2 Questions to take me to the next level. Targeting and Timing hits.

[Pnaxx]

<p>Targeting. </p><p>Owain was saying something in another post that I didn't understand about targeting mobs when tanking. The issue was finding out what mob is targeting one of your teamates so we can peel it off em. This is an area of weakness for me.</p><p>Right now I simply tab through the mobs, but that doesn't tell me which mob is on a certain player. Also, in many places, you end up tabbing a mob thats not in the immediate group ur fighting thus targeting a non hostile and making them hostile from a wizzys hit or soemthing or just being inefficiant in getting to the right mobs.</p><p>So, Owain, or whoever, can you explain in detail how you target to help negate this issue.</p><p>Timing hits.</p><p>Several of you have talked about timing your hits so youtr auto attack is maximized. I really have not caught on to this yet...so again, a detailed explanation would help me out a great deal on how to do this. Problem is, im not really a numbers guy, so try to dumb this down as best you can.<img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Thnaks for any help here.</p>

[mellowknees72]

<cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Targeting. </p><p>Owain was saying something in another post that I didn't understand about targeting mobs when tanking. The issue was finding out what mob is targeting one of your teamates so we can peel it off em. This is an area of weakness for me.</p><p>Right now I simply tab through the mobs, but that doesn't tell me which mob is on a certain player. Also, in many places, you end up tabbing a mob thats not in the immediate group ur fighting thus targeting a non hostile and making them hostile from a wizzys hit or soemthing or just being inefficiant in getting to the right mobs.</p><p>So, Owain, or whoever, can you explain in detail how you target to help negate this issue.</p><p>Timing hits.</p><p>Several of you have talked about timing your hits so youtr auto attack is maximized. I really have not caught on to this yet...so again, a detailed explanation would help me out a great deal on how to do this. Problem is, im not really a numbers guy, so try to dumb this down as best you can.<img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Thnaks for any help here.</p></blockquote><p>RE: Targetting</p><p>There is an "implied target" window that shows you the target of your target - so, if you've targetted a mob and it has no implied target, it's targetted on YOU...but if you see one of your groupmates is its implied target, it's time to taunt like there's no tomorrow!</p><p>It could be that you closed the implied target window accidentally (most windows have keyboard shortcuts to toggle them on and off and you may have accidentally hit the magic combination of keys to close that window).  If you can't find it, you might try resetting your windows to their default locations, then group with a friend and target your friend, and have your friend target a mob.  You should see their target in a separate window.</p><p>For timing hits...I'm more of a button masher myself.  I mostly just concentrate on what my various attacks do and then use them when it seems appropriate (i.e. if I'm fighting a healer mob, I use attacks that stun or daze - as soon as one wears off, I hit the next one - in order to prevent the mob from healing itself or its friends).  I know there are people out there, though, who have figured out the math behind auto-attack and how to time hits, etc., to use it to its max potential.  Sorry I don't have more for you on that one...</p>

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Pipes@Najena wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Targeting. </p><p>Owain was saying something in another post that I didn't understand about targeting mobs when tanking. The issue was finding out what mob is targeting one of your teamates so we can peel it off em. This is an area of weakness for me.</p><p>Right now I simply tab through the mobs, but that doesn't tell me which mob is on a certain player. Also, in many places, you end up tabbing a mob thats not in the immediate group ur fighting thus targeting a non hostile and making them hostile from a wizzys hit or soemthing or just being inefficiant in getting to the right mobs.</p><p>So, Owain, or whoever, can you explain in detail how you target to help negate this issue.</p><p>Timing hits.</p><p>Several of you have talked about timing your hits so youtr auto attack is maximized. I really have not caught on to this yet...so again, a detailed explanation would help me out a great deal on how to do this. Problem is, im not really a numbers guy, so try to dumb this down as best you can.<img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Thnaks for any help here.</p></blockquote><p>RE: Targetting</p><p>There is an "implied target" window that shows you the target of your target - so, if you've targetted a mob and it has no implied target, it's targetted on YOU...but if you see one of your groupmates is its implied target, it's time to taunt like there's no tomorrow!</p><p>It could be that you closed the implied target window accidentally (most windows have keyboard shortcuts to toggle them on and off and you may have accidentally hit the magic combination of keys to close that window).  If you can't find it, you might try resetting your windows to their default locations, then group with a friend and target your friend, and have your friend target a mob.  You should see their target in a separate window.</p><p>For timing hits...I'm more of a button masher myself.  I mostly just concentrate on what my various attacks do and then use them when it seems appropriate (i.e. if I'm fighting a healer mob, I use attacks that stun or daze - as soon as one wears off, I hit the next one - in order to prevent the mob from healing itself or its friends).  I know there are people out there, though, who have figured out the math behind auto-attack and how to time hits, etc., to use it to its max potential.  Sorry I don't have more for you on that one...</p></blockquote>Thanks for the advise. Yea, I am uncertain about this implied window...so I will look intot hat when I log in latre and ask later for any clarifications if need be.

