When fighting multiple mobs, those you have recently killed still have a red nametag and a health bar with just a smidgen of health remaining. This means that those dead mobs are intercepting tab-targeting- when you try to tab to another mob the “dead-with 1 HP” ones intercept your tabbing and prevent you from targeting the mob who is right in front of you eating your face. This also happens with inanimate objects.
After about 5-10 seconds, the game “wakes up” and realizes that the mob is actually dead, so the nametag and health bar disappear and the mob is (FINALLY!) no longer targetable. This is not a LAG issue, it is a game flaw.
Although click- and tab-targeting have always been pretty broken in GW2 (many MANY threads here and elsewhere discuss the general awfulness of GW2 targeting), the “dead but still have 1HP and thus still targetable” issue started happening about 2 months ago. So instead of fixing targeting, some update a few weeks ago broke it more than it already was.
So now, targeting has the following problems:
1. Many targets are simply impossible to click-target (left-click or right-click simply do not target the mob under the mouse cursor) for no apparent reason. Those that are not entirely impossible to click-target are generally at least difficult to click-target.
2. Tab-targeting wrongly includes “neutral” targets as well as hostiles. This results in spending most of some fights frantically tab-tab-tabbing around trying in vain to get to the unclickable giant one foot away directly in front of you- you know, the one who is killing you while you can’t even target him. Tab-targeting neutrals and/or inanimates (yellow nametags) should be a user-option toggle!
3. Tab-targeting wrongly includes targets in all directions, including behind you, as well as targets grossly out of range and/or out of Line Of Sight. Again, while you are frantically tabbing to try to target the mob one foot away right in front of you ripping your eyeballs out by the roots, tabbing conveniently selects a stack of Modniir Supplies hidden inside a tent approximately 3,000 units away, out of sight over a cliff and behind you. This is simply absurd.
4. Because the mechanic for placing a ground-targeted ability is the same as the targeting mechanic (left-click), placing ground-targeted abilities usually unselects your target, even when “promote skill targets” is enabled.
5. Aside from #4 above, selected targets frequently just deselect themselves from time to time for no apparent reason (nothing was clicked, mob did not stealth, etc.).
6. And now with this new problem, tabbing conveniently insists that you should keep cycling through dead mobs for 5-10 seconds after they die while the live ones you can’t target are wiping you and your dungeon group.
Please, Anet, FIX TARGETING:
1. Left-clicking a mob should target it. Period. Right-clicking a mob should target AND ATTACK it if possible (and if enabled by player in options).
2. Neutrals and inanimates should NOT be included in tab-targeting unless the player has specifically enabled that via a toggle in options.
3. Tab-targeting should be limited to visible, in Line-Of-Sight and in range (or almost in range) targets in about a 60-degree cone IN THE DIRECTION A PLAYER IS LOOKING! Nothing that is grossly out of range and/or LOS, inside buildings, behind walls, over cliffs, etc. etc.
4. Left-clicking to place a ground-targeted ability must NOT deselect the current target!
5. Selected targets must NOT self-deselect unless there is a valid reason (target stealthed) for it.
6. The game must react to mob deaths “instantly” or as nearly so as lag allows. 5-10 seconds of dead mobs sucking up tab-targeting is unacceptable.
Thanks
TLDR: Targeting is THE core mechanic in GW2. It is broken on many levels and it got worse a few weeks ago. Please fix it.
(edited by Lolyta.4582)