NEVER worked consistently. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. It should. Every single time, unless an enemy is immune to Taunt effects (and let's face it, a few SHOULD be).

2. Terrorize effects should override AI behaviour. Every time. There is no reason why an enemy who should be cowering in fear IN PLACE should instead just break status effect and run away. There is no reason why an enemy running away hit with a Terrorize effect shouldn't stop and cower, but that never happens. Ever. And it should. This is a status effect. If they must shoot through it, then let them. But they should NOT run away.

3. Avoid effects should make enemies avoid whatever it is that has the effect. It should NOT make them flip out and run over the end of the world. If the AI is intended to avoid a Burn patch, then let it do so. Have it move a few feet to the side, get out of range, then STOP. There is no reason for AI looking to move out of a Burn patch to run down a corridor, up a flight of stairs, past two doors, down two floors of sheer drop and across the hall. Have Avoid effects STOP a running enemy from running as soon as the Avoid effect times out, which most do within the tick duration of the power that applies them, usually between 0.5 to 2 seconds.

4. Afraid effect are... Obsolete, as far as I'm concerned, at least for general consumption. Afraid effects are what Fear powers had prior to I4, which made enemies run away. This obviously questionable utility was recognised, so these powers were given annoyingly long durations, and it all balanced out. With I4, Fear effect duration on numerous powers has had to be cut down because of how much more useful the Terrorize mechanic (when it WORKS) is. And that's how it should be. I don't see any reason why non-exotic player powers, and indeed NPC powers, should use the Afraid effect. And just to be clear I'm not making this up, Hot Feet does Afraid, which self-stacks, no less.

In closing, I need to restate that running enemies are ANNOYING. They add nothing to the difficulty, they add very little to immersion (we should all be well past looking for "realism" here), they add nothing to the game's dynamics... All they add is a needless irritation. It's like a tasty fruity snack that's also round and slippery so it's almost impossible to stick your fork in it. Enemies running away contributes NOTHING to the game other than pointless busywork. It's not a question of how many or how often. It's a yes or no question. And as far as I'm concerned, the answer should be "No, enemies should NOT run away outside of special occasions."

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.