I’ve given up hope at this point

Emilia90

This is discussing the worsening AI after the recent update and I’ll be talking about more specific instances that have been getting more egregious so I hope this doesn’t get merged but we’ll see

So after the recent update that dropped last Monday, the AI behavior has somehow gotten even worse. I play a ton of BG and the current GC node makes you intercept and oh boy is that annoying af with the worsening AI

To start, the AI now loves to dash back and hold block. Like no matter what they just won’t go for your intercepts, they’ll just stand there and dash back, again and again. It’s so annoying and this definitely wasn’t happening as frequently pre-update

I’ll be waiting for ages for them to try and play into me for a light intercept but they’ll do one of two things now. They’ll either hold block and dash back or walk forward and use a light. This was kinda prevalent before but I noticed it’s even worse now

And guess what, they still won’t throw specials a lot of the time. This aspect isn’t as bad but there are so many times now where I’ll try and dash forward and hit their block and they’ll special intercept me. I swear this is happening constantly now. It happened in my last couple BG matches, go to hit their block, they instantly throw their special and nuke you. So much fun

I’ve been noticing some other stuff that YouTubers have experienced that I’ve also had happen. In Lags recent BG stream, the AI dexed his medium and parried his next attack. What even is this at this point? What exactly are we supposed to do?

I had a fight against domino last night where I dashed forward to tap her block because she wouldn’t throw her special. She sidestepped my dash perfectly and countered with a light, into a full combo, chained into a special attack

So now we have:
- Constant special intercepting and refusal to throw it until you dash in
- Dexing out of relics and combos that should have connected and somehow parrying
- The worst one after the update is dashing back and holding block. Dear god this is the most annoying this I’ve ever had to deal with in this game. Dash forward and hit their block? Nah. Do it 3 more times? Still won’t budge. Light intercept? Nah they’ll still stand there. Medium intercept? Don’t try it, they’ll always counter it now
- Perfect sidestepping into intercepts or parries

Thanks guys, very cool to confirm that the AI will somehow get even worse

HungaryHippo

Having two accounts means i could play GC and VT at the same time for comparison. They legit knew that it was intercept meta and purposely:

Gave - Us - Passive - AI.

LOL

This comment is pretty instructive because it demonstrates the cycle we are in right now where frustration has led to confirmation bias and it has really taken over.

I understand conspiracy theories that we are making AI deliberately harder in content like Summer of Suffering. They aren't true, every SoS fight has had the same AI profile, but I understand why players might think they are true. Harder AI in Everest content = harder fights = more consumables used = theoretically more money for us, at least in the short term.

However the community should be able to take as step back and realize none of those incentives exist for us in Battlegrounds. In Battlegrounds, the more players play, the better it is for our business. The idea that we would deliberately create a harder or more frustrating AI simply doesn't hold water. We have not, the exact same AI profile is applied to both the VT and GC this season. Any perceived difference is just confirmation bias.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying there are no problems with the AI. I personally believe we have some substantial issues we need to address, and I'm hoping we can communicate them more effectively in the coming months. But I can tell you definitively that we aren't making harder AI profiles to target specific metas.

Thanks for responding on a Sunday. For the record, I did NOT agree with the community that the SoS AI was changed (with the disagrees to prove it). The only issue with that fight was that XL champs cannot bait specials effectively. It's the reason I never fight Onslaught with XL champs if I can help it.

This has been known for ages and already claimed to be fixed in an update but here we are. With that in mind, is it surprising that conspiracy theories form?

Even if I take your point that the GC has the same AI profile, the chorus of complaints from the top most players to most of the community is pretty unanimous. If I take your statement as fact (and you've always appeared to be honest), the AI is ridiculous in VT too then. Having the AI reaction rates be at the highest points of human reaction is probably fair but at this point, it definitely feels way before that.