AutoFace Target

Why does it matter if i am half a degree of arc away from facing my target directly?

During my first trip to Amdapor Keep (yes, i am a total and complete noob who just got to AK) i was advised to turn off the option to auto /facetarget in order to avoid falling off during the demon wall (which turned out not to be hard to avoid falling off even with autoface on). As tank, i discovered on the first group of mobs that i was unable to execute any weapon skills or even provoke any mobs. all that i could do was use flash, i wasn't even auto attacking. All of this, because i was slightly off of directly facing my target.

Perhaps i am ignorant of some method or setting that would allow me to still attack and use targeted abilities while not precisely facing my target. if so, please enlighten me.

Continued due to character limit
This is about as asinine as the UI for this game, which brings me to my second rambling complaint: Why, oh dear God, why is the escape key used for both unselecting targets/closing windows AND for bringing up the system menu? if i am jamming the escape key, it usually means that i am going from healing the tank to trying to eat a morbol fruit, NOT trying desperately to edit my user settings in the middle of a fight. This does not seem to be adjustable.

Yes, i do know that i am a noob and a failure at tanking, healing and DDing, i dont need you to tell me. I just want to know why the game mechanics are so aggravating. Was it decided that the way to add difficulty to the game was to make it so that you had a difficult time actually issuing commands to the game? like when you are staring face to face with someone and it tells you that they are not in line of sight, because your camera can not see their nameplate?

it's called re-enable auto face target. If it's a problem to turn with keyboard, you could consider using legacy input

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Originally Posted by yukikaze_yanagi

it's called re-enable auto face target. If it's a problem to turn with keyboard, you could consider using legacy input

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I am using legacy control type (camera based movement) and i have re-enabled the autofacing, my question was about why there is even an option if using it makes you unable to attack, cure or use any target based ability.

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Originally Posted by Huginn

Why does it matter if i am half a degree of arc away from facing my target directly?

During my first trip to Amdapor Keep (yes, i am a total and complete noob who just got to AK) i was advised to turn off the option to auto /facetarget in order to avoid falling off during the demon wall (which turned out not to be hard to avoid falling off even with autoface on). As tank, i discovered on the first group of mobs that i was unable to execute any weapon skills or even provoke any mobs. all that i could do was use flash, i wasn't even auto attacking. All of this, because i was slightly off of directly facing my target.

Perhaps i am ignorant of some method or setting that would allow me to still attack and use targeted abilities while not precisely facing my target. if so, please enlighten me.

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For the record, it doesn't matter what direction you face for Demon Wall, this is a fallacy stemming from people who apparently didn't study geometry in school. I am frequently facing bees when the wall casts repel, and the only direction I have ever been shunted is strait away from the center point of the wall. The closer you are to the wall, the more likely that the angle is acute enough to shunt you off.

You can be looking straight out into the abyss if you want to, as long as you are standing on a line directly down the center of the platform.

I still agree the auto facing is a bad mechanic. I have a few instant cast spells and I love cast them while running. Except lets say Ifrit is starting a plume and I click that instant cast. So instead of casting and running to safety I am now charging in to my death. Of course that means the best course is to unclick that auto facing... which means you cannot cast at all. Which in turn results in turning back on.

That brings us back to the point of the OP. Why have the feature to turn it off, when if you turn it off you are unable to do anything?

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Originally Posted by Aleksandr

I still agree the auto facing is a bad mechanic. I have a few instant cast spells and I love cast them while running. Except lets say Ifrit is starting a plume and I click that instant cast. So instead of casting and running to safety I am now charging in to my death. Of course that means the best course is to unclick that auto facing... which means you cannot cast at all. Which in turn results in turning back on.

That brings us back to the point of the OP. Why have the feature to turn it off, when if you turn it off you are unable to do anything?

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This is exactly how I feel about this. +1

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Originally Posted by Aleksandr

I still agree the auto facing is a bad mechanic. I have a few instant cast spells and I love cast them while running. Except lets say Ifrit is starting a plume and I click that instant cast. So instead of casting and running to safety I am now charging in to my death. Of course that means the best course is to unclick that auto facing... which means you cannot cast at all. Which in turn results in turning back on.

