Drake charge

[ArthurDent]

Speaking as a rogue, I'm not so sure how I feel about that.

- Hey, I thought that only meleers where keen to peek-a-boo. Rogues have more elegant and effective ways to deal with ranged attackers.

Btw, what did your post have to do with drake charges anyway?

- I confess. Guilty as charged. Send a Drake to charge me for punishment :D

Regards,
Arthur "the irrelevant"

[Zenda]

Hello Thecla,

"Speaking as a rogue, I'm not so sure how I feel about that."

This really surprises me. I never thought that (bow using) rogue players would use peek-a-boo to catch witches. Isn't peek-a-boo about holding position right at a corner, swinging a weapon, until all witches have blindly walked forward and got beheaded, without the character taking more then a few hits? I've played some rogue too, and never liked seeing the most advantageous postitions (along a wall) made useless because some warrior was standing at the corner all the time. In fact, this new feature was implemented on behalve of rogues, and because the old tactic was imo not completely free of cheese.

So let me explain a bit about this new AI. It's not that witches no longer come around corners in the new Dark. They just keep a distance if someone is too close behind the corner, or they will cautiously try to go around in a wider arc. If you retreat from such a situation, the witches (goat archers too, btw) will pause a moment to allow for distance, and then follow. This behaviour depends on the monsters subtype, so you won't notice much of it early on. Rogues and other ranged characters can benefit from all this by choosing the right positions and shooting the then more hesitating witches. I agree it makes things harder for melee characters: those are now forced to practice the more joyful sport of luring, hunting, and cornering girls. Btw, not all shooting monster types have become smarter and many will still happily walk into the path of swinging swords and axes.

"Btw, what did your post have to do with drake charges anyway?"

It was addressing your remark on Alt keys and running in town, which, like this reply of mine, didn't have much place in this thread either ;)

[Cytrex]

- I confess. Guilty as charged. Send a Drake to charge me for punishment

Well, since we all now know that Drake charge doesn't hit...what kind of a punishment is this anyway? :P

BTW does the improved AI fix any of that mess than happens when you meet a witch pack and they keep themselves in places where they actually can't shoot you while you can shoot some of them. And when these some are dead, poke your nose out and back, and the next ones will take their places to be slain. Not sure if anyone gets what I mean, but Zenda just might remember me taking down the Bloodlust pack like that in a game we had.

[Thecla]

This really surprises me. I never thought that (bow using) rogue players would use peek-a-boo to catch witches.

No, and perhaps I leaped to the wrong conclusion. I was assuming that changing the AI that allows you to peek-a-boo witches would also stop a bow-using rogue from 'cornering' witches (firing around a corner from one tile back while their blood stars hit the corner), but thinking about it some more I guess there's no reason for these to be connected. (And perhaps you already took out the cheesy witch AI that allows 'cornering' -- I'm sorry to admit that I never played the Dark. :) )

p.s. j/k about the thread hijack ;)

[Nightwind]

I'm sure you'll be forgiven if you agree to playtest version 5

[Cytrex]

I was assuming that changing the AI that allows you to peek-a-boo witches would also stop a bow-using rogue from 'cornering' witches (firing around a corner from one tile back while their blood stars hit the corner), but thinking about it some more I guess there's no reason for these to be connected. (And perhaps you already took out the cheesy witch AI that allows 'cornering' -- I'm sorry to admit that I never played the Dark.  )

That cheese was still there last time I checked(4.2 revision X). And no need to feel sorry, we feel sorry for you ;)

[Nightwind]

i'll have to start using that chease, with some kind of spell....

[Zenda]

Hello Thecla,

Well, as Cytrex' remarks showed, this tactic is still usable. In fact, ...

"but thinking about it some more I guess there's no reason for these to be connected"

... it *is* connected, and the new cautious behaviour makes it easier. So there has been done some extra tweaking to not make it tooooo easy for ranged characters :)

This should also answer Cytrex' question.

Btw, these changes also keep witches from walking up to you if you 'hide' behind something like a chest, although it still can make them unsure of their hits and cause some nervosity.

[Cytrex]

Btw, these changes also keep witches from walking up to you if you 'hide' behind something like a chest, although it still can make them unsure of their hits and cause some nervosity.

A shame in a way ;) I just lately noticed I was using the obstacles when playing a warrior. I remember Attika even introduced a whole new tactic(called the spiral of death IIRC) using this feature in an IM report of his(availale on this forum AFAIK). Still, I'm all for this change...predictability was always their weakness. And even though they still will be(predictable), it probably is more like "I will predict that they'll kill me" :D