Autonomous players: why they were so weak in combat, and what changes

A diagnosis of their combat weakness revealed several flaws. Their talents were stuck at the first rank, and warriors and rogues ended up wielding a skinning knife when their weapon broke. On top of that came the hunters' dead zone and the loss of their pet. Everything is fixed, and a new fleeing rule is being put to the test.

Autonomous players died about 2.5 times per hour of play, far more than a human of the same level. A quantified diagnosis showed:

Stuck talents: to check whether a talent was already learned, the module looked at the spell list, but the server keeps talents separately. Each player kept requesting the first rank, which the server refused: no talent went past rank 1 and 281 points sat unused. Fixed; further ranks are learned right after logging in.
Knife as a weapon: when the weapon broke, auto-equip replaced it with the skinning knife, which counts as a weapon. Abilities were then refused for lack of a real weapon, and those players died almost twice as often. Tools and 'misc' weapons never replace a real weapon anymore.
Hunter dead zone: between 6 and 8 m they were too close to shoot and too far to strike (over 1,500 refused shots). Minimum range is now computed exactly as the server does, and inside that zone the hunter switches decisively to melee.
Lost pet: after a single failed call, a hunter gave up on their pet forever. They now try again regularly.
Warriors: their emergency abilities only become available at level 20. They now use Demoralizing Shout, available at level 14, when in danger or surrounded.
Potions: one potion per fight, as the server requires; no more futile retries.

Fleeing under test: 67% of flights ended in death, 90% against four or more monsters. For half of the players, the new rule only flees towards a guard or against three or more attackers; otherwise they fight to the end, finishing off the most wounded. The other half keeps the old rule, to measure the difference.