What's with all these people single-targetting during big pulls in dungeons?

[Cold_Raven]

Might be stupid but I've always been told that it was more efficient to burn one mob at a time rather than using the AoEs that are pretty weak in this game so I'm confused ^^"

You're not stupid.

And there's just a 'break point' where AoE skills start doing more damage than single target skills.
Depending on the group and situation, that 'break point' is generally around 3 bad guys.

Therefore:

If there are 4 or more bad guys - Most efficient way to kill all baddies is to use AoE skills (make sure each skill hits every bad guy).
If there are 2 or less bad guys - Most efficient way to kill all baddies is to use single-target skills.

If there are 3 bad guys, it can be pretty close to even.
If you feel comfortable AoE-ing... then do that.
If you feel comfortable single-targeting... then do that.

These are rules of thumb.

There are specifics that can get interesting...
For one example: Sometimes there can be a large group of things, where 1 has more health and does more damage.
In this case it's generally best to AoE things down... but what if somehow we end up with the 1 more-health/more-damage bad guy closer to death while the others still have lots of health? And the tank is kind of dying? In this case... it would be best to single-target the 1 trouble-causing bad guy down, then go back to AoE skills to finish everything else off.

Other nuances become clearer as you play and get a feel for your class and each situation.


Have fun!