People who ask for marks in DF

[SirTaint]

Is it necessary to mark 1,2,3 or is "follow the X" just as effective?

Would this be a good macro?

/ac "fast blade" <t>
/marking off <t>
/marking "Cross" <t>

[Rydiah]

I can't speak for PC players, but on PS3 the time taken to mark is a burden sometimes, so I made a super simple macro of:

/marking off <t>
/marking "Cross" <t>

That just strips the current mark off the mob, and marks it with a cross. I tell my dps: Just follow the X! I just keep the target I want DPS on marked, and switch it to the next mob until there is only one left. I find marking 1, 2, 3 is fine, but if I want to change the strategy mid-fight I can't, or have to go through extra xhotbars to accomplish what I want.

I play on PC, but I totally believe you about marking on the PS3. I have played on the PS3 and I think its difficult, probably because I'm just not used to it!

[Vmage]

Firstly, not all DPS-classes shine at AOE... and not all monsters are easier/faster to kill with AOE

neither of those things are true

bare minimum, every class should be putting dots on all targets before focusing on a single enemy - everyone has DoTs whose total potency dwarfs their single target abilities

ideally every class uses their AoE abilities, because every single class has them - that whm in AK should be dropping holy on trash packs, the scholar/summoner should bane their dots around, the drg should be using doomspike, the monk even has rockbreaker to throw out rather than snap punch, black mages should be using fire 2/blizzard 2, bards should be using wide volley

literally every class has AoE skills that are orders of magnitude more dps than their single target abilities, and they all have dots which again, much better than their basic single target attacks

the only only only arguement against AoE'ing things is that TP classes might run out, but assuming you're hitting more than 2 mobs with your aoe, it's still a better damage:tp ratio to use AoE attacks and run yourself dry than focusing one mob at a time - so I'll concede that a pull with only 2 targets it's not better to AoE them - although it's still better to apply DoTs to both targets

[Caraway]

neither of those things are true

bare minimum, every class should be putting dots on all targets before focusing on a single enemy - everyone has DoTs whose total potency dwarfs their single target abilities

ideally every class uses their AoE abilities, because every single class has them - that whm in AK should be dropping holy on trash packs, the scholar/summoner should bane their dots around, the drg should be using doomspike, the monk even has rockbreaker to throw out rather than snap punch, black mages should be using fire 2/blizzard 2, bards should be using wide volley

literally every class has AoE skills that are orders of magnitude more dps than their single target abilities, and they all have dots which again, much better than their basic single target attacks

the only only only arguement against AoE'ing things is that TP classes might run out, but assuming you're hitting more than 2 mobs with your aoe, it's still a better damage:tp ratio to use AoE attacks and run yourself dry than focusing one mob at a time - so I'll concede that a pull with only 2 targets it's not better to AoE them - although it's still better to apply DoTs to both targets

The main issue with AE spamming mobs in dungeons is one someone a page earlier indicated where the total amount of time having all of those mobs pounding on the tank equates to a much higher damage received than if you were to focus fire down individual mobs.

That said, when you've overgeared content that becomes less and less important but if you're going into new content you should always be focus firing and using crowd control to limit the number of mobs attacking the tank so your healer isn't overtaxed. And marking helps co-ordinate this.

I always make an attempt to mark when I'm tanking as it gives direction (I leave CC marks up to whomever is putting a mob to sleep or whatever).

That said, it does help to drop DoTs on as many targets as you can before focusing on the main one as this will help speed everything up (with the exception of any CC marked mobs of course).

[silentwindfr]

only one setup allows to do full aoe

WAR+SCH+SMN+SMN, there yes you will go faster at kill in AoE

[Vmage]

only any setup allows to do full aoe

WAR/competent PLD+SCH/WHM that uses holy+SMN/literally any dd that can find their tab button+SMN/literally any dd that can find their tab button, there yes you will go faster at kill in AoE

fixed that for you

yes, war is absolutely easier to multi-tank with, and i don't doubt that 99%+ of the paladin population of this game can't figure out how to hold multiple mobs, but some of us can

yes, scholar dots are insane, so is shadow flare, but holy spam is pretty ridiculous DPS (not to mention it's an aoe stun - dropping the healing requirement from lots to zero

sure, summoner dots are also insane, but with a full party and everyone aoe'ing, you'll find that most trash packs are dead before dots have even ticked through half their duration (usually only happens when you have a whm aoe'ing with you, holy is usable outside of dark devices people!)

healing admittedly can be an issue on the bigger pulls (personally if I was a warrior I wouldn't try dropping 3 gargoyle packs at once like I would with a paladin - but that has nothing to do with overgearing and everything to do with paladin timers, specifically hallowed ground) but the quicker things die means less total healing, aoe'ing just requires the healer to use more cure2/adloquium and less cure1/physick - hps is important when trying to do things quickly, assuming your healer is aware of this those aoe pulls won't be an issue regardless of gear

[Prototype79L]

I can't speak for PC players, but on PS3 the time taken to mark is a burden sometimes, so I made a super simple macro of:

/marking off <t>
/marking "Cross" <t>

That just strips the current mark off the mob, and marks it with a cross. I tell my dps: Just follow the X! I just keep the target I want DPS on marked, and switch it to the next mob until there is only one left. I find marking 1, 2, 3 is fine, but if I want to change the strategy mid-fight I can't, or have to go through extra xhotbars to accomplish what I want.

You can put mark signs onto your hotbar, so marking is just as simple like using any other skill. There is no need to macro, marking one enemy is enough, so one sign is enough on your hotbar.

[Sipherous]

You don't mark... and you realize how much TP a DPS party can burn through just mass AOEing... Im sry I don't agree with your strategy at all. As A tank I always mark needed or not, a focused burn is plenty fast than AOE spam simply cause focus attacks do more dmg. not only that if something goes wrong you can control fights properly, flash is pretty much useless after 15sec in an AOE fight cause it has such a small agro gain. Also by marking your directing your team and showing them kill orders and target ignores. Don't assume everyone can paly as well as you especially in Duty Finder, your just going to have a bad time.

[Thunderz]

marking is hard guys

its so hard

[dark494]

Seriously, it takes leveling a tank job and a heal job to 50 until you finally understand how marking works. They really should make marking simpler for other players, it's very stressful.