[dixieladye]

I am new to EQ but someone told me to highlight the player's name and his target will show up so when I attack it will go to his target.---------------------------------------------------<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/0a4d7238daa496a758252d0a2b1a1384.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><b>I have a question too. I can't find how to 'target closest mob'. Hitting tab wastes time.. I like to be able to hit one key that always takes me to the closest.</b>

[duuf]

<cite>dixieladye wrote:</cite><blockquote>I am new to EQ but someone told me to highlight the player's name and his target will show up so when I attack it will go to his target.---------------------------------------------------<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/0a4d7238daa496a758252d0a2b1a1384.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><b>I have a question too. I can't find how to 'target closest mob'. Hitting tab wastes time.. I like to be able to hit one key that always takes me to the closest.</b></blockquote>F8 ... target closest

[Pnaxx]

<cite>duuf wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>dixieladye wrote:</cite><blockquote>I am new to EQ but someone told me to highlight the player's name and his target will show up so when I attack it will go to his target.---------------------------------------------------<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/0a4d7238daa496a758252d0a2b1a1384.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><b>I have a question too. I can't find how to 'target closest mob'. Hitting tab wastes time.. I like to be able to hit one key that always takes me to the closest.</b></blockquote>F8 ... target closest </blockquote>So will F8 scroll through all the mobs in ur encounter? If so, thats good news. I hate targeting mobs near by but not in the encounter...bad things usually happen.

[ganjookie]

F8 will target the closest mob/NPC....

[Owa]

<span style="font-size: medium;font-family: times new roman,times;">One of the good things about the EQ2 UI us that you can set pretty much any key to do pretty much whatever you want -  one of the bad things is that for some reason you have to remap everything all the time because the game can't seem to remember your settings.Anyway, before the PvP servers launched I used to map my E button to 'closest NPC' and my Q button to 'previous target'. (That way you can leave your tab key as your default targetting key.) Now I have them set for the closest PvP target and previous PvP target respectively. If you have a fancy mouse with a bunch of extra buttons on it you can also map them if you find that easier. (I use the two thumb buttons on mine for FD and Heal Agony but they could just as easily be used for targeting). Lots of people use the function buttons for targeting. This is fine too. The key thing  - if you'll pardon the pun - is to keep in mind that you can customise things to whichever style is most comfortable for you. Just go into options/controls and faff about with different combinations 'til you find one that works. Remember that if you want to be able to hotkey a CA or item etc you have to put it in a hotbar and map that. (Personally I have eight hotbars for all my CAs, items, potions and assorted stuff.)As for targeting mobs that are attacking groupmates, there are hotkeys for group members but I personally find it easier to just click on their name and the implied target window shows you what to bash. I'd advise against relying entirely on hotkeys for targeting though - we've all had times where the 'closest mob/NPC' somehow ended up being the add that wiped the group. Sometimes the best thing to do is take a look at whats going on and actually click on the mob you want to bash. </span><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/97ada74b88049a6d50a6ed40898a03d7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[Moongloom]

<cite>Kithian@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>F8 will target the closest mob/NPC....</blockquote>Problem with F8 (and tab) is that it will target things like nodes and chests too.  So if there is a node closer to you than a mob you will target the node.

