While I was playing my guardian during the final beta weekend, I too noticed the same thing with mobs and how they interacted with the Smite skill.  More often than not they would flee from the area of effect.  Sure, it was annoying at first.  And then, I thought "Hmmm, this definitely has some crowd control potential.  Especially if you could co-ordinate it with other class AoE type skills to coral, kite, or keep them at bay."

people posted about the mob AI running out of AOE's and Anet said it was a bug and would be fixed before live. I cannot find the post right now but i remember seeing it in their general beta disc. Mobs now actually are probably worse because anyone with AOE can actually keep most mobs from hitting anyone if they are good. A mob running into AOE still does damage , in its current state I could aoe a boss that was targeting someone random and drop an aoe and then the boss moves away from the aoe and doesnt attack the player . It was def a bug

Originally posted by cronius77

people posted about the mob AI running out of AOE's and Anet said it was a bug and would be fixed before live. I cannot find the post right now but i remember seeing it in their general beta disc. Mobs now actually are probably worse because anyone with AOE can actually keep most mobs from hitting anyone if they are good. A mob running into AOE still does damage , in its current state I could aoe a boss that was targeting someone random and drop an aoe and then the boss moves away from the aoe and doesnt attack the player . It was def a bug

Again, to clarify.

Mobs running out of AoEs is not a bug.

The bug is that EVERY mob was doing this. Anet has AI scaling in-place, so some mobs are supposed to be stupid enough to run into (and stand inside of) AoE. However, there are a lot of mobs that will not do this.

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by cronius77

people posted about the mob AI running out of AOE's and Anet said it was a bug and would be fixed before live. I cannot find the post right now but i remember seeing it in their general beta disc. Mobs now actually are probably worse because anyone with AOE can actually keep most mobs from hitting anyone if they are good. A mob running into AOE still does damage , in its current state I could aoe a boss that was targeting someone random and drop an aoe and then the boss moves away from the aoe and doesnt attack the player . It was def a bug

Again, to clarify.

Mobs running out of AoEs is not a bug.

The bug is that EVERY mob was doing this. Anet has AI scaling in-place, so some mobs are supposed to be stupid enough to run into (and stand inside of) AoE. However, there are a lot of mobs that will not do this.

if thats the case i hope they make the mobs smarter then as the ones avoiding it are not doing damage to players targeting themselves in AOE and its making the mobs hit less.

they getting smarter :P that awesome!

ya i got the same experience , i put my aoe on the ground and he ran away. its should stay like this.

CC/stun/knockdown him and then aoe right on it, there u go now he cant run away,

Originally posted by cronius77

if thats the case i hope they make the mobs smarter then as the ones avoiding it are not doing damage to players targeting themselves in AOE and its making the mobs hit less.

You should only really see that w/ melee mobs.

Mobs w/ ranged attacks will run out, and then immediately start shooting you again.

Either way, both are still a drop in damage, but you're also doing less damage by not hitting w/ the AoE, so it's somewhat of a toss-up. The only class atm that I think can keep up GTAoEs is the elementalist as well, which (i admit) is a bit ez-mode in some cases. In general the elementalist has a lot of easy / cheap ways of cheating some of the content. The tradeoff being that they are also generally a lot easier to kill.

I hope to find a server where the players in WvW are smart enough to run out of aoe.  This wasn't the case last beta.

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

And when you finally have cast them, espescially when solo, all the mobs immediately move out of the Area of Effect.  While previous BWE all mobs allways kept standing inside, not they all move out, this is pretty bad AI, i hope their AI programming allows them to create a middle of the road  where certain mobs have a % chance to notice the AoE effect and move out of it.

Mobs not standing in the middle of the AoE and dying is "bad AI", apparently you don't understand what Artificial Intelligence means. Self Preservation being the number one instinct all living creatures have ... of course they would move out of the AoE's.

Annoying? I guess, but at the same time, you can use it to your advantage to push mobs away from you and gain distance. It would be pretty interesting to see the AI picking up on these tricks and using dodge rolls and what not during combat. I have seen some humanoid mobs do this.

