targeting question

[Kine]

I was wondering if there is a key that allows you to switch to anothers target (besides using an /assist macro). Sometimes when I am tanking and someone else gets agro it can be hard to see which mob is on them. Usually this isnt a problem bc I always turn the mobs when Im tanking, but once in a while when you are in a tight space it is hard to see and/or target the correct mob. I hate to tab cycle through to find the mob with the groupmate targetd because often it will target a mob outside the encounter which can lead to adds. I know you can just select the group member and taunt the target that way, but I like to keep the mob itself as the primary target and not target through, so that way any groupmates who are targeting through me rather than /assist will continue to do damage.I guess I can add a generic /assist hotkey, but with my current UI setup, which I really like, hotkey spots are in short supply. Is there a function key or something that can do this?Thanks

[Kikena]

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Kinen1 wrote:
I was wondering if there is a key that allows you to switch to anothers target (besides using an /assist macro). Sometimes when I am tanking and someone else gets agro it can be hard to see which mob is on them. Usually this isnt a problem bc I always turn the mobs when Im tanking, but once in a while when you are in a tight space it is hard to see and/or target the correct mob. I hate to tab cycle through to find the mob with the groupmate targetd because often it will target a mob outside the encounter which can lead to adds. I know you can just select the group member and taunt the target that way, but I like to keep the mob itself as the primary target and not target through, so that way any groupmates who are targeting through me rather than /assist will continue to do damage.

I guess I can add a generic /assist hotkey, but with my current UI setup, which I really like, hotkey spots are in short supply. Is there a function key or something that can do this?

Thanks

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I did read that you would prefer not to tab cycle through the mobs.

I would recommend that this practice of tab cycling continue.

Since you are turning the mobs that mob should ALWAYS be in your field of view on the screen whether you are maintaining aggro or not. I am not sure that tab would work if a mob is not in your field of view, regardless of the angle of view.

Mobs not in your field of view will not be targetted when tabbing. That has been my experience.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck and Good Hunting.

[Kine]

I do use tab targeting quite often, but I try to avoid it in crowded dungeons as much as possible. That is a nice tidbit about tab targeting selecting things in field of view only though. Really just wondering if there is a key function key that switches to your targets target.

Message Edited by Kinen1 on 07-25-2006 10:22 AM

[Jackula]

Sometimes I tab and select a target much further away, perhaps on the other side of a room rather than the mob right beside me.  If a mage is targeting through me and casting a nuke, etc just when I tab to an unwanted target it will mean more adds into the fight.  Use tab with caution.The fastest way I find to solve what you're speaking of is to use my F keys.  Some mob is beating on the mage, mage is in the groups F5 slot for example, hit F5 and use Intercede, a Taunt, or whatever.   The F key allows you to have that groupmate directly targetted for potential life saving skills and to obtain their target if they aren't assisting you.  I've made my targetting arrow really big and bright too.  Once I've aquired their target, I have to manually switch.  I don't know of any other way.  Sorry, seems we're in the same boat.Tabbing is alot easier to use when I am the MT and I have a Main Assist as well.  As MT I like tabcycling through the mobs to keep the hate up fairly equally on all the mobs so I don't have to worry about some mage grabbing hate off a mob with a juicy AE spell.  We don't use an MA often though and as such there's been a few times where tabbing has made some fights a little more challenging as another group or two (yay social agro changes) joins the fray, drawn by a wayward fireball.  I'd like my group to use a MA more often.  I think it would make it easier.  My regular group is reluctant to do so, but in the end I think that's the easiest solution.  It does free up the MT alot for hate equaliztion and also let's me jump on a new target when the last one is barely alive, to get a jumpstart on hate on the next mob.  Without careful timing and an MA when I do that, alot of times I have to switch back to a mob with 2-3% life because everyone is assisting through me and no one bothered to finish it off.  That's just inefficient and usually means that mob is eating up 6 player attacks to die when fewer would have done the job.I think using a Main Assist for the rest of the group to aquire a target is the best solution.

Message Edited by countjackula on 07-25-2006 12:09 PM

[Kine]

Thanks for the reply. I understand the use of targeting groupmates with the "F" keys as well as tab targeting. That isnt my issue.I am wondering if, once you already have your groupmate targeted, there is any key that allows you to make your groupmates target your primary target. I know that once you have your groupmate targeted, your taunts and all that will land on whatever mob he has targeted. BUT, I want to be able to switch his target quickly to my primary target so all of my groupmates can continue to hit mobs while I am getting agro back.

[Dinopup]

You can map a key to assist, but none is set by default.  Go into your options, the 'controls' section, and look under 'commands'. (not, as I would have expected, under targetting) Also potentially useful for your situation F8 (by default) will target the nearest NPC, as opposed to cycling through them.

[frisco4]

I don't know how anyone can really reccommend Tab Cycling...IMO, it's very dangerous and a lot of times will not even cycle between multiple encounters in one fight.  If it's a heavily populated room, you'll tab cycle through mobs behind the ones you're fighting sometimes(if you forget to pan you camera directly down), and then a pet class or ranged class can by accident hit a CA as youre tab cycling in effectivly drawing another encounter and brings mabye another one along with it...I stopped tab cycling cause I foudn this happening at very in-opurtune times, and I agree mouse targetting is sloppy wish there was another way.

