Chocobo Companion randomly disengaging target

[SLdrCody]

This was a bug that I encountered some time ago and just got to filling out here. This was already reported via the support desk closer to the time, but as there's no way to access sent reports from the game, I am filling out what I remember of this. Since no patch notes have mentioned this issue being addressed I am assuming it still persists.

Date & Time: 7/16/19
Frequency: Occasionally (Seems random)
World name: Famfrit
Character name: Cody Sectoral
Retainer name: N/A
NPC name: Pironsiltch (Chocobo companion)
Chocobo Stance: Free (issue persisted on Defend as well)*
Monster name: Lv 37 Snow Wolf Pup, Lv 37 Ornery Karakul
Class/Level: Lv 32 Scholar**
Party or solo: Party of 2
In-game time: Any
Area and coordinates: X:28.4 Y:14.2 (Coerthas Central Highlands - Providence Point)***
Housing: None
Steps:
1. Engage any number of enemies with your chocobo summoned
2. Switching targets (whether party member or enemy) will sometimes cause chocobo to run back to your side and take an under attack animation
3. Hitting an enemy with an offensive attack will have your chocobo attack target again

*Stance does not appear to affect chances of this issue occurring (but it's best tested in free, defence or attack)
** This issue also occurred when I was a summoner when changing targets. These two classes share certain skills and behaviours, so I cannot confirm if this issue can be replicated outside these two classes
*** This issue has occurred in multiple areas of the same map, so these coordinates are not an isolated place where this could be encountered

This is not guaranteed to happen, but once step two begins to occur it appears frequently until your chocobo withdraws and summoned again. The companion summon timer was at 17 minutes the first time this happened, but this issue began to occur again with 24 minutes remaining in another summon. Once the chocobo does this disengaging once, it will happen often. In a majority of the battles (including ones where this issue occurred) I was the only one with a chocobo companion summoned.

Another seemingly minor issue that I suspected may be influencing this problem is when a chocobo companion adopts the "under attack" animation when there are no enemies. This particular issue can be replicated by having an enemy engage you, then disengage you (eg. being beyond it's maximum range). The chocobo companion will maintain this animation until you mount and unmount or dismiss and summon.
Combining the information of these two scenarios leads me to suspect that mounting and dismounting a company chocobo could correct this issue when it occurs, but as you cannot do this in battle I have not been able to test this out yet.

I have not been back to this map as a party of 2 or more, but when I encounter these conditions I will see if I can replicate this problem. I have tried to replicate it solo, but this issue seems to pop up randomly and seems easier to trigger when two or more party members are engaging enemies at the same time. I will edit this post if I discover any additional information on this matter.


Connection Specs
- Type of internet connection/provider: Wireless 5g / Telstra
- Modem maker/model number: NetComm

■ PC Specs

To obtain the system information, open the FFXIV launcher and select Config → System Information → Display.

-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-
Not applicable (In-game bug)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

[Commander_Justitia]

Chocobo AI will only attack the target which you attacked first atm. It will stay on the target until it is dead or you flee from it.
If you attack two targets, the moment you kill the first target, the chocobo ai will need another input from you to confirm it shall be attacked. This is why it's running back to you, being in an aggro state while doing nothing besides healing. If you attack the second mob again, it will attack again.

I know it doesn't make much sense, but the idea is probably not to stay in battles which you don't want to fight. It could be that you only tagged a mob that is fighting another player, your chocobo would stick to it, making running away annoying. Another thing is cc, chocobo ai actually tracks if you use cc like sleep and disengages then. Just attacking one target at a time works better for the AI to not break your cc unintentionally.

The "under attack" animation is solely because they are healer. Depending on their level though there might not be many actions they can use yet. Resulting in looking funny while doing nothing.

[SLdrCody]

Unfortunately I have had this happen before the engaged target is dead, sometimes even when only engaging one enemy. I've run into this issue moreso when I target a party member to heal, but sometimes my companion will disengage the first target when I start engaging (or switching targets to) a second. A specific example of what has sometimes caused this is casting Bio II on the second enemy in battle. My post may have not been too clear as I did mention something that seems to occur separately and try to link it to the main issue I am discussing. My chocobo stance is usually free stance or defender (companion is mostly tank). This issue has never occurred when the companion is in a healer stance, since chocobos do not engage targets in this stance. As being in a party of 2 or more tends to cause enemies to group this situation is sometimes unavoidable. This is by no means a major break to the game at all, in fact, it can be avoided with standard crowd control techniques, it just seems a little off from the normal behaviour of the companion's AI. Companion behaviour will work as intended once the chocobo is back at your side and you attack the target (or a different one) again. It seems like a premature disengagement.
Also noted is that I have not run into this issue since some of the later patches, but have not seen mention of it. I will have more information if this issue pops up again, but so far I have not experienced any further behaviour outside the normal chocobo AI since patch 5.05.
(I'll try to post it sooner than a month after it happens next time so I can recall what played out more clearly.)

[StouterTaru]

Your chocobo will disengage if you bind/sleep the mob they're attacking. Other than that, I've never seen what you're describing.