Guild Wars 2

EDIT: Minions have now been fixed a few patches ago, THANK YOU!

This goes for the following minions :

• Bone Minion
• Shadow Fiend
• Flesh Golem

All of the melee minions tend to lock up while trying to attack a target or when the controller is under attack. Minions tend to do this about 60-80% of the time during use. It does look like register the attack but glitch out to their idle stance over and over. However if the target is close enough to the minion, as in right next to it, it can and will attack until the target gets farther away from them. They don’t seem to have an issue with attacking a tower gate or any other object that can not move.

I know being a Minion-Master is not the most popular thing to use in most areas of the game. I do enjoy playing it regardless of how buggy minions get. However, during the past few months I have seen them get worse. While in WvW borderlands the minions locked up roughly 75% of the time refusing to attack or protect me. Its not just WvW though, it happens off and on in other areas. This has happend in PvP arenas and most PvE maps.

I have looked through the forums for similar topics and none I have seen have been replied to by Anet.

It may be the pathing or the minion AI, i’m not sure but it needs to be looked into.
The more the game updates the worse minions seem to get.

Edit: Still no word on this after a month? Not surprised…

Edit: New issues with the update with the “flesh of the master” trait.
Minions tend to die when switching level areas or when the player is downed.

-Wolf

I agree with this, I like being a Minion Master with my necro, but now that the minions become more insignificant, I had to go try out new builds. I wish you guys either fix the minions or remove them to give necros something better. Fix what you break Anet!!!!

Minions definitely need to be addressed, my Necro is sat in the character selection screen with lack of play because I want to play an MM build and it becomes more bugged as the patches go on.

Nothing irks me more during a hard fight when I look over and my minions are having a tea party in the flowers. More than I care to count, I either have to go in a downed state or die before they come up, “Hey bra, need some help?” That’s why I stopped using the Flesh Golem because he is more than useless. His charge has such a long cool down rate, that I’m better off using some other elite skill. Also, I noticed last night that the Bone Minion kept falling back like he’s under attack. Every time I go check on him, he’s just sitting there happily destroying crates. (Too bad I was fighting kraits at the time. I could have used him.)

I don’t play minion mastery, so I don’t know for sure, but I could swear up and down this bug applies to all minions, including the ranged bone fiend?

Jagged Horrors can definitely be added to the list though – much of the time when summoned they sit there and do nothing, but follow me, even when attacked, or I’m attacked.

This has been bugged for months.

And no, it’s not just a pathing issue. Much of the time, the minions AI will simply sit there and be attacked – even in melee range, and do absolutely nothing, even with a clear path to the target, no obstacles or uneven terrain.

I use the flesh golem a fair amount, even if I don’t have a MM build, and considering how reliant I am on Charge for direct damage on static objects, this’d be nice to address.

This is why I restarted this topic. I would at least like to know that someone is looking into this…

I also play minion master and this is a serious bug. Minions are our utility skills and if they do not work then what is the point of putting them into the game.

So far the only way I get them to attack the enemy is to move in a way that makes the enemy attacks hit both me and the minions.

When the enemies attack just me or just the minions they may still stare into blank space for a while.

This happens a bit less with the ranged minions, but with the melee ones happens more often than I’d like it to happen.

Still no response from any of the moderators?

I’m not surprised, as I said before none of the other posts like this have been replied to…

Please at least tell us that you know of this and are trying to fix it…
That is if you are.

Updating with a few screenshots, best ones are from Drytop. If you look some of the melee minions just stand next to me or just a few feet away from the target.

Its gotten progressively worse in PvP recently.
Watched my minions stand there while i was getting killed, need the minions to attack or Minion-Master becomes useless and broken.

(MM relies on the minion traits to siphon health from the target and transfer it to the master)

Which means its BROKEN if they don’t even move.

I’m just curious if you have tested this on even terrain versus uneven terrain. Mesmer has always had problems on uneven terrain. Interestingly this seems to be affecting rock dog too from another post in the forum. If there is a time they consistently work that would be great to know in trying to find out what the problem is.

Andraus.3874:

I’m just curious if you have tested this on even terrain versus uneven terrain. Mesmer has always had problems on uneven terrain. Interestingly this seems to be affecting rock dog too from another post in the forum. If there is a time they consistently work that would be great to know in trying to find out what the problem is.

I think you need to clarify your definition of ‘uneven terrain’ here.

