Spawn a Zombie and a Skeleton in Creative, during the day.
The Skeleton will seek relief in nearby shade or water. The Zombie will not.
The Zombie will path to you if you change to Survival, but will stop again and continue burning if you change back to Creative.
Linked issues
is duplicated by 3
Comments 6
This is an old, intended feature; zombies are meant to be displayed as brainless, thus won't seek shelter.
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Zombie :
They may make some attempt to seek out shade during this time, or enter bodies of water to protect themselves from burning up.
That issue cannot be very old. Did see Zombies seeking shelter in 1.0 or 1.2 or so.
Maybe the current behaviour got introduced with the new "AI" (well, the Zombies are not very "I")
I checked 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6, and they never really move in sunlight – except 1.1 and 1.2 they move around, but they never really aim for shade or water.
Messing around in 14w18a
Yeah at first I thought the zombies did in fact head to water or shade, even if reluctantly, but after a while I realized that if zombies move at all while on fire, it's in a completely random direction.
Personally, I'm ok with this mechanic. But if anything, zombies should scramble when on fire instead of sit still.
Confirmed