Guild Wars 2

2 Ettin directly in front of me by about 100 units. My character targets an ambient rabbit out of range about 1600 units away.
Nuff said.

It was a serious darn problem for me tonight in the Bitter Cold area of the new map! Constantly targeting mobs way off, making my pet run and aggro not only that, but the patrol in between us! I’ve never been so frustrated by the targeting system during the year I’ve played!

I have a word, but I don’t think it’s fit to print. :p

Enemies in front attacking and what gets targeted? The weapon rack or Moa well behind me. I guess I don’t really need to say more than that.

Well, except a request for an option to target what is attacking (hitting) me. We had this option in another game and it was very handy, to say the least. Not that that game had the targeting issues this one does, but quite handy nevertheless.

Use/Hotkey “Nearest Target/Enemy” or whatever its called.

The other problem with the targeting system is that targets dont stay targeted while you are fighting them, and you are forever having to retarget them to continue doing any damage.
Seems to happen most when you are fighting a mob in a group of mobs.

mauried.5608:

The other problem with the targeting system is that targets dont stay targeted while you are fighting them, and you are forever having to retarget them to continue doing any damage.
Seems to happen most when you are fighting a mob in a group of mobs.

Hmmm. I don’t seem to have this problem. I use Nearest Enemy or Next Enemy, and have Auto Targeting Off. I believe Auto Targeting is the culprit causing your issue.

mauried.5608:

The other problem with the targeting system is that targets dont stay targeted while you are fighting them, and you are forever having to retarget them to continue doing any damage.
Seems to happen most when you are fighting a mob in a group of mobs.

That used to happen to me until I chose another Ground Targetting method. Having to click on the ground to “release” a skill made me lose targets more often than not, especially in the heat of the moment where I was clicking a little more frantically.

You guys are all wrong.

The System Targets the most dangeros Mob.

The rabbit must have been devilish inside !!!!!!!!!!!

never trust rabbits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkf1U_SdY4

nottsgman.8206:

never trust rabbits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkf1U_SdY4

Lol I remember so many years ago following that rabbit. Same ending resulted.

borgs.6103:

Use/Hotkey “Nearest Target/Enemy” or whatever its called.

Prob is, that’s what i"m using.

Generally, auto-targeting will tend to choose the target that’s within range but as close to center (in your field of view) as possible. So, for a Ranger with a longbow, you may target a mob up to 1500 away that’s dead center to your facing rather than a mob nearby but off to one side.

Target Nearest is going to choose anything that’s nearest, without any distinction as to whether there’s line of sight, whether the target is in front of you or not, whether it’s a creature or an inanimate destructible object, or even whether it’s red or yellow (and in some cases white).

I’ve given up expecting a targeting system that allows us to check off how we want it to work. I want to NOT target things that aren’t on my screen. I want to NOT target things that I cannot hit due to lack of LoS. I want to NOT target yellow and/or white mobs (primarily moas and boars, of course). I want to NOT be able to target a stack of vegetable crates no matter how sinister they may look. I want to NOT be able to target enemies that are invulnerable due to not yet being “in play” (such as mobs spawning and making their way to a location before becoming vulnerable). But sometimes I might want one or more of these things. I’d just like the option to actually tailor the targeting system—arguably one of the most important functions of any combat system—on the fly.

Right now I use click-targeting unless there’s too many mobs, players, pets, boxes, unlooted corpses, etc., then I’m forced into Target Nearest which all too often causes me to try to attack something I can’t even see or hit. Combat can get very frustrating with the current options.

tldr; I agree with the OP’s sentiment. ;-)

This is why I have bound “Attack nearest target” to Q and “Toggle targets” to the TAB key. But still, I often find myself being forced to click an enemy directly with the mouse pointer. Yes, the targetting system is pretty bad in this game.

Agree with the op and would add that even with the suggested ‘work arounds’ the targeting system in the game is lacking and has yet to be resolved or addressed.
It did work better at one time though.

The sad thing is it use to be better. Not sure if the changes are the result of “Action Cam” or a mistakenly placed “if” in the targeting code when something else was being tweaked. I don’t think it’s Action Cam’s fault because targeting went to pot well after it’s introduction. However I wouldn’t be surprised that a later change to it is what messed it up.

That’s bad. Game should be getting better, not worse. Even a simple reticle would help, I’m sure someone would have modded it by now if given the chance.

One feature that would be useful and is found in other MMOs is target by name , where you can simply type target <name of monster> in the chat line and this would then target the named monster if its nearby.
This solves the problem of not being able to target something because you cant click on it as its obscured by other players, eg the Octovines in Tarir.

Two things come to mind when I read this post.

1: PLEASE for the love of god give us a hotkey to turn our ability to click and target non-enemies on and off, I can’t be the only one that has tried to target an enemy in a big mob and end up targeting some random druid.

2: Some MMO I played in the past (forgot the name) had a hotkey that would change the mouse when pressed, when the button was held it would make a circle around the mouse and draw a line to the enemy that is visibly nearest to the point and and clicking would target them. This let you pick an enemy fast and accurately without having to actually BE accurate with your clicks and god it was amazing.

It also seems like that the game will switch targets on me mid fight, without hitting tab or clearing my original target