Spells cast on you auto target the caster. Please disable this!

There's a strange behavior that's been around probably since release that I've never seen a use for. In fact, it actually causes me problems in battle, and it's bothered me enough now that I had to post this. When a mage casts a spell on you (Protect, Shell, Cure, anything directly targeting you) if you are not targeting anything at that time you will auto target the caster.

Seems pretty petty right? Well, not when you're in the middle of battle and switching between a mob after you've defeated one. You expect to be able to just auto target the next one (or use a key combo macro like I do with my gamepad for /targetnpc) but then you find your target doesn't change. Why? Because you're now stuck on the mage who cast Shock Spikes on you, and you have to hit the cancel button once or twice to get off that target and onto the mob.

I don't see any useful need for this feature. I don't need to know who cast a spell on me in my party, that's what the battle log is for. Please give us a way to disable this, or just get rid of it outright!

agreed!!! please fix this =D

It's actually from when they added the feature to target an enemy that hits you if you don't have anything else selected. That much, at least, is useful. Why they decided to include party members, I have no idea.

I also agree, this 'feature' has frustrated me to no end for quite some time now. If behests weren't so essential to leveling up I would probably avoid them all together because of this annoyance.

It is pretty annoying. I'm pretty sure this feature was in XI also. I like that I auto-target mobs attacking me, but not party members.

Same here. Plz give me an option to at least disable it.

Greetings, DoubleEcho!
Thank you for taking the time to post your concerns about auto-targetting the caster of magic when being casted on. In order to make that we conduct an investigation that is as thorough as possible, it would be a great help to us if you filled out as much information as you can provide in the following form:


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This is not exactly a bug and this problem arose after the November patch which added the feature of auto targeting monsters that use hostile actions on you while you do not have a set target. This should probably go under battle mechanics suggestions seeing as it is an unwanted side feature that has possible problems for future developments. If they are ever to release something which may have competitive claiming among players, this could potential interfere with others ability to target on spawn. A Disciple of Magic could easily toss a AoE cure on an opposing party to try and reduce the chances of a successful claim by forcing them to target him or her first. There is no /blockaid and anyone can preform an action on another to target a player instead of a monster. I also approve of this and would also see my action bar stop vanishing after every monster defeat. Sometimes a player needs to fight continuously and things like this only make it harder. Getting hit by a cure when a monster just died makes a player target the healer and is annoying when something is still hitting me.

OK here you go!

Thread Title:
Spells cast on you auto target the caster needlessly

Platform:
Windows 7 x64

ISP:
Time Warner Cable

Type of Internet Connection:
Cable Internet

Internet Connection Speed:
7mb advertised

Date & Time:
This occurs any time a caster class casts a spell on a player.

Frequency:
State how frequently the issue occurs. Please select from the following.
1.Always

Character Name:
Double Echo

Race:
Hyur Female

World:
Figaro

Class/Skill Rank:
Leatherworker 50

Physical Level:
50

Area and Coordinates:
Any area that allows casting spells. Causes problems especially in battle.

Party or Solo:
Party. This can also occur solo and could cause "griefing" by making someone unable to target a NPC/NM

NPC Name:
None

Monster Name:
None

In-Game Time:
It can occur at any time

Steps:
Detailed steps on how the issue occurred.

When a caster class casts a spell on you, whether you are in party or not, you will automatically target that player if you are not currently targeting anything else. For example, you are standing idle waiting for the Behest NPC to appear and not targeting anything. A member of your party casts Protect on all party members and you are now targeting that party member. You cancel the targeting, and they then cast Shock Spikes, which again targets that casting player.

A large problem with this would be "griefing" if you are awaiting a Notorious Monster to appear. Several people could target another player and cast spell after spell, requiring that person to continually cancel while another player pulls the NM. This could also be used to unfairly keep someone out of a behest if there were more players than the capacity near the NPC.

Please let me know if you require more information.

Greetings again, DoubleEcho!
Thank you for taking the time to fill out the report. It seems that you have provided sufficient information for the report, so I will make sure to submit your report to the development team for thorough investigation into this matter. I recommend checking on this thread for any information about the progress of the investigation. Thanks again for your report!

Greetings once more, DoubleEcho!
Thank you for your patience with waiting for a response. After thoroughly investigating your concern, the development team found that the casting is functioning properly, so I have made sure to move this thread from "In-Game Bugs" to "Battle Mechanics," so that your suggestions can be properly addressed. Thanks again for your patience!

It's a feature. Not a bug.
...now that sounds familiar.

Sure it's not a bug. But What for auto-target on PC? Only to do /bow or /thumbsup )))
We need auto-target only on NPC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Baccanale

Greetings once more, DoubleEcho!
Thank you for your patience with waiting for a response. After thoroughly investigating your concern, the development team found that the casting is functioning properly, so I have made sure to move this thread from "In-Game Bugs" to "Battle Mechanics," so that your suggestions can be properly addressed. Thanks again for your patience!

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Little bit confused at that... casting isn't the issue.
Even with "Enemy" only selected in the new targeting system, if a mage casts on the player (whether it is by single target or AoE) that party member then has them automatically highlighted as a target. If you have select targeting modes, one of which is "Enemy" it is not functioning as intended by selecting Party members. This has always annoyed me, even in FFXI, but to be honest I don't think this is something they are going to fix :(

Yea this isn't a bug as such, although the OP didn't really explain it very well.

When a monster hits you in this game you will automatically target it, which was part of the targeting update back in November (this is fine), the problem is that the same behaviour is used on friendly actions as well, such as if a mage casts protect or shell on you, you will automatically target them if you have nothing targeted.

There is no good reason why you would target them in this manner and it needs to be removed from the game, the targeting system is clunky enough without making it worse.

I noticed you can't cast a Cure spell on an undead enemy to kill it, because it won't even let you target the enemy with a 'friendly' spell.