It's been funny but enough is enough

[SylvAlternate]

1 - There are better tab targetting systems in other games. Some even made by SE (Kingdom Hearts'). Maybe start there.
2 - Cone priority completely goes out the window if the opponent strafes to the side, out of the cone. From personal experience playing cone tab targetting, it's not much better. Better for dungeons, maybe, still not the best for PvP whatsoever.
3 - Given how you've basically been denying the problem and shutting down feedback about it whenever people point out stuff at you, I very much doubt whatever solution I present will so much as even be considered. It'd be absolutely futile.

how am I denying the problem when I barely know what it is? the only answers I've gotten have been "it's bad" "people strafing around can break it" and "it doesn't work well in this niche scenario", and the only fixes I've seen are "other games have better tab targetting"

I'm sure people have had problems with the tab targetting but, again, I don't know how they could change it to fix it

[Midareyukki]

how am I denying the problem when I barely know what it is? the only answers I've gotten have been "it's bad" "people strafing around can break it" and "it doesn't work well in this niche scenario", and the only fixes I've seen are "other games have better tab targetting"

I'm sure people have had problems with the tab targetting but, again, I don't know how they could change it to fix it

People also told you before that it doesn't operate as well as it should. It often selects people at random, outright skips people and randomly targets people off in the distance despite me being in front of a guy. I even said so as much!

Ok cool, but what if the guy in front of me is a PLD I should ignore and I'm better off killing the melee hopping around and going all around me? Because sure, I can cycle... through the entire peanut gallery behind him just to get to him. And reliably hitting him with my mouse is a challenge on its own because the guy's just hopping around. Especially in team fights where it's a hectic as all hell mosh pit.

This happens. Even in the Cone targetting.

Also, it doesn't cycle well at all Other games are far more predictive whereas FF14 needs a very specific scenario for the targetting to cycle through things. And to top it off? If it cycles through targets that are movement, it will re-select people and mobs you've already skipped. That's my bane as a healer applying DoTs as I move with the tank.

Cone helps to only a certain extent because it does narrow the space Tab Targetting will operate on, thus having a better chance to do what it's intended. BUT it's still not good at all, because not only can people move away from the targetting area, its cycling can get quite random.

Maybe you've had pleasant experiences with tab targetting, and I won't deny I have had as well. But I do notice it. Both in mob pulls and especially in PvP.

The issue with it is that it makes it unreliable and unintuitive. Because even when you have a solid grasp of how it works, it can still operate randomly. I think I have a solid grasp of how it works, particularly in PvP. It's why I need to be extra careful with how I position myself and the camera angle for it to go where I want it to and minimze the margin of error. And the issue is that this isn't so pronounced in other games.

Edit: To better illustrate my point...

Forgive the botchy Paint job. Graphics design is my passion /s

Sometimes. At least often enough for me to notice. Tab targetting cycles through things like they're on a straight line rather than via proximity. If sufficiently far apart, it can completely skip over the people around you and go straight for the one girlie in the distance as a Bard. Which can get quite awkward.

Then you have the cone version. It does force it to be more selective and go for the people in front of you, but if that person steps outside its area, it won't select them. And in PVP this is absolutely horrid :x it can legit spell death for you.

Don't ask me why it happens. But it is an infuriating aspect of PvP that forces me to play around with the camera due to how unintuitive it is. I don't have this problem half as pronounced in other games where tab targetting exists.

[Shurrikhan]

how am I denying the problem when I barely know what it is? the only answers I've gotten have been "it's bad" "people strafing around can break it" and "it doesn't work well in this niche scenario", and the only fixes I've seen are "other games have better tab targeting"

How is "any among the available targets crosses angular positions" niche? It happens very frequently in any content where your targeting really matters (due to conal and linear AoEs, positionals, PvP, crowding among diverse mob collision box sizes while the tank is moving out of AoEs, etc).

If the existence of such situations would surprise you, I have to assume you simply don't often play content where your ability to cycle targets well would matters -- i.e., caster/healer PvE combat and/or using primarily a discrete target closest enemy button only (nothing with both a linear/conal and target-radial AoE -- DNC not BRD, so to speak) or just soak up the losses without caring. Maybe blindfiring into a crowd or using only mouse for target selection during Frontlines will mostly get you around it, but the problematic situations aren't "niche".

I'm sure people have had problems with the tab targetting but, again, I don't know how they could change it to fix it

A sensible cycling structure, which usually requires at least a slightly more sophisticated script that accommodates things like contextual/relative range filtration (to prevent jumping to an out-of-range unit when cycling left-to-right), minimum place-holding periods/ranges (to prevent cycle-long skip-overs), and a better depth-vs.-angle formula (ideally, a job- and engagement-contextual one).

[Kozh]

I don't know how they could change it to fix it

Lucky for you it's their job to figure it out.

I mean if we tried giving solutions, from experience there will be at least one person who goes "easy for you to say, you're not the developer". So why don't let the devs figure it out by themselves?