Bugged Bodyguard

Has anyone else faced some serious bugs with respect to how MM pet AI is working?

I found that I had to work down to +1/x2 when soloing because I can't really handle any higher when defensive follow essentially renders my pets docile (particularly at higher difficulty, mobs like to ignore my pets and target me directly - even when I take no personal action against them, so BG mode is essential).

Not only that, but I'm noticing seriously choppy response on other things, like attack commands that pets don't respond to (when I need them to focus, they only pause to respond then continue to attack their separate targets). Worse, I think is when I use the goto command and they literally just ignore it.

This isn't a lag thing, as this happens when things are running smoothly. Anyone else having problems?

I've had the docile affect when using Defensive follow.

Caused me much faceplanting in my mayhem mission, what with the targeted ambushes...

I haven't seen too much of the other 2 problems though, but I tend to go into the middle of fights and let my pets take most of the aggro so I can heal them.

Nothing consistent, but during the fight in the Nova Warden arc where you have to capture "Patient Zero" my henchmen refused to reply to attacks on me for most of the battle. I had to beat the enemy down with my veteran powers.

remember, Follow Defensive takes a few seconds to activate Bodyguard protection. Goto Defensive on the other hand activates Bodyguard straight away, and they begin responding to threats against you, straight away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VoodooGirl [*]Watching out for the Spinning Disco Portal of D00M!*

Unless you need the protection from bg, I would try having a command that sets some or all of your pets to passive mode to reduce any conflicts between the AI and your future commands.

I completely disagree with you about this historical fact however I do not have vids.

The docile effect you guys are talking about only happens when you issue the Follow command. It can be Aggressive/Follow or Defensive/Follow; it doesn't matter. I actually like this effect. Let me give you a scenario:

You're in a big open area, and mobs start ambushing you from all angles. But wait! There's a small corridor you can pull them to if only you can tell your pets to stop attacking AND stay in BG mode at the same time. Then you remember, you can keep issuing the follow command to stop them from attacking for a bit AND walk to the corridor with your pets in tow without having them attack everything and stay back in that room or lose BG mode by going Passive.

I use this quite a bit in PvP along with Defensive/Goto and Defensive/Stay, as those two commands also offer BG mode protection. Here's another scenario for PvP instances:

Oh no, my idiot pets just aggroed a big mob of Longbow while I was attacking a Scrapper. How will I move out of range of the Longbow mob and keep BG mode on without my pets attacking those NPCs while the scrapper is still on me? I know! I can either use the Defense/Goto command and send them somewhere else, all the while staying close to them so I maintain BG mode, and once they reach that point, they will continue to attack the closer threat (scrapper hopefully) WITHOUT a delay. OR, I can keep issuing the Defensive/Follow command and escort my pets out of the Longbow's range, while also maintaining BG mode, AND THEN, if the scrapper is still attacking me, issue the Defensive/Stay command to let them beginning attacking again IMMEDIATELY, while still maintaining BG mode.

I sometimes also like to "hot-swap" BG mode in PvP situations. If some enemy wants me to make the first move, I either send in half my pets or all of them first. Once I notice them making their move on me, I command my pets to Def/Stay, immediately placing me back into BG mode without making my pets go docile. I can also do the same thing with GoTo to place them near one of two people attacking me to to somewhat control who they will attack first. This is risky in PvP if the enemy has a quick firing Mez attack, but PvP is all about risk.

There are lots of ways to use BG mode. Don't be tethered to Def/Follow all the time.

-Simon

We are not talking about switching to bg mode. A bug has turned up where pets go docile while in bg mode after zoning, like after using lifts or mission doors.

This has proven extraordinarly frustrating doing the jailbreaks in mayhem missions. I go upstairs, a +2 PPD Kheld Boss (or 2) starts hammering me, probably mezzing me (I know, carry BFs). Meanwhile the pets sit there getting whittled down by aoes (or direct attacks if I'm mezzed) and doing NOTHING. This encounter right now is the biggest challenge my MM faces, even over 90% of EBs. For now I have to chew down 2-3 purples and a BF before I can enter the elevator and pray I don't get an unlucky 5% hit, else the def debuff cascade happens real quick.

I'm wondering if this is tied to certain maps. On my Mercs MM the pets were fine on all missions until I got tips mission vs. Arachnos.

The map was one of the Abandoned Rikti ship maps. The pets simply stayed docile no matter how much damage I took..goto, stay, it didn't matter they just stood there not attacking.

Frustrated, I left that mission. After running a couple more I decided to try the troublesome mission again, same thing happened, pets went docile on that map, whenver I tried to use BG-Mode.

I gave up and quit the tip-mission and joined a Citadel Task Force. During the entire TF not a single problem with BG-Mode. I'm convinced something about that particular tip-mission was the source of the problem.

Hard to say. In my experience, the problem is inconsistent.

I've had tip/morality missions where they've done fine, and paper/story missions where they've been buggy; and vice-versa.

So why is the easy way not being mentioned?

If a mob is under a form of control/Mez, and your pets stop attacking... Why are you choosing not to press the Attack command button? He's mezzed! Kick him while he's down! Seriously, explain that one to me because it doesn't make sense.

I find that switching from defensive-goto to defensive-follow always render my pets passive for a while. I have to run around and push em around a bit before they react to fire. Same thing happens when trying to gather my pets for heals with a passive-follow, switching to a defensive-follow.

For the most part I go through fights purely on defensive-follow and defensive-attack, and when I feel the need to gather my pets - I never use a passive-follow, but rather a defensive-goto (which works fine) and then continue to use defensive-gotos to the end of the fight. Only when we are in the clear, dare I switch back to bodyguard with defensive-follow.

Mac

It's strange for me in that I see this constantly on two of my bots MMs but never encounter it on my thugs or demons.

I don't rely on BG mode often, but I do notice there's a delay between being attacked and when my pets start attacking. Particularly on my Traps and FF MM where it often takes a little time to even be hit by a foe, much less waiting for all my pets to swing into action.

So that's really why I'm not in BG mode often. I'm almost always telling my pets to attack, and I am always working out which target is next, or firing off an attack to get one of the mobs on me, or knocked down, or whatever the effect I might be looking for. Or buffing/healing, or whatever. I just don't find BG mode that worthwhile, and I don't focus on tankerminding. Just me, personally.