Why mark targets?

[Vanifae]

I'm a lazy tank, I have a macro that marks the kill target and throws Tomahawk. I then might use it again if I want to control the flow of DPS I find this is much smoother then not marking. I don't do more than a single mark but it lets the others know what i will be focusing my enmity on. This also helps for CC if they so choose as they can predict where I will be placing the majority of my attacks.

[Dels]

Yuri, you are forgetting one very important thing that can make marking targets (and focusing on one target at a time) better.

If there are 4+ trash mobs alive during the pull, the healer has to be continiously healing the tank.
If there are 3 trash mobs alive, the healer mostly has to heal, but can throw up an aero or bio.
If there are only 2 trash mobs alive, the healer only needs to throw out a heal every 2 or 3 global cooldowns.
If there is only 1 mob left, the healer does not need to heal at all anymore, and they can use all their DoTs and some ruins or throw out multiple stones on the last enemy standing.

Therefore, killing things in order, while, giving a slight loss of DPS from certain classes not using their DoTs, gives the healer more of a chance to attack things, which will easily make up for the DPS you missed out on.

Of course, this relies on your healer being good, not one of the lazy kind that just stands around and does nothing between heals.

[LunarEmerald]

Only bad dps need to have trash order marked. It's not hard to watch the health bars.

[FurryFury]

I mark with [2] and [3] only before hard pulls with random group (i.e. roulette), such as 3 Aevises in Stone Vigil.
Other than that, macroed [1]+Shield Lob is sufficient, tank can just switch mark when needed.

[SpecialKK]

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).

SNIPPED

As a full 90 DRG, most mobs when single targeted die quickly on dungeons. Since my dots won't reach its full effect by focusing on single-target, its a waste to include them on my single-target rotation. What I do instead is do Impulse Drive -> Disembowel on my main target, but then drop Chaos Trust DOT on a 2nd target. I believe this is what you're referring to.

That said, isn't this more reason to use Marks than not? If you are pulling 3-4 mobs at once and your party is out-leveling the mobs, then you Mark the following:

Mark 1 - Single target
Mark 2 - DoTs
Mark 3 - Next target

By the time the DPS finishes 1, then #2 should be pretty much dead from the DoTs. DPS then finishes it up and drops the next set of DoT on the 4th mob, while proceeding to Single-target Mark #3.

The fact is, using marks can only help your group be more organized and takes away the guessing game from the DPS on which mob the tank is building hate first. There really is no reason not to use it.

[SummonerSenah]

If you get a few runs where DPS don't follow marks, that shouldn't discourage you from ever using them. I think most DPS (and healers) appreciate when tanks mark.

[Valkoria]

Dang, didn't realize marking was so difficult. I have marks 1-5 on a disabled hotbar hotkeyd to alt 1-5 takes and me a second to mark whatever targets. Whats the big deal? I mean, honestly it doesn't really matter anyways I guess, no reason to rant on the forums about. You could be spending all this energy marking right now!

[wannabesuperman]

As a BRD, I love to see marked targets. It's very comforting to be able to plan ahead, but most of the time we can power through stuff without it.

However, in DF Roulette, it becomes more important because there are more inexperienced players who need to know what is expected of them, and usually a nervous player makes more mistakes than a confident one.

[Shneibel]

you can just mark it : First mob (no mark = assist) and then 2-3-4-last mob
the mark make it easy for DD to do combo

[Remn]

If I ever mark mob at all, I only mark "1" on my current target and change my mark when mob nearly dead. imho, end game tank, marking is useless and not really prefer, since it better off to have your DPS and healer spaming AoE. (espcially SMN and BLM, a non-lazy healer will usually throw in aoe as well)