would it be possible to have duty support for small parties instead of only solo?

[boopadoop]

like if you're playing with a friend but you don't want to party finder for the rest of the group for whatever reason, it would i think be really cool to be able to select from the NPCs to fill your party out so you can do it with just one or two friends instead of having to wait in queue for the last needed positions, particularly in the case where you and your friend may be playing DPS. just something i wondered if it'd be possible to do uwu

not for duty roulettes or raids ofc, only for going into individual dungeons and maybe single-party dungeons. ray:
asking once more because been playing ShB on the newest data center and my friend and I couldn't get any queues for hours even with one of us as tank or healer with a DPS. yikers

[Jeeqbit]

It is a common request, but so far they haven't talked about it.

[TaleraRistain]

It's commonly asked for. I think they've mentioned it's a bit more difficult than modifying DS to work with a single character player. But maybe after they finish establishing Duty Support for all the MSQ (including going back to any 8 man things they skipped), it's something they can look into.

[Chie_M]

I'd love this. I have a friend who's just started the game (and is brand new to the genre). They want to do dungeons with me, but not with strangers just yet.

I have a few FC members who have volunteered to help us, of course, but that's not the point - they'd be more comfortable with NPC DPS for now.

[Enkidoh]

As I understand it, SE have explained why it's not possible to do this in the past, as it is due to how the NPCs are programmed - the NPCs are coded to follow your lead and respond accordingly while trying to follow dungeon mechanics, so if there was more than one player in the party they would start to get 'confused' and would glitch or act in strange ways, not knowing which player to 'follow'.

Either way SE deemed it was just too much trouble to have to deal with for the small benefit it would give, so alas Duty Support is designed for only a single player and will always remain as such I'm sorry to say.

[Tint]

As I understand it, SE have explained why it's not possible to do this in the past, as it is due to how the NPCs are programmed - the NPCs are coded to follow your lead and respond accordingly while trying to follow dungeon mechanics, so if there was more than one player in the party they would start to get 'confused' and would glitch or act in strange ways, not knowing which player to 'follow'.

There always is a party leader, currently their only function in a duty is to activate the search for replacement players when someone leaves, why not just let the NPCs follow them?

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

There always is a party leader, currently their only function in a duty is to activate the search for replacement players when someone leaves, why not just let the NPCs follow them?

Because the party leader might not always be the recipient of certain mechanics.

Like stack markers that always specifically target the player in certain trust dungeons. Depending on how the companions are coded, they might just be hard-wired to auto run to the player when the stack marker based mechanic goes out, not necessarily because they know you have the stack marker specifically. Or if a mechanic involves a spread out aoes, they may be hard coded to check the sole player's position, which wouldn't translate to if there were multiple players, where they might just run on top of another player who isn't the leader.

Not saying its impossible to get the trusts working with multiple true players mind you. Just that depending on the AI logic already implemented, it may require effectively re-writing their mechanic based AI script for an entire dungeon's boss mechanics. Considering they only get 6 or so dungeons updated every patch currently with just single player support, for them its more than likely not worth the effort to go back and potentially re-do every dungeon again to support what is arguably a very niche feature when there's plenty more things on their plate, like looming expansion development.

[Turnintino]

Because the party leader might not always be the recipient of certain mechanics.

Like stack markers that always specifically target the player in certain trust dungeons. Depending on how the companions are coded, they might just be hard-wired to auto run to the player when the stack marker based mechanic goes out, not necessarily because they know you have the stack marker specifically. Or if a mechanic involves a spread out aoes, they may be hard coded to check the sole player's position, which wouldn't translate to if there were multiple players, where they might just run on top of another player who isn't the leader.

Not saying its impossible to get the trusts working with multiple true players mind you. Just that depending on the AI logic already implemented, it may require effectively re-writing their mechanic based AI script for an entire dungeon's boss mechanics. Considering they only get 6 or so dungeons updated every patch currently with just single player support, for them its more than likely not worth the effort to go back and potentially re-do every dungeon again to support what is arguably a very niche feature when there's plenty more things on their plate, like looming expansion development.

This doesn't seem to be the way the AI functions in at least some cases, though. Where predetermined AoE markers, or any similar positional mechanics, are concerned, they have choreography programmed into their behavior that the player is forced to work around. Under most circumstances, they won't even attempt to adapt if, for example, your markers overlap in a way that could get you both killed. And when you get stackers, (at least in the duties I've done with them) they will conglomerate in a similarly predetermined location in the arena, regardless of where the player is -- even if you're the one with the marker.

I can't remember the name of the dungeon, I'm sorry, but the one where each party member has to get inside one of the bubbles to avoid the arena-wide AoE? The only time I've noticed the AI attempt to adapt itself around the player in an obvious way was when I kept stealing the bubble G'raha was programmed to pick first lol (sorry, Raha, I love you). But of course, for whatever reason, they're programmed to cut that mechanic pretty close, so he was always too slow to make it to another bubble in time.

Point being, they seem to pay less attention to the player than one might think, so I don't think introducing another into the mix would deeply impact that aspect of their programming, at least.

[Silver-Strider]

They make this change and people will never have to play healers again in most casual content.

[TaleraRistain]

This doesn't seem to be the way the AI functions in at least some cases, though. Where predetermined AoE markers, or any similar positional mechanics, are concerned, they have choreography programmed into their behavior that the player is forced to work around. Under most circumstances, they won't even attempt to adapt if, for example, your markers overlap in a way that could get you both killed. And when you get stackers, (at least in the duties I've done with them) they will conglomerate in a similarly predetermined location in the arena, regardless of where the player is -- even if you're the one with the marker.

I can't remember the name of the dungeon, I'm sorry, but the one where each party member has to get inside one of the bubbles to avoid the arena-wide AoE? The only time I've noticed the AI attempt to adapt itself around the player in an obvious way was when I kept stealing the bubble G'raha was programmed to pick first lol (sorry, Raha, I love you). But of course, for whatever reason, they're programmed to cut that mechanic pretty close, so he was always too slow to make it to another bubble in time.

Point being, they seem to pay less attention to the player than one might think, so I don't think introducing another into the mix would deeply impact that aspect of their programming, at least.

I've noticed that with their stack marker behavior as well. I often have to chase them them where they've all decided to congregate, especially when I'm the one that has the stack marker. They expect me to bring it over to them.