Field aggression - how monsters react to fields.
Fields affected - Poison fields and fire fields.
Field aggression was changed during the high sea's patch October 12, 2010. The field code was consolidated where all fields used the wall of stone for their base code logic. Shortly after some of the field issues, namely missing fields where objects already exist(1), were fixed but aggression with poison and fire fields was left in its current "broken" state.
The AI of monsters when in a poison or fire field was pretty simple, stand in something that hurts and walk out of it. Currently the only time monsters walk out of fields are when they have no line of site, or path to reach you in hand to hand combat. There are exceptions to this new rule like the Barracoon champion which reacts to fields the way the majority of monsters did before the high sea's publish. On the other hand Lady Melisande and the Travesty are good examples of a monsters that used to run from fire and poison fields which now stand in the fields with no reaction.
Fields were much more valuable in PVM as they could keep the monsters from attacking you or another player. Champion spawns are a prime example where a field used to be able to detour the monsters from a surrounded player which allowed a player the chance to get a heal off, get a few extra shots to decrease the amount of mobs, or teleport away! It would also give that chance for the player to run as the monsters scattered and there was a potential gap open where the stamina block would not halt the player.
Line of Site/Path Example
Field freshly cast all monsters still standing attacking my character in hand to hand combat.
After a short period of time monsters stay in original positions on top of the field. Notice the Ghoul headed east, the ghoul's basic AI of low health pain is bad set him on the path due east.
No Line of Site/Path Example
The reaction to monsters that do not have a line of site or cannot find a path for hand to hand react as they should.
As soon as they realize they are on a poison field they scatter away from the player. (This is a bad example, they can't get close to the player as the fence is blocking it).
In the second screen shot you can see the Ghoul headed west is about to come back for a return attack until he realized the poison field hurts! The zombie running to the north is in flee mode as it is about to die. The other skeletons are walking away going back and forth to the field, then walking off of it as soon as they realize it is bad.
(1) A fun fact! When fields were "fixed" a day or two later after the high sea's field break the wall of stone could be placed on top of a player!
Fields affected - Poison fields and fire fields.
Field aggression was changed during the high sea's patch October 12, 2010. The field code was consolidated where all fields used the wall of stone for their base code logic. Shortly after some of the field issues, namely missing fields where objects already exist(1), were fixed but aggression with poison and fire fields was left in its current "broken" state.
The AI of monsters when in a poison or fire field was pretty simple, stand in something that hurts and walk out of it. Currently the only time monsters walk out of fields are when they have no line of site, or path to reach you in hand to hand combat. There are exceptions to this new rule like the Barracoon champion which reacts to fields the way the majority of monsters did before the high sea's publish. On the other hand Lady Melisande and the Travesty are good examples of a monsters that used to run from fire and poison fields which now stand in the fields with no reaction.
Fields were much more valuable in PVM as they could keep the monsters from attacking you or another player. Champion spawns are a prime example where a field used to be able to detour the monsters from a surrounded player which allowed a player the chance to get a heal off, get a few extra shots to decrease the amount of mobs, or teleport away! It would also give that chance for the player to run as the monsters scattered and there was a potential gap open where the stamina block would not halt the player.
Line of Site/Path Example
Field freshly cast all monsters still standing attacking my character in hand to hand combat.
After a short period of time monsters stay in original positions on top of the field. Notice the Ghoul headed east, the ghoul's basic AI of low health pain is bad set him on the path due east.
No Line of Site/Path Example
The reaction to monsters that do not have a line of site or cannot find a path for hand to hand react as they should.
As soon as they realize they are on a poison field they scatter away from the player. (This is a bad example, they can't get close to the player as the fence is blocking it).
In the second screen shot you can see the Ghoul headed west is about to come back for a return attack until he realized the poison field hurts! The zombie running to the north is in flee mode as it is about to die. The other skeletons are walking away going back and forth to the field, then walking off of it as soon as they realize it is bad.
(1) A fun fact! When fields were "fixed" a day or two later after the high sea's field break the wall of stone could be placed on top of a player!