I get a lot of questions about our "Player-Bots" and how they'll benefit the player's experience and so forth. So, to sum it up, I'll try to answer all questions regarding bots in this thread.
1.
Will Wc3:WoW ever be multiplayer? (Have more than 1 player)
Thanks to patch 1.24,
NO. It is impossible because Wc3:WoW is a campaign and they are restricted to single player mode only. Sorry!
2.
What is a 'Player-Bot'?
A player bot is a hero that is assigned a class such as Rogue, Warrior, Hunter, etc. and is designed to act as though it were a player rather than a computer controlled character to make the Wc3:WoW gameplay experience feel more like the experience you get when playing the actual World of Warcraft game. There are Player-Bots on both factions (Horde and Alliance) and we plan to pre-create each and every Player-Bot for Wc3:WoW. Our goal is to pre-create 2,000 Player-Bots. But we'll have much, much less than that in the first few demo releases of Wc3:WoW.
3.
Why pre-create the Player-Bots and not just randomly spawn heroes that act like players?
This is what we've been doing for a long time, but when it comes right down to it, we can't really log information on randomly generated characters. For example, we want to eventually add a system that lets you search for Player-Bots throughout the entire world of Warcraft in Wc3:WoW. You can't do that if none of the Player-Bots already exist.
4.
So what's involved in the pre-creation of each Player-Bot?
A lot. Items they have equipped, bot's level, class, gender, race, stats, talent spec, location, bot's name, bot's guild, and a number of other things we need to define for each and every Player-Bot. It will be a very tedious process. Hopefully we find an easy way to get it done quickly.
5.
What did Player-Bots do?
Previously they did very little and weren't very smart at all, but despite that, we received positive feedback about them in the past, so I am confident any major improvements we plan to make will be accepted with open arms. The bots used to randomly spawn in the zone exits and then Attack-Move to a random region our terrainers placed throughout the map - we had about 4 or 5 regions maximum. Whether the bot decides to stay or wait a bit before approaching the next region after it has reached the center of a region was also random. Another thing was that the bots could join your group if you invited them - and we're keeping that - but the worst part of their A.I. and probably still will be in the first demo is the abilities they decide to use and the times they use them. For example, a Rogue using Sprint when he's not even moving! Or a Warrior changing stances for no reason in combat. Hopefully in the first demo, we'll improve that part, since it drove me crazy.
6.
What do Player-Bots do now/what is the plan for them?
Since we're going to be pre-creating bots from now on, we can do so much more. But I'll only speak about what we'll improve from before that will be more noticeable more immediately than others.
- Still spawn in the exits of zones (maps) but will decide to do things other than just Attack-Move here and Attack-Move there. They'll eventually have quests too which will allow them to decide to kill monsters here or talk to an NPC in the town over there. We will still have a bunch of random decisions for our Player-Bots but overall their decisions will be more justified than before because we'll be taking more information about that particular bot into account. Meaning, if this bot is a healer class, a low level, and not in a group, he's not going to want to enter Ragefire Chasm and will instead grind for XP or whatever.
- We're going to try to make 5 regions our minimum for each map. These regions will only affect bots' decisions as to whether they randomly grind here or want to look like they're doing something a normal player would do over there. We'll even eventually have AFK bots who just stand there for a long time. Stuff as simple as that can really bring that MMO feeling to life a tiny bit more.
- You can still invite bots to your group, but this time around, instead of them having a 100% chance of accepting your invite, there will be a 25% or 50% chance (unsure at the moment) that they will decline your invitations. If they decline, they will continue to decline your invites to make their decision to not join your group a bit more logical and solid so players can't just invite, they decline, and then you invite them again and they accept. That won't happen in Wc3:WoW. It might not be so much of a system in favor of the player, but the fact that bots can deny something from the player makes the player feel a bit less in control, just like in World of Warcraft; you can't force another player to accept your invites.