[Eiser]

Another way would be a new cycling method thats only selects the actual encounters and not uninvolved mobs. Would be very helpfull in complex situations. Mousing is often impresice and lag fragile and so I must use Tab. And not rarely I swear like a trooper because its behavior...

[Wabit]

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frisco444 wrote:
I don't know how anyone can really reccommend Tab Cycling...IMO, it's very dangerous and a lot of times will not even cycle between multiple encounters in one fight.  If it's a heavily populated room, you'll tab cycle through mobs behind the ones you're fighting sometimes(if you forget to pan you camera directly down), and then a pet class or ranged class can by accident hit a CA as youre tab cycling in effectivly drawing another encounter and brings mabye another one along with it...I stopped tab cycling cause I foudn this happening at very in-opurtune times, and I agree mouse targetting is sloppy wish there was another way.

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sometimes you can't mouse target...  pets are my bane as a raid MT...  2 conjy each with the squid swarm pets up, wardens dogs, necro with his swarm pet up and undead tide going...  not to mention 10 melee classes gathered around, while my back is in a corner and i'm stuck in first person...  oh and there is still the small item of a warden tree...

i've tried the F# keys  it doesn't cycle to the mobs that peel off very well...  tabing really isn't a great way to swap targets, but its the most reliable i've found on a raid...

in a group setting tabbing can be very bad, mouse clicking is best there...

[Kikena]

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Wabit wrote:

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frisco444 wrote:
I don't know how anyone can really reccommend Tab Cycling...IMO, it's very dangerous and a lot of times will not even cycle between multiple encounters in one fight.  If it's a heavily populated room, you'll tab cycle through mobs behind the ones you're fighting sometimes(if you forget to pan you camera directly down), and then a pet class or ranged class can by accident hit a CA as youre tab cycling in effectivly drawing another encounter and brings mabye another one along with it...I stopped tab cycling cause I foudn this happening at very in-opurtune times, and I agree mouse targetting is sloppy wish there was another way.

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sometimes you can't mouse target...  pets are my bane as a raid MT...  2 conjy each with the squid swarm pets up, wardens dogs, necro with his swarm pet up and undead tide going...  not to mention 10 melee classes gathered around, while my back is in a corner and i'm stuck in first person...  oh and there is still the small item of a warden tree...

i've tried the F# keys  it doesn't cycle to the mobs that peel off very well...  tabing really isn't a great way to swap targets, but its the most reliable i've found on a raid...

in a group setting tabbing can be very bad, mouse clicking is best there...

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I concur with Wabit's assessment.

In a raid encounter tab targeting MIGHT be your BEST option. That also means it MIGHT NOT be your best option.

In a group encounter tab targeting MIGHT be your WORST option. That also means it MIGHT NOT be your worst option.

Of course it's up to each player to increase their play skill and turn the game dynamics/mechanics to his/her own advantage.

I'm glad this thread was created as some valuable ideas and experiences are shared here.

Keep them up. I'm willing to ready as many as I can.

More mobs down means more chances at good loot. :smileyhappy:

 

Good Luck and Good Hunting.

[Ruwen71]

Have any of you tried Ctrl+Tab (Next Encounter NPC) ?

[highf]

Here is a little trick i use with the tab key that can almost always prevent you from targeting a far off mob and gaining tons of adds.  First i zoom out into 3rd person view and move the camera angle until only the mobs that im fighting are in the screen, this usually means looking directly down at your toon from a little bit above.

Once you are satisfied that no other mobs are in your screen, you are safe to hit tab all you want, u cant tab to a mob that u cannot see (ie; one thats not in your screen).  This works great in group or certain raid situations i have found,  if you have people assisting you to attack you just can't beat the fast targeting change that you can do with the tab key, less time fumbling for a target = less wasted DPS!

[frisco4]

Have you guys ever noticed though that with tab targetting it sometimes only switches between two mobs or one encounter when you have about 20 mobs on you(We like to pull whole rooms in sanctum this is where the problem is for me)  I pullt he whole room and it aggros on me but theres so manya nd a lot are stacked on each other I cant tell whats hitting someone if I lose aggro.  Tab is not very usuable when you have 20 mobs on you lol!

[FightGame]

I've went into the options and changed my tab key so that it selects the closest NPC, not the next NPC.  This way if I hit tab and it grabs something far off, that we aren't even fighting, someone in the group doesn't hit it and add it.  Also helpful if I loose aggro on one of the mobs.  I'll see it turn on the group/raid, and I'll just run over to it and either mouse target or tab and be on it quickly.

 

Message Edited by FightGame on 07-26-2006 02:28 PM

[Bhuhdiy]

If I understand correctly, the OP was looking for a good way to target a mob that is beating on a party member. 

