Guild Wars 2

While in combat this all happens to me when trying to TAB target in GW2

• I target an Onion , Bush or another collectible
• I target a MOB/player 3000 or 5000 feet away and unreachable
• I target something completely out of sigh, behind me or where ever
• I target another MOB instead the MOB i fight
• Overall i target everything but the target i would like to target..
• in WvW TAB target doesnt work well at all, it targets MOA´s, Deer´s instead of enemy players and if then out of range even if some are melleeing you.

GW 2 has no Encounter lock where i can only TAB between attacking enemies
GW 2 has no filter which disables collectibles as TAB target while in combat
GW 2 has no logical TAB target Max range while in combat

Nearest Target is no solution

i am sure Anet knows all that, i just wonder when they start fixing TAB targeting

Old topic. Everyone knows the targetting system in this game is terrible and anet has yet to even acknowledge it.

Actually anet has acknowledged it and have stated fixes in upcoming patches.

robber.4613:

Actually anet has acknowledged it and have stated fixes in upcoming patches.

I do hope so because until recently I wasn’t targeting things behind the mobs that were on top of me nor was I targeting things that are out of range entirely.

Setting neutral mobs as lowest priority for both tab targeting and autotargeting would do wonders. At least its a start. Never seen it target items though (like nodes etc).

I bound Q to ‘Nearest Enemy’. That one’s usually hostile. That and called targets go a long way towards staving off dependence on Tab while in crowded combat.

well not to many people seem to care about TAB targeting..

i guess they still target via Mouse Pointer….

Cant say I have ever seen t target a node.. But yes it needs work especially as half the time your trying in major events to target something you cant even see

I’ve never targeted a node with TAB, but I am constantly getting the mob 2000m away rather than the one standing right in front of me hitting me.

TAB targeting needs a direct neural interface to allow me to target what I’m thinking, even before I know I actually want to target it. Hopefully that’s in the works… would be nice for these massive January or February content releases coming up.

Related to this I’d also like to the see the target nearest enemy work function actually target the nearest enemy regardless of whether they are in front of, beside, or behind me. I’ve bound a hotkey to this function (used “C” similar to GW1) but it only targets a foe when I’m facing their direction. I’d much prefer that it target the foe that is truly closest to me regardless of the direction I’m facing.

I would just like to see the auto-targeting select targets like this; the closer to the center of your screen a target is the higher priority it is given when selecting a target.

Then again just give me action combat and let me aim precisely where I want to instead of this auto-targeting b.s. >=(

Orion Templar.4589:

Related to this I’d also like to the see the target nearest enemy work function actually target the nearest enemy regardless of whether they are in front of, beside, or behind me. I’ve bound a hotkey to this function (used “C” similar to GW1) but it only targets a foe when I’m facing their direction. I’d much prefer that it target the foe that is truly closest to me regardless of the direction I’m facing.

YES. This annoys me so much. There is a guy right next to my character, I press ‘C’ and it doesn’t target that person. It feels so clunky.

Sollith.3502:

I would just like to see the auto-targeting select targets like this; the closer to the center of your screen a target is the higher priority it is given when selecting a target.

Then again just give me action combat and let me aim precisely where I want to instead of this auto-targeting b.s. >=(

In my experience; if you have nothing targeted, you will simply strike out or aim at whatever the camera is pointing directly at. However; I agree that tab targeting is extremely frustrating, especially if you are surrounded, and selecting by click is difficult at best, and tab ends up targeting some, same-named, mob across the room, that doesn’t even know you were there until you hit it, and it decides to join the party and bring along all its buddies.

I love how tab targets the thing furthest away from me.

I can’t speak with confidence about how Tab targeting works in this game nor can I speak with confidence about how it worked in WoW. All I know is it always did what I wanted it to in WoW and only about 60% of the time does it do what I want it to do in GW2.

Does someone know what the algorithm is in both/either games?

I agree, it does indeed need a lot of love.

Not much they can do tbh. TAB targeting as a targeting system sucks by default.

The only thing they could do is go action combat. But GW2 currently does not have the foundations to do that.

