Ice Control: Jack Frost -- Only cycling one sword?

I've revived my interest in my Ice - Kinetic controller recently, and in so doing, have noticed something. Something I'd swear didn't used to be a problem, but then, I never soloed much on this character, so I may well be horrifically mistaken.

In Melee range, once Jack Frost selects either Ice Sword or Greater Ice Sword he will be extremely hesitant to use ANY other power. On multiple occasions in a mission I just played, he would sit with his GIS in his hands, waiting for it to recharge, stalwartly (and silently) disavowing all knowledge of his other recharged powers, slowly but surely hewing away at the health of a held boss while I sat tsk-ing and waggling my finger in admonishment.

Now, this character being my "Main", albeit quite some time in the past, I'd swear I'd remember such egregious indolence and laziness on the part of my pet. In fact, I distinctly seem to recall him having quite the opposite problem: A predilection for remaining at range, plinking away with Ice bolt alone, only unlocking the beast within when an enemy was foolish enough to meander into melee range, whereupon he would transform from a low DPS ranged plinker into an unholy terror, launching into a devastating chain of Freezing Touch, Ice Sword, and Greater Ice Sword, eviscerating everything nearby in a bloody, icy whirlwind. In fact, it was on this character that I originally took Team teleport, for Solo Use, to get my (at the time) 3 Jack Frosts into melee and unlock their fullest potential.

Something tells me that the introduction of the new "Greater" Ice sword model for that power might be playing a role in his sudden obstinacy. And if that's the case, this obstinacy is not sudden at all, since the "Greater" elemental weapon models have been around for some time.

Is it just me? Are there other Icers out there suffering at the hands of a single-track-minded pet? Any workarounds? Should we rally and try and get "Animate Stone" treatment given to jack?

It is not just you. My Ice/Storm controller is my main, who I play for hours nightly. Jack seems to have chewed down a lot of paint chips recently and doesn't seem to recall he has other powers to use. I can't put my thumb on when this began occurring, but it has been recently, say 1-3 months.

I have bugged it but no idea if it's being looked at. Is there some red name we can PM to take a look at it? I think that used to be Castle but I don't know who to go to for that kind of stuff anymore.

Same thing here. Just got Jack - and has SO Acc, Dmg, & a Rech slotted so far. He'll do a few ranged attacks, but once the sword is out, he just stands there until the target is defeated. Then the cycle starts over again.

**Damien**

Jacks been messed up ever since the pet recharge nerf. I remember when him and poo-man used to be extremely agressive on fighting mobs (killing everything they aggroed on the way back to you), but now its like they just stand their picking their noses until the main attack is recharged. Some people say pets got worse when they introduced demons to the game but I think it happened before that. I think they should just give them a few more melee attacks so no matter what they will always have an attack ready to use so attacking for them is more fluid instead of attack wait 6 seconds, attack wait 6 seconds.

Here is the thing on the pet recharge nerf: they made it so pets can't benefit from +Recharge. Ok, I understand why. But pets aren't immune to -Recharge. So if there is a problem with AI when a pets recharge changes, it still happens when their recharge gets lowered, and you can't slot anything or boost recharge with powers to prevent that from happening. So my first question about a misbehaving pet is whether there is some possibility it got hit with Psi or Ice powers.

On the plus side... characters with -Recharge in their arsenal can only benefit from this. I'm close to 100% sure -Recharge breaks the heck out of enemy combat decisions just as bad as it does pets, so at least Ice has that going for it.

Okay it's not just me, and it's not a fluke.

When he pulls out the REGULAR ice sword, it isn't so bad, since it has a relatively short recharge of 4 seconds. But that Greater Ice Sword has a 12 second recharge, takes forever for him to stand there waiting. Such a long gap.

I mean, sure, he's dealing SOME damage, and by merely being there he takes some hits for me, but, well, if he has all these powers, and he used to use them, I'd really like him to use them again.

Who IS our Go-To/PM guy for this? Castle isn't here anymore but someone MUST have his job, I mean, powers, they keep getting made, and stuff. Anyone know?

I can't recall a time when Jack actually cycled his attacks properly. Though it may well be worse now than it used to be.

I know he was bugged as far back as when MagicJ was testing st (SO) damage potential of the controller primaries and that was quite some time ago.

Just confirmed that I'm seeing this bug too. I took Jack to the practice dummies in RWZ to remove the possibility of enemy actions affecting his AI and observed his attack behavior. Once his sword is out he will not use any other attacks, even if he has to run all the way across the play field to get to the target.

There is actually a potentially huge way to exploit this for Ice characters if enemies are having the same issues. I'm not sure if that would be exploit or not so I won't share it, but if it turns out this is WAI there is at least one situation where one of Ice's powers can be made a lot stronger than it normally is.

Well....please share if there is some advantage to Ice trollers. Having Jack so lame is very frustrating. He used to be a trusted companion.......throwing an ice attack, using his holds, using his sword (without getting stuck).....and back in the day....when you could get three out.....your own personal Ice Army.

Now.....it's just sad. So any help to even the playing field would be helpful.

Thanks Strato, I think I'll put together a concise and exact PM detailing the problem, and see if he's feelin generous to us chilly types.

:3

Looks like Jack Frost has the same "Oni" AI problem. I haven't played my Ice Dom for a long time and I remember after they took away -recharge in pets, the pets are supposed to cycle everything even at melee range. And I remember vaguely Jack Frost would cycle all of his attacks at melee range.

The "Oni" syndrome I am talking about is after Oni draws his Fire swords, he usually only uses his two Fire Sword attacks until 1. the target is dead 2. the target gets knocked back out of melee range and then Oni may use Ring of Fire or Char (and won't use his Fire Swords again). Oni has been having this problem ever since he was created. :P

So yeah, looks like the problem is with "Sword" attacks. It's like if you draw out your sword, the game tells you not to use other attacks.

Have you ever noticed that Battle Maiden's minions (Champions of Mourning maybe they are called?) are really, really, really easy? I am wondering if this is part of why. Here is the attacks a minion should have:

Crossbow Ranged Lethal, Medium Damage, Foe Knockback
The Heavy Crossbow can knock down foes.
Bash Melee, Smash, Low Damage, Weak Foe Disorient
Smash your opponent with your Medieval Mace. This quick attack can sometimes Disorient your opponent.
Pulverize Melee, Smash, Moderate Damage, Foe Disorient
This attack is slower than Bash but causes more damage. It also has a chance of Disorienting your opponent for a brief time.
Clobber Melee, Smash, Low Damage, Foe Disorient
Battle Maiden's minion has disoriented you with her mace.
Shatter Melee, Smash, High Damage, Strong Foe Knockback
This devastating attack Shatters a single opponent and really sends him flying.

However I am almost positive I have watched them just stand around with their crossbows out, refusing to use any other attacks. Whether that was due to this, or the fact that I often immobilize them, I'm not sure. Unfortunately I'm not able to easily check at the moment. (Of course, even if I'm wrong, immobilizing this enemy group seems like a really good idea, since they literally can't do anything to you but shoot their weak sauce crossbow every time it recharges).

I've essentially shelved (and then deleted) my ice/cold controller because of this reason. Very annoying. I'm using my plant/storm/earth controller now as my main for incarnate content and stuff, and the plant pet works just fine. It's very easy to see the plant cycle through all of his attacks. Huge difference in dps between these 2 pets. I've never had the rock pet, so I can't comment for that one. But yes, my experience with jack is the same. If at range, he'll throw out an ice bolt, then close in to melee, pick one of the sword attacks, then will wait until that same attack refreshes, without cycling the other sword or the hold.