Hey there…
Been playing a FG Manifest build for about 100h now and thought I would provide a little feedback on the movement interactions and subsequent AI… The skill itself is very good and the MA definitely enables an end-game capable minion build in the Sentinel class, but its movement & AI could use some work.
Bungee Cord Effect
On occassion, the MA will display a rapid movement far faster than its normal movement speed to return to the player character. When engaged, this causes the MA to overshoot the character position by some margin like someone on a bungee cord and then whips back to the character again. In certain situations, this can be caused by the A command - especially when the MA is at the limit of its range from the player character or there are multiple paths back to the player character (e.g. either way around an obstacle). It causes a lot of delay when trying to control the MA.
Treadmill Running
When changing direction, returning to the player or accepting an A command, the MA will sometimes run on the spot for a short but noticeable period of time before heading off. Besides delaying the MA from getting to where you want it to go, it is downright silly to watch.
Spiral Return
When the map area has multiple return paths to the player character or there are obstacles that can cause pathing to be complicated, the MA attempts to return to the player character in a spiral path. When doing so, the MA will take a wide circular route ignoring all enemies and occassionally circling the player character unnecessarily. This can cause a lot of wasted time as it causes the MA to ignore enemies immediately adjacent to it until the spiral path is complete/obstructed by something or you provide an A command. Obviously, if this spiral action were not happening, the MA attacks enemies near it properly. The spiral path is also very inefficient in larger areas where a straight line back to the player character is totally possible.
A Command vs Attack what I attack
This may be a personal preference, but using the A command seems like a superflous and unnecessary keypress. Why not allow the MA to attack what the player character attacks by default? At the moment, especially with fast movement speed, the MA will run all over the screen attacking arbitrary enemies and then rushing back bungee/spiral like to attack an enemy already attacking the player character… The A command is useful but it really doesnt work well / clunky to press an additional button instead of using a default AI mode.
Default MA range/agressive/defensive modes
I realise that this might be something the Devs are considering for all minions but ideally there needs to be a way to control the default stance of summons/minions/pets… Right now, there are many instances when the MA runs off like a fool attacking a spider halfway across the screen when there are embermages raining hellfire down on the player character a few steps away. It really doesnt need to be complicated… Just a default setting ensuring that that the MA either protects the player character (stays close and attacks whatever is attacking the player character) or roams widely attacking whatever it wants (like right now) or has been commanded to attack (A or default attack what I attack - please.)
Just some feedback…