In Loving Memory's (SCH lvl 65 quest) Instance AI Issue

[LauraAdalena]

I've browsed the posts to make sure, but I have not seen anybody talk about this.

to recap in this mission you assist Alka Zolka (A Marauder) and a tonberry girl to Amdapor Keep where you attempt to find something for the tonberry girl to remember her father by. The true issue comes into play when you reach the boss of the instance called the Manastealer.

The moment you get into range of the boss, Alka comments on the beast and stops where he is as the boss goes to him. And that's the issue, he stops wherever he is. So if you didn't know to take your time and guide him into the room before hand, you've just bottlenecked yourself into a small hallway and Alka will not move. This has caused me issues 3 times. All three times this has happened, I've found it impossible to complete the mission without harming Alka by accident or without making it impossible to see his health because the beast throws orbs that give vulnerability stacks wherever you are and are placed there after you move.

I can't be the only one this has happened to, and I remember having something similar (yet more minor) happen in another mission but I can't remember which. If this happens to anybody else in another instanced mission, please let me know. I was also tempted to put this in the "bugs" but this seems less like a bug and more like just an AI issue and making sure I'm not the only one this happens to.

[RokkuEkkusu]

If I recall correctly, you need to stay away from the boss, Alka, and the Tonberry girl for most of the fight as the lightning orbs target you from time to time. That way, you can focus on healing Alka and dps the boss once you bait the lightning aoes away from your comrades.

[XiXiQ]

coincidentally I did this one a few days ago. I didn't run into the hall problem, but just the one thing that makes most of the healer quests frustrating - you're supposed to be watching 2-3 npcs, and they are not in your party. Things like protect don't work. and in this case, you had a HUGE monster and a tiny tank. I was glad to see some better AI out of the NPCs, but in the cases their lives will fail the duty, you need a proper party formed so you can see what is going on. Not to mention that would make these quests a much better training scenario for real duties.

[LauraAdalena]

If I recall correctly, you need to stay away from the boss, Alka, and the Tonberry girl for most of the fight as the lightning orbs target you from time to time. That way, you can focus on healing Alka and dps the boss once you bait the lightning aoes away from your comrades.

My problem isn't with beating the quest, I've already done it twice. I beat it today with my alt (whom I'm focusing SMN with to get a better grasp of the changes.) this is more a complaint on Alka's AI making him decide to sit in the middle of a hallway limiting where I can bait the lightning making the quest far harder than it needs to be, and nearly impossible. I know how to beat the quest, I was more asking if people were experiencing the same issue where he would decide to do that.

[LauraAdalena]

coincidentally I did this one a few days ago. I didn't run into the hall problem, but just the one thing that makes most of the healer quests frustrating - you're supposed to be watching 2-3 npcs, and they are not in your party. Things like protect don't work. and in this case, you had a HUGE monster and a tiny tank. I was glad to see some better AI out of the NPCs, but in the cases their lives will fail the duty, you need a proper party formed so you can see what is going on. Not to mention that would make these quests a much better training scenario for real duties.

I concur. I also believe that they should lower the health ammounts of the NPCs to make it feel like you are actually making a difference in their health like a real player character. Not enough to make it exactly that, but maybe half the health they currently have.