Raise Zombie
" They really missed the mark when changing zombie aggro. Long ago the problem was completely different. The minions' aggro was great- they would actively seek fights beyond the edge of screen. Problem was they would keep fighting even if you ran off somewhere else leaving the master alone and vulnerable in his new location (unless you ran off far enough then they would all port to you). So instead of keeping the desired aggressive behavior (look for fights beyond sight radius) while making the zombie more obedient and follow their master, they managed to give us passive zombies that walk back and forth waiting for you to direct them with mouse clicks. | |
" The way Diablo 2 handled this works great, if you remained idle your minions would do their thing, even running/killing off screen, but the second you start to move they would disengage depending on their leash range. However it was a fine balance because they wouldn't just ignore threats that were say - chasing you - they would attack them until you were at that long distance again before moving, effectively acting as a decoy (which is well what minions should do, summons are a primary source of summoners - not innate - but outside defense.) The whole mouseclick thing would work if coupled with the offscreen thing - there are many ways to deal with immediate danger, but if you are in a position where moving too close (think voidbearers, lightning arrow skeletons, sewer alchs, those annoying jumpers, ANYTHING WITH FLICKER STRIKE or AoE exploding chaos damage) would otherwise result in being gibbed extremely quickly this is VERY frustrating. As a summoner who relies on minions for 100% of my damage and 75% of my toughness, requiring me to be in the middle of any/all of that is completely unreasonable, especially when coupled with the enemy AI to almost exclusively target me whenever there is a half second window to punch my lights out (coupled with zombie/skeletons inability to attack/react fast). Some might say this is a lazy/passive way of playing, but to that I say - There is a price, this sort of build is suppose to be safe and takes its toll in one major aspect : Speed. it will take me a lot longer to clear content than people who abuse spell totems and other skills. My build is rigid and leaves me very vulnerable to direct attacks. But asking for my skills to have the same range as others, I don't think is being unreasonable. Rangers can shoot their arrows offscreen, a majority of projectile spells will go off screen. In fact - Mobs spells go at least 2 screens away - yet my zombies are given a half screens worth of effectivness? Unlike rangers, I can't just click over a screen away and my zombies work effectively and keep traveling in that direction until it kills whatever it is they are after. By that time - they won't even benefit from my teeny tiny aura range either. This is entirely frustrating. |
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Zombies often don't attack anything at all, even when there are tons of mobs around. When will their AI be improved, it's much needed?
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They run towards whatever you are striking, and start attacking in that area. You need to 'steer' them a little. I personally thouroughly enjoy this behaviour. Means they don't run off when I don't want them to.
Last edited by Vipermagi#0984 on Feb 25, 2013, 10:47:43 AM
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Except often they'll stop attacking completely after 1 or 2 seconds when I've stopped attacking the target. If there are enemies around, they should continue their attack, regardless of what I'm doing.
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The passive zombie behaviour really annoys me too, often results in me having to get in near melee range for them to become aggressive and stay that way. Spectres are similar, although since I used ranged spectre it is not quite as noticeable.
What I would really like to see is for zombies to become more 'intuitive'. Whenever I get into a fight with something that can leap, cast quick-moving/instant projectiles (arcmages!), flicker, or generally anything that can affect me very quickly, it really irritates me that my zombies are not only not already in place to act as my defence, but are often 3 or 4 seconds behind. This is not a movement speed issue; the zombies can keep up with me fine once they start to move. This is a reaction speed issue, combined with the fact they only follow - so I have to be in the lead. This is what happens: I start moving in a direction. A few seconds later the zombies will start to follow. I then encounter a fight which results in me having to run back because the zombies are behind. If this fight has monsters that can do a lot of burst damage very quickly I can often die. The merciless barracks are awful for this - encountering 3 or 4 Arcmages and charging guards can often result in near-instant death. I can counter this - I can move little by little so the zombies are always with me; but this is just not fun. What I would like to see is for the zombies to a) react more quickly to me moving away from them (unless engaged in combat!), b) try to keep ahead of my direction, as best as their movement speed allows. Alternatively, or even in addition, it would also be nice if a hotkey could be put in place that could be used (in conjunction with the cursor position relative to your character) to give zombies a direction to head in so that you could send them ahead of you - a move order as such. Preferably the move order would be cancelled upon acquiring a target, at which time the normal AI takes over. Also pushing the hotkey again could cancel the order, or a separate hotkey could be put in place for this functionality. Last edited by Aimeryan#0430 on Feb 27, 2013, 2:18:24 PM
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Would it be possible to incorporate some sort of "bonus" system, based off of the bodies used to raise your zombehs?
For example, using a dead mob that had extra health would grant your minion an automatic bonus of -x- hp, on top of whatever it had due to gem skill. Or a mob that delt lightning damage might give that zombie a little bit of its own juice to hit with, or a resistence to that element. -Zombie#1- "That guy has passed right over us 3 times now..shouldnt we be popping out to attack?"
-Zombie#2- "No way, you saw what he did to our friends. Lets just stay down here where its safe. Besides, you heard how angry he is..keeps shouting something about needing the last 2 to clear.." |
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necromatic aegis + angelic/archon shields fill that gap already quite nicely. Also unlike other skills, raise zombies gets a substantial boost to HP with each level. lvl 18 zombies have almost twice the HP of lvl 15 zombies for example (4663 HP vs 8938 HP)
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Mark, can you tell us by about how much a zombie's offensive stats increase each time the gem levels up later on? I have a +2 Minion Helmet and can't figure out if I should be using Zombie+Minion Life+Minion Damage+Melee Physical Damage in the helm, or if perhaps I'm better off using Zombie+Skeleton+Minion Life+Minion Damage. It's unfair that ever other style of play can see their numbers in front of them and make decisions, some guidance would be greatly appreciated so players can make an informed choice.
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