[Aquittas]

<p>Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I see my CA's and AA (auto attack) working:</p><p>While using AA, you hit at a certain speed, lets say 2.0 seconds.  However, when you use a CA (I believe almost any CA) it pauses that AA timer.  After you finish your CA, you have a recovery timer before you can do anything else, then if you haven't queue'd up another CA, it will start the AA timer again from where you left off.</p><p>The problem comes for classes like bruisers (and really any fighters with a TON of CA's) when we almost always have a CA to press.  What it requires is holding off on your CA's for a split second between them so that your AA has time to go off.  This isn't between every CA, and you'll have to experiment to see which ones are worth using before your AA and which ones are for special occasions.</p><p>Pausing between CA's has an added benefit of making your stun/knockdown/mez/fear CA's more effective.  If I plan it right, I can usually go about 20-25 seconds into a fight (if not longer) before the mob hits me the first time and even then I only have to wait through a couple of hit before my knockdowns are refreshed and I can start the process over again.  This lets me take down some really rough mobs solo without relying too much on Chi and such.</p><p>Anyways, just my 2cp.</p>

[ganjookie]

<cite>Moongloom wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kithian@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote>F8 will target the closest mob/NPC....</blockquote>Problem with F8 (and tab) is that it will target things like nodes and chests too.  So if there is a node closer to you than a mob you will target the node.</blockquote>Don't fight near nodes?

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Feruss@Permafrost wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I see my CA's and AA (auto attack) working:</p><p>While using AA, you hit at a certain speed, lets say 2.0 seconds.  However, when you use a CA (I believe almost any CA) it pauses that AA timer.  After you finish your CA, you have a recovery timer before you can do anything else, then if you haven't queue'd up another CA, it will start the AA timer again from where you left off.</p><p>The problem comes for classes like bruisers (and really any fighters with a TON of CA's) when we almost always have a CA to press.  What it requires is holding off on your CA's for a split second between them so that your AA has time to go off.  This isn't between every CA, and you'll have to experiment to see which ones are worth using before your AA and which ones are for special occasions.</p><p>Pausing between CA's has an added benefit of making your stun/knockdown/mez/fear CA's more effective.  If I plan it right, I can usually go about 20-25 seconds into a fight (if not longer) before the mob hits me the first time and even then I only have to wait through a couple of hit before my knockdowns are refreshed and I can start the process over again.  This lets me take down some really rough mobs solo without relying too much on Chi and such.</p><p>Anyways, just my 2cp.</p></blockquote><p>Mind sharing what series of CA's you use for those stuns/stifles? I usually hit my DOT's and debuffs first, then move to the major hitters. So I am getting hit early but the payoff would be that the the dots are eating up the mob as well  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> (In theory)</p><p>I also "waste" 2 stuns in knocking down the mob to max out the Crash Line. So it is 2 stuns in a row. The one thing I have tryed to do is utilize the AOE taunt which stifles the mob, I use that during the H.O.</p><p>So I love to hear what others do for thier success. Please share if you can your order of CA's ect....</p><p>Also, in a solo encounter, I have found that spamming my CA's in the order I have them kills the mabs faster than letting the AA take over in betweem. But it sounds like you are expeiencing a different story....so this intrests me greatly.</p><p>Thnaks.</p>

[Polyneikes]

TAB key cycles through targets. If you are fighting an encounter TAB will take you from one mob in that encounter to another. I use it very often when with a warlock and needing to change targets within the encounter only to keep aggro on me.Selecting closest target is a useful key, you should map it something more handy than F8. It is great for quickly providing the next target when tanking (don't you just hate tanks that take several seconds after one mob is down to find the next one?). Sometimes it is good to know which is the nearest target, for example when body pulling. But: works only on targets in your visible screen area!To see what mob is hitting a group member is not easy. If you have only one multi-mob encounter, then TAB till you find the mob that has a group member as implied target. If you have several non-linked mobs running around, then TAB won't work reliably. If you can see the mob you can move on top of it and use your comfortably reassigned target-closest-npc hotkey to grab it.If you know that the culprit is pulling aggro because he is targeting his own target instead of assisting the MT you can select him to see whcih target he has been bugging too much. If you are playing with a regular group you can teach the healers to drop MT as target when they are being attacked and on the next hit from the mob they will have it targeted.

