Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

How open is your mind?

    • 844 posts
    March 21, 2018 7:07 AM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    If you could add a new type of AI to an MMORPG (Pantheon) what would you add and how would it work? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters

    I don't think you can have anything like AI in an MMO. Players expect MMO's to find and follow patterns they can learn and thus pick apart.

    Raids would be impossible if every encounter was different and unique. As it is some of the hardest raids involve dealing with all known variations a raid boss can manifest. Even the simplest variation like CT death touches in PoF could spell doom for a raid in the early days and that was a minor variation.

    Camping a difficult dungeon location would be suicide fraught with endless deaths and CR's, thus requiring overwhelming force to succeed random AI events. Which would just make camping into zergfests.

     

    The best place AI might be implemented would be for Quests, but even that would have to be heavily scripted, just with various paths and outcomes.


    This post was edited by zewtastic at March 21, 2018 7:08 AM PDT
    • 139 posts
    March 21, 2018 8:06 AM PDT

    zewtastic said:

    I don't think you can have anything like AI in an MMO. Players expect MMO's to find and follow patterns they can learn and thus pick apart.

    Raids would be impossible if every encounter was different and unique. As it is some of the hardest raids involve dealing with all known variations a raid boss can manifest. Even the simplest variation like CT death touches in PoF could spell doom for a raid in the early days and that was a minor variation.

    Camping a difficult dungeon location would be suicide fraught with endless deaths and CR's, thus requiring overwhelming force to succeed random AI events. Which would just make camping into zergfests.

     

    The best place AI might be implemented would be for Quests, but even that would have to be heavily scripted, just with various paths and outcomes.

     

    Of course we can have ai. It's would have to be easier than single player rpgs but there can still be AI. Player need to be informed of the tactics NPCs are using and given enough time to react to it. AI isn't the important bit, it's how players interact with AI that needs to be done well. NPC proactively attack and players reacting would make it more fun. 

    • 1315 posts
    March 22, 2018 5:34 AM PDT

    Code Name:  Stalkers

     

    Mechanics: A mob that has both a local agro radius and a target conditional agro location.  A couple of bandits are staked out on a hill top overlooking the road coming out of the city.  As players, or NPCs, leave the cities the stalker Mobs assess the group.  If the group is below a certain power threshold the NPCs begin to move parallel to the PC group for a certain amount of time before becoming hard agroed and charge the group.  Based on the group size the stalkers may call in extra help but if the overall threat is too high then they Mobs will choose not to stalk the PC at all.

    An ungrouped player in a pack of players count as a solo player and may be targeted as such.  In areas with Stalkers it will be important to either be grouped or be invisible in some way.  It may also be a good tie in into the perception system to notice you are being watched and there may be some options a player has to scare off stalkers before they hard agro.

     

    Stalkers could go a long way to making wilderness a bit scary, further encouraging players to group up as preemptive defenses against being stalked.  This will also be a nasty counter to solo botting.  If you flag a mob with both Stalker and Pack Mentality you could create a truly dangerous area for characters of all levels.

    • 801 posts
    March 23, 2018 4:02 AM PDT

    CanadinaXegony said:

    Hmm for npcs moving around "having a job to do"...shopkeeper going to the bank to deposit..for instance, (once a day)  children playing in the streets, chasing each other playing tag.  When it gets dark the children go home.

    A smart AI engine, for sure... Or random attacking AI into a village that you can save, gain exp, or simply watch. Smart AI engines are getting lots reconized not only by players but by other devs. Indie devs just simply do not have the time or the ability until someone hashed out a perfect AI engine to incorporate. Then it boils down to costs.... We just need the engine devs to simply add more sub engines to perform these smart AI. I am totally with you, would love it, see it and experience it. It has to be ran from your system though, as the server load would bottleneck constantly.

    • 2138 posts
    March 23, 2018 2:48 PM PDT

    These are so many good NPC ideas.

    My idea is like a global NPC AI reaction, something coded in the core. I am drawing from references like the movie "Avatar" where the planets denizens all became singularly focused to protect the gaia-like planet from being harmed. The movie: "Lord of the Rings" when Sauron's eye blew up and all the goblins and orcs that weren't swallowed up in the earthquake ran-off, no longer single-mindedly attacking the troop. Real life: how animals will Run to high ground well ahead of a tsunami, or many species of birds will flock together away from a tornado. How normally shy and skittish animals will boldly seek shelter in human homes during a terrible storm or how animals will hunker down in dens or burrows for a particularly bad storm.

