Hi. It’s been about 20 years since I played the original D2. Where the mercenaries in the original also so dumb, that they got stuck behind and can’t find a path to you through two door, but instead are trying to run through a wall? So does the AI work like in original or is this D2r bug? Also sometimes they just get stuck and refuse to follow even if you go near them. Yes, I know you can go to town and back to reset them, but in some places they just have hard time to follow the player at all like in Arcane Sanctuary with narrow paths.
Yeah it was the same in D2. And yes it is annoying. I wouldn’t mind if they made them a bit more intelligent about pathing.
Edit: My suggestion is to get a tele staff so you can reposition the merc easily.
D2 has always suffered from horrible AI pathing. Playing Necro is a pain in the behind to say the least, and I usually just give up on them 
Merc ai has always been hot garbage. Teleport is the only way to keep them nearby.
I was hoping for improvements to them…
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The sad thing is minion ai for necro and druid is much better than mercs. Mercs have that extra level of stupid that allows them to walk around aimlessly while you are dying, or hump a wall 2 screens away so you don’t get your auras…
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Yup. Or they’re pathing to your last location to “catch up” and walks right past the mobs you’re fighting like they ain’t there 
I am all for AI optimization. Have been for great many years.
I throught they ported to you after a bit. I guess not because my rogue is getting stuck in act 5 bloody runs… I usually ignore her there. better merc AI would be appreciated
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They had bad pathing in D2 original but they would eventually teleport to you. It seems much worse in resurrected. I actually wasn’t having too much trouble with it until I started walking instead of running in order to maximize block - my Act II merc was keeping up with me ok when I was running, but he will just stop and hold in one place permanently now.
I came from playing legacy D2 straight into D2R. There is no difference on the mercenary AI. It’s always been this horrible.
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Yeah, this. Merc Ai has always been dreadful.
The easiest way to keep them in line is to use teleport but… obviously not everyone is going to have easy access to that.
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Heh. My rogue merc just loves to run from a mob and plant herself literally two feet from my character. What does that do? It brings the mobs right to my face so they can then melt it at their leisure. And when she isn’t doing that, she’s just sitting back as far as possible and not even attempting to attack what I’m targeting.
Then there’s the Valkyrie. Oh boy that one is…bad. Like Superman 64 bad. Like Battletoads 2-player kill screen bad. Oh hell, she’s actually worse than ET for the Atari 2600. She’ll constantly run toward the enemies I’m attacking only to instantly run back behind me and proceed to do didly squat and hang with the merc. I kid you not, that’s what happens most of the time.
Part of it is that their AI range is low. Pathetically low. It wasn’t sufficient for a 4:3 aspect ratio, let alone a 16:9 or 19:9 (max in D2R) aspect ratio. They need to be reprogrammed so that they are attacking my target, at least the merc. The Valkyrie needs its AI adjusted so it actually tanks instead of running away like a pansy half the time.
On the bright side you can just make a new valkyrie on top of the monsters and kinda force her to fight.
That is a downgrade currently if the Valk was summoned via the Peace runeword since my current build doesn’t have ≥SLv 15. I mean, it’s an option that I have to take if the Valk dies from being overwhelmed, but it’s a last resort until I get the gear to reallocate my skill points in a more potent manner.