Tab Targeting Needs to be Looked At and Fixed

Right now the Tab Targeting in this game is extremely frustrating. Having TAB set to Target Nearest to Furthest is either not working at all or is extremely literal because if I have 4 enemies on my screen at varying distances, it will target the closest first and then the furthest away from me and then randomly any enemies in between.

Expectation: Target the closest to the furthest from the character position. I specify character position because the tab targeting seems to change depending on how the camera is oriented regardless of if the number of enemies on screen changes or not and will also change even if their relative distances stay the same.

If a target dies, the next tab should go to the next closest enemy. Right now, if the closest enemy dies, the next tab is a crap shoot where it lands.

Having a predictable targeting system makes target acquisition extremely efficient and is something many people are used to from other MMOs.

Damn right, second and thirded! Makes tanking that much easier in all the chaos of add management as well. It was perfect in FFXI I don't understand why it's so damn bad in this game.

I think right now it targets the lowest number/letter mob and cycles in numerical/alpha order. At least this is my experience. So if you tab target it starts with A then moves to B regardless of distance. If you have C targeted it moves to D and so on.

I may be wrong but this is the feel I get from the system. Have not done extensive testing.

Normal proceedings of the FATE grinding DoM:

Hah! Untagged mob. Brilliant.
Tab. Nope.
Tab. Nope.
Ok, it's tagged now, no matter.
Tab. Nope, damnit.
Tab, tab, tab. Nope, yep, one too many there, curses.
Tab. Nope.
Think I'll try clicking instead.
Click. Nope.
Click. Nope.
Click. Not interested in targeting that melee guy there, no.
Click. GOT IT. However, it's nearly dead.
Maybe I'll get this spell off in time.
Nope.

Hah! Another untagged mob. Brilliant!
Tab...

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Originally Posted by Seidaku

I think right now it targets the lowest number/letter mob and cycles in numerical/alpha order. At least this is my experience. So if you tab target it starts with A then moves to B regardless of distance. If you have C targeted it moves to D and so on.

I may be wrong but this is the feel I get from the system. Have not done extensive testing.

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It use more the screen center as a fix point. It move to the enemy who is nearest to the screen center instead nearest to the player.

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Originally Posted by StarMarmot

Normal proceedings of the FATE grinding DoM:

Hah! Untagged mob. Brilliant.
Tab. Nope.
Tab. Nope.
Ok, it's tagged now, no matter.
Tab. Nope, damnit.
Tab, tab, tab. Nope, yep, one too many there, curses.
Tab. Nope.
Think I'll try clicking instead.
Click. Nope.
Click. Nope.
Click. Not interested in targeting that melee guy there, no.
Click. GOT IT. However, it's nearly dead.
Maybe I'll get this spell off in time.
Nope.

Hah! Another untagged mob. Brilliant!
Tab...

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You do it wrong ^^

Be sure that your character face the target you want and press the 0 on the numblock.

Target with the number pad? 4,2,6,8 <.<

It needs to work in a cone shape depending on the direction you're pointing.


\.......4.........6/...7 (7 would not be targettable at all unless you turn)
..\......3......5/
....\......2..../
......\..1..../

That way, the immediate direction you're pointing always takes direct priority. If I'm facing toward # 4 above as a BM, I don't want to cycle through # 5 to get to it just because it's a little closer. Whatever I'm facing should take presidence.

For some reason, I thought it was simply going left to right, starting with the left-most mob currently fully visible onscreen. Thus, if my character is standing within arm's length of mob that is to her left, but the mob is half off-screen, tab-targeting will ignore that mob and move to the next mob to the right, regardless of its physical distance to/from my character.

Of course, that's not what I want, but for some reason, I thought that's how it worked.

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Originally Posted by Felis

You do it wrong ^^

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Yeah. I should just spam Blizzard 2.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by StarMarmot

Normal proceedings of the FATE grinding DoM:

Hah! Untagged mob. Brilliant.
Tab. Nope.
Tab. Nope.
Ok, it's tagged now, no matter.
Tab. Nope, damnit.
Tab, tab, tab. Nope, yep, one too many there, curses.
Tab. Nope.
Think I'll try clicking instead.
Click. Nope.
Click. Nope.
Click. Not interested in targeting that melee guy there, no.
Click. GOT IT. However, it's nearly dead.
Maybe I'll get this spell off in time.
Nope.