[Ripchi]

<cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Targeting. </p><p>Owain was saying something in another post that I didn't understand about targeting mobs when tanking. The issue was finding out what mob is targeting one of your teamates so we can peel it off em. This is an area of weakness for me.</p></blockquote><p>My suggestion would be to turn the mobs so that your group is standing behind the mob.  This offers several advantages.  First of all, to address your question, if you do this and you see a mob that has its back to YOU, you know it's targeting one of your groupmates.  No need to tab through various mobs to find the mob who isn't targetting you.  You just click on the mob with it's back to you.  (Other advantages to this is it's advantagous to certain classes to be able to attack from behind the mob.  Also, it allows your group members to avoid frontal AE attacks.)</p><p>Turning the mobs is not difficult either.  Usually I'll walk up to the mob to body pull it, then walk backwards back to where you want the mob to stand.  Once the mob arrives, take a few steps forward so you're behind the mob, and it will turn to face your new location, leaving it's back to the rest of the group.</p>

[Owa]

<span style="font-size: medium;font-family: times new roman,times;">Good post. That's old-school tanking. No one seems to do it like that anymore, nor do groups seem to expect it.</span>

[Pnaxx]

<p>I usually do turn the mobs back to the group. Sometimes I can't because the palce is too social and can barely move as it is....but even then, I always make the attempt. It extra agro is usually from adds and now we have a mess of things as they are all mingled in with the group and I can't see a thing.</p><p>So really, I am talking about the situation where , when you look intot he group, it is so jumbled with group and adds you can't visually make out whats what......and there are a boat load of adds...maybe not really heavy hitters (^) but enough that if 2 of em are targeting one group memeber it would spell lights out.</p><p>Can I click on the health bar of the member taking the hits, look at what mob is on it, then click on the window of the mob to target it, taunt and ect? Will that take care of this problem?</p>

[Ripchi]

<cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>So really, I am talking about the situation where , when you look intot he group, it is so jumbled with group and adds you can't visually make out whats what......and there are a boat load of adds...maybe not really heavy hitters (^) but enough that if 2 of em are targeting one group memeber it would spell lights out.</p><p>Can I click on the health bar of the member taking the hits, look at what mob is on it, then click on the window of the mob to target it, taunt and ect? Will that take care of this problem?</p></blockquote><p>Clicking on the health bar of the member taking the hits will only help you if they are targetting the mob that is hitting them.  Most of the time though, they will be (and should be) targetting you, so they are attacking your target.  If they aren't, that's most likely the reason they are getting agro.  (Which is why they should be targetting through you.)  Also, if everyone is targetting through you, and you target a groupmember to attack their implied target...everyone targetting through you will be targetting your groupmate.</p><p>If you want to use that method to locate the attacking mob though, you could communicate to your group that if they are under attack, they should clear their current target, and then when they are next attacked, the mob attacking them will become their target.  Let them know once that happens they should let you know in group chat by saying something like "mob on me".  This lets you (and the healer know) know they are being attacked (in case either of you missed it), and more importantly lets you know they have their attacker targetted for you.  Then you hit their health bar to find their attacker and taunt it off them.  When you do that though, be sure you then switch from targetting the groupmate to targetting their target.</p><p>I'm not a fan of tabbing through a bunch of mobs to find the one(s) that aren't targetting me.  This can actually make matters worse.  If your groupmates are assisting you, and you tab to the next target (in an effort to find one not on you), but that mob is targetting you, it's very easy for your groupmates to accidently launch an attack/spell on the next mob and they could gain agro from that.  Now instead of one groupmember being attacked when they should be, you have two.  And that could happen with each press of the tab key.</p><p>Another strategy could be (depending on what else is close to you) to use your AE attacks.  With your buff that can increase your threat count, you may be able to regain agro that way.</p>

[Greavous]

