I rejoined WoW for TWW and found this feature. How do the NPC’s work behind the scenes? Was there a Blizzcon Panel or Interview by Blizz about it? I’m very curious 
… not sure if there is anything in here, or it links elsewhere to help …
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Inspired by Final Fantasy’s system too btw.
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They didn’t reveal how they did those AI followers but they said they used the same tech used for Island Expedition NPCs. One thing is sure they are programmed to jump for no reason.
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I don’t know how they were programmed, but the tank takes the “pulling back”-method to the extremes.
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The hunter seems to be programmed to jump around body pulling stuff for no reason. So it is a very realistic experience.
The mage also jumps around, but is a free source for mage food, so i forgive her.
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I do them all the time and no problems at all. I dont care if they jump, I just want to get the dung done.
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It feels very waypoint-based to me. The tank moves from pre-defined waypoint to waypoint, attacks mob that are in range as well as additional mobs that the player pulls. The route is always the same. The DPS NPCs follow the tank and also attach anything in range. The healer NPC follow the tank and reactively heals as health bars drop.
In some dungeons the tank will move back to a pre-defined waypoint to try to pull mobs back a bit, to avoid the group fighting in a huge area that’s densely packed with potential adds, e.g. in the final room of the Priory. But they aren’t actually programmed to or smart enough line-of-sight per se; it’s just following pre-defined waypoints. E.g. the DPS players start attacking as soon as the tank pulls back mobs in range; they don’t want until the mobs are grouped up behind the wall.
The AI doesn’t use any sophisticated class abilities. You won’t see the tank trying out risky big pulls or use his mobility to kite mobs. No heroic leaps, no transcendence big-brain moves, no Ring of Peace, no DK grips to pull in caster mobs, no giga pulls with Divine Shield, etc. And the AI healer doesn’t really ever have to do anything other than cast some basic reactive heal spells, or rez a dead player after a pull.
Although follower dungeons are better than nothing, I think the AI is very boring. It doesn’t show how amazing Blizzard’s class/spec design is (in most cases) and how much cool stuff players can do when they get creative in dungeons.
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That’s pretty much their point. They’re not supposed to replace normal dungeons. Being slower is by design. The only point of them is that players can avoid undesirable human behavior they may encounter when playing with others.
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I’m getting mixed messages here
…so exactly 100% as with a group of people?
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I’m not a fan of dungeons, and I like them even less when the group of players I’m with rushes through them. Follower dungeons allows me to do the dungeon quests, experience the rp and play the content at a pace I enjoy.
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Imagine my surprise when I found out I could do dungeons and not deal with player toxicity and the rush meta playstyle. I hope followers are a feature that keeps getting expanded upon, it’s not perfect but even so it’s much better than regular dungeons.