I feel you terrorble and destrug there are ways around some of these mechanics like the lock on to invis or stealth the new ai is no diff from the old in this except npcs act more like pcs in that they will go running after a sec to where they last saw a invised or stealth player and if you are invis and they are next to you they can attack like a player would.The sneaky monsters to me makes sense sneaky monsters should try to ambush! ts isnt the answer usualy it lasts so little time, good detection, attacks or aoes from a distance, running thru with a summons bait while invised,or dragons are all viable counter mesures as well.
I have found one thing funny though if you gs or stealth and go afk for a min all the monsters on the board will wander to you surrounding you lol!In general monsters will lock on to you and complete a attack round even if you go invis gs or hips and stop after that round or flurry. archers always finish the round though and if you run out of their line of sight and gs/invis/hips then come back into their line of sight they will continuie the attack and that has always ben that way.
Terror the ac issue is tough I have made some sacrifices on allmost all my toons inorder to keep high ac as I lvl. This means i cant max the build the way i want but atleast i can level
also a couple things I have found usefull...
If you are a caster finding a spell with a good dc that blinds the monsters makes many of them retarded apperently
Hips is very usefull vs the monsters the trick lies in mastering the timing, and their tendency to all run to where they last saw you invis or hide can be used against them.
Ok that said I still have huge problems with some of the npcs mostly the casters, just try taking a toon into heneth head quarters and try to overcome the gondor healers [the high lvl ones]. or the pel sorcerer spawns outside the castle, or even the merc casters in corupted forest tower.
the heneth headquarter spawns are supper caster clerics they have lots of great immunities like blindness cold fire elec and magic damage,they summon dragon knights, heal the gondor comander and throw lots of wofs and there are 2 of them to go with 2 weaker ones and 8-12 meles lol I have admitteed defeat there, they own.. and I think players with less experience are hitting that admit defeat wall sooner and easier.
But I like the ai. Tough spawns = more chalenge and more fun! The frustration for me lies in my fear of perma item loss and huge xp loss on a high lvl if I respawn. I also like the toned down items,
I think alot of players are enjoying reylying more on their play and team mates than on gear of invincibility. I dont want to see those things changed. Just maybey ease the respawn penalty, I dont beleive in penalty free respawns either, but with the near certanty of death for players as we experiment with ways to overcome the challenges. Frustration and that sense of futility are fed by the high respawn penalty imo.