    In each of these instances there is a sort of temporary peace between predator and prey for the sake of survival.  A kind of deep-core telegraphing of a world of global event. I would hate to think what it would mean if a hoard of wraiths, zombies, and skeletons of all levels were to suddenly come running at you, only to run by you when they would normally aggro.  What global or extreme local event could trigger that?!  

    • 38 posts
    March 23, 2018 5:09 PM PDT

    Two AI that could work in similar ways but have different results are 'Phobia' or 'Fury'.

    When a creature is hit with specific abilities--lightning attacks, a stun, a blunt weapon, healing magic, w/e--it is either terrified and tries to flee or get help (which could lead to a big mess if it runs into a group of other enemies and puulls them, for example) or it is enraged and gets a damage buff / health regen / some type of increase. The catch is that this is not specific to a certain creature or to a certain attack. Give creatures a percent chance to be created with Phobia or Enrage and to have a specific, level appropriate, trigger. That way the effect is random and the party will have to deal with it going off on the fly rather than thinking something like, 'Don't use ice spells in this cave / blunt weapons cause trouble in the swamp" etc. 


    This post was edited by katryn at March 23, 2018 5:10 PM PDT
    • 411 posts
    March 23, 2018 6:18 PM PDT

    While it isn't exactly an AI concept, the posts of katryn and manouk got me wondering about a "protector of the forest" type enemy (the environment and trigger event could be altered). The PotF is indifferent to all others and will flee with a spell that cannot be interrupted if it is attacked. However, if the creatures of the forest are being killed with fire, then it worries the protector of the forest. The PotF will spend their time communing with the forest (basically channeling a spell), which expands out until evidence of a burn has been found. The PotF then marches over to that burn, mourns for a short time, then communes again to search for the most recent burn in the area. If players are continuing to burn the forest denizens, then the PotF will catch up to them, and attack them with great ferocity. For low level players, this would be a "run for your life!" event. For high level players, burning the forest would just be baiting the trap for the PotF to kill it.

    • 11 posts
    March 25, 2018 6:31 AM PDT

    Hmmm a blind mob that attacks players who make too much noise? like if you walk too fast or cast a spell while near it you will aggro it, to avoid fighting you will have to walk slowly when you're near it or have a wizard cast ''muffle'' spell on your party to quiet their footsteps. You could maybe throw things on a different direction to trick it into following the sound if it was blocking your path and there's no way around it


    This post was edited by Darthic at March 25, 2018 6:34 AM PDT
    • 139 posts
    March 25, 2018 8:54 AM PDT

    I don't know if this is said already.  

    The Berserker Tank 

    With rage the berserker pushes players away from ranged npcs or spell casters, specially to protect healers and stands in the way obsorbing damage.

    • 578 posts
    March 27, 2018 11:36 AM PDT

    AI = Artificial Intelligence and with this thread you guys have knocked this out of the park. Plus, with Zee I think we are in good hands.

    A concept we mulled over back in VGs beta was 'campsites'. Players could obtain the ability to start a magical campfire in the world (with obvious restrictions because they're magical duh ;). Any player in the area could sit down and enjoy this magical campfire. Cooking food and/or drink would give small benefits to said item. Simply sitting down and enjoying the warmth of the fire could replenish some health. Plus it would allow players to take a small break from their travels and adventures in the middle of some forest or some ruins or etc with the possibility of maybe meeting a few other wary travelers to enjoy a good spat. In general, simple small benefits could be gained by huddling around the fire.

    But there could be a bigger picture. A campfire has to be properly fed to keep it burning. If a magical campfire is placed in an area with light traffic, too many monsters, or just poor conditions it could provide its small benefits but then quickly burn out. But if set in the right place at the right time with the right conditions the campfire could be used by many people, could be frequented often, and could not only be sustained but could grow quite sizeable. The more people who visit and the more people who feed the fire the bigger the campfire could get thus changing a magical campfire into a magical campsite.

    A campsite could give interesting results. The obvious would be bigger/better benefits such as increasing the boost you get from food/drink/HPreplenishment/etc. But with the increased and continued traffic from players the campsite could also gain the attention of local NPC vendors and traders, allowing people to dump vendor trash or purchase goods instead of having to travel all the way to a town. It could attract wildlife searching for scraps left by the fire's temporary inhabitants, allowing players to hunt for resources. It could signal players new to the zone a possible safe haven in the middle of nowhere. Or any other possibly myriad of benefits and boons.

