Having played for a little while, reaching level 80, gathering some ascended gear and generally being able to destroy veteran mobs with ease (usually), I can say with some objectivity that I am no longer a push-over. I can clobber a bunch of monsters without breaking a virtual sweat.
Yet, those monsters don’t seem to get that. They just keep coming mindlessly towards me, as dozens of their comrades fall to my fire. That’s understandable if you’re fighting destroyers, husks or risen, maybe even jotun and ogres…. but bandits, pirates and separatists, who must surely have at least half a brain and some desire to continue inhabiting their mortal coils?
Surely, if you’ve seen me wipe out ten of your buddies in painful and horrific ways, you might be inclined to pause for a monent and consider i) running away, ii) running to get reinforcements, iii) sneaking around to attack me from behind, iv) anything other than a head-on rush?
Even with the lower animals, it would be useful to be able to scare them off. I don’t always want to fight. Sometimes I just want to be left alone. Putting a wall of fire in front of hyenas should, you would think, give them food for thought. But they just run through the fire like it’s a two-for-one sale at the bite-the-adventurer’s leg store.
I don’t know what to suggest for this. I’m certainly not advocating any great overhaul of the AI. Maybe just a little randomness where upon attacking a creature, there’s a small chance that it might choose to flee rather than attack. Maybe upon just entering a creature’s air-space, have a chance that the creature is not interested in fighting or biting (maybe it just ate a previous adventurer). Or, especially with humans, randomly run for re-inforcements or attempt to stay out of your range. How about a white flag I could carry to show intelligent creatures “Hey, I’m just passing through. I got no beef with you.”
Whatever’s easiest. It would help make the game even more immersive.