What does no path available really mean?

Community General Discussion
1

Sometimes I will use my wild charge in nelf form and it will work. Othertimes, it won’t, and says “No path available.”

Why is there no path available in some cases and a path available in others?

2

I think it says that if something is in line of sight, and in range, but it would otherwise be impossible to charge because there’s some obstruction messing up the path system

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3

Like air?

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4

Don’t you know, azerothian air is ten times more dense than earth air

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5

It’s that pebble. Right over there.

Seriously, it’s because the game doesn’t find a pathway to the target. Whether that’s because there’s a barrier in the way or because the terrain is otherwise unable to be traversed normally. Sometimes it’s easy to spot. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to make sense.

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6

at least you get a warning…

try playing a mage, you don’t get a warning, you just blink backwards. :persevere:

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7

That translates into very poor coding.

8

No wonder I can run all day!

Yeah. I was in the water, could see the target, pressed the button and it was like nah.

You do?

ah :confused:

9

When you look with your eyes from point A to point B the path is, as the crow flies, a straight line from A to B.

When a computer program looks from A to B it doesn’t see what you see. It sees a file that specifies the geometry of the space. When it tries to make a path from A to B it has to determine from the geometry whether such a path exists. Complicated terrain is hard. You’ll notice that the problem occurs when there is a transition from one terrain to another (cliff, ledge, water, obstacle). Often this is because the people that make the maps use an illusion of sorts to make something look “good” at the expense of a simpler geometry because they need it to render faster, or some other hard problem.

Computer programs are hard.

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10

Ah, ok :stuck_out_tongue:

so it is an internal issue.

And yeah, I was trying to get from burning hot lava to bridge, and it didn’t work ):

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11

Imagine you have to walk somewhere. It’s a clear floor to the place so you walk there in a straight line. Now put a wall in-between with a door, you know you can walk through the door to get to your destination. Add another wall, some stairs, and a few other choices, it gets even more complex to figure a path to your destination.

The same thing happens when a computer tries to figure it out. The way the computer solves it is to try a bunch of paths in an instant and see which is the easiest. Generally, you give an upper limit in the amount of resources you dedicate to finding that path. If the path isn’t found in a certain amount of time/computing power the algorithm reports “No path available.”

So, as a person you may see an obvious path but the algorithm can’t do it in the time/computing power allotted.

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12

This is bad, but the worst is on monk when you try to roll and there is a pebble in the way so you roll in place.

13

ELI5: My assumed edition

picture a 3d XYZ grid.

pathing has rules that it can go basically X and/or Y axis way assuming the games dictate its not blocked (which can be iffy many times)

Z pathing is more confusing as it’s rules are more free (nothing to block the Z axis!)…usually. i assume it it at times is read as either X or Y and not as Z even if it should be.

14

It usually means that I have to jump off the cliff, building, or other object and hit wild charge mid-fall. At least I won’t take damage that way.

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15

Ok, poor algorithm ):

Ah, so if either of those 2 axes are blocked its not good?

as a deer of course not :stuck_out_tongue:

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16

No, not true. It can be a very difficult problem to solve, even if you have a good algorithm and lots of spare computer resources. When you have a game running on a server and it’s doing all sorts of stuff you have to limit the resources of every action.

Something like this has to be done server-side because if it was done on the player’s computer they could possibly cheat by adding code which says “Sure, that’s a good path!” and you would just move there. That means teleport hacks and all other kinds of bad stuff.

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Yeah, it is under so much strain! ):

Poor algorithm (like sadness and empathy not it is bad :p)

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18

Hah, gotcha! Yep, that poor algorithm is under a lot of pressure to do its job when we jump around like bunnies.

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19

It’s a good thing we don’t have that kind of pathfinding in real life. Imagine having to go to the bathroom from your bedroom in hurry but the trash bin is in the way.

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20

I know right! That trash bin would definitely be kicked!