The character controls are not accurate enough.
The skills and moves are to restrictive.
Character to environment interation is not accurate enough.
Collisions are almost non existant between other characters (unless checked on in the options, even then its not precise enough)
Skills & Dodging would have to be reworked to act and control like a action combat game

Bassicaly they would have to rework to much stuff, so TAB targeting is the only option no matter how horrible it is …really wish mmo’s would move away form it tbh..it can be done. Tera online has had a wack at it ..it may not be ‘proper’ action combat (twitch/timing bassed) ..but its alot better than tab targeting atleast.

A 3 years old post… and still not fix on this issue. Recommendation: just copy WoW targeting system and thats it. Its a pain in the back playing with this annoying targeting system. Don’t try to improve anything, just copy it from WoW

Talk about Necro’ing a post. Are you that bored?

robber.4613:

Actually anet has acknowledged it and have stated fixes in upcoming patches.

Link us up to anets’ statement or, you know, the bull bell will ring.

The targeting system used to be okay until the ‘improved it’, now you tend to select a neutral mob and nearest doesn’t work at all. Everyone moaned at the time of the change but still they decided to ignore player feedback and go with some idiot dev design decision.

Loosmaster.8263:

Talk about Necro’ing a post. Are you that bored?

A justified necro in my opinion. This topic is still a problem, and the targeting system is still a nightmare to deal with.

I’ve played and beta tested a dozen MMO’s over the years, and by far this is the worst targeting system I’ve ever had to deal with. Given, that is my own personal experience, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve had “target nearest” be anything BUT the mob that is eating my face.

Blude.6812:

robber.4613:

Actually anet has acknowledged it and have stated fixes in upcoming patches.

Link us up to anets’ statement or, you know, the bull bell will ring.

That is a 3 year old quote.

I’m glad someone revived this. I just thought I was doing it wrong

My targetting ideas are:

1.Priority for playable characters either friendly or hostile target.

2.Self-target option for ground targetting abilities (this is basic)

Here is how Tab targetting currently works on live:

In descending order of priority. All targetting within the same tier goes from nearest->furthest.

1. Epic mob
2. Legendary mob
3. Champion mob
4. Enemy player/Mesmer clone
5. Enemy player pets/AI (everything but Clones)
6. Elite mob
7. Veteran mob
8. Regular mob

Ambient creatures, objects (aside from Engineer turrets), and other interact-able objects never appear on tab targeting lists.

If you are getting anything out of this order, it is because you are clicking on things.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Here is how Tab targetting currently works on live:

In descending order of priority. All targetting within the same tier goes from nearest->furthest.

1. Epic mob
2. Legendary mob
3. Champion mob
4. Enemy player/Mesmer clone
5. Enemy player pets/AI (everything but Clones)
6. Elite mob
7. Veteran mob
8. Regular mob

Ambient creatures, objects (aside from Engineer turrets), and other interact-able objects never appear on tab targeting lists.

If you are getting anything out of this order, it is because you are clicking on things.

Well that doesn’t help when you have a melee enemy right in front attacking you and you go to use a sword/greatsword leap skill and wind up going after another enemy behind the one attacking you or even a non-hostile yellow named enemy.

It would be nice if target priority went by nearest enemy (red name).

I have it set in the game options so if I use a weapon skill when I’m not targeting anything it will target the “nearest” enemy and attack that, but most of the time that isn’t the case. There have been countless times I became disoriented and had to figure out where I was and manually click the enemy I want to attack, or even killed because I go to attack the enemy on top of me and I leap at something too far for my weapon skill to even reach and wind up aggroing other hostile enemies and become overrun (guardian greatsword skill Leap of Faith for example). And if I use the tab key it still targets something far away instead of what is right in front of me.

Almost all of the time I wind up having to manually click the enemy I want to attack, whether that’s before or after I start attacking.

Edit: There are also often times the tab key won’t even cycle through the enemies properly. I could be attacking 1 enemy and see another that I feel I should defeat first and it can take me sever tries to target it. Most of the time I wind up having to click the enemy I want because the tab key will go back and forth between the other 3 or 4 enemies and not land on the one I want.

And that’s most likely my problem. With a group of enemies of mixed tiers, the reason why it doesn’t want to target a mob I think is more important is because the game insists I kill the higher tiered enemies first.

Insert obligatory “it takes away player choice” (by forcing you to attack certain mobs instead of the ones you want).

If possible a checkbox in the game options to have it target the nearest enemy, then the next nearest, and so on by default would be nice. It’s really annoying when the game forces enemy prioritization based on how strong an enemy is. Especially when a low tiered enemy with heavy condition damage and/or controls could be more deadly then a strong warrior with a big sword.

