Blizzard is loading up on player vs AI / player + AI mechanics

[Unholyground]

Not going to happen, you might see AI as an enemy but pretty much never for dungeons/raids, like ever.
Too much trouble to implement even if they'd have very advanced AI. Their Ai will never be able to partner players for... many reasons.

Healer is not far off, tank would be the hardest to program. It could very well be implemented at some point so never say never.

[Kokolums]

Everybody knew that Island expeditions were a test balloon for procedurally generated content and AI. Everything is better than static npc cannon fodder, that's for sure.

From what I understand, the problem they ran into was that the AI was just too good. People in that environment tend to stop playing unless its a comp stomp. So if anything, I think AI in the future will get dumber, not smarter, as game companies try to attract more players. As far as when you are teamed up with AI, it might be godlike AI you play with.

[MasterHamster]

There's a lot of potential applications for the new sort of "player-mimicking" AI they've launched with Island Expeditions, I do however sure hope they're not going to be used to replace key roles in dungeons.

[kamuimac]

None of this indicates that AI is taking over primary game functions.

first islands

next battlegrounds

only logical next step will be dungeons > raids.

[Kokolums]

Strangely, Blizzard is coming full circle on this issue from Diablo 2. In Diablo 2, you had smart script kiddies coding bots that were able to take a teleporting sorceress and successfully navigate a randomly generated maze to reach Baal and then the bot would successfully complete the Baal run while REAL players would just follow the bot down via portal and sit there and soak up XP. A lot of people complained and wanted this behavior banned but it never was.

Now here we are in 2019 and its the wave of the future.

- - - Updated - - -

There's a lot of potential applications for the new sort of "player-mimicking" AI they've launched with Island Expeditions, I do however sure hope they're not going to be used to replace key roles in dungeons.

We're probably headed for the D2 model where the player just stands there and does nothing and his team of Blizzard-designed bots run the dungeon or raid for him or her. And then they stream it all on Twitch so a bunch of us can eat our dinner while we watch a player watch the Blizzard Bots run the dungeon. Its like Botception!

[Sencha]

I would play Island expeditions a lot more if I could do it with two AI guys instead of real players. And to be honest when it comes to random pugs I'm so fed up with actual people, I'd rather play the game completely solo.

Then play a solo game.

[KronoFett]

Probably in response to the millions of people unsubbing from the game lol. There is currently only 3 million active player characters between the EU and US. (active characters is any activity spent within a 2 week span of time)

So me with over 6 alts I actively use all the time contribute to 6 of that 3 million. Goign by these numbers there is a high likely chance that there is less than 1 million subs playing. Which is lower than both ESO and FF14.

https://www.wowrealmpopulation.com/

It's looking REALLY bad this expansion. Even the low point of WOD had at least 3 million subs. BFA barely has 3 million active characters...

[dope_danny]

To be fair AI took over pvp years ago

[alturic]

Probably in response to the millions of people unsubbing from the game lol. There is currently only 3 million active player characters between the EU and US. (active characters is any activity spent within a 2 week span of time)

So me with over 6 alts I actively use all the time contribute to 6 of that 3 million. Goign by these numbers there is a high likely chance that there is less than 1 million subs playing. Which is lower than both ESO and FF14.

https://www.wowrealmpopulation.com/

It's looking REALLY bad this expansion. Even the low point of WOD had at least 3 million subs. BFA barely has 3 million active characters...

This is one of the funniest things I've heard about WoW in the longest time. Less than a million subs? lolololtrollolololol

[Accendor]

So sometime in the next 30 years or so?

If it wouldn't happen right now, there would be no need for an AI like that.

[KronoFett]

This is one of the funniest things I've heard about WoW in the longest time. Less than a million subs? lolololtrollolololol

If the game has MAX 3 million characters. And people on average maybe have 3 characters they use then yes. Hell in legion I had probably 11 active characters I used. WOD had 3 million subs. The game doesn't even have close to that amount. It's really bad.

[Archmage Alodi]

With number of players getting lower and lower everyday this could be a good thing.

[Dilbon]

Then play a solo game.

I want to play a game where there are other people, I just don't want to play with them.

[Sanguinerd]

They should really work on hunter/warlock pet AI aswel.

[Biomega]

From what I understand, the problem they ran into was that the AI was just too good.

I mean, that depends on what you mean by "too good". The "AI" in island expeditions isn't just player-like characters that simply have smart scripting - they're just NPCs with a little more thought put into their scripts, and a whole lot of needlessly overpowered abilities players could never have. They're effectively cheating, which is a very common way of making "AI" "better" at playing video games.

I use quotation marks liberally here because of course we're not talking about anything even remotely resembling AI here. They're not even machine-learning systems like the ones they used to (somewhat fairly) beat pros at StarCraft. They're just scripted behaviors with more complexity in the script than is usual for other NPCs. That's basically it. And because that is so insufficient for providing an actual challenge, they also have to make them "cheat" in order to maintain the desired level of difficulty.

I'm foreseeing two possible scenarios for AI Battlegrounds. Either a) players will figure out the weaknesses in the script, and proceed to predict and/or exploit NPC behavior to their advantage; or b) NPCs will cheat in ways that make them either under- or overpowered, erring on the side of lower power to keep the players happy and let them win.

The NPC companions will be the source of approximately twelve dozen angry forum threads a week because pet AI is absolute garbage and they're never doing what you actually want them to do.

[mostvp71]

I would play Island expeditions a lot more if I could do it with two AI guys instead of real players. And to be honest when it comes to random pugs I'm so fed up with actual people, I'd rather play the game completely solo.

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Get over it, go play Diablo 3 if you don’t want to socialize jeez I’m so sick of people ruining WoW because they’re hermits.

WoW is NOT supposed to be a solo game.

[RoKPaNda]

Well, like I say, a lot of polling has been and people who post on a message board skew FAR FAR FAR more introverted than the general public. Moderators especially turn out to be basically 100% introverts. If there is ONE aspect of a message board where you would totally discard its opinions as tainted, it is in the realm of solo vs multiplayer play because a message board is going to be super strong advocates of solo play whereas your overall customer base won't share that view.

A game company has to be very careful consuming its feedback on solo vs multiplayer.

I disagree with this and I'd like to read some data on it. I find the opposite to be true. This forum for example is very into the social aspect of WoW, something that hasn't really existed in a long time, and never existed to the degree that they claim it's been lost, and yet the average WoW player doesn't give a shit about any of that and tends to prefer it the modern way over the old forced community way.

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Get over it, go play Diablo 3 if you don’t want to socialize jeez I’m so sick of people ruining WoW because they’re hermits.

WoW is NOT supposed to be a solo game.

See? =) Forum dwellers tend to be more in favor of the forced socializing aspect of WoW.

[KronoFett]

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Get over it, go play Diablo 3 if you don’t want to socialize jeez I’m so sick of people ruining WoW because they’re hermits.

WoW is NOT supposed to be a solo game.

Well wow can't even handle more than 40 people in one area in the world without the servers going to shit.

[Nnyco]

Did I miss a memo? What systems are now getting automated with AI?
I didn't think they did huge changes mid-expac?

They added a brawl where you fight arathi vs basically the island bots. Obviously OP just takes things out of proportions.

[Kokolums]

They added a brawl where you fight arathi vs basically the island bots. Obviously OP just takes things out of proportions.

Super followers are coming in 8.2.