Why mark targets?

[BazFamrit]

Macroing mark with tomahawk/shield lob is a bad idea. Say you want to mark something else mid fight, you may have just wasted 120 tp. Might need that tp in long fights or to start the next set of adds quicker.

Honestly, most DPS should be capable of watching which mob you attacked first and burn it down first then go for lowest health. Meanwhile I'm securing hate on the other adds so said DPS can go all out on their next targets. I don't lose hate, one mob dies so the healer can throw out more DPS instead of spamming heals on me and the DPS can maximize their damage in any way they wish.

[Bixby]

I was looking for someone to explain toe me these numbers... what does they actually means

The numbers are the party members' place in the enmity list for the currently targeted enemy. A has aggro, 2 is #2 in enmity, etc.

and what does this have to do ?
is it a sequence of targets , and for others not to mark?

That's the enemy target list, and I think it's a beta screenshot, since the red dots aren't shaped like that anymore. It's a measure of enmity for everything you have any enmity on at all. Small green/blue dot means you're nowhere near taking enmity. Yellow triangle means you're getting closer. Orange triangle means you've almost got enmity. Big red dot means you have enmity.

[Thebob89]

Ok, I'm a healer main and I personally prefer targets to be marked. I've been with groups who have ran dungeons without marking and all and all things turned out fine butttt in my experience most dr groups are far to unorganized to just run threw, the damage ends up split between the mobs and the pull usualy ends up lasting longer than it would have taken to just mark the kill order. The tanks often lose their holds an I have to end up spamming massive cures all over the place. In a small mob it's not a problem, but it ends up taxing my mana pool and increases the risk of me pulling aggro off the tank. Not saying its wrong not to mark but it help when the buggers are to dead to deal damage...

[Jyoeru]

Macroing mark with tomahawk/shield lob is a bad idea. Say you want to mark something else mid fight, you may have just wasted 120 tp. Might need that tp in long fights or to start the next set of adds quicker.

Honestly, most DPS should be capable of watching which mob you attacked first and burn it down first then go for lowest health. Meanwhile I'm securing hate on the other adds so said DPS can go all out on their next targets. I don't lose hate, one mob dies so the healer can throw out more DPS instead of spamming heals on me and the DPS can maximize their damage in any way they wish.

You shouldn't have to mark something else mid-fight, and if you need to, then do a manual mark. Not a big deal. The tomahawk/shield mark macro is really only for the first pull. ALSO: If your GCD is activated, you can press the macro button, mark the target only, and not use the unnecessary ability. For example, a group spawns, run to them, target the mob you want focused, cast overpower, and during that 2.5sec GCD, hit your tomahawk/mark macro. Win. There are solutions to a lot of problems

[scootie12]

I haven't had time to read every reply, but to answer the OP, I mark targets when tanking in order to keep the attacks more organized.

I find, in general, parties like it when I mark because it allows us to down mobs faster. We'll all attack mark #1 while the BLM, for example, can cast sleep on the others and watch their timers if needed. Also, sometimes certain enemies take priority over others, so another good reason to mark.

I also always tell new players that I'll mark for them to make it easier.

Idk, since I just finished my PLD to 50, I feel I've gotten very nice comments from parties when I help with marking. Also, since I leveled DRG, BLM and WHM first, I think knowing those roles have me a very different look at tanking.

The one thing I don't do though is take forever to mark lol. I can mark and run at the same time :P

[Bridgeburner]

Honestly it's best not to read the replies, because the thread quickly devolved from "why should you mark", which was just a catchy title, to "all dps should dot absolutely everything all the time", which relies on some skewed math, the presumption that all targets dotted are going to survive for the entire duration of a dot, and other givens that don't reflect common dungeon conditions.

This thread is about ready to die. Marking is a good thing. Complaints about how DPS behave should go to the DPS forum, imo. =)

[BazFamrit]

You shouldn't have to mark something else mid-fight, and if you need to, then do a manual mark. Not a big deal. The tomahawk/shield mark macro is really only for the first pull. ALSO: If your GCD is activated, you can press the macro button, mark the target only, and not use the unnecessary ability. For example, a group spawns, run to them, target the mob you want focused, cast overpower, and during that 2.5sec GCD, hit your tomahawk/mark macro. Win. There are solutions to a lot of problems

Agreed. But marking is also a fix for the problem of bad DPS. Sometimes you have to mark mid fight for spawns if its a bomb for instance. The DPS should know to take it out first but sometimes they need a bit of guidance.

Like I said, DPS should be paying attention to which mob was attacked first and which has lowest HP and kill in that order. Its just common sense. So I refrain from marking unless its necessary.

[Jyoeru]

Agreed. But marking is also a fix for the problem of bad DPS. Sometimes you have to mark mid fight for spawns if its a bomb for instance. The DPS should know to take it out first but sometimes they need a bit of guidance.

Like I said, DPS should be paying attention to which mob was attacked first and which has lowest HP and kill in that order. Its just common sense. So I refrain from marking unless its necessary.

Perfect world scenario agreement between both of us. World not perfect. Macro automates the process so it causes you no real grief and basically puts all of the burden on the DPS. "I marked target, why were you attacking cat?" Good DPS will have target/target macros and will do things like target you and then get their target from your focus and so on. Most DPS not good. Tanks are better at their job when they are using the tools set out before them. I'd rather us have a good run because I took the extra steps to cover DPS derping than to lay back with nothing to do because everything ran perfectly. That's boring in my opinion

[Viridiana]

Honestly it's best not to read the replies, because the thread quickly devolved from "why should you mark", which was just a catchy title, to "all dps should dot absolutely everything all the time", which relies on some skewed math, the presumption that all targets dotted are going to survive for the entire duration of a dot, and other givens that don't reflect common dungeon conditions.

While I agree that the op's argument has almost nothing to do with his title, very few dots require their full duration in order to be efficient. Just throwing that out there.

[YuriRamona]

How hard is it to macro a marking icon to your pulling ability like tomahawk? Not very hard. The least you could do is make that macro so that people know which target you are focused on. If you're a good tank, that's a good practice, then you should be rotating your enmity abilities through the rest of the pull to keep it going on you. Then you should be focusing on the target DPS is attacking next, which is usually the mob with the next lowest health pool, which you can control by attacking your desired 2nd target after you've secured significant enmity on your primary target.

You spent 100x more time making a post about anti-marking when you could have made that macro and solved the problem. It's not like people in your DF groups are going to come here and read your post and have a new view of the issue at hand. You're the "leader" of the group. I think tanks should act like it.

If people actually viewed tanks as leaders, then obviously, I wouldn't have posted this, would I? I'm trying to get feedback on how to encourage DPS to maximize their damage, whether it's through AoE or with DoTs. I've tried reasoning, using math, or just being a dictator. Thus far, no approach has proven reliable.

My point was simply that marking targets almost always universally signals to DPS: "kill the enemies in this order". That's why I avoid marking targets. Other people have noted that it's possible to mark targets and also have DPS spread their DoT love, but it seems to be the exception and not the rule.

The first half of your post is irrelevant. If enmity is an issue, then nothing I said in my original post applies (please see the exceptions noted at the bottom).

For the majority of groups, those exceptions are not relevant (even if people seem to think they are).