Just to clarify I’m referring only to NPC enemies. Player enemies is a whole different story and one needs to manually decide for themselves which player should be a priority because there’s no way the game could ever decide for you properly and going by the nearest target might not be a good idea in a lot of cases.

Charrbeque.8729:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Here is how Tab targetting currently works on live:

In descending order of priority. All targetting within the same tier goes from nearest->furthest.

1. Epic mob
2. Legendary mob
3. Champion mob
4. Enemy player/Mesmer clone
5. Enemy player pets/AI (everything but Clones)
6. Elite mob
7. Veteran mob
8. Regular mob

Ambient creatures, objects (aside from Engineer turrets), and other interact-able objects never appear on tab targeting lists.

If you are getting anything out of this order, it is because you are clicking on things.

Well that doesn’t help when you have a melee enemy right in front attacking you and you go to use a sword/greatsword leap skill and wind up going after another enemy behind the one attacking you or even a non-hostile yellow named enemy.

It would be nice if target priority went by nearest enemy (red name).

I have it set in the game options so if I use a weapon skill when I’m not targeting anything it will target the “nearest” enemy and attack that, but most of the time that isn’t the case. There have been countless times I became disoriented and had to figure out where I was and manually click the enemy I want to attack, or even killed because I go to attack the enemy on top of me and I leap at something too far for my weapon skill to even reach and wind up aggroing other hostile enemies and become overrun (guardian greatsword skill Leap of Faith for example).

Bolded relevant portion in my post.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Here is how Tab targetting currently works on live:
…
RNG targeting

Fixed that for you

This is so easy to test, tab targeting WILL select a yellow if it’s anywhere near in front of you, usually in preference to the mob wailing on you. Don’t believe it then test it.

Anet does NOT care about this game if they still haven’t fixed targeting. It was broken in beta. It was broken at launch. It’s still broken 3 years later after an expansion and they didn’t bother to fix it then? Why? It doesn’t make them money. They don’t actually give a kitten about the integrity of the game or the enjoyment of players.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Charrbeque.8729:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Here is how Tab targetting currently works on live:

In descending order of priority. All targetting within the same tier goes from nearest->furthest.

1. Epic mob
2. Legendary mob
3. Champion mob
4. Enemy player/Mesmer clone
5. Enemy player pets/AI (everything but Clones)
6. Elite mob
7. Veteran mob
8. Regular mob

Ambient creatures, objects (aside from Engineer turrets), and other interact-able objects never appear on tab targeting lists.

If you are getting anything out of this order, it is because you are clicking on things.

Well that doesn’t help when you have a melee enemy right in front attacking you and you go to use a sword/greatsword leap skill and wind up going after another enemy behind the one attacking you or even a non-hostile yellow named enemy.

It would be nice if target priority went by nearest enemy (red name).

I have it set in the game options so if I use a weapon skill when I’m not targeting anything it will target the “nearest” enemy and attack that, but most of the time that isn’t the case. There have been countless times I became disoriented and had to figure out where I was and manually click the enemy I want to attack, or even killed because I go to attack the enemy on top of me and I leap at something too far for my weapon skill to even reach and wind up aggroing other hostile enemies and become overrun (guardian greatsword skill Leap of Faith for example).

Bolded relevant portion in my post.

I’m not sure if you posted before or after I edited my post earlier, but please see the bolded part.

For the part of my post you quoted, I did mention that sometimes the tab key will select a yellow named enemy when there are plenty of red names attacking me. How is that working right? I imagine a regular moa bird is a lot less a priority then a charr warrior. And no, I’m not “clicking” the yellow names. The tab key actually selects them when I’m cycling through targets trying to get the one I want. I repeat, most of the time when I want to select a different target for whatever reason, I actually have to click on it because tab targeting is unreliable.

The whole system is wonky and needs to be fixed.

Edit: To reiterate, if there are higher tiered enemies on screen but far enough away they aren’t attacking me, tab targeting will target them first instead of cycling through the few lower tiered enemies directly in front and attacking me. Sometimes in the heat of battle I’ll something like a greatsword leap skill going towards those enemies not attacking me because the game insisted I target them first, then I wind up getting too close and have them attacking me on top of what was already attacking, and I wind up overwhelmed sometimes because I just can’t run away or get immobilized or something.

