What is going on here?
People are leaving the game en masse and mainly due to the dreadful thrall AI that’s been plaguing the game for years, yet there are no improvements, despite there being an update which was focused on thralls?
Sure, the features are great. Follow distance, aggression setting, etc, but do they work? No.
Is there some magic setting that we need to know about, such as a very specific set up for commands to work? Why is it that when I’m pressing square for the thrall to attack target, it does absolutely nothing? I’m close to the target, with attack and chase distance alternating between 15 and 30 meters.
Could it be that some of the logic for the AI is outsourced code or implements dodgy APIs to speed up development, so when it bugs or turns out trash, the fix/improvements cannot be done in house? Are clean/SOLID principles not being followed, or the codebase is too messy and no longer maintainable? Is there no one who specializes in machine learning at funcom or AI development? Though following basic practices should be enough for basic commands? Or what the hell are the testers being paid for? Perhaps look into microservices architecture?
I don’t understand how it can be this bad? I’ve written smarter runescape bots and that’s just core Java?
The ONLY thing that seems to work well, is the “attack everything” setting. But as soon as you try anything a tiny bit more complex, the AI is just clueless. I have the setting on “guard me” as I don’t want my follower attacking everything and anything. When I have specific targets, I press square on it to attack. Why does nothing happen? I’m forced to change it to “attack everything”, then in the middle of fights, change it back, etc. Is there no easier way?!
Even when I’m being attacked, WHILST hitting square for my thrall to attack, all the thrall is doing is following me AS I’M BEING ATTACKED! It seems like the thrall has to receive damage themselves before even getting their weapon out. Please can you hire some more talent for this aspect of the game? Maybe some contractors to temporarily help with the AI?
I want a follower who follows me, attacks whoever attacks me, and attacks who I order them to attack. Why is this too much to ask? Please can AI get some attention before more DLCs come out? You can bring out all the DLCs you want… But remember that doing so won’t improve the core gameplay, which is what everyone wants right now.