Need info on new AI and aggro

Being my first post don't chop my head off for breaking any forum rule or code of conduct please..

I browsed the threads and couldn't find any good information on how the new AI works so I figured I'd make an account and ask.

People always talk about it being an AoE nerf, but upon testing it has almost nothing to do with AoE at all. I chose Elona reach for my tests for the melee minotaurs there that don't pack any surprises. I used both a 55 lame-ass monk and an earth elementalist. 3 seems to be the magic number, if you take on 3 or less they will not flee unless you use a heavy AoE spell and their health is below 50%. The same goes for groups larger than 3, they didn't move out of my firestorm(fire at 0, dealing 4 dmg/sec). Only when I fired up sandstorm did they bother to move, but then their health was also reduced to 50% due to me having my points in earth.

What separates groups of more than 3 is that they will run regardless the type of damage they receive. I kept casting stone daggers on one of them, and just as he reached 50% he ran off positioning himself at the end of my aggro bubble. I could still hit him, so that seems a bit pointless but I guess he got spooked. Using aftershock they all flee at 50% and form a circle around me at the edge of my aggro bubble. Same happens with SoJ, at 50% they flee. And SS. Even if you deal no damage at all they will flee at 50%, I used disease.

Zealots fire does not trigger any AoE at all, spamming guardian and rof didn't cause any scattering until.. you guessed it, until they reach 50% health.

In the update notes it says mobs will remain in AoE if they think they can kill their target, so I let them whack my health to about 10%(near death) and then let them have it. They would still flee so they were right in their assumption that I was only fooling them, but how could they know? When does "we-can-kill-him-dont-flee" activate?

So how does this really work? How does it work on caster-type mobs? Will they stay in a firestorm too, or would it make a difference if the firestorm dealt more damage(but as long as it does not reduce their health to 50%)?

Does party size matter in any way? I have not seen anything like this happen in FoW for instance. A shadow warrior fighting your tank will not flee when he reaches 50%, at least not that I've noticed so far. Does it make a difference that the mob consists of different elements, say 2 melee and 2 casters thus not counting towards the magic 3?

90%(seemingly) of you guys applaud this new AI update(the remaining 10% call it a nerf). Before I surrender to the AI and start playing b/p I'd like to figure out just how this new AI works and see if there are still builds to be made that you can use for farming more than 3 mobs at once.

Sorry for a post that became 10x longer than I was going for.

Wasn't the AOE nerf about damage over time effects in a location causing enemies to run from that location?
I thought the recent AI change was about monsters starting to run away when they were in danger whether it was direct damage or AOE.
It can be annoying for some people, but the new AI is more dynamic. Just means more people will have to start using crippling type skills/spells better.
The AI isn't as smart as people, but I'm so glad it's more dynamic than some other MMORPGs I've played. In EQ2, I only remember beavers running away from me. The rest would just run up and attack until they died.