In other words, the game prioritizes based on what is on screen and close enough to be targeted, not what is actually near you. If a champion is half a mile away but close enough to be targeted it will be (whether you use tab or simply left click it), instead of the enemies that are the closest to you.

The system may be working as designed but it is a major problem, and that’s our point we’re trying to make.

Charrbeque.8729:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Charrbeque.8729:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Here is how Tab targetting currently works on live:

In descending order of priority. All targetting within the same tier goes from nearest->furthest.

1. Epic mob
2. Legendary mob
3. Champion mob
4. Enemy player/Mesmer clone
5. Enemy player pets/AI (everything but Clones)
6. Elite mob
7. Veteran mob
8. Regular mob

Ambient creatures, objects (aside from Engineer turrets), and other interact-able objects never appear on tab targeting lists.

If you are getting anything out of this order, it is because you are clicking on things.

Well that doesn’t help when you have a melee enemy right in front attacking you and you go to use a sword/greatsword leap skill and wind up going after another enemy behind the one attacking you or even a non-hostile yellow named enemy.

It would be nice if target priority went by nearest enemy (red name).

I have it set in the game options so if I use a weapon skill when I’m not targeting anything it will target the “nearest” enemy and attack that, but most of the time that isn’t the case. There have been countless times I became disoriented and had to figure out where I was and manually click the enemy I want to attack, or even killed because I go to attack the enemy on top of me and I leap at something too far for my weapon skill to even reach and wind up aggroing other hostile enemies and become overrun (guardian greatsword skill Leap of Faith for example).

Bolded relevant portion in my post.

I’m not sure if you posted before or after I edited my post earlier, but please see the bolded part.

For the part of my post you quoted, I did mention that sometimes the tab key will select a yellow named enemy when there are plenty of red names attacking me. How is that working right? I imagine a regular moa bird is a lot less a priority then a charr warrior. And no, I’m not “clicking” the yellow names. The tab key actually selects them when I’m cycling through targets trying to get the one I want. I repeat, most of the time when I want to select a different target for whatever reason, I actually have to click on it because tab targeting is unreliable.

The whole system is wonky and needs to be fixed.

“Yellow enemies” still fit into those categories I listed. The system works fine, and no matter what priority they use, someone will be unhappy with it. Make it always “target next nearest” and people will be unhappy because they can’t target the champs in group events.

However, there is definitely an argument for moving yellow-named mobs to priority brackets 9 and 10 (I don’t think there are any yellow-named elites or champs) instead of sharing brackets 7 and 8 like they do now. I can get behind that 100%.

The system works fine, and no matter what priority they use, someone will be unhappy with it.

In the face of logical evidence, you still can’t accept other people’s experiences and cling to this flawed view? Really??? How do other games manage to get working tab-targeting that is predictable and playable then? I mean, your post makes it sound like it’s entirely impossible, but plenty of other games manage it. Why can’t gw2 after more than 3 years?

Illurim.6059:

The system works fine, and no matter what priority they use, someone will be unhappy with it.

In the face of logical evidence, you still can’t accept other people’s experiences and cling to this flawed view? Really??? How do other games manage to get working tab-targeting that is predictable and playable then? I mean, your post makes it sound like it’s entirely impossible, but plenty of other games manage it. Why can’t gw2 after more than 3 years?

Because the one we already have is completely predictable. The priority system I outlined is exactly how it works.

Just because you don’t like how it works or fail to understand it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work or is random.

Yep, I love how in the heat of battle I manage to target and hit a deer at the limit of my range, who becomes very angry at me, instead of targeting and hitting the next enemy within a few feet of me.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Because the one we already have is completely predictable. The priority system I outlined is exactly how it works.

Just because you don’t like how it works or fail to understand it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work or is random.

It’s not player friendly though, if you bothered to read and actually consider what has been said previously by other people, you’d probably quickly realise you compensate for poor playability because of experience.

Go fight a bunch of things underwater – tab target will frequently target behind you. It shouldn’t.

Go surround yourself in Orr with a bunch of mobs and tab target – it does everything STILL that people are saying.

But if I go to Rift, WoW, FFXIV, or even Wildstar (tab-target does work, just no one does because it’s not needed) and I can tab to targets in a very playable way. I hit tab and within one or two I’m on the mob in front of me, in my field of view, that is actively attacking me.