- We probably won't have many spells or classes available in the first demo but we will try to make bots use their classes more intelligently than before. Those of you who worry about PvP, we won't make many bots extremely computer swift and smart so they massacre you in the Battlegrounds... although there will be some who are, for the sake of diversity in skill. This is to ensure that the player doesn't feel like he's being owned by hackers 24/7 and overall makes it a much more enjoyable experience.
7.
How can Player-Bots benefit the player?
Lots of ways!
- Feels more like World of Warcraft because of their existence and behaviors.
- Can join your group or raid.
- Are obviously handy in battlegrounds.
- May be more fun for some players to focus on PvP (killing hostile Player-Bots)
- They participate a lot in the game's events and important experiences like battlegrounds, arenas, duels, instances, city raids, ganking parties, questing parties, etc.
- Healer Player-Bots and Tank Player-Bots will likely be your best friends in the game.
- Can be used as bait!
8.
Can bots invite me to their party, raid, or guild?
Previously, no and we thought we'd never add that. Now? Still no,
but, it is on our to do list. I'm not sure if they should be able to invite you to raids, but we do plan to allow bots to invite you to their party or guild if you are not already in one.
9.
Are Player-Bots limited to certain things or can they do just about anything the player can do?
Limited I guess, and always will be. You can command Player-Bots that are in your group - or so we plan to add - via text like "Heal me" or "Assist target" but Player-Bots cannot command each other. However, we may allow them to issue demands like "Go for Stables" in the battlegrounds. Player-Bots
can do some things that the player can do too, such as buy items, join groups, complete quests, kill mobs and level up, train new abilities, setup talent tree, etc.
10.
Will there be 'twinked-out' Player-Bots in battlegrounds and arenas?
Yes. But of course, not all Player-Bots that are friendly or hostile will be twinked-out. In fact, some will have really poor gear or run around without any armor or weapon equipped at all. It's like that in World of Warcraft, so it'll be like that in Wc3:WoW too!
11.
How are you guys creating the A.I. for the Player-Bots? Are you using GUI triggers, JASS, AI Tool, or what?
Implementing the A.I. in Wc3:WoW is being done through a ton of JASS triggers. We've mainly setup a few simple rules for them for now to make them behave a certain way in the mod. For example, we have lots of random actions and events for them, and we have lots of intentional decisions for them that they choose for a justified purpose; for example, they have a quest completed, so they'll go turn that quest in. You may think the A.I. is simplistic and easy, but it is actually a lot more difficult and tedious of a process. First, we need to come up with ideas that will make computer controlled units - in a nutshell, that's what they really are anyway - convincing to the player that the Player-Bot is a player. Second, we need to code them into the mod. Third, we begin creating alternative decisions for the bot to decide on and/or we make sure the action the Player-Bot is doing is logical. For example, if the Player-Bot has no mana, it will not engage any hostiles regardless of his current uselessness; in the old demo and for a really long time, bots would charge into battle whether they had enough mana or not (or even HP) and would usually just die. We might even start taking spell cooldowns into consideration as well with bots.
12.
You keep saying the bots can "decide" to do things or randomly do things. Explain.
Technically, the only actual decision-making a Player-Bot in Wc3:WoW has control over is whether it attacks a target or not. They used to have control over their usage of spells, but so far they're terrible with that and are just too easy, annoying, and inefficient. So, us developers have to create decisions for them depending on certain situations. We need to create triggers that make the Player-Bot flee or heal when at low health. We need to create triggers that set priorities for tasks like turning in quests, grinding experience off of mobs, spell choices for the right moments, and so on. And this is exactly what I mean when I say the Player-Bots have
justified decisions; I'm saying their decisions make sense, have a logical purpose, are done for a reason. As for random actions, these are done with random percentages. For example, there's a 50% chance that a Player-Bot will decline all invitations from the Player. Or there's a 25% chance the Player-Bot will Attack-Move to this region instead of that one, the one over there, or the on way back there.
13.
Can you list some logically justified decisions for Player-Bots?- If a Player-Bot has a quest to turn in and the NPC they need to go to is in the map the Player-Bot is currently in, then the Player-Bot will go to the NPC and claim the reward for the quest.
