Need some help with targeting mechanics (PC)

Hi guys,

Having some trouble with targeting in this game, especially when there are a lot of mobs (ie. FATEs)

I'm playing as a Lancer, so a lot of my damage is dependent on being able to properly target enemies. Here are the problems I am having:
- Tab targeting is not accurate enough, I sometimes end up targeting some enemy like 20 feet away. Especially in FATEs where currently there's always a huge amount of people doing them, and I'm trying to at least get some hits in, so I can get my due of rewards.
- Mouse targeting does not seem efficient either, I usually end up clicking some other character instead of a monster.
- Ctrl + Tab targeting is supposed to target the nearest monster to you, but in events like FATEs where I have to press it every few seconds, I find the position to be quite awkward.

Thanks for any help.

I'm in the same boat as you, except I'm a caster. I just made a thread about it actually. In the Keybind menu it says Tab is supposed to cycle through nearest to farthest, but it definitely doesn't. I've had it target an enemy well out of range instead of an enemy within a few steps, directly in the middle of the screen. I don't know why they have such a hard time making a good targeting system in this game, its the first MMO I've seen that doesn't have it working properly.

As a melee DPS you have a few options though. F11 targets the closest enemy, but doesn't cycle. You could rebind it if you want. The easiest option though would probably be to use a controller/gamepad. I believe you can just walk up to your target and press X (or A on an xbox controller) and it selects what ever is in front of you.

If anyone has a way to fix the targeting without needing a button to cycle left, and a button to cycle right please PLEASE tell me.

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Originally Posted by peaches

Snip /1000charlimit

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Nice to see I'm not the only one having trouble with this.

I'll give F11 a go, and maybe rebind it to Tab instead, since I'm quite used to Tab targeting. It's alright if it doesn't cycle, since I'm kinda meant to focus on one target at a time anyway. In the case of FATEs, the enemy would be dead before I'd switch my target.

And dammit, 1000 characters limit? First forums I've seen with a max character limit, others I've used just have a 10 characters minimum limitation.

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Originally Posted by juniglee

Nice to see I'm not the only one having trouble with this.

I'll give F11 a go, and maybe rebind it to Tab instead, since I'm quite used to Tab targeting. It's alright if it doesn't cycle, since I'm kinda meant to focus on one target at a time anyway. In the case of FATEs, the enemy would be dead before I'd switch my target.

And dammit, 1000 characters limit? First forums I've seen with a max character limit, others I've used just have a 10 characters minimum limitation.

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Yea its a solution for melee characters at least I suppose, until something gets fixed.

On a side note, there is a way to get around the 1000 character limit. You just have to cut out the text that goes over the 1000 limit, then hit edit, and paste in the rest of it. Strange that it works that way, and these forum limitations are... strange and annoying.

I thought there was a keybind for selecting the closest single mob? We'll have to double check that when the servers are back up, if there is you may want to just use that option instead of Tabing through the crowd.
Hopefully it is there!

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Originally Posted by Ichirai

I thought there was a keybind for selecting the closest single mob? We'll have to double check that when the servers are back up, if there is you may want to just use that option instead of Tabing through the crowd.
Hopefully it is there!

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Yeah, I've been told by my FC that it's Ctrl + Tab on PC. peaches above mentions it's F11. Gonna give it a go once I get home later.

I just read somewhere that the default setting for tab is wrong and it defaults to Furthers-Nearest cycling rather than Nearest to Furthest...

Would be interesting to check out if they are correct and all we have to do is change the default..

I canot find anything about ctrl-tab on google search but it may be the case.. lots of things say F11 - so this could be rebound to anything inclyuding a mouise button that you don't use??

If you take the defaults and have no current target, it should be Tab for near-to-far, Shift+Tab for far-to-near, and F11 for the nearest enemy. You could alternate bind or rebind R to nearest enemy since the key is naturally close to the movement keys and there's a mouse button for auto-run.

As Conjurer i asked the same question on a facebook group 'FFXI to FFXIV' but that didn't give me a solution.
My problem is/was that i can't select people from a distance in in FATE's to cure them. The TAB-key just cycle through all enemies and skip all players and npcs. At first i used my mouse by clicking each person with low hp but since no one stand still like they used to do in FFXI it's an impossible mission.
It's to bad the game is in a maintenance so can't really tell atm what i did but i have made a change in the hotkey tab to select the person in front of me with using one of the two extra mouse buttons on my mouse. This works pretty well although you can't stand still and have to run right in the battle everytime. This makes healing a challenge so its fun but the chance you die is also somewhat bigger. :P

The solution is to use macro. Press Esc, then select Macro

One of the default macro (the 4th or 5th one, I cant remember, its name should say Target nearest monster or something)
It should have 3 lines. One of the line is just a text command to shout out. Remove that one.
Then choose an icon for it if you want. Then drag it to ur skill bar. Each time you press that skill, it will target the nearest enemy and start attacking.

It's maintenance so I cant check the details.


@Wobbybob: usually the one that needs healing is the monster's target. So if you look at the monster's health bar above, on its right is its target, just click on the name to target that person to heal

I have the same problem with FATEs too, except when I try to click on players to heal :(. It is hard to see all the player HP bars sometimes.

Another thing that would have been viable is if you noticed, whenever monsters target your character, or you struck them once, their name and health bar appears like a list on the left hand side. If you click that, you can target them too.

Unfortunately, it looks like you have to either hit the monster once, or it has to target you in battle, making this not really a viable option.

in FATES do healers get cred for healing players in the battle?
single mob fates are easy because you can just heal whoever the mob has targeted..
there is a targetting filter so you can filter out targeting NPCs, enemies or players etc.. i haven't used it but in theory you can turn it on and off quickly and click and only selct the player even if they are surrounded by MOBs...Also if healer doesn't get any FATE cred for healing the tanks,. then healer should be NUKING!! :P

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Originally Posted by dan9khoa

@Wobbybob: usually the one that needs healing is the monster's target. So if you look at the monster's health bar above, on its right is its target, just click on the name to target that person to heal

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If you're targeting to heal, you could macro that too and save some clicks:
1. Target an enemy (that has a player/NPC targeted)
2. Execute /ac "Cure" <tt>

Sorry. I just checked again. There's no default macro for target nearest.
Make one using this:
/targetenemy
/facetarget
/action Auto-attack <t>

A lot of targeting issues stem from the player not being told that it's not only proximity you have to worry about.

Proximity is actually about 20% of what I will call the "targeting mechanic."

For more accurate targeting, don't use the camera, use your character.

Your character will target the closest thing that he PERSONALLY witnesses. If you play in first person mode for a while you will understand immediately how this functions on a practical level.

Target is based on your CHARACTER'S field of vision, not the player's.

For example. That Ladybug that's scuttling right next to you? Doesn't exist to your character if he's not actually facing it. Your camera could be pointed directly at it. But if your character isn't LOOKING in its direction, he will target that Cactuar 10 miles across the desert first. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do it will eventually become second nature to you.

I hope this helped.

^if you use the target nearest macro, it will target the nearest regardless of where you're facing. It also makes your character turn around to face that enemy

True enough. But that doesn't answer the WHY of targeting. Knowing why your character behaves a certain way is important.