[MC-4253] Endermen are rendered hostile if they take environmental damage

If an enderman takes fall damage (and I'm assuming any other kind of environmental damage), it'll start rendering as if it is hostile.

(If this is a duplicate, I'm sorry - in my searches none of the issues appeared to address this issue)

Linked issues

is duplicated by 14

MC-4361 Endermen get "angry" when taking fall damage Resolved

MC-4638 Endermen always on angry animation after being looked at even after it stops attacking Resolved

MC-4795 Enderman will either spawn or turn into their aggro skin without actually aggroing them. Resolved

MC-5191 Endermen act "scared" but I didn't look at them Resolved

MC-5249 I was walking around at night and I saw this group of endermen that were NOT angry but their mouths were open and they were shaking. I've seen this more than once in 1.4.6 but never before it. Resolved

9 more links

relates to 1

MC-4894 Endermen forget they are aggressive when on fire Resolved

Attachments

Comments 20

EvilSeph (Warren Loo) 2012-12-08T15:31:19Z

You aren't the first person to bring this up. My understanding of the way Endermen work is that they become 'scary' when provoked and I thought this was entirely separate from becoming aggressive. This is how it works in the game, but this is apparently not how people see it?

I'd very much appreciate discussing this with you here 🙂. As it stands, this behaviour was fully intended by me - although the way I did this is flawed and has been fixed for the next snapshot/update. Endermen now become scary if you provoke them at all (previously, in this snapshot, they would only become 'scary' when hit, not when shot at) and they dodge arrows (the arrows fly through them, they don't hit them and disappear). Enderman also only become non-scary in daylight, when it rains or when they've been set on fire. Enderman on fire also now behave the way they do when it is raining - they teleport like crazy. I figured Enderman would freak out when on fire and teleport all over the place. I know I would.

I hope this clears things up, but I would love to hear your thoughts too!

Weena von Friebenschtein 2012-12-08T23:22:32Z

Hearing this from you does indeed help clear things up, and I appreciate the response. I suppose my reporting this stemmed from old impressions, where seeing an enderman vibrate usually meant that unless you're well-armoured, you'd ought to run for cover. It gave me quite a fright the first time I stumbled into this new mechanic - when I left my house unarmoured to collect some wood, the first thing I saw was what appeared to be a hostile enderman. Like all things new I guess this might take a while to become accustomed to.

For me, it's a little strange to see an enderman walk around idly, quivering like a madman with its jaw unhinged. It feels somewhat contradictory and almost seems to be scared itself, rather than scary (pardoning the initial leap off one's seat). However, I will admit that it's rather intimidating being at at enderman farm, where each and every one of them look like they're just raring to kill you.

Once again, I guess it all has to do with old impressions, and when I think about it, there's nothing all that bad about endermen taking on a hostile appearance, just that it might frighten or miff people unaccustomed to it. If I were to make a suggestion, it would be that endermen only retain the scary look temporarily when taking environmental damage.

Finally, regarding the issue I raised in MC-4254, it all comes down to me titling it wrongly, as I agree that teleporting everywhere would be reasonable behaviour. However, there's just a small bug that comes with it: "If they are killed while on fire, they'll still attempt to teleport and their body (along with their exp) will be warped to their 'chosen location.'"

Thank you very much for your time. 🙂

Logan Williams 2012-12-09T19:37:57Z

I have this problem with my endermen grinder, although it doesn't happen consistently. Occasionally, an enderman which falls may be at its normal state.

EvilSeph (Warren Loo) 2012-12-13T16:17:54Z

Hmm, I think it'd be interesting to find some impressions from people on this change. Perhaps making them 'scary' for a brief moment before setting them back to normal might be a good idea. I'm sort of tempted to keep it in an update and see what people think...

Nathan2055 2012-12-28T17:58:01Z

I opened MC-5457 because i didn't understand this behavior. Back when I constantly hunted Enderman in my late game save files I used to abuse the fact that Enderman become neutral if they take water damage, which possibly should be changed. It makes since that if they take environmental damage they become "scary", but perhaps make it so that they revert back a few ticks later. I'd also like to see them become hostile if you shoot them (however, they would still dodge). I do like the behavior of them teleporting like mad when on fire, as long as they can't keep teleporting when killed like Weena von Friebenschtein brought up. Enderman are interesting creatures, and the toughest regular mobs in the game, so it makes since that they should have interesting AI to go along with that.

10 more comments

Phssthpok Pak 2012-12-29T06:59:03Z

I don't know whether this is the same or a separate issue but, in the End, endermen seem to be going into "scary mode" for no reason at all. I can switch to peaceful mode and back to clear all the mobs and within a minute or so half the newly spawned endermen are shaking with their mouths open.

Unless they are randomly teleporting into mid-air and taking fall damage, I'm not sure what environmental damage they can be suffering.

The immediate impression is that they are reacting to being looked at by other endermen!

Nathan2055 2013-01-17T20:34:52Z

Noticed that too while I was messing around in the End the other day, I thought he jumped off a ledge too high. Huh.

Andrew Mancini 2013-01-20T08:10:13Z

I too found it bizarre seeing endermen randomly shaking. I say this because when first implemented, they became aggravated when looked at or took damage from a player (or mob I guess). They were peaceful creatures and appeared calm.

