Non-Tank Melee Trust AI Behavior Suggestion

[Aysha]

Hello!

I have a suggestion about any Trust that engages in Melee combat, that is not a tank:

I can't count the number of times a non-tank trust has caused me to either lose or almost lose a fight because they insisted on standing in front of an enemy that has deadly frontal AoE attacks.

The worst offender of this has to be Kupipi -- she loves soaking up anything that has a Cone attack if I'm also using a Tank NPC like Valaineral. She wants to stand right next to him, in front of the enemy, so she keeps getting hit with things like Wing Cutter, Breath attacks, you name it, she gets hit with it.

Of course, since Kupipi and others like her are not tanks, they soak up a lot of MP from healers to keep them alive.

Could we make it so that all NPCs are programmed to stay away from the front of the enemy whenever possible? Maybe NPCs that melee but are not melee DPS should stand to the sides, and NPCs that are melee DPS should try to stay behind the enemy whenever possible, and ONLY tanks should stand in front of it.

Also...

Geomancer Support NPCs... could they please follow the party leader, instead of the person in the party before them while in combat?

If you call out Apururu, for example and then call out Sakura, Kupofried, etc after Apururu, said Geomancer Trust will follow Apururu who tries to stand at max range, and you won't get the Indi effects from these NPCs because your Geomancer Trust is too far away. If you try to move closer, Apururu will go running to the other end of the room, dragging your GEO Trust with her.

If they always stayed near the party leader, however, this would not be a problem and it wouldn't matter what order you summon your trusts.

[Sirmarki]

I mentioned the passive trusts effect thing a while back on this forum. It is very annoying as you have to make sure you call them out first. If you call them out last, you don't get the effects (such as Kupofried's EXP boost).
I can't imagine this being hard to fix, ie edit # for said range of effect maybe?

You can "drag" mobs back from the likes of Kupipi. I used to do this a lot in AA fights where I soloed them. I would only use trusts that you could drag the mob away from.

[Urthdigger]

For that matter, I'd like it if melee trusts that are not classified as tanks didn't use provoke. Stop it, do something else with your time, or if you are intended as a tank, get in that category!

[Aysha]

I mentioned the passive trusts effect thing a while back on this forum. It is very annoying as you have to make sure you call them out first. If you call them out last, you don't get the effects (such as Kupofried's EXP boost).
I can't imagine this being hard to fix, ie edit # for said range of effect maybe?

Rather easy to tweak: Right now, GEO trusts follow the Trust that was called out before them. For example, if you are <p0> and Apururu is <p1> and Kupofried is <p2>, Kupofried is programmed to follow whoever his <p# -1> is. In this case, <p2 - 1> = <p1>.

The easiest way to fix this? When the Party Leader enters battle, GEO trusts should follow <p0> instead of <p# - 1>.

That way, the GEO trusts would always follow their master.

You can "drag" mobs back from the likes of Kupipi. I used to do this a lot in AA fights where I soloed them. I would only use trusts that you could drag the mob away from.

Not when you have a Trust tanking for you, you can't. Not everybody plays as a PLD, NIN, or RUN. Like, when a family member and I were doing Abyssdiver for his boomerang and gloves. We had quite a few close calls, because Kupipi insisted on standing behind Valaineral. Normally, this would not be a problem, but again, birds and their cone attacks.

Same problem with the Chapuli you spawn in Ceizak just south of town for the Heartseeker Earring. Again, Kupipi loves standing behind Val and taking all the Cone AoEs.

Sometimes we need Trust tanks.

Or, how about earlier today? I was leveling my BLU in Crawlers' Nest. Guess who almost got themselves killed to an Exoray and its Dark Spore?

A certain "foul mouthed tarutaru" from Heavens Tower.

EDIT: It isn't JUST Kupipi, either. I use her as an example, because in my experiences, she merely tends to be the most egregious example.