That brings us back to the point of the OP. Why have the feature to turn it off, when if you turn it off you are unable to do anything?

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Autoface + Legacy controls doesn't have this issue. I had the same problem on SCH when i first hit 50. Changed to legacy movement and not had a problem since.

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Originally Posted by Djeserit

Autoface + Legacy controls doesn't have this issue. I had the same problem on SCH when i first hit 50. Changed to legacy movement and not had a problem since.

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I've been using legacy controls since the start because i just can not stand the default and am too used to 1.0. I am just perplexed as to why this mechanic is in the game and why you have to /facetarget to do anything that is targeted. I can understand, for melee classes, needing to face the general direction of the target, but the idea that you can not reliably face the target as far as the game is concerned without using /facetarget for EVERY command is just silly. If i am within 45º of the target i think i should be able to execute a command or swing a weapon.

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Originally Posted by Aleksandr

I still agree the auto facing is a bad mechanic. I have a few instant cast spells and I love cast them while running. Except lets say Ifrit is starting a plume and I click that instant cast. So instead of casting and running to safety I am now charging in to my death. Of course that means the best course is to unclick that auto facing... which means you cannot cast at all. Which in turn results in turning back on.

That brings us back to the point of the OP. Why have the feature to turn it off, when if you turn it off you are unable to do anything?

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Turning on Legacy controls stops you charging at your target when you cast though.

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Originally Posted by Huginn

I've been using legacy controls since the start because i just can not stand the default and am too used to 1.0. I am just perplexed as to why this mechanic is in the game and why you have to /facetarget to do anything that is targeted. I can understand, for melee classes, needing to face the general direction of the target, but the idea that you can not reliably face the target as far as the game is concerned without using /facetarget for EVERY command is just silly. If i am within 45º of the target i think i should be able to execute a command or swing a weapon.

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I don't have this problem with face target.
maybe because I play with controller

I have to say I'm a little confused, as I don't have this problem either. I play with keyboard/mouse, and when on my archer I will often strafe kite mobs and still be able use my abilities with no problem, despite facing nearly 90 degrees away from the mob. Maybe it varies depending on the class?

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Originally Posted by Cikala

I have to say I'm a little confused, as I don't have this problem either. I play with keyboard/mouse, and when on my archer I will often strafe kite mobs and still be able use my abilities with no problem, despite facing nearly 90 degrees away from the mob. Maybe it varies depending on the class?

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It definitely does. I play my CNJ with my husband's ARC. While doing open world content (questing, FATE, etc), he will often kite emenies around, and if I'm in the middle of casting stone on one and he pulls it behind me, my casting will become interrupted. The only way to counteract this is to manually pivot while casting to make sure I'm facing the target at all times. It's very annoying.

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Originally Posted by Cikala

I have to say I'm a little confused, as I don't have this problem either. I play with keyboard/mouse, and when on my archer I will often strafe kite mobs and still be able use my abilities with no problem, despite facing nearly 90 degrees away from the mob. Maybe it varies depending on the class?

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I have done some testing and can confirm that it is only some classes that this affects. Archer can pull off any weapon skill they want, as well as SMN/SCH doing anything while running (so long as instant cast), but the non ranged melee classes seem to have this problem. I wonder if i should file a bug report or if this really is "working as intended."

It also appears that using a controller alleviates the problem in most cases as well.

The melee attack "cone" in front of your character is way too narrow, as OP said. Even slightly facing to the side and you can't attack.. Wouldn't hurt if the cone was around a 90 degree slice in front of you, instead of closer to the 30 degree area it is right now.

I'd love to keep Auto-Face on, if it didn't cause you to stop dead in your tracks when running and attacking moving targets whenever you use an ability, you have to mash your movement keys at the same time to make up for the stuttering stops between attacks.. only to keep getting the error message "need to face target", very annoying stuff.