Minions movements

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Mark_GGG wrote:

I've committed a 25% reduction in the distance (to 60 units) that movement actions will unstick the minions. I'll discuss with others and look into options for having them unstick automatically if there's nothing there, or otherwise default back to you.
Thanks for the feedback so far.

Thank you for your response to this, and that sounds like a start.

However, I can't help but wonder what your thoughts are, on having minion behavior set as either "follow target" or "follow player" in options somewhere. I think that would keep both schools of thought on the issue happy...becuase a simple reduction in the max distance from the player is not enough for me. I don't want my minions to go wherever I attack or cast, and that's it in a nutshell.

Slightly off-topic question related to your last post, Mark, just curious -- was the upcoming system for applying server-side hotfixes and minor patches implemented with 1.0.6?

How does this new behavior work with a multi-proj skill like Freezing Pulse?

Specifically, to have the projectiles bunch closely together in front of you, you must keep your cursor far away from you, at the edge of the screen, likely far past your actual intended target(s).

Do the minions then rush to that far-off, likely empty and unimportant location? How can you control your projectiles and your minions?

Impossible?

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777isHARDCORE wrote:

Do the minions then rush to that far-off, likely empty and unimportant location? How can you control your projectiles and your minions?

Impossible?

Yes, that's exactly what they do. They go wherever you cast a spell, or attack. They will go much further even than you can place a totem, spending a lot of time getting there, even though there are no enemies there, and then they take time coming back...all the while being attacked.

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They'll go to the target location - exactly as they already would have. The only change is they'll remember that location longer now.

Alright, I'm confused now. When one says "minion", that can be anything from an animated weapon to a spectral devourer...and they all have (had) different inherent movement/follow AI. Skeletons emerge wherever you select, and immediately head for the nearest target. Once that is gone, they head for the next nearest. Zombies hang close to the player until something comes close, and then they attack (or at least they used to). When you say "as they already would have", what do you mean, exactly? What they already would have done, is to go after the nearest target, not 20 feet behind the enemies where you clicked to attack with your bow or wand...that's what happens now. There was really no way to direct your minions to a specific location, other than summoning skeletons to a specific location, unless I was missing something.

I can totally see the appeal of directing your minions, but why does that direction have to come in the form of cast/attack targets? Someone said something about filtering portals and totems out when targeting, and I think that's a start, but I still maintain vehemently that people should have a choice whether to set their minions to "follow target" or "follow player".

Tonight I was playing with a friend. I wanted to erect a rejuvenation totem behind him to help him out, but I knew if I did, my minions would follow it. I could then redirect them with an attack, but then what I'd have is minions zipping around all over the place from location to location, getting attacked the whole time, instead of helping me, or my friend, or themselves, or anybody or anything. They're just busy going from place to place.

Ultimately it would be nice to be able to set the follow type for each minion type, because I have a friend who loved to use both skeletons and zombies, because they both have (had) different attack/follow patterns. The zombies hung close and protect his character, while the skeletons could be placed strategically, and move more freely. He had both sides covered.

That is...again...before the last major patch. :(

Now all minions seem to follow the same way, and that's a shame!

You could make changes, not during the week of the race?

And I now understand why I died, remaining open map alone apart from the crowd of minions.

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Vipermagi wrote:

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Obright wrote:

There was really no way to direct your minions to a specific location, other than summoning skeletons to a specific location, unless I was missing something.

Yes, there was indeed something you were missing :P Simply activating a Skill caused your following minions to head to the targeted location and have some fun over there. It was the only way to get Zombies to go more than half a screen away, basically.

As Mark mentioned, the only difference between now and then, is that they remember that location.

I'm not sure how it all works, but it's possible their move used to be 'interrupted' by triggering a different response in their AI (being attacked triggers a counter-attack I presume). Just a guess though.

Yup! I was missing that! :p I always played with someone who used zombies, so even though I had a trained up zombie gem, I only used it a handful of times...they were kinda his thing!

And like I said, I can totally see the advantages of being able to direct your minions, I just think it aught to be its own command, and not rely on the targets of the player. When I attack, I'm not trying to direct my minions. I shouldn't have to stop attacking just to tell my minions where to go, or attack in a different place just to direct my minions. Again, that's just my own personal playing style! I want my minions to stay close to me like they always did. Gaining the ability to control my minions' movement totally ruins my ability to make them stay close to me!

To me, skeletons and zombies are disposable minions. All you need for a zombie is a corpse, and all you need for skeletons is MANA. However, if I want to replace my flame sentinels, I have to invest a good bit of time and effort, quite often. They are more precious to me, so I want to keep them close to me...not so that they can protect me so much, but so that I can protect THEM. If they run off, or get stuck behind me, I can't do that. This is just another of the many ways that people can respond to the various minions totally differently, based on their playing styles.

That is why I think it is so important for us to be able to choose the follow patterns for our minions, between "follow target location" and "follow player"!

Am I just totally SOL on that? Is there ANY chance that minions may one day have their own assignable AI's? What works for one person's playing style is not necessarily going to work for another person's, and before, people could choose their minions based on their move/follow/attack patterns. Now they all act the same. :(

Are there any plans to improve minion AI when it comes to not standing on damaging/debuffing ground (fire/ice/etc) if it's possible to attack their current target without doing so (or at all if there's no target)? That's always annoying.