So trusts...

[CVXIV]

A step up? Squadrons were absolute killing machines you had to keep on a tight leash lest they get carried away by their bloodlust.

They were a weapon to surpass the Ultima Weapon.

[Frizze]

A step up? Squadrons were absolute killing machines you had to keep on a tight leash lest they get carried away by their bloodlust.

Trusts can dodge AoEs. Squadrons were programmed to be immune to them because they couldnt dodge. AI scripting wise, that is a step up. Performance is a separate consideration.

[Hasrat]

Idk... AI scripting also comes with the caveat of "mechanics are happening, we cannot take any actions." Healers that can't heal because they're waiting for an aoe (that they're not even in) to resolve is a significant step down, imo.

The more significant improvement is to enemy AI, really, in that they don't actually consider Squadrons valid targets for most mechanics, so the player ends up targeted by everything.

[Astrus]

I'd just like it if, now that they need to use NPCs as a baseline when designing encounters, they'd use NPCs as a baseline when designing encounters.
When the ceiling for encounters is dictated by what the NPC AI can handle the floor should be, too.
Give us more failure conditions when a full party of people get outperformed by NPCs, make more use of dps checks and enrage timers tailored to the baseline established by Trusts.
We've lost complexity in encounter design, can we at least add some small stakes to drive the point home that ice mages and 1 spammers are a problem; that eating every mechanic under the sun and maintaining full Brink of Death uptime is not fine?

Disclaimer: Poster might be slightly frustrated after day three of drawing absolute jackpots of DF parties where the DPS may as well not have been present yet remained blissfully unaware of their poor performance due to a lack of tangible feedback.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Trusts can dodge AoEs. Squadrons were programmed to be immune to them because they couldnt dodge. AI scripting wise, that is a step up. Performance is a separate consideration.

They traded the ability to react to enemies for the ability to react to AoEs... They just loop their basic rotation non-stop regardless of how many enemies there are, which might include the occasional AoE but is 99% single target damage. The squadron NPCs at least behaved different from trash pulls to boss fights. The Trusts don't have any sense of target priority, they'll just pick a target seemingly randomly and keep hitting it until it dies.

The only update to their AI they might have gotten after 5.0, which isn't even present in all dungeons is their ability to react to stack AoEs. ShB leveling dungeons at least they just run to predetermined spots for stacks rather than stacking with you.

[Silverquick]

Lets make a system for people to run dungeons with NPCs so they don't have to wait in queue forever because of a lack of players.

Lets also make the system require the player to run dungeons and level the said characters, so they have to waste tons of hours just getting the NPCs maxed out for the very few instances where they need to use them.

... how about just having the NPCs at the right level so people can use trusts?

[Quick Note: As people have pointed out, Trust is not Duty Support... which does not help with how confusing it is to have both options on a menu. )

Yeah I don't get it at all.

First of all.. what in the hell possessed them to think people would "love the Scions" so much they would want to run them over and over and over again through the same dungeon. You would have to be a complete moron to believe this would be "fun" for everyone. I remember trying this out in ShB and having to spam the same party through the same dungeon 6 or more times just to be eligible for the next one... that you spam another 7-8 times, Secondly... now that there's Duty Support where they are automatically at the level needed for the dungeon... why in the hell are Trusts still on the menu or even a thing.

Now I actually LOVE dungeons and dungeon crawling, I have the Dungeon Master title from running so many dungeons... but even I won't spam a dungeon more than 3 times in a row before I alternate to a DIFFERENT Dungeon or two. Heck I will run the Expert Roulette twice a day but even then half the time its 2 different dungeons.

I won't run a dungeon 6-8 times in a row unless there's something I REALLY REALLY want in there... and guess what, there's nothing in the Trusts I consider "really really wanting bad".

Lastly... Trusts are extremely slow because all they ever do is Single Target, Single Target, Single target. Which is why I prefer an actual party of players, its much more chaotic and unpredictable too, so even if its the same dungeon a second time it will be different.