Trusty AI

I've finally gotten a handle on what disconcerts me so in Dragon Age combat. I can't trust my characters to act intelligently. Or indeed, do what I tell them to. I can issue a move order, the PC in question will head towards where I point them, and halfway there the AI will take over and decide charging headlong at the enemy which has crossed their path is a better response.

This really aggravates me because I then have a tank who will not draw threat on the correct enemy, a rogue which will NOT move into position to backstab (yes, I know there are 3 other loose enemies, but you are not a tank, you are DPS and supposed to be burning the one target down before the tank dies) and a mage who liked to run up and thwap things with her stick before I figured out that I could switch her tactics to ranged. She still however does not cast spells intelligently, forcing me to manual control her, which leaves the other two open to getting mauled. At least the dog is simple enough to handle.

Meanwhile, the game enjoys sending about 8-10 NPCs after my party of 4. Without decent crowd control or heals or indeed any semblance of taunting, this often feels patently unfair when you're still fighting for control with your own characters.

http://toblender.com/comic/dragon-age-ai/

Contrast this with World in Conflict's AI, which is so intelligent, I can issue a move order to any squad and they will shoot at any enemy within range, often eliminating them before I even register their presence, as long as I move them in a combined arms fashion with anti-tank to take care of the armor, anti-air to take care of helicopters, etc.

You can only deal with overall strategic command if you can trust your units to take decent care of themselves and give a good accounting.

On an MMO front, this has implications for companion types, I expect. LOTRO's skirmish companions seem bare bones enough - the melee'rs tangle up in melee, you can very slowly blow a horn to direct them elsewhere, the archer shoots, and my favorite, the healer just stands back and heals the crap out of me and other fighting NPCs. She's not smart enough to back away when things charge her, but I suppose that's where my tank and aggro control comes in and feels important - so Working As Intended.

Guild War's AI now. Generally quite decent as long as you've got the right skills. Heck, you can trust your party to hold their own even if you accidentally die, and they'll get around to rezzing you when they can. It's still quite masterful how they made even a PvE encounter feel a bit like a PvP fight, but in this case, the AI is good on both fronts, and so is balanced.

In Dragon Age, I feel like I'm commanding a bunch of uncoordinated retards up against spetnaz commando hireling mercenaries. Recipe for utter humiliating faceplanting defeat, anyone?