Trust Behavior

Trust is designed to help people get out of situations where they want to do something but don't have enough manpower to do it, so if you make it too strong, you may end up only needing Trust. It's very difficult to make the right adjustments, but our consistent policy is "don't make the Trust too strong". FFXI is an MMORPG, so basically, we want to keep the end content party-based. -Yoji Fujito

AI Capabilities

Popular Trusts are ones that take advantage of the AI's knowledge and reaction time while avoiding their limitations.

AI knowledge

• Awareness of active enfeebling effects and most will avoid overwriting a spell that's already in effect.
• Awareness of beneficial effects on your target and will attempt to Dispel or Steal them.
• Knowledge of enemy's resistances and most will avoid casting spells that an enemy is resist to.
• Alter egos can see other party members' TP, some will wait until other party members can complete a skillchain before using weapon skills.

React times

• Alter egos always time weapon skills correctly when attempting to close skillchains.
• Detection of enemy ability activation or spellcasting, and reacting with interrupts like Shield Bash or mitigation like One for All.

AI Limitations

"Artificial Stupidity"

Planning

• Alter egos only cast spells while you are in battle.
  • They do not cast pre-pull buffs, since they do know when you want to pull.
  • They stop casting as soon as combat has ended, and will not finish the spell they are currently casting.
• Lack of preparing buffs to defend against enemy capabilities.
  • Monberaux's Insomniant won't be used until after he is hit by a Sleep effect.
  • Scherzo is used after critical damage is dealt.
  • Bar Element and Runes are used after taking elemental damage.

Priorities

• Alter egos highly prioritize spell and ability usage.
  • This can cause wasted enmity when abilities like Sentinel are used before an action that puts them on the enmity list.
• They do not save Stuns for important abilities, instead using them on cooldown.
• After obtaining access to a job-specific version of a weapon skill (Burning Blade -> Red Lotus Blade, Starlight -> Moonlight, etc.), they will still randomly use the lower level version.
• When out of MP, a WHM under a Refresh buff will get stuck in a loop of ticking to 8mp and casting Cure instead of restoring their MP with a weapon skill, wasting TP and reducing healing output.

Positioning

• Melee fighters do not attempt to stand behind enemies.
• Attempts to use weapon skills while out of range, wasting TP.
• Tanks will move away from backline party members while fighting Wyverns or Morbols.
  • Tanks do not move while fighting most enemy types, even if that enemy has breath attacks.
• Ranged or backline party members move according to player movements.
  • They may stand around in places where they can not see their target.
  • They may continuously run back and forth if the player is too far away or changes the direction they're facing.
  • Alter egos do not have Distance Correction penalties.
  • Enemies do not aggro trusts, but they can link.

Coordination

• Redundant skill usage
  • Multiple alter egos casting their strongest Cure spells on the same party member, wasting MP.
  • Overwriting party-wide buffs, such as Warcry.
• Multiple alter egos can attempt to close the same skillchain, breaking the skillchain.
• Alter egos will all attack your most recently attacked target, but they cast spells on your current target.

AI Personalities

Some alter egos were designed to use abilities in a strange or unexpected way befitting the personality of the NPC.

• King of Hearts will cast Refresh on a Samurai because he mistakes the player for his master, Ambassador Karababa, as a reference to an Aht Urhgan mission.
• Naja (UC) has the equivalent of Hundred Fists and has a high frequency of weapon skill usage, as a reference to another Aht Urhgan mission.
• Qultada always shoots for XI's since he takes risks against all odds.
• Iron Eater overuses Restraint, causing a reduction in weapon skill usage and damage after level 77.

Limitations by Design

There are no one-size-fits-all trusts. They gave them certain strengths and weaknesses so they would be unique and you'd have choices to make.

• There are no "March-only bards" since that would exclude some players from using them.
• Trusts that use a stance, aka "Style-change" abilities, are restricted to 1 stance unless it's to change to a tanking role. Stances include abilities like Afflatus Misery, Afflatus Solace, Composure.
  • Pieuje only uses Afflatus Misery. He's the only trust who uses Esuna and Auspice. Cura will not be used: AoE healing seems to be a specialty of other trusts.
• Ark HM and Volker, who switch to a tanking stance when there are no other tanks in the party, treat any PLD as a tank, even if it's a healer like Monberaux or Selh'teus. SE believes players who have gotten used to this may rely on this behavior, so they are not interested in changing the behavior.
• Koru-Moru and Arciela II will not overwrite any buffs, since RNG and COR may not want their Haste being overwritten with Flurry II.
• The game is at the limit of how many trusts can be added, so the only way they can add new trusts is to make them temporary and swap them out.
  • Cornelia and Matsui-P have been taking turns using the last trust spot. There may be more temps in the future.