Zombies and drowned sometimes fail to attack a villager even though they are standing right next to them. This occurs right after curing a zombie villager standing next to the zombie. The newly cured villager isn't targeted by a zombie or drowned standing right next to them (say, in a 1x2 cell). Staying in the area and relogging did not seem to allow the zombie/drowned to attack, but leaving and returning to the area did allow the zombie/drowned to attack (sometimes after several tries). This has been reproduced with a normal zombie or a baby drowned, but seems likely to occur with other zombie variants.
It may be a factor that there were many other villagers in the area that might be distracting the zombie/drowned. However, the zombie/drowned had no way to pathfind to these other villagers so should have quickly attacked the villager standing next to them.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Set difficulty to hard
2. Use fences to trap a villager in a 1x2 cell with a zombie, with other villagers contained in the area near the cell. In my tests there were beds and workstations around, though this may not be important
3. After the villager gets killed by the zombie, use a weakness potion and golden apple to cure them
4. Before the curing completes, set game mode to survival. I'm not certain this is needed, but all of my testing was in survival and this might be a factor.
Expected behavior:
Zombie/drowned should immediately attack the cured villager
Observed behavior:
Zombie/drowned ignores the villager, even after allowing several minutes. If player leaves the simulation area and returns, the zombie/drowned can attack the villager. Sometimes I had to leave and return a few times before the zombie or drowned would attack.
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You may be right GH. It just looks odd for the zombie to be standing right next to a tasty villager and ignoring them, when the other villagers are not even visible.
Thank you for your report!
However, this issue has been temporarily closed as Awaiting Response.
Is this still an issue in the latest version? If yes, can you please add it to the affected versions (or mention it if you are not the reporter)?
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I tested my theory mentioned above about zombies not reselecting targets and it turned out to be false. Zombies that are targeting a villager they can’t reach will change to targeting another villager they can reach within 3 blocks.
I have built a villager trading hall and my zombies are not attacking the villagers.
I used Impulse's design from season 7 where the villagers are on stacked carpets and the zombie is back a block and two blocks lower than the villager. You use a stair to protect the villager and then pull it out the way to let the zombie attack but I am finding the zombies just stand and look at the villagers.
I have gone into creative and have tried a few things and there seems to be an issue with zombies and height difference to the villager.
Richard Brook: your issue may actually be MCPE-164124.
This behavior is surely because the zombie targets other villagers first and does not spontaneously reselect the closest available target. The reason it targets the closest when you leave and come back is that mobs do not save their targets when unloaded.
I think zombies not reselecting targets is probably intended behavior, because they are supposed to be relatively mindless.