Honestly, I can't wait to see how tough things get after the newbie zones. The AI could pose some pretty tough challenges. Honestly, they could probably make the AI play better than most players, which would be pretty interesting.

I don't really see this as an issue that needs to be addressed ... I would like to see it enhanced actually.

The talk about certain mobs being "smarter" than others is amazing, honestly. This kind of depth could bring A LOT of challenge to some PvE encounters. I can't wait to see how intesnse some of the dungeon fights are going to be if this kind of AI is used later on in the game.

I like it that mobs move out of AOE just like in GW1. Saves me from having to endure AOE spamming elementalists that aggro  every neutral mob in the vicinity. Although it still happens a lot.

Besides, AOE in GW2 is not just for direct hits. It is also a way to provide buffs to other player's attacks, or protection. This is not used much yet in PVE and I didn't see it often in WvW yet either.

And using AOE to force mobs to back away is an intended viable tactic, just like in GW1.

Also noticed how MObs were moving out always all the time out of Aoe spells. Which was great  honestly :) i loved  it, maybe a bit upsetting  as half of aoe time its just doing nothg but its great  if Enemy can recognized danger and move out of it like real player.

When I was in the lowbie area with my necro and messing with the different ground AOEs, I was trying to drop one on them then place another in the way so they would run through it as they came at me etc.

Sometimes they would.   When they didn't though their behavior was often REALLY strange. 

Like if I opened with Staff #3, then tried to put Staff #2 on ground between us as they approached if they didn't go through it they'd go running all over the place.  They wouldn't briefly change paths then come for me or anything like that.   Sometimes it would look kind of like when someone gets hit with fear in WoW.   They'd be all over the place running around (but not at me to hit me). 

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by cronius77

people posted about the mob AI running out of AOE's and Anet said it was a bug and would be fixed before live. I cannot find the post right now but i remember seeing it in their general beta disc. Mobs now actually are probably worse because anyone with AOE can actually keep most mobs from hitting anyone if they are good. A mob running into AOE still does damage , in its current state I could aoe a boss that was targeting someone random and drop an aoe and then the boss moves away from the aoe and doesnt attack the player . It was def a bug

Again, to clarify.

Mobs running out of AoEs is not a bug.

The bug is that EVERY mob was doing this. Anet has AI scaling in-place, so some mobs are supposed to be stupid enough to run into (and stand inside of) AoE. However, there are a lot of mobs that will not do this.

But then its just people not reading the posts at all. Thank you for clarrifying the real problem.

A single mob escaping the AoE is a cool fefature and good AI, but all of them doing so is a bad AI, and a bug that can be abused.

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

These games have become utterly useless in the last BWE. (PvE)

 

First of with the current UI they are hard and timeconsuming to target, sometimes espescially when moving up a hill with your character impossible due to akward camera behaviour

 

And when you finally have cast them, espescially when solo, all the mobs immediately move out of the Area of Effect.  While previous BWE all mobs allways kept standing inside, not they all move out, this is pretty bad AI, i hope their AI programming allows them to create a middle of the road  where certain mobs have a % chance to notice the AoE effect and move out of it.

 

 

Both these issues need to be tackled before release, did anyone hear Arenanets stance about this?

 

Its strange. But also logical. They react and escape the damage.

I actually found it great utility for may Ele. I drop targetable AOE , and mobs stop attacking me and run away. Perfect for me to kill them from range.

But even more funny is, that they return just in time for skill animation to end and skill to activate.

Anyway.

I think they should do it based on MOB intelligence (like in PnP D&D) if mob is inteligent , they would react as player would and escape. And if its a beast or monster. Its stupid and do not understand the danger.

That would make the game interesting :)

Basically they have used a partial piece of Skynet's code when

they created GW2's Mob AI so no surprise here if they get smarter

over time. 

I think high AI mobs is fantastic. No more having to suffer PvP junkie idiots saying PvE is too easy.

I used staff & sceptre/warhorn necro the whole BWE and never had an issue - I just adapted - forcing my opponents into my marks using movement and partial overlays and terrain.

Just adapt your fighting style and stop think like an old MMO player.