If you're a healer and buffer and you're not already looking at these things, you're not doing your job. Try as you might you haven't ever been able to tell if someone needs a cure or not by looking at the battlefield. If you have a keen eye and memorize everyone's max HP you can go by the on screen damage numbers I suppose, but in a busy fight it can start to look like a random jumble.Quote:
I would say that <stal> and <stpc> are both failures in the sense that they take you out of the battlefield and bring you back to the foreground, a list of names and stats on the right side of your screen.
Equipment swaps and blinking
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01-23-2013, 01:58 AMAlhanelem
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01-23-2013, 02:13 AMByrth
I haven't played a healer in any seriousness since the level 75 cap, but I know that I used to target them on the screen using the left left and right d-pad buttons. Obviously the log and HP bars are useful tools, but after a certain point you learn the readying time for certain TP moves and about how much damage they're going to do so you can get the cures on the way before the moves even go off.
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01-23-2013, 02:21 AMAlhanelemBut you still have to look at the party windows to know who has how much HP to decide who to cure, and pressing left and right on the dpad is not any faster or slower than pressing up or down on the dpad. :pQuote:
but I know that I used to target them on the screen using the left left and right d-pad buttons.
I understand what you mean about anticipating needs, but if a mob is spamming AoEs you're probably not just sitting there waiting to cure somebody. -
01-23-2013, 02:58 AMArconForcing you to play a way you're not comfortable with to make up for a problem that shouldn't exist is as close to the definition of "bad design" as any example can get.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
It's not great for healing. But it's absolutely useless for the other two situations I mentioned, which you still haven't addressed. Blinking causes more than just one problem. How does <stal> help with following? How does it help with unlocking your target while engaged to it? It doesn't. That's why it's a bad solution for the problem, because parts of the problem are still completely unsolved.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
I'm not asking for the way data is loaded and displayed to be changed. I'm asking for the target not to be dropped during that time. Blinking would be perfectly fine if the target wouldn't drop. We know blank targets can still be targeted. At any point during the blinking process, you can target a player, so the target isn't gone. That means there's no reason for the target to disappear when a person blinks, and I can't think of any internal mechanics for why it would. I'm almost certain they purposefully coded it this way. Maybe as one of their ridiculous safeguard mechanics which they needlessly implemented at every corner in the game, who knows. They've shown to be just like that, repeatedly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
Hell, even immediately retargeting your previous target would be a massive improvement and almost unnoticeable if implemented correctly and that would be a seriously minor change, completely unaffected by any data flow. The game knows when a character blinks (otherwise you wouldn't lose the target in the first place), so just retarget it when that happens, done.
Also, there's a significant difference in glancing at the HUD for information and focusing on it to navigate through it for actual gameplay mechanics. And you still have to look at the battlefield in the latter case anyway, to get a feel for positioning and distances, unless you're one of those mages who blame melee for not getting cured when they're out of range. -
01-23-2013, 03:57 AMToadie-OdieDoesn't <stpc> still work? I seem to remember using that when I was an outside of the party healer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
Edit: but you're right about the need to power level, it is just about gone - and since Abyssea came out I can't think of a time I HAD to be a healer outside of the party. -
01-23-2013, 12:58 PMAlhanelemI don't remember that one- I know there's <stpt> but that's just an inferior version of <stal> that only targets party members.Quote:
Doesn't <stpc> still work? I seem to remember using that when I was an outside of the party healer.
I don't know what you're "comfortable" with, to use your words, but it's the most amazing thing there is for healing. I can't think of an easier way to cure anybody in my alliance. What do YOU do? click on people with the mouse? the click detection in the game is so bad it's unseable, and if you tab through people, that's only effective if everyone is in front of you and visible, and still <stal> is faster.Quote:
It's not great for healing.
So no, it's not in any way shape or form bad design. They made it as easy as it could possibly get. it's BETTER than curing with tabbing/mousing, blink or no blink. I would keep using it even if blink went away.
