Why mark targets?

[YuriRamona]

Am I missing something here? Going through Roulette, I've encountered many DPS who become very frustrated when I don't mark targets. This is especially annoying when they don't use AoE when we pull 3 or more targets, and focus down one at a time (subsequently risking pulling enmity).

Damage over time abilities (e.g. Fracture, Touch of Death, Venomous Bite) yield superior DPS, so it's ideal to apply every available DoT to every enemy (unless you're using AoE), at least once at the start of each pull. Marking targets and using only single-target combos yields inferior damage.

Of course, as the pull progresses, re-applying the DoTs may not always be the best idea (since DoTs usually take between 9-18 seconds to achieve efficiency).

This is especially true when we are level synced down to a dungeon that locks out the 3rd weaponskill in the combo (bringing the single-target rotation from average 210 DPS to about 170 DPS).

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Let's use BRD and DRG as case studies.

BRD options:
Heavy (150) + bonus critical chance for Straight Shot = about 180 potency
Venomous Bite = 100 initial potency + (35 x 6 [ticks over 18 seconds]) = 305 potency
Windbite = 60 initial potency + (45 x 6 [ticks over 18 seconds]) = 330 potency

DRG options:
True (150) + Vorpal (200) + Full (330) = average 226 potency
Phlebotomize: 170 initial + (25 x 6 [ticks over 18 seconds]) = 330 potency

Damage over time is simply better damage per global cooldown.

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I've only encountered a handful of DPS who will follow my suggestion when I ask that they apply DoTs to secondary targets.

The only exceptions to this that I can see are:

• The healer may fail to keep up with cures
• The tank is undergeared, inexperienced, or not dodging red-AoE attacks
• You're in a party with two melee and it's imperative to reduce the amount of dodging that needs to occur so that enemies stand still.

Has anyone else dealt with this before? What's the most effective way to get DPS to play their role to fit this style?

[baopee]

because people do not know how to read these

[Bridgeburner]

because people do not know how to read these

Because those aren't readable without manually clicking off to every target, which interferes with the ability to deliver skills on GCD to your primary target.

Also, your second graphic is actually showing the health bars of the enemies remaining on the field - not the threat. In the pic:

Top Shade Seeker is T; full health, full bar
Middle Shade Seeker is R; partial health gone, partial bar, to scale.
Bottom Shade SEeker is Q; full health, full bar
Clam is S; partial health, partial bar, to scale.

People like marks because many tanks don't Flash regularly enough to keep AOE threat established. No good DPS wants to overrun the tank.

[Daenerys_Sedai]

I am only 46 PLD, but most of my exp comes from dungeons and guildhests (I do FATES while waiting in queue for stuff (not dungeons but guildhests :P)).

I understand that it's good to spread the DoTs and get them marked up. I've got a 50 BRD and having more chances to proc Bloodletter, all the better.
However, marking is good because it gives DPS a focus and better for your own survivability. 1 mob at 10% health is going to do the same amount of damage as it would at 90% health, so it's better to go through one at a time (if you're not doing SRs and have AoE out the wazoo). You can also think of it from a PvP perspective. Which is more effective? focusing down 1 player or man-to-man?

[SpookyGhost]

Play Monk and then see if your opinion stays the same.

[Bridgeburner]

Has anyone else dealt with this before? What's the most effective way to get DPS to play their role to fit this style?

When I tank, I simply tell the DPS that I'm cool with them going nuts on AOE and I let nature take its course.

I mark to show the order I'm going to be dumping the majority of my Halone combos in. I Flash and Circle regularly to keep AOE threat. People apply dots as appropriate; single-target DPS focus marked targets; we all go home happy.

[CyanDvai]

Also, your second graphic is actually showing the health bars of the enemies remaining on the field - not the threat. In the pic:

The health bar of the mobs in the pack is also a good indicator of which mob is being focused on, if you're on a mob with most of it's health and you see one whose health is draining faster, most likely all the other people in your group are attacking that one and you may want to consider switching.

[Traek]

Just mark mobs, stop being lazy. Put up a 1 at the very least (you can even be lazy and macro this to shield lob).

[Langureion]

Has anyone else dealt with this before? What's the most effective way to get DPS to play their role to fit this style?

Attack the marked target, it's that simple, even cave man can do it, trust me, not hard.

[YuriRamona]

However, marking is good because it gives DPS a focus and better for your own survivability. 1 mob at 10% health is going to do the same amount of damage as it would at 90% health, so it's better to go through one at a time (if you're not doing SRs and have AoE out the wazoo).

Well, obviously if you're at risk of dying then you should be doing a lot of things differently, including marking targets. However, every dungeon (with a few exceptions) is tuned so that the tank takes fairly minimal damage from enemy auto-attacks. The healer usually gets 8-12 seconds before a tank hits half HP, on average, by my estimation. Again, clearly if the tank fails to dodge, is undergeared, or inexperienced, my opinion doesn't apply.

Play Monk and then see if your opinion stays the same.

I don't see how it's all that different for Monk. Of course, you want to build Greased Lightning before using DoTs, but they have access to two DoTs that yield higher DPS than the standard combo, without risking losing GL stacks. Maybe I should have carved out an exception here since Monk's single-target damage without spread DoTs or AoE is about the same as another DPS class that spreads DoTs, so any extra damage is just icing on the cake.

Just mark mobs, stop being lazy. Put up a 1 at the very least (you can even be lazy and macro this to shield lob).

Attack the marked target, it's that simple, even cave man can do it, trust me, not hard.

This is the standard response I get when I tell people I will not mark targets and they should not focus down one target at a time and that they should try to use their DoTs. I've even explained how the maximizing of DoTs is superior damage and makes for a faster, easier run. Unless my fundamental understanding of numbers is wrong, marking and focusing one at a time is worse DPS.