Does the ffxiv tutorial ever tell you how to use the target circle?

Yeah, I didn't learn this until sometime in Heavensward when someone was telling my husband (who plays monk). We both played since the launch of ARR. He always went full side and full rear. Neither of us just never noticed the break. We saw the arrow at the front, but the ring break was just super mutable, especially when you're watching more of the environment than the floor around the boss.

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Originally Posted by Tempest222

Wow I’m even more unobservant than I thought. I mean, I haven’t played a melee class yet, but I’ve never noticed any openings in the target circles, just a totally closed ring and the arrow up front?

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I would have said the same thing but sure enough, I went back to check and it is very clearly open at the back.

I think it might be a combination of our brain seeing what we expect to see, and the fact that when you start out, you're probably fighting monsters straight-on and the monster itself 'blocks out' the gap in the ring - so you simply assume it continues as a complete circle, and you just never look at at it again close enough to realise that it isn't.

I'd worked out the mark that indicates the front (mostly important for things like sprites and bee swarms that don't have faces) but, like some other people have already posted, was never sure how to tell the dividing line between flank and rear.

I don't think so, but I knew what rear and flank meant.

Yup, the next time I was in game after seeing this thread I checked out some target circles and there was the gap in the back. It’s so obvious I can’t believe I never saw it before lol.

They don't normally have tutorials on things you can completely remove in the game. I've had that ugly circle turned off from the start and never needed it to figure out where the hit boxes for flank and rear are.

I feel like the game does KINDOF explain it, as I think it's the 2nd Guildhest (the one with the giant suit of armour) does cover telling people that attacking from the back is more efficient ("because it's harder for the foe to block or brace for attacks it cant see"), but thinking about it yeah they never mention how the targeting circle specificly works

WOW do I feel stupid now. I went in game after this and now I see it.

I still don't see difference. I see a concentric ring with arrow at front.

Already knowing what the terms flank and rear meant helped a lot when restarting mnk in 2.0 (positionals were what drew me to pgl back in 1.0) but I also didn't notice the break in the target circle at the back until a couple weeks in. I just went fully to the side or fully to the back based on the enemy model. Knowing the exact measure for each position allows you to get the same effect but with less time spent moving

They could mention it in one of the pop-ups that appear for new chars since all the melee have to use positionals eventually

I think I just kind of deduced about that ring the moment I started playing dragoon (pretty sure Dragoon used to have the directionals back in the day), but I'd just chalk that up to playing too many video games...
That being said, I'd say that the target ring having these features only helps you hone in on mobs with more confusing form factors. Otherwise, it's typically pretty clear where the monster is facing, which in turn tells you where the rear and flanks are.

PotD also removes this entirely and makes them closed rings with no arrows, which I guess just stokes the "potd creates bad players!" fires...