2.0 Multiple stun/paralyze/prone/etc effects result in broken durations

[hugin7]

When crowd control effects are reapplied when an existing effect still has time remaining, duration is refreshed on the tool tips.  However, enemies start moving/attacking as if the effect has been removed.  This issue has been observed with "Prone" and "Paralysis" status effects.

[Aarik D]

I apologize for the inconvenience, is there any chance you can upload a small video of this happening when you have the time? I tried using various combinations of using scroll of paralysis,  knock down, and the cipher spell Mental Binding, but never got the bug to reproduce.

[thelee]

Here you go, I uploaded it to youtube (sorry for low-ish quality, this is literally the first time I've ever recorded and uploaded something): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEEoqEB6AJg

 

This is consistently reproducible; it *had* to be consistently reproducible because I kept messing up trying to record the video

 

Anyway, the trick is that a Fampyr needs to get hit both times with the affliction. FRAPS kind of clipped the end of the video off for some mysterious reason, but the Fampyr at the top left resumes attack/movement even though they still have a Paralyze affliction listed.

Edited July 25, 2015 by thelee

[Aarik D]

Hello thelee,

 

Thank you for uploading the video. I have added the bug into our database and included your video.

 

Thanks again and keep up the good work!

[hugin7]

The issue persists in The White March.  As a fellow software engineer, it is disheartening to see such a critical bug receive no acknowledgement or feedback from Obsidian, let alone a fix, after nearly 5 months following the initial report.  Why have so many minor, situational bugs and cosmetic enhancements been prioritized over something that impacts every encounter for CC users?

[thelee]

I separately re-reported this and a developer confirmed it and entered it into the database.

 

I am also a software engineer and can understand that there may be a lot of bugs and limited bandwidth. Contrary to what you say, this is *not* that critical. It is annoying, but I can play a CC party just fine; it just requires paying attention to when I re-apply debuffs.

[hugin7]

I separately re-reported this and a developer confirmed it and entered it into the database.

 

I am also a software engineer and can understand that there may be a lot of bugs and limited bandwidth. Contrary to what you say, this is *not* that critical. It is annoying, but I can play a CC party just fine; it just requires paying attention to when I re-apply debuffs.

 

I agree in that the bug does not make a CC party unplayable; avoiding early reapplication is a workaround.  However, it is a major nuisance in a variety of circumstances.  For example, you can do more harm than good by casting large-area CC, such as ciphers' Amplified Wave, if you accidentally hit enemies that are already disabled.  A similar situation arises if two of such spells are cast by different party members simultaneously and you accidentally overlap their targeting circles, with some enemies in the intersection.

 

Having played PoE for a long time, it is rare for me to run into problems, but even experienced players would have a much higher quality of life if they didn't have to worry about these issues and could just let 'er rip.  I suspect that many players, however, are blissfully ignorant of this bug and nerf their own performance without realizing what is going on.

 

This bug is likely more critical and visible now than it was prior to the advent of party AI.  While an expertly micromanaged party can avoid negative consequences most of the time, I suspect that the AI will happily chuck CC all over the screen and routinely refresh CC prematurely.

 

On a personal note, I consider this bug the top issue known to me in PoE.  Obviously, I'm not the one who manages Obsidian's priority queue, and I don't expect their priorities to be in line with mine; I would have been happy with mere acknowledgement of this issue.  I'm glad to hear that a developer entered it into a bug database?  Can you please pass the link to the report?

[hugin7]

Here is an older report of the same set of issues, in case additional details help:

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/75225-crowd-control-reapplication-issues/

 

The above thread contains many easily reproducible examples, as well as conjectures regarding where the algorithmic flaw might lie. 

 

Thank you for investigating this issue.

[hugin7]

 

I separately re-reported this and a developer confirmed it and entered it into the database.

 

I am also a software engineer and can understand that there may be a lot of bugs and limited bandwidth. Contrary to what you say, this is *not* that critical. It is annoying, but I can play a CC party just fine; it just requires paying attention to when I re-apply debuffs.

 

I agree in that the bug does not make a CC party unplayable; avoiding early reapplication is a workaround.  However, it is a major nuisance in a variety of circumstances.  For example, you can do more harm than good by casting large-area CC, such as ciphers' Amplified Wave, if you accidentally hit enemies that are already disabled.  A similar situation arises if two of such spells are cast by different party members simultaneously and you accidentally overlap their targeting circles, with some enemies in the intersection.

 

Having played PoE for a long time, it is rare for me to run into problems, but even experienced players would have a much higher quality of life if they didn't have to worry about these issues and could just let 'er rip.  I suspect that many players, however, are blissfully ignorant of this bug and nerf their own performance without realizing what is going on.

 

This bug is likely more critical and visible now than it was prior to the advent of party AI.  While an expertly micromanaged party can avoid negative consequences most of the time, I suspect that the AI will happily chuck CC all over the screen and routinely refresh CC prematurely.

 

On a personal note, I consider this bug the top issue known to me in PoE.  Obviously, I'm not the one who manages Obsidian's priority queue, and I don't expect their priorities to be in line with mine; I would have been happy with mere acknowledgement of this issue.  I'm glad to hear that a developer entered it into a bug database?  Can you please pass the link to the report?

 

 

I found where developers acknowledged the issue: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/80820-106-multiple-stunparalyzeproneetc-effects-result-in-broken-durations/?do=findComment&comment=1715099.  Better late than never .  Thank you for clarifying it for them.

Edited August 27, 2015 by hugin7