What is target filtering/cycling?

[Pure-Wasabi]

These filters are not very useful to keyboard/mouse users unless you are a Tab user.

I have a bigger question: Why are summons and companions target-able in the first place? I could see this being relevant during PvP, but other than that we shouldn't be even able to select another player's summon or companion.

As a tank the few seconds you waste selecting the wrong target can mean your friend obtains too much hate and dies.
As a healer the few seconds wasted trying to hit the right party member can mean certain death for your friend.
As a damage dealer the few seconds wasted can mean you lose a substantial amount of dps time.

[Estellios]

You can heal and buff pets even if you aren't the owner, which can be useful on occasion.

They apparently changed it so that Pets are on lower priority than enemies which seems to be working for me so far, but for target cycling we really need a Pet checkbox or for them to be counted under Friendly or Allies.

[JohnJSal]

I hope im actually understanding u correctly (its late here) but what im saying is ppl ADD to the basic settings..like in my example so they can also tab/triggertarget to players when in battle. So jt isnt a filtering OUT ,its a filtering IN.

The filters in my settings have everything checked, yet it still doesn't target anything but enemies. I suppose it could only apply to a controller, but there are even more settings underneath these settings that are grayed out and have specific controller options, like the buttons on a controller. The settings that are available to me seem to apply to a keyboard setup, yet don't seem to work. Maybe it's more controller stuff.

[Bixby]

The filters in my settings have everything checked, yet it still doesn't target anything but enemies. I suppose it could only apply to a controller, but there are even more settings underneath these settings that are grayed out and have specific controller options, like the buttons on a controller. The settings that are available to me seem to apply to a keyboard setup, yet don't seem to work. Maybe it's more controller stuff.

There are keyboard bindings available that mimic a gamepad's targeting, and I'd imagine the filter settings apply to those keys. I believe it's numpad 4 and 6 by default. Note that these keys soft-target something (giving you the circle on the 3D model and allowing you to cast spells etc. on it, without making it your target), so to switch targets to something you select with these keys, you also need a confirm key bound (numpad 0 by default).

(All of this is gleaned from other threads I have a relatively certain memory of; no warranty supplied.)