Marking in level 50 dungeons

I was curious what other players think about the idea of marking in the higher level dungeons.

My own opinion is that it helps, just not in the same way as with lower level dungeons. When I'm tanking lower level dungeons, especially before getting Rage of Halone, I mark because it is a way of communicating which mobs I'll make sure to have top enmity on. My goal here is to have top enmity on all of them, of course, but it is necessary to invest a little more enmity in one above the others for obvious reasons.

In higher level dungeons, especially with a BLM in the party, the rationale must change a bit. It is important to spread enmity around to cover AoE damage, and so you really must invest more enmity in all targets (more flash/overpower). There is a little less utility to marking for that reason.

But....

....it isn't completely worthless. Some parties still have very potent single target players, and I still have very potent single-target enmity gathering skills. Most of the time, people attack the mob with the lowest HP, and that makes sense and can work perfectly well without marking.

I suppose what matters most is how comfortable you (as the tank) are with marking. I tend to do it as a force of habit, and it gives me the opportunity to think more ahead of time about what I'm going to do with each encounter. If you aren't used to it, it might just be a chore that isn't worth doing. I wouldn't expect any tank to mark, or think less of them if they don't.

One reason I bring it up is that some players seem to be annoyed at marking in 50+ dungeons. I'm not really trying to be bossy, and I realize it doesn't help as much as it did in <50 dungeons. But I still think it isn't completely useless. Thoughts?

The only time I mark enemies when I tank, is when I have a melee in my group. While he can AOE just as well as any other mage is DPS is far better on a single target. But most of the time I don't need to mark because they know what target to attack first. Most of the time...

How i mark

- Have BRD / BLM ? Don't mark.
- Have melees? Mark the mobs that need to go down(Some with annoying AoEs)

Thats about it really. I mean, some people get all pissy when i mark certain mobs, But why shouldn't i make clear that we have to kill this mob first so that he doesn't spawn or change into additional mob?
Just trying to make the ride as smooth as possible.

I as the pld realy only Mark the DPS focuses primarily in Qarn.

When people get to lv 50, they are expected to know their class thoroughly, not advanced stuff but the very basic stuff like watching out for aggro meter as DPS or switch between target and focus using Aggro combo on the ones that melee DPS is working on. I am not against the idea of marking in lv 50 Duns, it sure does make the life of everyone easier, however though, if you desperately need to or being asked to mark the mobs in lv 50 Duns, you or the requested ones still have a very very long long way to go.

And as for those who feel annoyed in marking in the lv 50 Duns,just ignore them. I found no reason or whatsoever to get upset by this unless of course, you are a potent, toxic player. In that case, you are totally worth of " You been ignored" ..

I always mark targets out of habit, unless it's a gigantic pull (e.g. speedruns). I don't expect everyone to follow the marks (good tanks must be able to hold hate no matter what the party does), but I think it's better if everyone knows the order in which the targets will be receiving an RoH-combo.

I mark for special occasions, here are a few examples.

Kill that mob due to mechanic XYZ.
Ignore that mob, it will disappear when Boss dies.
Focus this Boss.

Kick any dps giving grief, abandon if healer or tank gives grief :D
Hints and tips are not always grief, but feel free to treat them as such.

I always mark, but I watch for DDs who can't be arsed to target the marks.

Unfortunately, in high level dungeons, I often find myself forced to resort to cycling Fast Blade -> Riot Blade -> Flash over and over again, because the DDs can't be arsed to focus the same target. Since the patch, I also toss in a circle of scorn from time to time, as it now carries an enmity boost as well.

I'll mark ohko bees if I think my friends are getting a bit snoozy in a dungeon. :)

I only mark those mages who turn into dragons, or if people are being clueless.

I only mark if there are mobs that need to die asap and the dps proved to be clueless or new (second boss in Quarn HM the big add that covers or bees in Hullbreaker for example).

I think I'll start to mark more often in level 50 dungeons.
Most DPS don't have a clue of what enemy to target first and they almost never care about what the other DPS is targeting.
It leads to situations where all 3 enemies of a pull (or more) will remain alive until they're all close to death.

This is quite an issue because killing an enemy faster reduce the incoming damage quite drastically, sometimes allowing the healer to start toing DPS instead of constantly healing.
Also, it's quite annoying to see the DPS starting to engage an useless enemy while another one, with a bunch of annoying AoE, will remain untouched (I just had the example infront of me yesterday in Snowcloak where the DPS would both hit two spriggans but never hit the Ice bombo, causing multiples AoE during the fight, thus more positioning, thus lower overall DPS).

So, yeah... since most DPS completly turns off their brain when it comes to targeting, I'll probably mark more often.
This is really sad since they should have these reflexes by now... but for whatever reason, they asume that they're "too good" to care about that and "it's fine anyway, things still die".

To be honest, I think I saw smarter DPS, prioritizing targets in a better way, during low level dungeons than in 50 ones.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fyce

Most DPS don't have a clue of what enemy to target first and they almost never care about what the other DPS is targeting.
It leads to situations where all 3 enemies of a pull (or more) will remain alive until they're all close to death.

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It's frustrating as a DPS with some semblance of a clue, too. If there are no marks, I'll usually start with what the first thing the tank hits (except for those aevis transformation dudes), and then try to follow the tank and/or the majority of the damage. Sometimes that works out. Sometimes the other DPS starts on something else. Sometimes the tank lobs one mob, then focuses all their actual threat on another. Some groups kill stuff like bees first, some last. I try to make some kind of sense of it and go with the flow, but the flow with some groups is downright schizophrenic.

It's not the kind of difference that leads to a wipe. At worst, it's a temporary annoyance and a slightly slower run. Certainly nothing I'll ever complain about out loud. Marking is by no means necessary (unless someone's new and there are mobs with mechanics), but life is just a little more relaxed when it happens.

I really like marking my targets whether or not there is a BLM in my party. (: It still makes it easier to keep hate on all the mobs, at least in my opinion. (:

I rarely mark unless there is "special" reason for it. Sometimes there are mob stunning/paralyzing or doing annoying AoE so I mark them, but I don't expect people to stop doing AoE because there is marked one, just be sure that if you do something to single target hit that one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fyce

It leads to situations where all 3 enemies of a pull (or more) will remain alive until they're all close to death.

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Well basically with AoE dps that is the fastest way to do it. Healers dps is too low to make any difference againts BLM hitting 3 targets, but yeah pretty much all tanks know what you are talking about :)

Forget just "lvl 50 dungeons", it's largely unnecessary in any dungeon. Whichever tank you are, you should be generating aoe threat at the start of every pull. After a couple flashes/overpowers you can easily get an idea what mob dps are most keen on and focus on them as well.

If you're using a mouse that easily allows you to mark targets then just mark; it doesn't hurt anyone.

If not, then there really isn't a need to; everyone at this point should have an understanding of priority targets.

I mark something that needs to die with a 1, if they are not attacking it. Once its dead, they should attack the target with the lowest health. So at worst 1 target marked, at best none.

If the New to Dungeon message pops, I'll mark if things start getting dicey in ANY dungeon, no matter my class. However, some things I think players should mark automatically; just for ease later.
Ran a Thornmarch HM for the first time, had notes from vids for it, but ALL the dps were on their own targets with no priority and we ended up wiping. one of the Healers marked things second attempt and it was like a "lightbulb moment" for the whole group.

Reason I brought that up, sometimes marking "wakes" dps to paying attention.