From d5762b7e0fcbb81c1afd27c8df1584c14373aa39 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Crow <pengchengw@me.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:41:47 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Remove Vertical Speed Limit from Knockback Packet (#2223)

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DESIGN PHILOSOPHY: We prioritize STABILITY, PERFORMANCE, AND
PREDICTABILITY over behavioral realism.

Every action and decision executes PER BOT AND PER TRIGGER. Small
increases in logic complexity scale
poorly across thousands of bots and negatively affect all. We prioritize
a stable system over a smarter
one. Bots don't need to behave perfectly; believable behavior is the
goal, not human simulation.
Default behavior must be cheap in processing; expensive behavior must be
opt-in.

Before submitting, make sure your changes aligns with these principles.
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## Pull Request Description
This PR removes the break from SMSG_MOVE_KNOCK_BACK for knockbacks with
vertical speed of >35.0f. This break is the reason for many vertical
knockbacks having no effect on bots, including Shade of Aran's Flame
Wreath, High Astromancer Solarian's Wrath of the Astromancer, and
Archimonde's Air Burst. There is a comment that indicates that the limit
was originally added due to bots getting stuck from high-speed vertical
knockbacks. I have not observed this at all and have been playing with
this break removed for several months.

## Feature Evaluation
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If your PR is very minimal (comment typo, wrong ID reference, etc), and
it is very obvious it will not have
any impact on performance, you may skip these question. If necessary, a
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<!-- Please answer the following: -->
- Describe the **minimum logic** required to achieve the intended
behavior.
- Describe the **processing cost** when this logic executes across many
bots.

I honestly cannot say if there is impact on processing cost because I
have no understanding of packets. I would be surprised if there are any
performance issues since knockback packets are ordinarily getting sent
all the time, it's just a small number of moves that get skipped due to
this break.

## How to Test the Changes
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- Step-by-step instructions to test the change.
- Any required setup (e.g. multiple players, number of bots, specific
configuration).
- Expected behavior and how to verify it.
-->

1. .go creature name High Astromancer Solarian
2. Start combat and wait until a bot gets hit with Wrath of the
Astromancer
3. Wait for the aura to expire and watch the bot fly to Mars and fall
back down

## Impact Assessment
<!-- As a generic test, before and after measure of pmon (playerbot pmon
tick) can help you here. -->
- Does this change increase per-bot/per-tick processing or risk scaling
poorly with thousands of bots?
    - [ ] No, not at all
    - [x] Minimal impact (**explain below**)
    - [ ] Moderate impact (**explain below**)

I do not know for sure, but as noted above, I would be surprised if
there was any notable performance impact.

- Does this change modify default bot behavior?
    - [x] No
    - [ ] Yes (**explain why**)



- Does this change add new decision branches or increase maintenance
complexity?
    - [x] No
    - [ ] Yes (**explain below**)



## Messages to Translate
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Does this change add bot messages to translate?
- [x] No
- [ ] Yes (**list messages in the table**)

| Message key  | Default message |
| --------------- | ------------------ |
|			 |			      |
|			 |			      |

## AI Assistance
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understood, reviewed, and owned by the contributor.
We expect contributors to be honest about what they do and do not
understand.
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Was AI assistance used while working on this change?
- [x] No
- [ ] Yes (**explain below**)
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## Final Checklist

- [x] Stability is not compromised.
- [ ] Performance impact is understood, tested, and acceptable. <- I
can't say for sure, but I've not had any issues. I would appreciate
getting thoughts from somebody knowledgeable about packet use, however.
- [x] Added logic complexity is justified and explained.
- [x] Documentation updated if needed (Conf comments, WiKi commands).

## Notes for Reviewers
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-->

---------

Co-authored-by: Keleborn <22352763+Celandriel@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: bash <hermensb@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Revision <tkn963@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: kadeshar <kadeshar@gmail.com>
---
 src/Bot/PlayerbotAI.cpp | 9 +--------
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/Bot/PlayerbotAI.cpp b/src/Bot/PlayerbotAI.cpp
index 800247c6f..36631cead 100644
--- a/src/Bot/PlayerbotAI.cpp
+++ b/src/Bot/PlayerbotAI.cpp
@@ -1250,17 +1250,10 @@ void PlayerbotAI::HandleBotOutgoingPacket(WorldPacket const& packet)
 
             p >> guid.ReadAsPacked() >> counter >> vcos >> vsin >> horizontalSpeed >> verticalSpeed;
             if (horizontalSpeed <= 0.1f)
-            {
                 horizontalSpeed = 0.11f;
-            }
             verticalSpeed = -verticalSpeed;
-            // high vertical may result in stuck as bot can not handle gravity
-            if (verticalSpeed > 35.0f)
-                break;
-            // stop casting
-            InterruptSpell();
 
-            // stop movement
+            InterruptSpell();
             bot->StopMoving();
             bot->GetMotionMaster()->Clear();