 

Targeting a groupmember, and taunting, will taunt that player's target, not the mob that's hitting them -- unless they happen to have the mob that's hitting them targetted.  Chances are, that person has some other mob targeted, or possibly has the tank targeted (you).

 

Here are the rules on how works.

1. If you currently have an encounter (a group of 2 or more linked mobs) targeted and engaged, pressing will never target a mob outside that encounter.
2. if you have an encounter targeted but not engaged, pressing will first cycle through all the mobs in that encounter, and will then target the next encounter in your field of view.
3. If you currently have a solo mob targeted, pressing will switch to a different mob in your field of view.  This applies whether or not you have the solo mob engaged.
4. If you have engaged an encounter, and have killed all of the mobs in that encounter except 1 (you have the last remaining mob in an encounter targeted), pressing will not switch your target.

Message Edited by Bhuhdiy on 07-26-2006 06:49 PM

[Bhuhdiy]

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Ruwen71 wrote:

Have any of you tried Ctrl+Tab (Next Encounter NPC) ?

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Never heard of this, but when I experimented and tried to assign an action to Ctrl+Tab, it told me this key combination was currently assigned to IMPULSE_TOGGLE_FLYMODE

I've never heard of this, and whey I tried Ctrl+Tab just now, it seemed to do nothing at all.  Is it supposed to target next encounter npc? Because it is not doing that for me.

[AtomiC_WedgiE]

 

Message Edited by AtomiC_WedgiE on 07-27-2006 03:45 AM

[Ruwen71]

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Bhuhdiy wrote:

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Ruwen71 wrote:

Have any of you tried Ctrl+Tab (Next Encounter NPC) ?

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Never heard of this, but when I experimented and tried to assign an action to Ctrl+Tab, it told me this key combination was currently assigned to IMPULSE_TOGGLE_FLYMODE

I've never heard of this, and whey I tried Ctrl+Tab just now, it seemed to do nothing at all.  Is it supposed to target next encounter npc? Because it is not doing that for me.

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Thanks Bhuhdiy. I'm actually not familiar with it either and I haven't had the opportunity to test it myself.

I found the info on http://eq2.ogaming.com/data/1974~In-GameCommands.php.

I appreciate you testing it for me, I think everyone would appreciate it if we could find a user friendly way to target the stray mob that's killing my Warlok.

[Kine]

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Dinopup wrote:You can map a key to assist, but none is set by default.  Go into your options, the 'controls' section, and look under 'commands'. (not, as I would have expected, under targetting)

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This looks like just what I was looking for, just /assist mapped to a key rather than a hot button. Just target groupmember getting beat on, hit the key and voila. I havent tried this yet, but I am going to set it up tonight.

[Bhuhdiy]

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Kinen1 wrote:

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Dinopup wrote:
You can map a key to assist, but none is set by default.  Go into your options, the 'controls' section, and look under 'commands'. (not, as I would have expected, under targetting)

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This looks like just what I was looking for, just /assist mapped to a key rather than a hot button. Just target groupmember getting beat on, hit the key and voila. I havent tried this yet, but I am going to set it up tonight.

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Again, if you target the warlock and /assist, you get the mob the warlock has targetted, not the mob that's beating on the warlock.

[Kine]

I know that, but the warlock/whatever getting hit will cause them to switch to that target. I will just inform my group at the start that if they gain agro to not switch away from the target that is beating on them and to yell "on me".

[Rorrak]

I think you're confused - you only get the mob that's hitting you as your target if you have nothing targetted currently - in a group situation the warlock will be targetting you directly or /assisting you which will have your primary target as their target - either way targeting them and /assisting is giving you the wrong mob unless you lost aggro on the mob you were attacking...in which case you'd see the mob's implied target become your group member.  You'd have to tell them that when they get aggro they have to clear their target with escape, then shout "on me", but honestly it's just easier to play in third person and pay attention to when a mob turns around, select it with your mouse and get aggro back.  Or you could just be lazy and pop sentry watch and let them die. 

- Rorrak

 

[Kine]

Oh right...they would need to clear their target first....that does add another step, but a simple one.  Well, at least the mapping of an assist key is simple as outlined above. My pause/break key is now a generic assist.And I agree usually you can tell which mob it is by which turns and faces the rest of the group. When I really need this is when there are adds in multiple encounters. I hunt daily wiht a warden guildmate, so encounters are typically rooted. That means that when a group adds, I cant always move around to reposition and turn the adds since the rooted group will agro someone else when I move away. Often I can , but not always.

[Herrtzog]

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Kinen1 wrote:
....that does add another step, but a simple one.  .

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I'm thinking that by the time you get your group trained to release whatever they have targeted, allow themselves to auto-target whatever is hitting them, and let you know they are being hit, you could have tabed through the entire zone.

For this MT, simpler is easier.  If I see a mob turn around, or someone's health going down, tabbing through the mobs quickly to see if one has an implied (shows they aren't on me), and trying to get that aggro is the easiest way to handle it.  That is my job, after all, making sure everything stays aggro on me.  Of course situations vary.  And sometimes, even with a single group, an MA is required.