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Targeting Mode doesn't show me my Target!

Discussion in 'Release 29 Feedback Forum' started by Browncoat Jayson, Apr 28, 2016.

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  1. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

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    I know, everyone else has already started a post about the new targeting system, but I wanted to express my own opinion. I don't think it is bad; its really a great improvement over what I saw in QA earlier this week. There is just one thing...

    I can't see what I'm shooting at.

    As an archer, this is a horrible thing! I aim at an enemy and start attacking. If the crosshairs is right over it, the name appears in the nameplate. If I move it off at all, it disappears. I can still hit them, but it doesnt say who I'm aiming at.

    Now, that enemy runs away and gets an inch past its buddy. I keep trying to hit it, but now the new enemy is "closer" so I'm targeting him. Why? No idea. Can't change to select it either. Even if I put the crosshairs on one opponent, I'm hitting the one the game thinks is the target. If they are standing close, I can understand hitting the wrong one, but when they are yards away from one another, I want to choose who I attack.

    I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'd propose two things:
    • In combat mode, if you have an opponent in range, display the one you are likely to be aiming at. The nameplate is important in making sure combat flows correctly!
    • If you put the crosshair on an opponent, always aim for that one. I might still be shooting at it if I move the cursor away, but if I'm aiming at something, I obviously want to target it!
    Make those two things work, and this new combat mode is a winner in my book.
     
    Miracle Dragon, Doctor, helm and 2 others like this.
  2. helm

    helm Avatar

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    @Browncoat Jayson, I would agree with most of the points, except that to my experience, the distance to the enemy matters little in target selection. Instead I believe the reason why the closer one gets so easily selected is the sloppy/fuzzy manner of selecting (by popular demand), not the distance by itself. At melee distances it is actually harder to keep the closest guy targeted (something that a someone using a combination of melee and magic would often want to do, see here for an example presented by @Kara Brae).
    As an aside, a place in the Ardoris Sewers (loc -58.1, 0.0, 1.4, from the entrance from Ardoris, take the left doorway and then the first left turn), the first place where you encounter low level bandits, is the perfect laboratory for testing targeting behaviors. The bandits are harmless, slow and stoopid, so with things like roots, disabling shots and ice arrows it is easy to create just about any kind of targeting situation.

    I have actually grown to kind of prefer the red outline to indicate my target, what makes it confusing is the present lack of any good indication about whether the attacks have actually hit or missed. I miss the thing (can't remember what it was called?) where the hit was indicated by reduction of hits points shown briefly above the target's head (or in the case of multiple targets, above all of their heads, or the equivalent body parts).

    I believe this is exactly how it actually works right now. And the confusing part of it is how easily the system selects a new target, based on the sloppy/fuzzy aim - you might want to test it out in the "lab" mentioned above...

    I've been toying with the idea of considerably reducing the fuzziness/sloppiness of targeting IF you have a target already selected. In other words, if you don't have a target yet, use sloppy targeting like we have now, but if there already is one selected (indicated by red outline) make selecting a new target more precise. Might work, though probably that would also attract its own share of complaints... *sigh*
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2016
  3. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

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    I'll try those bandits, but I can't even hunt stags because I can't keep one targeted (and they run away constantly). I know I'm trying to kill the right one, because it is under my crosshairs and I can see it has lower health. Yet my avatar is shooting arrows at the one five yards to the right at full health. Which allows the one I want to kill to get to its leash distance, run back and heal itself to full (which is a crappy mechanic, by the way).

    In any event, this means it is quite inconsistent and needs to be much more precise. I can't even tell what is causing me to change targets, its that fuzzy. And frankly, I shouldn't have to try to understand it; the game should be easy enough to play that I don't need to understand whats going on behind the scenes in order to do what I want.
     
    Miracle Dragon likes this.
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