Hah! Another untagged mob. Brilliant!
Tab...

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HAHAHA! Oh my God, I know right?? XD

Heaven help you if you try to tab to the next enemy in front of you in a dungeon, with an attack macro still active; it's pretty much a guarantee tab's going to target the pack of mobs on the other side of the room, the offscreen ones that you can't even see, because TROLL-TAB-DOES-WHAT-IT-WANTS.

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Originally Posted by Amiabelle

For some reason, I thought it was simply going left to right, starting with the left-most mob currently fully visible onscreen. Thus, if my character is standing within arm's length of mob that is to her left, but the mob is half off-screen, tab-targeting will ignore that mob and move to the next mob to the right, regardless of its physical distance to/from my character.

Of course, that's not what I want, but for some reason, I thought that's how it worked.

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This is how it works for me whilst on the gamepad for the pc. Gotten used to it over the weeks.

Ok well for everyone that doesn't know tab targeting is not broken at all. Its backwards. And before I get flamed for saying that, yes, you can fix it. Simply go into keybinds in your system menu, go to the targeting tab. You will see Cycle through Enemies (nearest to farthest) = shift tab and then Cycle through Enemies (farthest to nearest) = tab. Switch the keybinds. Tab should be the first keybind, shift tab should be the next one. That's all you need to do. The system was never broken, it was just translated wrong, probably because you read JP left to right. And you're welcome internet.

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Originally Posted by Yurikitty

Simply go into keybinds in your system menu, go to the targeting tab. You will see Cycle through Enemies (nearest to farthest) = shift tab and then Cycle through Enemies (farthest to nearest) = tab. Switch the keybinds. Tab should be the first keybind, shift tab should be the next one. And you're welcome internet.

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This does not solve the problem at all. I just tested this on the beach in Costa with the Sardine throwers. There were 4 of them and the targeting went like this:

TAB 1: Closest
TAB 2: 2nd Closest
TAB 3: Furthest (clearly)
TAB 4: 3rd Closest

Then they started to wander at which point distance no longer mattered. It rotated between the 4 in the same pattern regardless of their relative distance.

The TAB targeting (closest to farthest and farthest to closest) is not working correctly.

Has there been any SE recognition of this issue?

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Originally Posted by McStagger

Has there been any SE recognition of this issue?

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There is no issue, use the tools provided :)

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/4504/jdeu.jpg

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Originally Posted by McStagger

Has there been any SE recognition of this issue?

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Its at the top of the dev tracking....

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Originally Posted by Camate

Greetings,

I have a quick update in regards to a targeting-related adjustment.

In patch 2.1 we will be making adjustments to the "target the closest NPC or object" feature so that pets and companions are not included.

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Originally Posted by Rhas

There is no issue, use the tools provided :)

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This is about the provided tools not working as they are described. Thanks for participating though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MageBlack

Its at the top of the dev tracking....

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That is in regards to an issue with a separate targeting mechanic.

Well, I am glad that 2.1 will fix this issue. There is no point in targeting something thats out of range of your attacks

I have no issues with the current tab targeting.

Only option I would like tab all objects, not just enemies.

or an option Weapon away all objects weapon out enemies

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Originally Posted by McStagger

This is about the provided tools not working as they are described. Thanks for participating though.

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Never had an issue since day one.

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Originally Posted by Rhas

Never had an issue since day one.

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Go into the game and tab through targets that are on screen. It does not tab through nearest to farthest. It is blatantly obvious. Also, there is no reason something like this would work one way for one user and different for another since it has to do with how it is coded in game.

My observations (since beta, it might have changed):

• Once target nametag becomes clickable (visible), it is appended into a list of targets for you
• TAB will only target nearest if you have no target
• If you have a target, TAB will target the "next in the list" according to the said list above

I was going to test it's relationship to the letter-designations but thought they'd "fix" this so never really tested it.