<p>Couple of things</p><p>Firstly if your run with the same group a lot, encourage them to use an assist key rather than directly targeting you for their target (directly targeting u is called noob assisting) This means regardless of which target your on all the dps will still be hitting the first mob and your free to go ether hunting for the naughty mob hitting your mad wizzy, pulling a mob that is going to add before it starts hitting one of the soft and crunchy in group or just finding the next target to hit. It free's you up to tank and even if u do tab onto some epic x 2 in the back no one's gonna be throwing nukes at it.</p><p>It does take a bit to learn how to assist properly but it truly is the best way by far.</p><p>To create an assit key make a macro and type /assist (insert name of tank). Simple. Just hit that button when the mob is dead and u need to kill the next one.</p><p>Secondly, if your not turning the mob for your group go roll a monk or a troub or some other class that no one notices. Too many reasons to list here why. Just do it.</p><p>Thirdly a trick I learnt way back that when things get tough and you have multi encounters on your group. Make sure your in third person. Go to over head view and zoom down so that only the mobs in the encounter are in your field of view.</p><p>You can now tab till your hearts content and will only pick up those mobs that are involved with the fight.</p><p>I have run with warlocks a lot. A lot of tanks hate them. I love them to pieces.</p><p>I have run with 2 warlocks in group. It isn't easy to keep agro on multi encounters (more than 1 group of multi mobs) when you have nasty [Removed for Content]'d napalm droppers but those mobs die fast. Remember that taking a mob off a group member is not what its all about. Many times I wont bother. Why waste good dps when all I have to do is make sure the mob isn't hitting the SoB that smacked it for a 18k nuke.</p><p>Your stuns are your friend. Why throw a taunt at the mob when a good stun is gonna [Removed for Content] it off anyway and will stop the mob from hitting your groupie? Just keep it stunned and the mob will see the error of its ways and turn and face you but will do so with half of its limbs missing.</p><p>The timing issue with auto attack is a tough one to explain because it depends so much on the delays you have with your weapons. The system I have is I run A.C.T (parser) in the back ground and have a audio that goes off every time I auto attack. This has given me a good idea of when to throw up a CA or to wait. Generally its 1 CA and pause in raid because of  haste buffs but I'll never stick to it because fights change so quickly you need to forget your max dps and go intercept damage on the MT or drag the mob of a Wizz or pick up the add some nutter just backed into.</p>To be honest, most heroic mobs just don't have the hit points to matter in timing your CA's. The beauty of a Bruiser is we have crazyass burst damage and most mobs are just chests on the ground in seconds. Monks do a lot more damage with auto attack so a lot more important than for us. If your hitting epics then yes time out your auto's. Otherwise just burn the flocker down

[Daghammerskold]

I have made 2 changes to my key mapping in the options menu that I recommend.First, I swapped tab and f8 so that for me tab targets the nearest NPC. 90% of the time when you hit 'select next target' you intend to target the mob nearest you. This reassignment keeps you from accidentally targeting a mob across the room just as the wiz launches his nuke. Also, I am sure you have had the experience where one mob dies and you avoid the next one's hit so it does not automatically become your target. The group is waiting for you to acquire a target so you hit 'select next' just as you get hit and you wind up clearing your target. If you use 'target nearest' rather than 'select next' that never happens, you always wind up with a target.When you do want to cycle thru the mobs in an encounter you can reach over and hit f8 but the extra act of reaching will make you pay more attention to what you are about to do and what mobs are in view. I have a lot fewer accidents since I switched these keys.Second, I assigned a key to 'assist'. There is no key assigned by default but you have the option to choose one. It makes moving between direct and implied targets and back again simple.Timing autoattack.It can barely be done. If you aren't using ACT with an audio prompt I doubt you can even do it at all. Sure, you can pause a little between CAs but AA goes off between them even if you are chain-casting. And if you are not pausing right when the AA timer is up then you haven't really accomplished anything. You can check your actual weapon delay and figure out how many CAs will fit between each autoattack but if you have a berserker in your group or if you are wearing imbued agility rings or if you have another item that procs haste your delay is always going to be changing so your little hesitations might help you one time and hurt you 5 seconds later. Not to mention bards' buffs or mobs' debuffs. If anyone can always know when their autoattack is about to go off they are way better at this game than me.