There’s terrain so suddenly different in inclination or angle that it can interfere with the navmesh/waypointing for AI – this is something that’s to be expected and a design limitation of many games.

Then there’s GW2, where even with a clear path, slightly unflat or completely flat terrain, where minions do nothing at times.

Like I said before, yes there are some issues with jagged terrain and AI pathing. No, this does not account for why the AI just ceases to function sometimes. This would seem to suggest some programming error with their behavior.

Ok I was just wondering. Mesmer’s iWarden does cease to function on terrain that is not flat. Of course there could be more to it with iWarden than just the terrain but its is always bugged on uneven terrain. A prime example is the happy fractal with the tilted platforms and the entire last boss room is on a slant.

Andraus.3874:

I’m just curious if you have tested this on even terrain versus uneven terrain. Mesmer has always had problems on uneven terrain. Interestingly this seems to be affecting rock dog too from another post in the forum. If there is a time they consistently work that would be great to know in trying to find out what the problem is.

The problem is the minions, for whatever reason they will not attack/defend the master.
You can notice they they attempt to register the attack but fail to move and start looping there animation.

As Halcyon said, its most likely the pathing the minion-AI uses.

As with the terrain check the screens I attached. Its the best i can get at the moment, but its on ‘even’ land as well as some hilly area. Better yet make a necro go into PvP and play some matches with the minions skills. I’m sure that you have a 80%+ chance to see them lock up and stand there while you die.

Melee AI doesn’t work

Please admins bump this to get some attention, its a serious issue for us MM necros, i like the recent change that makes the minions attack nearest enemy target rather than how it used to be where they would attack your target. but when thay glitch and just stand there… its not good.
~Kash

After a week, and no answers… I’m not at all surprised.

This really needs to be looked into at least. Still having issues with the melee minions not doing anything. They just stand there and watch, which makes them utterly useless…

I remember being on my Thief in WvW (d/d), finding a Necro MM, SR’d, walked up, backstab and then just attacked with 1 because he was apparently afk. The minions all turned to look at me, but not one did anything at all. It was like they were saying, “Go for it”. I almost walked away and let that necro live because that was just sad… (then again… don’t afk in the middle of the map of your enemy’s borderland)

This definitely needs fixed because minions are practically useless… unless you are attacking a gate or forcing their actions like Flesh Golem/Bone Fiend. I felt they were useless 1-2 years ago, and I know it’s worse now.

But, I am sure this is known and is apparently not an easy fix. It has been mentioned many times before, and can’t really expect them to keep addressing it in the forums every time someone brings it up. I don’t look at the forums often so it’s possible I’ve missed a comment by Arenanet before.

Lunacy Solacio.6514:

I remember being on my Thief in WvW (d/d), finding a Necro MM, SR’d, walked up, backstab and then just attacked with 1 because he was apparently afk. The minions all turned to look at me, but not one did anything at all. It was like they were saying, “Go for it”. I almost walked away and let that necro live because that was just sad… (then again… don’t afk in the middle of the map of your enemy’s borderland)

This definitely needs fixed because minions are practically useless… unless you are attacking a gate or forcing their actions like Flesh Golem/Bone Fiend. I felt they were useless 1-2 years ago, and I know it’s worse now.

But, I am sure this is known and is apparently not an easy fix. It has been mentioned many times before, and can’t really expect them to keep addressing it in the forums every time someone brings it up. I don’t look at the forums often so it’s possible I’ve missed a comment by Arenanet before.

Finally someone on the other end of this sees it. Thanks for the input.
As on Anet addressing it, never happened as far as i know. I have looked through the forums and have not found any responses from Anet about this particular bug.

Well if the Mesmer issues are anything to go by expect a response/fix pretty soo … … ermm well actually pretty much don’t expect anything

Well, after 2 years this isn’t a bug, its a feature it would seem.

I kill necros with minions all the time cause I know they won’t protect their master! Bring on the minions, I’ll backstab you all day!

they need to stop working on useless stuff like Death Shroud and work more on minions.

I agree, the Melee AI / path finding for the minions definitely needs improvement.

Even a small band-aid fix like a rangers manual pet control buttons F1 and F3 to force the pet to attack a target or return to master. Something like that could be added to the necromancer and have say F2 / F3 activated when a minion is summoned.

Abraxas.3286:

I agree, the Melee AI / path finding for the minions definitely needs improvement.

