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→Pet AI
Little is known about pet/minion intelligence in Diablo III. Most of the Witch Doctor's summons have yet to be shown off in a playable demo build, so it's not known how fierce they'll be, how effective, if they'll tank, if they can kill efficiently, etc. The general design of the Witch Doctor suggests that his minions will be support only; the main damage will always have to come from the WD's spell casting.
Might there be some AI upgrades for his pets, though? A way to tell them to attack more eagerly, or to stay back in a defensive position? Apparently not.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-pet-ai/]
::''Are there any plans to let you choose targets for your pets? Or will they just attack whatever they please? --OdAnarchy
::They attempt to attack and distract enemies in an intelligent way to help you, but no there’s no pet controls. --Diablo
That said, there have been many AI improvements made during the game's development. The goal isn't to make the minions too smart, or that would be unbalancing. Just smart enough to be useful, without doing everything for the character. Flux commented on the improvements in the WD's [[Mongrels]] between the 2000 and 2010 Blizzcon demos:
::I got to experiment with Mongrels a fair amount at this year’s Blizzcon, and they were definitely improved over their 2009 incarnation. Some of that was their damage, which was much higher (especially once they were runestoned), but they generally seemed more useful and where I wanted them to be. In the 2009 demo, out in the open desert around Alcarnus, the Mongrels were always running off, or ganging up on some insignificant annoyance, like a desert wasp, when I wanted them to keep up and tank the pack of Fallen with an Overseer coming straight at me. I had to recast them regularly, or run back a screen or two to try and find where they’d gotten hung up.
::That never happened during my PvM Witch Doctor play this year. The dogs were almost always where I wanted them to be, tanking the main threats, and doing pretty good damage. (Though they died rapidly against any boss pack, and since the mana cost to raise a Mongrel was pretty steep, I often had to stop firing my attack spells to regen enough mana to raise up a new Mongrel.) I can’t say how much of that was improved AI, and how much was this year’s demo set in a dungeon with narrow walkways and not much room for bad dogs to roam.
::I did note one useful thing; they never all got stuck pawing obsessively at any of the objects. That’s always so annoying in D2, when suddenly all of your minions are chewing uselessly on a Tortured Soul, or a Sarcophagus, or something you have no need or desire to stop and kill.
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==Spell Damage==
