Does the ffxiv tutorial ever tell you how to use the target circle?

[Ghastly]

Recently I was told that when on a melee class like monk and ninja the ring you see on targets has an "open" area which is basically the back and anything else is the flank (sides) and the arrow up front is face. Why doesn't the ffxiv tutorial ever tell us this? This just made playing monk 100 times more fun. No wonder no one plays monk if they don't understand this ring..
I hope they add it to the tutorial, it's too important.
By the way I joined ffxiv before the smith tutorials but I feel like it should be explained better. Anyone else find out about this really late?

[reiichi]

I was told some time in Heavensward. I've been playing FFXIV since the legacy campaign in 1.0...

While it didn't affect me much because I tend to tank/heal, it was definitely handy once I started testing out classes where it matters.

[KaivaC]

I...honestly thought this was pretty common sense? Where have you been attacking this whole time if you weren't aware of this? Because the front half is usually cleave range for a lot of bosses that are looking at tanks.

[Tempest222]

Wow I’m even more unobservant than I thought. I mean, I haven’t played a melee class yet, but I’ve never noticed any openings in the target circles, just a totally closed ring and the arrow up front?

[Iscah]

Wow I’m even more unobservant than I thought. I mean, I haven’t played a melee class yet, but I’ve never noticed any openings in the target circles, just a totally closed ring and the arrow up front?

I would have said the same thing but sure enough, I went back to check and it is very clearly open at the back.

I think it might be a combination of our brain seeing what we expect to see, and the fact that when you start out, you're probably fighting monsters straight-on and the monster itself 'blocks out' the gap in the ring - so you simply assume it continues as a complete circle, and you just never look at at it again close enough to realise that it isn't.

I'd worked out the mark that indicates the front (mostly important for things like sprites and bee swarms that don't have faces) but, like some other people have already posted, was never sure how to tell the dividing line between flank and rear.

[Tempest222]

Yup, the next time I was in game after seeing this thread I checked out some target circles and there was the gap in the back. It’s so obvious I can’t believe I never saw it before lol.

[Pondera]

It should be something that is covered though. When I first started playing with melee dps, I was confused because I thought flank and rear were the same, my knowledge of the definitions at the time being a bit fuzzy. If the tutorial is meant to teach, it shouldn’t leave such vital elements out.

[KaivaC]

It should be something that is covered though. When I first started playing with melee dps, I was confused because I thought flank and rear were the same, my knowledge of the definitions at the time being a bit fuzzy. If the tutorial is meant to teach, it shouldn’t leave such vital elements out.

Oh, yea, if we're talking solely flank and rear, I can understand that - that confused me as well when I first played on monk.

[Skeltal-Bons]

I am very concerned right now, I thought it was obvious what the ring was about when I saw it rotate with the mob, but that might be my experience starting the game as a Monk talking .

[Canopia]

It should be something that is covered though. When I first started playing with melee dps, I was confused because I thought flank and rear were the same, my knowledge of the definitions at the time being a bit fuzzy. If the tutorial is meant to teach, it shouldn’t leave such vital elements out.

no, flank is from the side, rear is from behind.... >.> how does anyone confuse the two for the same thing. I dont need game tutorials to tell me the difference.