The Rise and Rise of Passive AI

I think most of us base our gameplay around the game's "classic" aggressive AI. We bait them to run in and parry, or we intercept a dash, or we pummel a missed heavy, or we bait a special. It's the same AI still used for AQ bosses and LOL fights, etc. I've heard it referred to as the "hard" AI, personally I find it the most comfortable to fight. As human beings, our only chance to beat the AI is to react and punish its mistakes, we can never beat the reaction time of a machine.

However, it seems that Kabam has been gradually phasing this AI out in favour of the infinitely more annoying "passive AI". You know, the one that dashes in, stops a few feet in front of you and just stands there, sometimes open baiting you. It can be found in the majority of fights these days, it's particularly pronounced in the symbioid fights in AQ, but it's also common in the earlier arena matches.

It's a lot harder to parry or intercept the passive AI because it doesn't give you the openings you've been trained to expect. It can also be far more difficult to bait specials, the aggressive AI allows you to dash in and hit the enemy's block, the passive AI will happily intercept you or unleash a special as you run in. It's also common for the passive AI to ignore specials entirely until the SP3 is ready.

How do you feel about the gradual phasing in of the passive AI? Does it impact your enjoyment of the game? How do you prefer to deal with such fights?

Comments

Rotmgmoddy

Oh geez I hate that kind of AI, that's the only reason I dread the symbiods in AQ. It's not like I can't take them on, it's their tricky passive AI. It makes them more unpredictable because they don't dash all the time and they love to make themselves look open, and when you do dash forward at them, they intercept you at the last second hah.

I've learnt to try and adapt to it. Passive AI? Two can play at that game. I just block a lot and do the occasional parry on them (since I am usually using wolvy, I can afford the damage). If they make themselves look open, I just refuse to dash forward at them until they actually do something.

shchong2

I always suspect Skynet is behind MCoC AI, perhaps even behind these cold unhelpful Mod responses, as well as behind the regular server down sabotage, but guess most of us human won't live till that day to find out the truth. As you pointed out, one day Skynet AI will RISE and RISE above all mankind. Haha, just kidding.

Joke aside, however I do feel that the AI has been "tuned" once awhile, when we were getting used to some muscle memory and fighting style, then the AI got tuned to slightly diff style, even affect some of the game mechanics a little, at times we have to re-adapt again, but until we re-adapt, it'll cost us potions and revives, which means MORE UNITS SPEND and more earning for Kabam. Hmmm... economics is so weird ...

SpiritOfVengeance

There should be a new feature for us to set up our own fighting style for our autofight a.i so we go into a match where it is just our champion and we set our own suited fighting style so that the a.i can use our own specific moves instead of kabams, of course it would not be perfect but what do you guys think of this? Better than the autofight a.i just standing there most of the time taking a beating.

Crazyjack719

It would be awesome if they could clarify what kind of AI we are fighting, like the Aggressive and Defensive nodes which let you know what sort of fightstyle to expect. At least you could prepare your own fightstyle to counter the AI.

Palanthrax

I would love to hear a developer comment on the different types of AI and where they are used, but I don't think we'll get one. But it's an open invitation, if anyone is listening!

RedRooster

I had just been commenting on this very same observation earlier today with my alliance.

Palanthrax wrote: »

I would love to hear a developer comment on the different types of AI and where they are used, but I don't think we'll get one. But it's an open invitation, if anyone is listening!

You won't get one... the developers are invoking a passive AI

Dave_the_destroyer

SpiritOfVengeance wrote: »

There should be a new feature for us to set up our own fighting style for our autofight a.i so we go into a match where it is just our champion and we set our own suited fighting style so that the a.i can use our own specific moves instead of kabams, of course it would not be perfect but what do you guys think of this? Better than the autofight a.i just standing there most of the time taking a beating.

Mate, would be great for us, but why would Kabam do this? This is their business, they need to make money from it

fabbass

The passive AI is the reason why power drainers are so valuable in this game. AI should release more specials because baiting is really really boring,

Rednick69

The passive AI you speak of is not fun at all.

NiteAndDae

I am in favor of anything that is challenging and can more closely simulate playing against another human opponent. If there was true pvp, this game would be amazing! Fights should be a chess match, not brute force hack and slash.

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Qwerty

let's not forget the fact that, while they're being passive, any attempt to attack them with their block dropped is immediately intercepted at a face to face distance as soon as you make the attacking motion.

Palanthrax

Qwerty wrote: »

let's not forget the fact that, while they're being passive, any attempt to attack them with their block dropped is immediately intercepted at a face to face distance as soon as you make the attacking motion.

Yeah, I think that’s the intention. They also like to charge the heavy for a longer period of time to catch you out running in too early.

Baiting the passive AI is a nightmare as they generally won’t play along and will just keep closing the distance. If they corner you, then you’re going to have major difficulty evading the heavy due to the random timing.

The best strategy seems to be to go for parries or punish heavies, but it’s easy to start taking a little too much blocking damage, which I guess is also intended. Parries aren’t as reliable as they’ll often dash in and then use a light attack, something a human player would rarely do.

I’ve just observed that this version of the AI is starting to appear everywhere in place of the previously more common aggressive AI, even the monthly event quest is going down this route. Personally I find it far less enjoyable to fight.

Hammerbro_64

Passive YJ is the bane of my existence. It just sits blocking with a bar of power, and when I dash, zzzzztttt! Yay now I’m dead 😁. I do think it offers a more interesting challenge but with baiting specials yeah it sucks.

DTMelodicMetal

This trend seems to be mostly at the start of AQ fights. Once I get my first combo in on Map 5 the Symbiodes fight like any other champ and attack as soon as I finish my combo. It helps to maintain your distance at the start of Symbiode fights so you have plenty of time to react and parry. If they refuse to take the bait just hold block, worst case scenario you take five blocked hits before you can get attacks in to break their passive patterns. If you're really struggling use the "pound the shield" strategy and attack while they block until you can bait their sp.

A_Noob_Is1

ALL HAIL THE TRUE VILLAINS OF MCOC: THE SYMBIODS...

All jokes aside, I hate how hard they hit. A mystic symbiod hit me with a 2k crit on a l1.