Polly_Pocket Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) I'm using Kira, the melee companion for the Jedi Knight. First, she automatically decides to never attack the target I'm attacking, which is moronic to begin with. She's an incredibly squish hero yet she's programmed to attack a separate target than me by default? Second, since every time I attack a group of mobs I have to hit control+1 to reassign her target to mine, it delays for 5 seconds before responding. Meaning, she stands there with her thumbs up her butt doing nothing while "computing?" that I instructed her to attack my target. Third, she randomly decides to stop attacking my target before it's dead and leap to another mob. This means I have to AGAIN instruct her to attack my target, which AGAIN incurs the 5 second delay of her doing absolutely nothing. Finally, there are times control+1 does not even work at all. Kira pauses for 5 seconds, starts heading towards my mob, then immediately goes back to attacking something else. I really have to say, this is some of the WORST AI programming I've ever seen in a video game, which is really a crying shame. The artists for SWTOR were fantastic, too bad you got some of the lousiest programmers working over at Bioware. Edited December 27, 2011 by Polly_Pocket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillen Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I have to agree. The companions are fairly unresponsive, but then that goes for most things in this game. In Esseles there's a boss that puts a don't stand here circle under himself multiple times during the fight. There is zero way of keeping your companion alive on that and considering it's a 2-player flashpoint that's intended to be completed with companions that's sad. I put my companion on passive to make him move out of the circle and he stands there for 2 seconds then walks as slow as possible in my direction. The ability is over with before he's gotten 3 feet away from the boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papazooki Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Companion AI is fine. Ive yet to have a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly_Pocket Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) Companion AI is fine. Ive yet to have a problem. Great? Very helpful... Edited December 27, 2011 by Polly_Pocket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papazooki Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Great? Very helpful... Your post didn't ask for any help whatsoever, all I read was baseless whining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthOpulentia Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I have an idea. You should cry about it on the forums and see if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToliverGrey Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Companions are just that. They are not other players and not mere extensions of your own abilities. They seem to react dynamically in combat -- if attacked, they'll turn and hit the mob attacking them. I've noticed that when all the mobs are attacking me my companion seems to attack the one doing the most damage to me. I don't see the lack of 100% control over companions as any issue at all. They should be a bonus, nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly_Pocket Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) I'm pretty sure the forums are for expressing our opinion about the game, which also gives you the same right to blindly defend broken mechanics out of sheer fanboyism. Regardless, the AI needs a ton of work to pass as acceptable. I don't see the lack of 100% control over companions as any issue at all. They should be a bonus, nothing more. How is an unresponsive control system a bonus? This isn't a feature. This is faulty programming. You can try and rationalize any way you want to I suppose though. Edited December 27, 2011 by Polly_Pocket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossknive Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) How much you wanna bet he has his companion set to passive? Kira quite literally 100% of the time, does exactly what I tell her too, and ALWAYS attacks when I attack. But she obviously stands there doing nothing when she is set to passive. Edited December 27, 2011 by Crossknive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papazooki Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Regardless, the AI needs a ton of work to pass as acceptable. Thats your opinion. I think the AI is more than fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candy Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 There's this thing called reading comprehension. It's a cool story I know. I've had no problem with any of the classes I've played, and their companions. Seems like you're just generalizing your complaint. Fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelic Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) I have to agree. The companions are fairly unresponsive, but then that goes for most things in this game. In Esseles there's a boss that puts a don't stand here circle under himself multiple times during the fight. There is zero way of keeping your companion alive on that and considering it's a 2-player flashpoint that's intended to be completed with companions that's sad. I put my companion on passive to make him move out of the circle and he stands there for 2 seconds then walks as slow as possible in my direction. The ability is over with before he's gotten 3 feet away from the boss. Just a note on these fights. I use my pet as a tank, and did so in beta when it was a 4-man flashpoint. All you need do is press Ctrl 2, everytime you see the ground marker and back up. One of the things that works excellent is the passive mode. He'll walk towards you and then you press Ctrl 2 again when the AoE is gone. My pet tanked the entire dungeon without dying once I started doing this, correctly. Edited December 27, 2011 by Thelic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillen Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Just a note on these fights. I use my pet as a tank, and did so in beta when it was a 4-man flashpoint. All you need do is press Ctrl 2, everytime you see the ground marker and back up. One of the things that works excellent is the passive mode. He'll walk towards you and then you press Ctrl 2 again when the AoE is gone. My pet tanked the entire dungeon without dying once I started doing this, correctly. Did you read my post? This didn't work at all. My companion took 2 seconds to respond to my command and then walked instead of running towards me. I'm not a mmo noob. Maybe you had a different companion than me I was using the consular one. There was no way he was getting out of that ability no matter how soon I told him to move. We did end up beating the boss but it wasn't thanks to the companions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly_Pocket Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Did you read my post? This didn't work at all. My companion took 2 seconds to respond to my command and then walked instead of running towards me. I'm not a mmo noob. Maybe you had a different companion than me I was using the consular one. There was no way he was getting out of that ability no matter how soon I told him to move. We did end up beating the boss but it wasn't thanks to the companions. This is what I'm talking about. That delay is what's making things aggravating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baaddare Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) I'm using