- If a Player-Bot has a quest to turn in and the NPC they need to turn it in to is in another map, the Player-Bot will begin heading for that map (For example, if the Player-Bot is in Central Mulgore [Bloodhoof Village] and the NPC is in The Barrens, the Player-Bot will exit the zone/map to the right.
- If a Player-Bot mid-low to low health, the Player-Bot will either try to heal itself or flee from its aggressor(s).
- If the Player-Bot has useless items in its inventory (junk items) then it will be smart enough to sell them to a vendor when necessary.
- If the Player-Bot has full health and mana and sees a hostile Player-Bot with low health, the fully healed Player-Bot will engage the low-health target and attempt to kill it.
- If a Player or Player-Bot in a healer Player-Bot's party is low on health or tanking, the healer Player-Bot will focus its heals on that friendly target for maximum effectiveness.
- If a Player-Bot is low on health and/or mana and is Out-of-Combat, then it will begin eating and drinking to regenerate its health and mana.
- If the Player-Bot's team base at Farm, Lumber Mill, Blacksmith, Stables, or Mines have been taken, the Player-Bot will attempt to go there and capture it for the Player-Bot's team - but will engage enemies that are low, in the way, and/or attacking the Player-Bot.
- If a Player-Bot has a quest to kill Scorpid Workers and there are Scorpid Workers in the map the Player-Bot is in, the Player-Bot will go to that area of the map where they are and begin killing them for experience and for the quest. (We will eventually begin prioritizing each quest too, depending on quest difficulty and location)
14.
Can you list some random actions the Player-Bots do in Wc3:WoW?- *Usually occurs when the Player-Bot first enters the zone* The Player-Bot has % chance to Attack-Move to a random "Bot Adventure Region" on the map. Depending on the amount of regions, the percentage will be evenly distributed to each region. For example, if there are 4 regions in this map, there is a 25% chance the Player-Bot will Attack-Move to one of the four regions.
- A Player-Bot can randomly decide to start killing mobs for experience and loot.
- A Player-Bot may randomly decide to attack hostile Player-Bots/the Player. (only if Player-Bot is on opposite faction from the target; Horde and Alliance)
- A Player-Bot will randomly decide to choose or deny your group invites.
15.
Are players able to communicate with Player-Bots? If so, how?
Barely. In version 2.0, the only 'communication' process between a player and Player-Bot is inviting them to your group by clicking on them (might change how group invites are done later) or giving them orders when in your group, such as "heal me." In the very, very far future, it'd be nice to allow Player-Bots to have conversations with each other, ask questions, and so on. Unfortunately, it is doubtful we'll even get to doing that.
16.
Overall, how advanced do you guys plan to make Player-Bots in the future?
There are so many games and mods out there with terrible or 'good enough' A.I. and quite frankly, I'd like to push beyond that and actually work on A.I. that is convincing and meaningful. Although our Player-Bots aren't going to be that impressive in 2.0, in future versions we'd like to make Player-Bots do behave as real players in World of Warcraft would and do actions like 'bunny hopping' as they travel somewhere. Things as simple as that can really help. But when it comes to how "advanced" we'd like them to be, we'd like the Player to be able to communicate with bots via text in many ways, rather than being limited to just a couple text commands. There's a long list of stuff we want to add to make them intelligent and life-like.
17.
You say you plan to show equipment on the player's character that he/she is wearing. Does this also apply to Player-Bots? Will their armor and weapons worn be shown on their characters?
As a part of pre-creating the bots, this comes into play as well. One of the pre-created stats is what items the bot has equipped. Once the game checks this, it shouldn't be too hard for it to know which armor and weapon attachment models it needs to apply to the Player-Bot's character.
18.
Is the A.I. coded at all in any way yet?
No. It was all wiped out when patch version 1.24 was released and we haven't recoded the A.I. yet.
19.
Will Wc3:WoW 2.0 have Player-Bots in it when it's released publicly?
Absolutely.
Will include further answers to questions in this post...