Even a small band-aid fix like a rangers manual pet control buttons F1 and F3 to force the pet to attack a target or return to master. Something like that could be added to the necromancer and have say F2 / F3 activated when a minion is summoned.

Wish they wold add something like this if at all possible. Still no response from Anet or anything in patch notes about fixing broken AI.

Will be attempting more “tests” with my necromancer this weekend. Will try to find a way to record it, since screens don’t seem to convey the bug very well.

Bumping this as it needs serious attention. I see everyone is having the same problem and as someone said it is getting worse with every patch. We need a fix.
LOL this just sounded wrong but it is what it is

Posted a bug report earlier, didn’t know this was here or active (yay useless search feature!). I’ll request to have it deleted/merged.
My Shadow Fiend is useless most of the time. I am lvl21 and 90% of the time it does nothing. This does not appear to be a terrain issue, as it will take a nap on any kind of terrain. Sometimes it will decide to “join in” on the very last hit of the fight. I do now PvP/WvW, this is all PvE content. Of the 90% failure rate, 90% of that it naps on Veteran and Champ fights. It’s just about time to hang my Necro’kitten on a peg and delete her.

tovadaun.6304:

Posted a bug report earlier, didn’t know this was here or active (yay useless search feature!). I’ll request to have it deleted/merged.
My Shadow Fiend is useless most of the time. I am lvl21 and 90% of the time it does nothing. This does not appear to be a terrain issue, as it will take a nap on any kind of terrain. Sometimes it will decide to “join in” on the very last hit of the fight. I do now PvP/WvW, this is all PvE content. Of the 90% failure rate, 90% of that it naps on Veteran and Champ fights. It’s just about time to hang my Necro’kitten on a peg and delete her.

Pretty much don’t use minions. Because mostly they are useless. The screwed up thing is, the rock dog/golem/parrot/etc summoned by runes work fine, and attack/follow you properly. Necro minions? Nope.

Lunacy Solacio.6514:

Pretty much don’t use minions. Because mostly they are useless. The screwed up thing is, the rock dog/golem/parrot/etc summoned by runes work fine, and attack/follow you properly. Necro minions? Nope.

Agreed that minions can be useless even when they work, as in fights against elites, champs, and boss fights. However, i’d say that they have more use in PVP, and they still bug out and stand there as you get attacked by other players. Happens more in other areas of the game but it gives the Necromancer (that uses minions) a huge disadvantage.

Minion-Masters rely on the minions to siphon health and deal most of the damage for them, but with minions bugging out and just standing there they become useless. Which in turn makes the MM-Build pointless, if its not going to get fixed just remove all minion skills/trait from the game then…

Wait 1 more year before anet do something.

So i see nothing has yet to be done about this, so ill post again. This time I could not record video so i made screens into a GIF file, as you can see in the red circle my minions refuse to help me until half of my health was gone.

Edit: Also added a GIF that show it while attacking a test dummy.

BAAAG!!!! minions broken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OedJ4oqpcU

I’m bay game for playing necro Minion Master, and what is the result?
WTF.

Blood Fiend seems to protect you (and it should because it’s a heal spell). All other minions appear to attack whatever target you start to attack, but they don’t “protect” you (i.e. they don’t attack any mob that is attacking you). They also appear to attack any mob that is attacking them individually. The benefit I see to this is that you can run around and your minions won’t just attack everything in sight, bringing a bunch of mobs on your head. However, small pet controls (F2, attack my target; F3, stop attacking/return to me; whatever) would be awesome.

Azarin.3567:

BAAAG!!!! minions broken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OedJ4oqpcU

This is a new “addition” to the “Flesh of the Master” trait. When the trait gets changed, as in changing level areas, or switching the trait out all minions will die.

This also is a disadvantage when you go down they all die as well.

Goon.9628:

Blood Fiend seems to protect you (and it should because it’s a heal spell). All other minions appear to attack whatever target you start to attack, but they don’t “protect” you (i.e. they don’t attack any mob that is attacking you). They also appear to attack any mob that is attacking them individually. The benefit I see to this is that you can run around and your minions won’t just attack everything in sight, bringing a bunch of mobs on your head. However, small pet controls (F2, attack my target; F3, stop attacking/return to me; whatever) would be awesome.

