Henchman problems

Haven't encountered this before...

Okay, first off, 98% of the time, I solo everything with henchies.

Up until now, they would all target whatever monster I was attacking, and change their targets as I did.

Just a few minutes ago, however, I was in Prophet's Path in the Crystal Desert, and I find that I'm the only one attacking a particular enemy, while pretty much all of the henchmen are attacking different targets.

Is this a bug? Or is ANet trying to screw over people who use henchmen?

Seemed to me to be a more noticable henchi characteristic after Nightfall was released, but has beecome even more apparent recently.

there is hero and henchi AI alog with Pet AI...Pets are supposed to check every 10 seconds to see if you are switching targets.

Henchmen and heros will attack the closest enemy unless you call your target.

For my necro, I will typically call a target, then lay SS next o an adjacent target. With my ranger I will apply poison call a target and then keep tabbing to spread the poison around. as long as I don't call my target, the heros or henchies stay where they are.

I have been noticeing that and this is without heros the henchies are following into the same previous pattern agian.This is prevelent in Cantha and Tyria as I mostly use heros in Elona.

How do you call targets?

When attacking someone hit: Ctrl+Space and you will see a message in team chat. It should say, "I'm attacking [Insert Enemy Name Here]!"

When you do not wish to attack (as in you have [skill=text]Spiteful Spirit[/skill] on you) hit Ctrl+Shift+Space and you will see "I'm targeting [Insert Enemy Name Here]!"

The latter is often used when people are using hench/heroes to send them in without you attacking.

However, I've noticed that henchies/heroes seem to now have their own priority and refuse to follow my commands. It's becoming much harder now for me to even cap a skill as while I'm spamming "I'm attacking/targeting [wiki]Warden of the Spring[/wiki]!" I find them running off attacking a [wiki]Warden of the Leaf[/wiki].

Same thing happens when I tried to "solo" [wiki]Acolyte of Dwayna[/wiki]. I would be attacking one of the two bosses outside her fort when I saw a henchman randomly run up attack the Acolyte.

And from what I see in this thread, it looks like I'm not the only one.

I have been noticing some very strange hero/henchmen behaviour since this weekend. Sometimes they won't follow called targets, sometimes they will just go and attack, while on guard, not agressive, when a target has not been called.

I just had an experience doing Nundu Bay where I had the whole party far back waiting for energy to regen and Melonni, of her own accord, runs half way across the map to rebirth two henchies without me flagging or commanding her to do so. Very problematic behavior lately.

Actually, I kinda like the updated henchie behavior. Now, they're not all focusing on what I'm attacking. Sure, no more 100% focus fire (unless u spam call target), but now some of them split their attention at harassing other enemy casters.

WTH...isn't the whole point of henchies that you have totally synchronized attacks? That's what I LIKE about having henchmen that you never quite get with human players...

Well Angel is right for some points, interupts and other things are sometimes well spent on other targets, burning on a isolated target(s) to reduce his/their damage by 50% (due They are on Fire) is smart too.

What i don't like is that henchies and heroes don't seem to follow the call if they are in guard mode and too far from the called target, then they appear to attack 'random' closer targets. what i do is that i move a bit closer, if needed with a flag to call again after. I don't like using the flag for that purpose as the hences and heroes do absolutely nothing while following flag commands. When they are close enough they will attack the called one.

Many of us have seen that, while they have not 100% ever followed called targets, there has been a change. It is not unusual to be the only one attacking a mob until all the rest of the group is killed even when spamming ctrl-space. It has never been that ways as far as I remember. I started around 17-19 months ago (haven't checked /age since my last mini-pet) and have henched all three games.

Interrupts, and some other target specific things have always been towards the one "needing" it. The same AI should be the same for enemies and hench/hero - interrupts go to who is casting. Heroes add the "lock on" button, but then I've seen them ignore both it and called targets. When they feel like attacking whoever they please they will also ignore the target lock on button.

It is a bug, there have been other AI bugs in the past. In the end, Anet considers this a co-op game and party AI issues like this have always been second class. Can not say as I blame them and being second class means it *will* be addressed, just not quickly. As of right now one can beat all three games with no real difficulty with the AI - yes it is irritating but still works. Skill balances and game breaking bugs will always be "first class".

Lemme guess... It's Gehraz innit?
The henchie with THE most annoying aggro behaviour there is.

LOL!

That is the exact reason why I stopped taking him places.

I never had many problems when calling targets, they all drop the foe their attacking and go to the 1 I called. However, tonigth they did not attack the target I was calling at all unless the killed their target. Even with all the spamming calling the target, they did not follow the command, so maybe a bug?