This may be intended by EvilSteph, but it was bizarre enough to me that I thought this was a bug.

Matti Ruohonen 2013-01-23T12:56:27Z

I think this is very confusing and inconsistent behaviour, that almost half of all the endermen in the End are shaking and "mad", although they have not been looked at or attacked. It is sometimes really difficult to quickly see which of them, if any, really are aggressive. Or to notice when you accidentally looked at one, since they are already shaking. This was on a SMP server, and tried to quickly disconnect and relog, and after it they were NOT shaking anymore. So is this a sync issue between the server and client, or does reloading the world also fix it? (I was alone in the End)

I think they should only be shaking when they are actually aggressive toward some entity (player or other mobs), not when they are just roaming around. When it comes to environmental damage, I think they should just teleport and not start shaking, since they are not actually aggressive toward anyone.

FireHunterX 2013-01-23T13:19:34Z

You might want to update the affected versions, by the way.

They do not seem to do this if they touch water, but I have seen them behave strangely occasionally.

Mondai Senshi 2013-01-28T15:29:39Z

I was running a hardcore game. I went into my underground farm and let the game run a bit while I did something off the computer. When I returned, I saw an enderman place a dirt block right in front of me while shaking violently. My first thought was to put space between us, so I hopped to the other side of my fence. My second thought: "He's already pissed off, and I'm fine. Maybe he can't get to me with all the crap down here?" so I attacked him. And died. And, well like I said, hardcore. :/ Please fix this. The shaking and red eyes are the way we know to run like hell. I make a habit of NOT LOOKING AT THEM, so it's really the best way for me to know if he's trying to kill me or not...

kbk 2013-03-01T18:39:32Z

Affects 13w09c. Spawning poor guys off a 10 block tall wall is quite enough to make them "comfortably numb", slapping them afterwards - to stop acting like this (hence in creative mode).

Tenebrae 2013-03-16T14:18:37Z

Still present in latest 1.5 snapshot, 13w11a.

Especially in caves, you barely see an enderman without being in the aggressive state, which looks horrible... They just walk calmly, but shake, generate particles, and have their mouth open, it just doesn't fit.

Jennifer 2013-03-23T19:43:08Z

This issue really needs to be fixed. I was hoping it would be resolved in 1.5.1, but it's still highly prevalent. It might not seem like a big deal to most people, but as others have stated above, huge problems could result from it. The enderman's "scary mode" has always been the signal that you'd better prepare to battle it. Of course, now we have the creepy static sound and the screaming to really tell us when we've got an enderman chasing us, but the neutral scary mode could still create some confusion and cause us to get into battles we could have avoided.

I understand having endermen "freak out" when they take any type of damage--it makes sense, and gives them a more intelligent behavior. But if they do, they should revert back to normal after a few seconds. It makes a lot more sense. If you accidentally wounded yourself, you'd probably scream and freak out about it for a little while...but you wouldn't continue screaming about it for the rest of the day. For a comparison, wild wolves don't take on their agressive red-eyes appearance if they happen to fall off a cliff...why should endermen?

Also, I've noticed that it happens sometimes even without them taking damage. While observing them in creative mode, I've noticed that when some endermen get temporarily caught up on edges of blocks (usually while trying to jump up), they pop into "scary mode"...and they don't revert back. It makes no sense, and sincerely feels like a glitch. Sometimes, I can get them to go back to normal by pouring water on them and making them teleport, but that doesn't always work.

Most of all, it just...lessens the shock impact of the "scary mode", if everyone just regularly sees scary mode endermen wandering aimlessly around. Their appearence doesn't seem scary anymore. In fact, most of the time, I feel bad for the poor things. I find myself surrounded by spazzing endermen in the End while I'm wearing a pumpkin, and I'm like "hey, calm down, guys, it's okay now."

Please rectify this. I'm know I'm not the only one to feel this way. Also, sorry for giant text wall.

Tenebrae 2013-03-23T22:37:27Z

^Agree with wall of text above 😛

It looks terrible, it's game-breaking bug, endermen are supposed to be scary, now they just look stupid due to this bug.

EvilSeph (Warren Loo) 2013-04-18T17:57:46Z

I've tweaked this behaviour a bit, let me know what you think 🙂

EvilSeph (Warren Loo) 2013-04-25T23:39:31Z

Okay, I'm still tweaking the behaviour so I'll try and keep that in mind 🙂, thanks for the feedback!

Maarten Thijs 2013-05-02T09:09:35Z

I find it awsome that you take the time to try to make the ultimate, scariest, most intimidating endermen 🙂 thanks Warren

Sonicwave 2014-09-13T01:55:37Z

Still in 1.8. Sometimes when taking damage from water/fire, Endermen "become hostile" to the place where they took damage (they actually run back to it, take damage and teleport, run back again and repeat until they die.)

Sonicwave 2014-10-23T04:19:25Z

Still an issue in 1.8.1-pre2. (Attached screenshot)
EDIT: They do turn neutral after a while though. Also I'm not sure whether this is supposed to be intended or not (Warren's comments seem to suggest that it is intended to some extent).