Trust NPC's need improvements please

[Edelfelt]

They die too fast, Stack behind the tank, don't heal for mp, you have to engage for them to fight. I'm not expecting these guys to carry me all the way to Omen job cards. But they should be a lot better than this. Here's what I think needs to be changed.

1.) Add "Trust movement commands" - these are like abilities, you stand on the spot and target a Tank Trust NPC and click a command "Fight Here!". Or How about "Heal here" command to target a Trust NPC Mage that's low on mp so she can run to you and /heal for mp till he/she is full. Or a "Only use Ranged Attack, Magic Attack from here" command to call mage NPC's to stand on a safe distance and nuke there.

2.) Add Trust Gifts on acquiring job points increasing their ilvl by 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21 levels above your current ilvl.

3.) This is probably the most important, let us re-summon them if they die while in combat on any combat event like in Reives please.

[Aysha]

Increasing trusts' item levels, eh, nah. We don't want to replace players with trusts. They are there to lend a helping hand on some of the earlier content, not to take us clear to Omen.

However, I WILL agree that trusts standing in front of mobs needs to change. Seriously, this is the most basic thing and it makes many fights a LOT harder than they have to be, when it is so hard to get trusts to stand BEHIND the mob instead of in front of it to get nailed by all of its AoE attacks.

Two ways to solve this:

1). The FFXIV approach: Trusts take 70% less damage from Conal AoE damage attacks.
2). Make all trusts stand behind the mob (though this may annoy people who play THF, but even as a THF, I would prefer this to my trusts dying constantly to AoEs) as part of their AI behavior. I know there's a mob facing parameter in the game's code, because it is used to detect whether or not Sneak attack hits, and I know Trusts have access to this because there is at least one Trust out there (I forget who) who will use Sneak Attack if they are behind the mob. So... make every Trust try to maneuver so that they are behind the mob, and this would be far better for us.

As for resummoning in mid-battle, eh... I am not sure that's really the solution. No need to make the player absolutely invincible as long as he has the 2 seconds needed to call another tank out real quick and run away, and kite mobs by using several tank trusts, etc.

[Nyarlko]

Aldo will use SA if you manage to position him properly for it to work. Not sure if any of the other THF trusts do the same.

Pretty sure all of the OP's requests fall into the "Already Rejected" category, with plenty of justification from the devs already. ^^;;

I don't expect any AI changes at this point, though I would love it if tank trusts actually ALWAYS STOOD STILL as long as they are within range of their target. Trust tanks who don't have agro will slide around to the back of a large mob while trying to take back agro, which is tied for the most common cause of Spike Flail triggers in Domain Invasion. ><;; (The other being jerks who enjoy triggering it on purpose to kill other players...) Would be nice if DDs were made the opposite so that they actually did try to move behind the mob (as long as they don't have agro,) but not required since you can already solve most complaints with careful planning and positioning pre-pop vs NMs.

[Kishr]

As much of a nightmare it would be for the programmers to add a overhaul to the system, I would like a command as keep fighting or disengage.

Ex: I'm fighting but want to disengage and would like trusts to keep fighting with my jug pet.

The flip side of that, people will take advantage and just bot xp/jp like crazy maybe.

Another way of adding positions could be
/trust1pos
For moving trust 1 to the spot your standing when you type that.

Would be nice to have more options though.

[Sirmarki]

The one thing that annoys me sometimes on THF is that the tanks sometimes feel the need to stand too far away from the mob in order for me to TA effectively.

Somethings I would like to see:

1) Maybe some kind of method to "ask" a trusts to cast a particular bar spell. I know of one trust that does cast barspells, but only if they have been hit with the initial spell first.
2) Trusts zone with you. Kind of like how a SMN avatar works. Maybe even a trust macro template, to call a particular set of trusts for different situations.
3) The option to STOP/START certain trusts from weapon skilling. Countless times skillchains get broken by trusts randomly weapon skilling.

[Folken]

The one thing that annoys me sometimes on THF is that the tanks sometimes feel the need to stand too far away from the mob in order for me to TA effectively.

AAEV seems to start far from the mob but eventually gets close enough for a TA.

[Stompa]

I solo with Trusts every day since they were introduced, I have used them for pretty much all content because my friends don't play FFXI much anymore.

I already know that the core game and Trusts etc. won't get any massive overhauls at this point, but more importantly I don't especially want the Trust system to be changed, because I view Trusts as a "strategy mini-game" and I view Trusts as a "strategy component" which I need to utilise and tinker with as part of my own strategic play.

What I mean by this is, before I engage with a Battle, I will calculate the limitations of my Trusts, I understand that they have limitations, they are a limited component in my overall strategy.

For example, Re; Re-casting Trusts during battles, I work around this by prioritising extermination of the strongest Boss in the enemy group, then my Trusts die, and I intentionally die, and I re-raise in a safe spot and call fresh Trusts to finish off the weaker bosses.

So in that example, I am in fact calling Trusts multiple times during the same battle, by understanding and exploiting the strategy component limitations of the existing Trust system.

I use Mog Garden Cheer : Jumbotender, so my Trusts have some decent Regen and Refresh.

Selecting the correct Trusts from the long list of Trusts is very important, and this is a trial-and-error learning process as part of the strategic approach to Trust gaming. The enemy you are fighting may be a lot easier if you choose the right Trusts.

And as with all Strategy Gaming, the only way to master the Trust strategic gaming, is to play it a lot, and experiment a lot. Many of today's fails will fortify your strategy to create tomorrow's success.