PVE AI DIFFICULTY level

[Barry-the-shatar]

do you understand how difficult and how much money it would cost to make AI that is that sophisticated they kinda tried to improve the AI with islands in BFA which was an improvement over the base, but it would take years to create AI powerful and sophisticated enough to actually replicate in anyway how a player would act

[Punyelf-draenor (Punyelf)]

Same with Island Expeditions.

[Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof]

Bobby got 155 million USD. I think it could be done IF the money indeed is the real issue

I hate negativity. But, part of me don’t think it CAN be done physically, but another part of me believe we could build the Iron Man suit irl. So… let’s share this kebab pizza and call it a day shall we?

[Sholah-hyjal]

@Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof

What if you could change the AI difficulty so that the mobs actually acted like players, or at least close to anyways?

They tried with PvP back in BFA, gameplay wise it was interesting but they were terrible once you messed with their initial strategy.

You could very easily stop their initial charge & then spawn kill them all game long

@Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof

Could it work?

Based on their previous attempt is could work in a very controlled environment.

Left to their own devices it could be absolutely terrible.

@Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof

Would you want it?

It’s interesting, but having intelligent NPCs roaming around & killing players won’t be to everyone’s taste.

I’d like to try but I can already imagine the fallout from the playerbase.

[Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof]

That’s why it should be an OPTION. I’m always PRO more options. Always

Players could turn it on/off, kinda like Warmode.

[Ancelyn-argent-dawn]

@Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof

What if you could change the AI difficulty so that the mobs actually acted like players, or at least close to anyways?

No, please don’t nerf the mobs.

[Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof]

You’ve met a lot of players that don’t read books. They do exist, this be true.

[Alewín-argent-dawn]

@Gram-ghostlands

They could have tougher AIs in certain areas, as long as those areas are optional areas with cosmetic type rewards.

Any of the elite areas would be a candidate. Elites right now just hit harder and have more health, but they tend to behave exactly the same as any other. They may try to cast at range, but if interrupted, they’ll run up and melee you.

Perdition Hold, for example, would certainly be a smaller scope in which to begin changes. Small quantity of mobs to review for placement, density, and patrol routes. Perfect place to test out new AI behaviour, see if it can be made interesting rather than annoying.

[Grendiser-kazzak (Grendiser)]

@Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof

What if you could change the AI difficulty so that the mobs actually acted like players, or at least close to anyways?

Could it work? Would you want it?

It could work. They actually kind or implemented something similar. Faction champions in TOC (WotlK) and a boss (i don’t remember the name) in the magister terrace worked a bit that way. Meaning that AI mobs didn’t respect aggro, used cc against you, etc.

To make that happen the NPCs must not hit hard like other NPCs who are meant to be tanked, otherwise they will oneshot non-tank players.

As for if I would want it, I think if it’s one or two fights, then fine. But invalidating the tank role completely is not something I would like.

[Kretías-tarren-mill]

@Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof

Could it work?

More or less. There is a fight in the game that has the AI behave like that more or less. The Faction Champions fight of ToGC.

@Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof

Would you want it?

It would require an entire revamp of the PvE system. Having a boss like Denathrius behave like a player? Say bye bye to your healers. Mechanics will also exclusively target them as to get rid of the one factor standing between you and certain victory. Some mobs whos sole job is to annoy you with CC etc could have it however however if they are mainly targeting Healers or stunning tanks then its already semi scripted again. At least for Raids and Dungeons.

In the open world or during leveling this may be quite interesting and other games have it infact. However i cant see a caster being able to for example fakecast a mob as to bait its interrupt.

And if the AI in the comp-stomp is any indicator then for the love of god dont. Same goes for the island expedition AI. Although they might have been nerfed to the ground for more than obvious reasons.

[Barry-the-shatar]

@Twobuttonwin-bloodhoof

Bobby got 155 million USD. I think it could be done IF the money indeed is the real issue

I hate negativity. But, part of me don’t think it CAN be done physically, but another part of me believe we could build the Iron Man suit irl. So… let’s share this kebab pizza and call it a day shall we?

the amount of money that they would need to invest for it wouldnt neccesarily be a problem but its more a matter of if they feel its worth, considering that there is a fairly difinitive split in PvE vs PvP in the game, lets for the sake of arguement say its 50-50 split, then they would have to spend out a hell of a lot of money to create game AI that currently doesnt exist anywhere to my knowledge and it would only be something that is used or even noticed by half the player base, the other options they have is to put most likely a lot less money into other things that will have a bigger impact on the game as a whole

[Cedrad-the-maelstrom (Cedrad)]

The problem is how to implement it in open world content. How can players that chose differnt difficulty fight the same mob if that mob is supposed to behave differently for each player. People that chose different difficulty would need to be on seperete shards further dividing the playerbase.

[Tinasõdur-outland]

But why? I mean if we wanted opponents that are more like players to rich our world then we already had it and somehow player let Blizzard destroy it.