    But it wouldn't come without its responsibilities and detriments. To become a campsite it would require plenty of visitors and plenty of people feeding the fire. Monsters and mobs in the local area would likely come to snuff out the visitors and flames so players would have to defend the site. Once a campsite it could possibly slow the reproduction of resource nodes in its vicinity from the likely over-use of players harvesting while hanging out. Etc etc. And once the players outgrow the area and stop visiting, the vendors would pack up shop due to the drop in activity. The flames would grow cold and die out. And the once busy little campsite would become a charred ruin left on the world so players old and new could venture by and see that at one point in the game's life this area was a tiny oasis for the community.

    AI is important because it gives us randomness in scripted behavior. An unpredictability. It makes a game world feel more alive. Creating a campfire/campsite might not be considered AI. But the results could create interesting, unpredictable emmergent behavior within a zone that may often become TOO 'familiar'. I really can't think of any single Artificial Intelligence mechanic that hasn't already been mentioned. So instead let's push it a lil further with Artifical Life.

    /cheers

    • 257 posts
    March 27, 2018 5:01 PM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    If you could add a new type of AI to an MMORPG (Pantheon) what would you add and how would it work? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters

    I would like an npc that you know next to nothing about (like Tom Bombadil) start an epic quest line. Not class specific but more like, say, the Coldain ring or shawl quest. At the end of the extremely long quest I would hope to know some things about him/her but not everything. In a later expansion I'd like to see it expand further and be more interactive. To start this person would be just quest progression and lore then later this person could be a source of buffs, or gear, more quests, or maybe even a raid target, whatever. I just want to see the npc start small and progress through expansions with more and more different types of interactions with it.


    This post was edited by Retsof at March 27, 2018 5:05 PM PDT
    • 2756 posts
    March 28, 2018 2:22 AM PDT

    zewtastic said:

    Kilsin said:

    If you could add a new type of AI to an MMORPG (Pantheon) what would you add and how would it work? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters

    I don't think you can have anything like AI in an MMO. Players expect MMO's to find and follow patterns they can learn and thus pick apart.

    Raids would be impossible if every encounter was different and unique. As it is some of the hardest raids involve dealing with all known variations a raid boss can manifest. Even the simplest variation like CT death touches in PoF could spell doom for a raid in the early days and that was a minor variation.

    Camping a difficult dungeon location would be suicide fraught with endless deaths and CR's, thus requiring overwhelming force to succeed random AI events. Which would just make camping into zergfests.

    The best place AI might be implemented would be for Quests, but even that would have to be heavily scripted, just with various paths and outcomes.

    AI doesn't *have* to mean 'greater' intelligence, it can mean simply more realistic reasoning.  More interesting and more immersive doesn't have to mean more difficult (though it could if required).  AI doesn't necessarily mean more unpredictable - it could mean the opposite.

    Those raid monsters with previously randomly selected carefully designed (to be tough) scripted reactions could actually be harder to predict than a monster that reacts 'sensibly' to the world with AI. A monster with AI could be tempted out and ambushed or distracted with a diversion or surprised and scared into running or whatever. It could even make mistakes.

    • 134 posts
    March 29, 2018 12:23 PM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    If you could add a new type of AI to an MMORPG (Pantheon) what would you add and how would it work? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters

    Elder Scrolls-like Radiant AI - NPCs with schedules and whatnot.

    • 12 posts
    March 31, 2018 12:22 PM PDT

    Trepidatious

    Mob Type: It would probably best fit smaller beast mobs (relative to the size of the player character) that can be seen as operating in packs.

    Disposition: Similar to the alarmist it wants its allies to help. The mob may be the only of its species to detect you initially circling you and stalking you as more and more of its species gather to attempt to take you or your party down.

    Mechanics: Couple of possibilities for how this plays out.

    1. It gauges it's target if it has allies say a full party it has decided not target this group. This can make this zone/area safer to travel in groups with.

    2. It's spotted a party of 4 or less, it begins to stalk and circle the target(s) slowly generating allies every X seconds from the nearby environment(trees, brush, under logs) until it has +2 relative to the size of the party. Once it has it's required numbered squad size they strike.

    Counters

    1. Traveling in a larger party size can deter some of these types to not bother.

    2. Engaging with the Monsters before their desired squad size is reached either making the ones there already try and stay and fight or the ones not caught in combat could disperse from fear.