Targeting in FFXI was perfect. There is also no way I can make it work like it did there. TAB just targeted everything. Players, monsters, doors, whatever. Yet always flawlessly picked the target I wanted. I don't even know how... You can't even assign one key to target everything in this game. I have like one key for monsters, one key for NPC's, I use a mouse to target players... uuuugh. It was so so flawless in FFXI. ; ; Some things would be worth to move over from that game. Heh. ^_^

Best example to see how messed up is use target forward/backward to mark the enemy's in an instance, it works flawlessly sometimes and others you get the closest and one way on the other side of the room.

i agree with this post. Too many times running AK and I'm fighting gargoyles in the room right before the Demon Wall Tab Targeting goes full retard and starts targeting the mobs behind the gargoyles even the Dullahan in the very back before it gets to the targets right in front of me. Very frustrating. For people that use the Numb-lock keys please explain what MMO has ever used those keys for a target system where tab targeting was so horrendous?

Totally right OP.

Targeting is messed up, infact it targets a mob in the back of the room before it targeted one which was right infront of me....

Needs fixing and should have been done by now, it's been over 3 months and still nothing.

I don't get it. Why does SE love to complicate things?

The targeting system in FFXI was crisp and perfect after all the work they put into it.

Why didn't they use that same system here?

SE please have someone check your targeting system and he will let you know that it's clearly not working properly.

Thanks

Is this going to be fixed? Setting up tab to target closest doesn't always work. It targets mobs far away, practically every time.

I've set up filters, when my weapon is drawn, it targets enemies, and manually setup filters for Party, Enemies, Agro, etc.
It doesn't matter if I default it, it will target mobs far away.

This is really frustrating, and game breaking to me.

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Originally Posted by actionjackson83

Damn right, second and thirded! Makes tanking that much easier in all the chaos of add management as well. It was perfect in FFXI I don't understand why it's so damn bad in this game.

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Of all the things they've copied and continue to copy from FFXI it amazes me that they haven't managed to copy any of the stuff that actually worked in FFXI. I realize that's a bit hyperbolic but for the most part it's true.

It's been that way since 1.0, you'd think they would have done something about it after all this time, it was reported back then and even reported again during ARR's beta but nope, still same old bad targeting system.

Yeah... the tab-targeting... Most times I find it more convenient to just click on the target I want to attack. *facepalm*

To be honest I wish there was a bit more control options when it comes to everything in general for both
Playstation AND PC users. I don't like having to select a button when I target someone to heal them on PS for instance
I don't want a macro either, thats too many macros. I just wanna press my d-pad and heal. Done.

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Originally Posted by McStagger

The TAB targeting (closest to farthest and farthest to closest) is not working correctly.

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It works
Bu it is not nearest/farthest to your character, but nearest/farthest to the screen center (like it was during 1.0)

Personally I just rotate the screen so the monster/s I want to tab through get selected. It tabs between all visible (and not blocked) on your screen. Never had an issue targeting anything with tab. *shrug* Never had any issues. Maybe its just my playstyle. *shrug*

Yes tab targeting, I love targeting the enemies that arn't attacking me and are halfway across the zone instead of the one that is currently mauling my face.

If there's one thing I miss from FFXI and WoW, it's proper tab targeting.

My post was supposedly deleted for "innapropriate language" but my content still stands; the tab targeting in this game is probably the worst I've seen in the MMOs I've played. It would be nice if there was a way for the devs to go back to FFXI and see what they did to make that tab targeting work so well, and adjust FFXIV's targeting accordingly. It's not right that people should have to do little cheats in how they frame their camera in order to essentially trick the tab-target into targeting what they want... rather that targeting it correctly in the first place.

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Originally Posted by Uielyave

Yes tab targeting, I love targeting the enemies that arn't attacking me and are halfway across the zone instead of the one that is currently mauling my face.

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There is a keybind for targeting the enemy attacking you. I use that in addition to tab targetting. I also have a keybind for my pet, and I use the F1 thru F8 for my allies. I have tab and ~ set for cycling thru near to far and far to near.

But the definition of near and far is kind of unclear and seems to inconsistent at times.

I never ever use tab. It's useless. Instead I use the numpad, or one of my assigned hotkeys for 'closest enemy' 'attacking enemy' or 'target of my target'.

I just click on them (either through the list or directly on the mob) since the system is such garbage.

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Originally Posted by Uielyave

Yes tab targeting, I love targeting the enemies that arn't attacking me and are halfway across the zone instead of the one that is currently mauling my face.

If there's one thing I miss from FFXI and WoW, it's proper tab targeting.

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Set a keybind for select closest monster. Shrugs. I set that to my middle mouse button ;)