(edited) I want that as much as you do, but the nameplate's position (what you use to target) is relative to the model. I think if they were to do this, your name would drop to the origin position (the floor at the spot you're standing) during the change, which would cause your camera to change suddenly which could be very disjointing especially with taller characters. I guess it's better than target loss, but changing the way model data is loaded would solve both problems (but is most likely more difficult as well.Quote:
I'm not asking for the way data is loaded and displayed to be changed. I'm asking for the target not to be dropped during that time
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01-23-2013, 01:35 PMMookies75Just no. This goes against everything this game is about.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trisscar
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01-23-2013, 02:06 PMArconIt's not inferior, it's for a different purpose. It allows you to quickly get to the last person on your pt list, unlike <stal>. When you only have your party to cure/buff, it's certainly useful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
Yes, it is. And it's still not great. That's my point. The best they have just doesn't cut it for everyone, hence it's not great.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
On-screen targeting with the keyboard is very fast and efficient if done right. It can take only 3 key presses to cast on anyone in the entire party, and that includes hitting the macro. Hit the <stpc> macro, rotate camera slightly (this can even be done before casting to have the two most important people in front of you) then hit Tab or Shift+Tab.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
I have to admit though, that that's not what I do, precisely because of blinking. I use commands for everything instead.
Good for you, I wouldn't, and judging by what other people said in here I'm not alone. And I never said <stal> was bad. I said it was a bad solution for the problem, because it's not a solution to the problem. Offering <stal> instead of an actual fix, that's what's bad design, not <stal> by itself. <stal> itself should remain regardless, because of the people who like it or got used to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
That's true, but that only applies if you're locked onto a target, and aside from locking onto enemies (which don't blink) and locking on in order to follow someone (in which case you don't care about the camera), I don't know why you'd lock onto your target. At least I can't think of any benefits for doing so during battle.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
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01-23-2013, 02:35 PMAlhanelemSubjective opinion. I think it IS great. You're probably just trying to make it sound worse than it is to add weight to fixing it...Quote:
Yes, it is. And it's still not great. That's my point. The best they have just doesn't cut it for everyone, hence it's not great.
You're probably not alone. But neither am I.Quote:
Good for you, I wouldn't, and judging by what other people said in here I'm not alone.
Anyway, please don't get me wrong. I do want to see some more action taken to solve the blinking issue. But it's really hard not to be cynical these days. hell, we have a version update coming within the next 10 days but we really don't know anything about it beyond meebles and a few small things. -
01-23-2013, 05:26 PMArconIt's not subjective, because I listed the flaws. I don't think it's not great, I say it's not great because of the limitations that come with it. Just because some people aren't bothered by them doesn't mean they aren't there. <stal> only addresses one of the several issues of blinking, and even that one only partially.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
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01-24-2013, 05:12 AMMerton9999<stpc> works to target people outside the alliance, yes. But the point is that people are using <stal> instead of <stpc> because <stal> doesn't cause you to lose the target when the target blinks. <stpc> will lose a blinking target. So currently there is no way within a single macro to be able to target anyone on the screen and prevent target loss from blinking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Toadie-Odie
This was the minor annoyance I mentioned with <stal>, but I also don't like that you can't judge distance with it. Ultimately I agree with Arcon. <stal> is bittersweet. It's better than the current behavior of <stpc> but it doesn't go far enough to solve a problem that seems like it shouldn't exist in the first place.
I'd rather SE just removed blinking altogether by creating a gearlock option that let me fix my appearance. Wouldn't they have to allow me to lock other players' appearance too or would we need to rely on that person locking themselves? This would not only solve my blinking problems but also prevent my character from being drawn with some ugly ass armor. Anyone that uses those horrible viking helms should be forced to gearlock when out of them.
Also, I agree <stpt> is not inferior to <stal>, in fact for me it is superior for party-only target spells. I use it in every macro for spells that are party only. It causes the party cursor to wrap instead of flow to the next party, so I'm always at most 3 clicks away from my final target.