    3. Possibly just being able to outrun these mobs so they lose they're coordination and fall back to their territory.

    ----

    This could lend itself towards the idea of keeping players on their toes. Helping to make the environments more engaging by looking out for these types. Maybe they add a challenge to a party that is trying to med up, and now they have to make a decision to engage it now or wait to get the extra regen they're going after and fighting the enemy when it's a little stronger.


    This post was edited by shalmack at March 31, 2018 12:23 PM PDT
    • 74 posts
    March 31, 2018 4:54 PM PDT

    Deep Learning AI breaking the 4th wall. NPC shopkeepers, guards, bankers forming their own communes locking players out of their economy, waging war on players, competing for resources, and summoning the virtual singularity.

    • 1315 posts
    April 10, 2018 10:37 AM PDT

    Code Name:  Tunnel Vision

    Mechanics:  Shortly after a mob is agroed it picks someone on its agro table to focus on.  Once it begins to focus on that target standard crowd control skills are significantly less effective.  Taunt and agro generation also becomes less effective.  This will force groups to change their CC structure and target burn down list on the fly if they fail to perceive that one of the targets has tunnel vision.

     

     

    This second idea is more of a major system design that would push combat a little more into the action RPG combat style hopefully without pushing it into twitch game play.

    Code Name:  Conditional Skill Graphical effects.

    Mechanics:  Assuming that different mobs have inherent resistances and damage reductions as well as behavior trees, each skill used will have a different graphical effect if the skill is Super Effective, Effective, Default, Ineffective, Resistant and Immune.  By observing the visual results of your skills you can change your tactics on the fly. 

    An example would be that you normally get the Default spell effect when you hit a common mob with a fire bolt.  This time the size of the burning flame left on the target is very small.  As the player you know this guy has some form of fire resistance that they usually do not.  You choose to cast dispel magic on the mob to remove the possible buff.  Instead of shattering light effect for the dispel magic you get the dim nimbus indicating that there was no effect to dispel.  This then means that the target has an equipment or subtype bonus to fire resistance so you cast Vulnerability to fire on the mob.  Now when you cast fire bolt the lingering flame effect covers more of the target, indicating that it’s resistance to fire has lowered.

    This would create a large amount of graphical work and would require players to pay attention to the results of their skills to gain the clues needed to succeed. The differences in spell effects could be either just a change in color or a change in effect size or transparency so it is possible that it could only require a lesser amount of graphical work.

    A similar graphical response to moves also could be applied to an active crafting system where different crafting moves can be executed to keep the crafting result down the desired path.

    • 432 posts
    April 12, 2018 7:29 AM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    If you could add a new type of AI to an MMORPG (Pantheon) what would you add and how would it work? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters

     

    Ai for critters.

    Example.

    Tortoises hide in their shell if they are approached or attack

     

    Ahgressive dispositioned tortoises will slowly charge you and continue to ...follow ... Slowly. So dont run away too fast or they wont get a bite.

    #bored

    -Todd

    • 1315 posts
    June 4, 2018 8:46 AM PDT

    This one may be more appropriate for dungeon bosses raid bosses and in some way is an anti soloing effect.

     

    Code Name:  Adaptive Defense

    Mechanics:  The mob will have a set of rock, paper, scissors defensive moves that can be applied based on what caused the most damage in the previous 25% of its life.  i.e. Its defenses are balanced at the start of the fight and the rogue lights it up so the mob shifts its defenses to defend the most against Piercing attacks.  To compensate the mob becomes more vulnerable to either bludgeoning damage or force damage.  Likewise if it receives a great deal of fire damage from 75-50%  it will become resistant to fire but vulnerable to cold.

    If the same damage type is top two times in a row the defense increase compounds.

    • 612 posts
    June 4, 2018 7:18 PM PDT

    Ainadak said:

    I'm not sure what exactly defines a "type" of AI. If we're looking large scale, then I would like to see an adaptive population system or an economic supply/demand system.

    Adaptive populations: If you have a dungeon (or any population of NPCs) that are being ignored, then they start to venture out (I think Zippy is already doing this part). On the flip side, if a specific camp is being farmed on a regular basis, then additional patrols or spawns are created and sent to that area until it is secured. Eventually (over 6-12 hours) any group staying in a specific area will be overwhelmed and will have to leave the camp or die. If the entire dungeon is jam packed with players, then the number of spawns and patrols will start growing large, which would create a hectic and dangerous environment. Maybe the coin they carry also gets reduced in order to pay for their hired help. Another variant would be that if a specific area is being camped, then instead of increasing spawn rates to take back that area, those spawns are just shifted to other areas of the dungeon.

