Perhaps several mobs share the same combat pattern, but with different parameters. Grievously wounded Greydwarves will now flee from the character (to return (much) later).
Boars and Nekkes will sometimes first flee from the character (when not triggered).

Originally posted by us271934:

Since the Black Forest has quite a few pathing obstacles it may be they were just trying to get closer to me.

This is why, when I'm landing on a shore in Black Forest, I don't remove old trunks and stumps, nor any trees, up to 50 meters from my campfire. More spots to hide, more obstacles to delay the enemy.

Originally posted by pipo.p:

Boars and Nekkes will sometimes first flee from the character (when not triggered).

Meanwhile deer have gotten dumber and are far more likely to blunder into axe range.

Originally posted by Nightweaver20xx:

.. troll behavior is fairly different from greydwarf behavior, ..

Can you explain why you think so? In my opinion the attack patterns are the same.

Atm i see only 2 different attack patterns/functions:
Standard mobs: they run towards you and have 2 different attacks and stay close to you.
"Other mobs" like mosquito, boars, seaserpents: They circle around you and only have one attack animation, if they hit they move away and the attack pattern starts again same way.

Originally posted by pipo.p:

I'd like that trolls can bow and peer at holes, such as cave entrances and towers windows!

LOL I remember when I first started, a troll chased me into an abandoned building with parts of the roof missing and that troll had me trapped there for two days while scratching his ass and looking thru the hole in the roof. I was freaked out.

Originally posted by Nightweaver20xx:

Unless they're bosses, which at least mercifully have varying AI patterns.

At least this way, there are only a few posts complaining about enemies.. God help us (in forums) if they implement specific programming on each type of enemy and they have different patterns and tactics as a result.. Have you seen the deathsquito complaints? :P

Your first troll experience is how this game imprints on you.

From what I've seen, trolls will stay on you and continue to batter you with their two different swings until either you're dead or they are, whereas dwarves of all kinds like to circle around you and throw rocks, get one hit in and run away for a few seconds. I dunno, seems different to me at least. I know trolls throw rocks as well.

There's also flying enemies, bouncy enemies, chargers, archers and spellcasters. I'm sure they all use the same basic AI routines but the actual behaviour that results is varied enough. Plus they react to each other as threats and targets. The real complexity comes from facing different combinations of types coming in from different directions.

I'm thinking I've seen some grey dwarfs try to surround me recently. Since the Black Forest has quite a few pathing obstacles it may be they were just trying to get closer to me. However, the devs have shown a good habit of sticking in things without announcing them.

@stvlepore, I can't count the number of times trolls manage to die face down with their backside pointing right at my Viking. It's almost as bad as the trees seeming to follow your character as they come crashing down when you chop them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2589597553

Oooh! Ohh! I know! It's because they are using object oriented programming. C# is an O-O language.

An "object" is simply data and code that uses that data bundled together into a widget that lets programmers write statements like "monster.attack." (Except the mobs are state machines and may "decide" on actions like that for themselves, but such is the general idea)

In O-O there is also the concept of inheritance. An object can have descendants which inherit the characteristics of the parent.

So the answer to your question is that the ancestor of all mobs has that attack pattern, which every descendant mob then inherits. (That ancestor itself will descend from a common ancestor of all critters that dwell upon the map, including the player)

If they improve the tactics of the common ancestor, then every mob will inherit that improvement. If they make the common ancestor smarter, then ditto. For different mobs to have different patterns is a matter of adding or subtracting tactics farther down in the hierarchy.

Making the mobs smarter is something the devs probably don't intend to do until Valheim is largely complete and they are in the polishing phase.

Or, the devs will keep mob AI the same through feature-complete release and just add new zones and items. Either way, it's fine. Look, I get it, the dev team is composed of what, four or five people? I know they don't have the resources of a AAA studio. And to be fair, troll behavior is fairly different from greydwarf behavior, though I will say that boar behavior is basically identical to greydwarf behavior.

because they're still on version 0.2 basically. this is not much more than the tutorial portion of the final game. like playing a WoW character to level 20 and asking why the mechanics are so basic, i think. i expect them to keep adding complexity onto the combat system because it's so easily extensible from this point. they've already showed this with the new armor set they dropped in unannounced the other day. expect things like monster attack patterns to increase in complexity as they add new combat mechanics.

I'd like that trolls can bow and peer at holes, such as cave entrances and towers windows!

Originally posted by pipo.p:

I'd like that trolls can bow and peer at holes, such as cave entrances and towers windows!

Do you really want to see a troll bend over?!?

Well its true until you meat fulings , these little imps will soround you and makes things pretty hard in normal ways