The reason some of them actually work is because they are ranged minions they do not need to get close to attack.
The bug is with all of the melee minions, they will just sit there glitching out till they decide to finally work.

lol now the minions are more useless..the despawn and refuse to attack..plus the slowed down the golem..i miss the gws 1 minions..they was always ready for a fight..they would kill everything in sight..lol

the whole minion despawn is new since the " patch " but as for the ai of the minions they have always been bad , even back in gw1 days . the only minions that responded were the bone fiends , every thing else had a mind of its on or was watching butterflies . so to see that same ai performance brought back for this game is just nothing more than a on going joke , anet could fix the problem by just giving necros a pet command like rangers have and tying the pets to that command so that we as players can decide to send the pets to attack or not . but just like in gw1 we will not see that happen . nope , i think it is clear that when it comes to designing the game at hand anet does not wish to acknowledge this as a problem because they don’t even see it as one . funny thing is though , the majority of their player base that works for the company do not play necro at all . gee i wonder why !!!

lol my minions in gws 1 ..was always on the attack.. but we also had more minions. so if a few decided to lay back and chill some would be attacking. i use to use the hero/merc mm..lol 7 mm’s + 1 necro healer ..so i could get 60-70 minions back then..so a few could chill and the rest attacked lol..plenty to go around back then..but now with only 5 minions..they all have to be doing their job..lol in gws 1 i had a warrior/necro that had more then 5 minions.

virus.4370:

lol my minions in gws 1 ..was always on the attack.. but we also had more minions. so if a few decided to lay back and chill some would be attacking. i use to use the hero/merc mm..lol 7 mm’s + 1 necro healer ..so i could get 60-70 minions back then..so a few could chill and the rest attacked lol..plenty to go around back then..but now with only 5 minions..they all have to be doing their job..lol in gws 1 i had a warrior/necro that had more then 5 minions.

back in the past you could summon as many as you want then they limited to 20 then 10 , and now in gw2 that max you could possibly get depending on what you are running is 8 pets . but it does not matter when the minions themselves are paper weak and the damage they take is easy one shot . anet needs to fix it but it depends when , eq next is coming soon and my eyes are already on that game

when will fix this bug and AI?
Arena…
I would like to get an answer?

I love to play mm and generally I find if I mouse click what I want to attack the minions go get it (but still somedays they still like smelling the flowers instead).

lorndarken.3702:

virus.4370:

lol my minions in gws 1 ..was always on the attack.. but we also had more minions. so if a few decided to lay back and chill some would be attacking. i use to use the hero/merc mm..lol 7 mm’s + 1 necro healer ..so i could get 60-70 minions back then..so a few could chill and the rest attacked lol..plenty to go around back then..but now with only 5 minions..they all have to be doing their job..lol in gws 1 i had a warrior/necro that had more then 5 minions.

back in the past you could summon as many as you want then they limited to 20 then 10 , and now in gw2 that max you could possibly get depending on what you are running is 8 pets . but it does not matter when the minions themselves are paper weak and the damage they take is easy one shot . anet needs to fix it but it depends when , eq next is coming soon and my eyes are already on that game

lol..yeah we need better minions..but since the people of Anet aren’t necro’s. we probably won’t get better one..we have a problem just getting simple bugs fixed.

WinterWolf.7231:

So i see nothing has yet to be done about this, so ill post again. This time I could not record video so i made screens into a GIF file, as you can see in the red circle my minions refuse to help me until half of my health was gone.

Edit: Also added a GIF that show it while attacking a test dummy.

Still an issue, and there still bugging out.
Is this ever going to get looked into???

Decided to play some PvP with the Neco-MM, was not to bad that day but every so often they would still stand there and watch me attack.

Just a guess but it has to be the pathing mixed with the AI.

I’ve had this same issue since the latest pack update. My minions in PvP used to move around and be useful. I’m glad I’m not the only one having my minions stand around and look pretty. I haven’t noticed this issue in pve/wvw, as I don’t use minions there, but it is very noticeable in pvp where I’m counting on that extra damage.

GarthDreamWalker.7806:

I’ve had this same issue since the latest pack update. My minions in PvP used to move around and be useful. I’m glad I’m not the only one having my minions stand around and look pretty. I haven’t noticed this issue in pve/wvw, as I don’t use minions there, but it is very noticeable in pvp where I’m counting on that extra damage.

Still is an issue, even now they still bug out.
Good news Anet actually fixed the minions from disappearing when changing level zones.

Will there be any answer to this?
Or am I shouting at the wall…