    If we're talking about dispositions, then I think some of the suggestions here have been good. Also perhaps...
    Strength in numbers: Enemies want to run if they have less than 3 allies in combat with them. A whole population (of gnolls for instance) of this enemy type would be challenging and fun to deal with.

    I just get an image of John Wick.... the more bad guys he kills the more that seem to come out of the walls. Where do the bad guys all come from. I mean really, he kills like 35 guards but then his target runs to the next room and wow, 35 more guards. If you need more cannon fodder just call 1-800-die-4you!

    • 752 posts
    June 4, 2018 7:41 PM PDT

    I am a fan of level restrictive types of AI. Too many or too high of level im out of here! Zerg rush prevention. Or they cower in fear and drop nothing. Promoted testing and balanced groups.

    • 1785 posts
    June 5, 2018 8:20 AM PDT

    Hmm.  Been thinking about this one for a bit now.

    I think mine would be:

    The "Nemesis" AI

    This AI would spawn in response to player actions, such as killing a boss encounter.  The monster controlled by the AI would then periodically try to confront and defeat the player until one or the other of them was dead.

    - The nemesis would leave normal territory and ignore it's normal aggro triggers (other than damage) in order to track down the player.

    - The nemesis would "cross" zone boundaries (spawn inside the player's zone) to try and hunt down the player.  It wouldn't try to spawn into a city or other "safe" area, but anywhere else in the wilderness would be fair game.

    - The nemesis would always be the same level as the player.

    - The longer the nemesis has been active, the more devious it gets.  For example, waiting to ambush the player when they're engaged with other monsters, or waiting until they're not in a group, or setting a trap for the player and their party.

    - Obviously, if the Nemesis is in battle against the player and that battle was going poorly, it would try to flee in order to continue being a Nemesis :)

    - When confronting the player, the Nemesis would always identify themselves.  "You killed my father, adventurer scum!  Now receive vengeance!"


    This post was edited by Nephele at June 5, 2018 8:23 AM PDT
    • 432 posts
    June 5, 2018 3:29 PM PDT

    I have just read this thread which contains many interesting and well thought out suggestions .

    I'd like to just add 2 remarks .

    First is that the vast majority of the proposals focuses on making the monsters more efficient by adaptative and semi-intelligent (by that I mean about as intelligent as an average wild animal) behaviour .

    BEWARE that you could get what you are asking for ... :)  It indeed doesn't take AI or any intelligence for that matter to make the NPCs not only difficult but unbeatable . Just imagine mobs scripted to go in all circumstances after the enchanter first and the healer second . We all know from EQ that if a single mob went after the cleric, let alone several mobs, the cleric was dead within 1 minute and the rest of the group/raid wiped out in the following 2 minutes unless they had time to gate out . By construction every mob is vastly superior to every single PC and bosses are always able to one shoot every single player they would target unless it is a massively healed tank . And this are NPCs whose intelligence is equivalent to a rock . Make them just SLIGHTLY brighter and you won't win any single battle . I am not sure that many people would have fun in a game if all mobs simply wiped out the floor with them on every single encounter just because they kill first systematically the most vital PCs (enchanters and clerics) . Or if they saw that they are outnumbered and outgunned , they would simply run away to bring back the number of friends which would be by script at least equal to the double of the PCs and this whole crowd would just make a bee line for the enchanters/clerics .

     

    Second is that I would like the AI focus more on immersion because this has only positive aspects without the game breaking aspects that would take place if the AI was better for battles .

    There were several excellent proposal how to make the world more living , more consistent with the lore and finally more believable . I would like to stress one particular aspect which is the memory . I noticed that in some games the NPCs would not only see your name/class/race and intelligently comment on it what is trivial but they would remember the past interactions with you and talk/act consistently with it . This apparently small detail makes a HUGE difference between a dead world where the NPC is a mass of pixels  standing for eternity on the same place and saying the same words to everybody and an (almost) living NPC who has feelings and remembers you .

