Since I see the topic pop up a lot recently, I would like to request a dev clarification about the following question:
Is the apparent proficiency of certain thralls with either one or two handed weapons an intended feature or just an AI bug?
Since there are multiple tricks to make thralls use the different weapons upon switching (Server Restart, literally kicking them into action or replacing weapons in certain orders) it heavily seems like the former, like the Thrall AI just does not properly recognize a weapon when switched during a gameplay session.
Yet I see rumors and studies about thrall behavior popping up, stating there are differences between the skillset of certain fighter thralls (T4 mostly).
If I recall correctly Ignasis called it a bug when it was first reported. Can you please clarify this again?
+1 Please clarify. Currently we can only observe and speculate, and that behavior changes after a patch. Noticed some thralls doing full combos with select weapons but not all, but then around the dismantling fiasco and Vathis wipe, things changed
According to my empirical science regarding the atter, I believe it’s a bug. The same thrall can fight competently with all weapons one day, and stand around confused the next day no matter what you give him.
There used to be a logic about it: a thrall would fight effectively with the type of weapon (one-handed or two-handed) they came with, but not with the opposite weapon type. That no longer holds true. Some thralls fight happily with whatever cudgel, lollipop or severed limb you give them, whereas others pick their nose and stare at butterflies while there’s a war going on around them.
I fully support this request for more information.
Same goes for any other secondary stat (if they exist in the game) such as the oft-mentioned “damage multiplier” - there’s supposedly two, one for melee, one for ranged. But whether they carry forward to the tamed thrall or to what degree is not clear.
Regarding weapon proficiency, I’ve definitely seen what appears to be a preference in some thralls for either 1H or 2H, but whether it’s intended or a bug is not really clear, particularly given the lack of information ingame.
Sethum made some videos on Youtube about Dalinsia Snowhunter. One of his Dalinsias fought with 1H, another with 2H - but they refused to fight with opposite type of weapon when he tried to change it. Looks VERY much like a bug.
My Dalinsia was born with a 1H sword and just for the heck of it I equipped her with a 2H sword. She fought normally and seemed to do combos just fine.
Thought it might be useful to put this link in here. I remembered this post from a couple of months ago and the google doc was very helpful (I thought). I am hoping that our current thrall AI situation is just the broken egg stage of an omelet and that the finished product contains some of the specializations observed in the spreadsheet.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention @WhatMightHaveBeen and thank him for this contribution. Good job
personally, I appreciate the effort. I fear that without any way of knowing how these mechanics were intended to work or FC’s vision for that evolution, you may be spinning your wheels. Even worse, updating could change what was correctly observed by you as intended behavior and replace that with current unintended buggy behavior.
And part of the equation is the numbers, but i do read posts, and try to use others experience to see if i can fine certain numbers in the table that would mathematically tie to them. That is how you find the attribute that number belongs to.
Now i am peaked to do a testing on my lap top version:/
I will run a reverse engineer of sorts sometimes this week to try and isolate what each number in the table means.
Some seem easy to identify. the others will have to run binary style test (min=off,max=on) to see how it effects a thrall in combat.
This will be so much fuuuuuuuunnnnn
I was happily running amok with my T4 Bearer for awhile switching him back and forth with love tap and the black dragon spear but he got all buggy on me and sometimes just stood there. I found an old Sword of Crom with the 125 DPS hanging on my clan mates wall and tested him with it. He loves it, and does full combos and never misses a beat, even going so far sometimes as to keep “killing” after the mob is already dead…LOL.