Kira, the melee companion for the Jedi Knight. First, she automatically decides to never attack the target I'm attacking, which is moronic to begin with. She's an incredibly squish hero yet she's programmed to attack a separate target than me by default? Second, since every time I attack a group of mobs I have to hit control+1 to reassign her target to mine, it delays for 5 seconds before responding. Meaning, she stands there with her thumbs up her butt doing nothing while "computing?" that I instructed her to attack my target. Third, she randomly decides to stop attacking my target before it's dead and leap to another mob. This means I have to AGAIN instruct her to attack my target, which AGAIN incurs the 5 second delay of her doing absolutely nothing. Finally, there are times control+1 does not even work at all. Kira pauses for 5 seconds, starts heading towards my mob, then immediately goes back to attacking something else. I really have to say, this is some of the WORST AI programming I've ever seen in a video game, which is really a crying shame. The artists for SWTOR were fantastic, too bad you got some of the lousiest programmers working over at Bioware. the companions in this game are not pets. Their AI although not perfect is designed to try to make them appear as lifelike as possible. They will switch targets when they view another target as a bigger threat to them. However, their Ai is good. Take my tank companion he will switch back and forth to any target that he does not have agro on to try to get the agro off me. He does this without me giving him a command thats a pretty good Ai if you ask me. My healer/dps one switchs back and forth between dpsing and healing as the fight dictates. Healing anyone automatically in the party that is closing in on death then going back to DPSing. Thats a pretty good Ai if you ask me. The only delay i have seen is at the start of a fight if i command my companion to attack. it takes like 1 second then they attack. Once the fight is going there is no issue. If i am attacked such as in an ambush they jump right into the fight. Edited December 27, 2011 by Baaddare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly_Pocket Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) the companions in this game are not pets. Their AI although not perfect is designed to try to make them appear as lifelike as possible. They will switch targets when they view another target as a bigger threat to them. However, their Ai is good. First, this doesn't address the delay which occurs when giving orders. Second, constantly switching targets after I give an order is detrimental since I am the tank. I need my DPS companion to help me kill small mobs before going for silver/elite's, but it's like pulling teeth sometimes to get her to do it. At the very least, there needs to be toggle-able behavior types available. Such as: - Always attack my target - Always attack greatest threat - Always attack non-elites first Things like that. With that kind of AI control, plus the removal of order delay, the companions would be just great. Edited December 27, 2011 by Polly_Pocket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealaY Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 My companions have always responded perfectly. And for that boss battle, I too set the companion on follow when the AoE is about to happen, and there is no delay. Maybe it might be some lag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GemX Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I personally quite like the AI. I've noticed that if my companion thinks I'm going to kill the mob in the next attack it moves on to the next threat which it deems of higher value. Perhaps some people just aren't use to actually intelligent AI as it's how I see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly_Pocket Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 (edited) Maybe it might be some lag? I'm hoping a resolvable bug. It's not due to lag though, I constantly have 41 ms. Perhaps some people just aren't use to actually intelligent AI as it's how I see it. One AI type does not fit all. For my playstyle (playing as a tank) this is not intelligent AI whatsoever, it is detrimental. Edited December 27, 2011 by Polly_Pocket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelic Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Did you read my post? This didn't work at all. My companion took 2 seconds to respond to my command and then walked instead of running towards me. I'm not a mmo noob. Maybe you had a different companion than me I was using the consular one. There was no way he was getting out of that ability no matter how soon I told him to move. We did end up beating the boss but it wasn't thanks to the companions. Well you had a magical companion then. I was a consular, too, and still am. I don't suffer from these issues. Yes, I read your post, but with the disrespect you've shown me when I tried to help you, I'll refrain from reading or assisting you anymore. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polly_Pocket Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Well you had a magical companion then. I was a consular, too, and still am. I don't suffer from these issues. Yes, I read your post, but with the disrespect you've shown me when I tried to help you, I'll refrain from reading or assisting you anymore. Good luck. He didn't "disrespect" you. I think you're reading into his post way too much. It's also well known that bugs don't happen to everybody. So just because you aren't having the issue doesn't make it "magical" as you put it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimG Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Haven't had any noticeable problems using Kira or other companions. Generally I use trial and error and figure out the best way to utilize them with the tools we were given. If I need Kira to attack someone specific, then I send her to attack that person and then I start attacking. But since you're obviously not interested in any opinions that contradict yours, I'll move along. Btw, calling someone a "fanboy" doesn't invalidate their opinion. People who have too thin of a skin to hear a contrary opinion probably shouldn't post threads on a general "discussion" forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katatonic Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 The companion will always attack the target that hit you first. If you want your companion to target the same one you must create a macro. Okay no macros, so you have to click the companions attack button after or before you attack. It is abit annoying, pets in eq behave the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotLuke Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Sounds like OP is looking for a special type of button for their companion: http://www.sportsballshop.co.uk/acatalog/WinButton.jpg Sorry, but never had a problem with my companion as well, maybe play ...quicker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw_dragon Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 I have issues with companion aggro. For example i will send khem into battle, he taunts and i target the mob he is bashing. As soon as i hit his target, the other npcs (usually 3) immediately target me.... Somehow i draw aggro from targets i haven't even engaged, its ridiculous and defeats the whole point of a tank companion. He cant tank for crap and his abilities are on a 3 second delay Yet another thing that needs fixing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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