    I would like that an NPC whose daughter I saved from a horrible fate remembers me even if I meet him 1 year later and greets me with enthousiasm and proposes me to have dinner at his place . I'd like that a Dwarf that I accompanied in a haunted mine pays me a drink and talks about the good old times if I meet him in a tavern many months later. It is not much of an AI, it is easy to be implemented as it needs more memory than code and it really, really increases the immersion and the sense of a living world by many orders of magnitude .

    • 223 posts
    June 5, 2018 3:48 PM PDT

    I would like to see regular camps that if they go uncleared for some time continue to grow with the main npc's possibly owerwelming an area needed for travel, or on the way of to a dungeon and such. and possibly having a few named npc popping and attacking apropriate lvl characters on a large agro radius until cleared.

    • 470 posts
    June 5, 2018 4:54 PM PDT

    Kilsin said:

    If you could add a new type of AI to an MMORPG (Pantheon) what would you add and how would it work? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters

    Adaptive AI. I'd like to see an AI that after a time learns from how it's being defeated and changes its behavior accordingly. Say a raid or dungeon boss dies a hundred times, it evaluates the strategies used, and adapts. It would also be nice to see this sort of thing spread to the zones, allowing NPCs to do more than simply sit in camps or path from here to there. They would have goals and could influence change within the zone for better or worse.

    • 612 posts
    June 6, 2018 7:15 PM PDT

    Kratuk said: Adaptive AI. I'd like to see an AI that after a time learns from how it's being defeated and changes its behavior accordingly. Say a raid or dungeon boss dies a hundred times, it evaluates the strategies used, and adapts. It would also be nice to see this sort of thing spread to the zones, allowing NPCs to do more than simply sit in camps or path from here to there. They would have goals and could influence change within the zone for better or worse.

    Deadshade said: BEWARE that you could get what you are asking for ... :)  It indeed doesn't take AI or any intelligence for that matter to make the NPCs not only difficult but unbeatable . Just imagine mobs scripted to go in all circumstances after the enchanter first and the healer second . We all know from EQ that if a single mob went after the cleric, let alone several mobs, the cleric was dead within 1 minute and the rest of the group/raid wiped out in the following 2 minutes unless they had time to gate out . By construction every mob is vastly superior to every single PC and bosses are always able to one shoot every single player they would target unless it is a massively healed tank . And this are NPCs whose intelligence is equivalent to a rock . Make them just SLIGHTLY brighter and you won't win any single battle.

    This already exists and has been proven. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92tn67YDXg0

    Elon Musk's Open AI team created a bot that plays dota 2 that after a few weeks of playing itself over and over learns enough about the game to 1v1 the top players in the world and beat them. They don't program it at all... they just give it certain objectives (getting creep last hits = good, killing enemy hero = good, Dying = bad) and then let it play against itself. At first it just wanders around the map running into tree's and stuff, but as it keeps playing over and over it gets better and better until eventually even the top players in the world couldn't beat it.

    They had certain rules (no bottle, no runes, shrines etc...) but eventually they would probably not need rules like this as the bot AI would eventually get used to using even those types of things. The bot was even baiting the players, and attack/spell canceling.

    It should be noted that after this event in the youtube video I linked, they let everyone have a chance to play against the bot and people started finding ways to trick the bot and destroy the tower, but again as the bot learned it just got tougher and started not falling for the tricks. Eventually it would not be beatable.

    And even if there was still a way and it was just really really tough... the risk vs reward would make it not worth it. This was one of the big issues back when EQ1 was still the main mmo. For example, back when they added Vex Thal the top guilds started progressing through it and they would complain bitterly that the rewards (ie Loot) was not worth the difficulty of the encounters. They still did it for the bragging rights, but then they stopped and didn't bother to try anymore to get any of the loot because it was much too time consuming and difficult for the value of loot they got.

    So if Pantheon boss AI started making the fights tougher and tougher as you went along, it would become less and less worth doing the encounter since the loot wouldn't change.

    So this kind of AI in encounters is not really a good idea.

    Now to throw in an idea of my own:

    Back in Ultima Online they had these wandering healers that roamed throughout the land and if they ran into you they would stop and heal you up and then move along. I've seen wandering vendors in games since then, but not very many other types of wandering npc's. Maybe have wandering healers or maybe a wandering scout that will tell you about mob camps in the area. Or maybe a wandering warrior that if he shows up while you are fighting, he will come rushing in and taunt mobs and help you fight until the combat is over (or dies) and then high 5's the players and moves along. If the fight takes too long the wandering npc will get tired and take off.