Do that in gw2. You can’t. Why? Because the developers are terrible.

Endless Soul.5178:

Yep, I love how in the heat of battle I manage to target and hit a deer at the limit of my range, who becomes very angry at me, instead of targeting and hitting the next enemy within a few feet of me.

Because you already cycled through the enemies right in front of you and that random deer is the next priority.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Endless Soul.5178:

Yep, I love how in the heat of battle I manage to target and hit a deer at the limit of my range, who becomes very angry at me, instead of targeting and hitting the next enemy within a few feet of me.

Because you already cycled through the enemies right in front of you and that random deer is the next priority.

Reading comprehension, my friend. Practice it.

Illurim.6059:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Endless Soul.5178:

Yep, I love how in the heat of battle I manage to target and hit a deer at the limit of my range, who becomes very angry at me, instead of targeting and hitting the next enemy within a few feet of me.

Because you already cycled through the enemies right in front of you and that random deer is the next priority.

Reading comprehension, my friend. Practice it.

He presented a situation, I described what did happen to cause his observation.

Nice thing with computers: you can do that sort of thing when you know what rules they follow.

I’m not saying the current targeting system is perfect, I’m saying it’s predictable and easy to figure out what went on for you to get some result you don’t like.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Illurim.6059:

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Endless Soul.5178:

Yep, I love how in the heat of battle I manage to target and hit a deer at the limit of my range, who becomes very angry at me, instead of targeting and hitting the next enemy within a few feet of me.

Because you already cycled through the enemies right in front of you and that random deer is the next priority.

Reading comprehension, my friend. Practice it.

He presented a situation, I described what did happen to cause his observation.

Nice thing with computers: you can do that sort of thing when you know what rules they follow.

I’m not saying the current targeting system is perfect, I’m saying it’s predictable and easy to figure out what went on for you to get some result you don’t like.

No, you did not. You need to read it again.

He said: I love how in the heat of battle I manage to tab-target and hit a deer at max range and NOT the mobs attacking me.

You assumed he had been tabbing the whole fight. He never said that. If you really cared about the discussion and not just being right, you would go try the things people have outlined and you would see in about 2 minutes what they’re talking about. It has nothing to do with the priority system you think it follows (which you could pretty much prove to yourself it doesn’t – I just went in game, surrounded myself with mobs, including vets and champs and I was still tab-targeting normal mobs nowhere near my area of engagement).

Like, I appreciate you getting involved in the discussion and everything, but you need to actually go try the things people are talking about if you want to help and stop telling everyone they’re wrong or stupid, which is essentially how your posts are coming across to me right now and why I won’t bother to reply to you again.

Funny, because I test things with tab targeting and they’re working exactly as I describe.

What specifically are your targeting options all set on? Auto-target on? Promote target on? Action camera?

Action Camera +auto target makes the game play smoothly, but it does create issues with tab targeting, as it starts the que based on your current target. For example, if you happen to target a regular mob, tab targetting won’t pick up the veteran.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Make it always “target next nearest” and people will be unhappy because they can’t target the champs in group events.

Before the “Fixed” it you could have a separate hotkey for nearest as well as tab. When they “Fixed” it they gave us the current mess and target nearest suddenly became just another tab.

And in what situation do you EVER want to select a yellow Moa in the middle of a battle?

Sandpit.3467:

And in what situation do you EVER want to select a yellow Moa in the middle of a battle?

Hence my agreement that yellow nameplate mobs should not be in the same priority bracket as hostile mobs. Unfortunately, they are.

I’ll suggest it again: add a check box in the game options to prioritize enemies based on how close they are to use, regardless of the enemies tier. This way we have options. Players who prefer to target based on highest tier first, and those of us with swords in our face can deal with them first.

@Illurim
“I have a sandwich so you can’t be starving” isn’t a valid argument.

I don’t see why tab targeting can’t be prioritized by the player with a typical default for the class.

Targeting priorities are not the same between a ranger and warrior and a mesmer.

The system is not intuitive at all as it currently stands.
Just because there is a priority in place does not mean that order is well off or proper.

The obvious answer is that the targeting should be defined by the players and how they play.
There are way too many play styles within in one profession alone for any actively thinking person to truly believe that one targeting system is conducive for all of the play styles and absurdly on top of that, for all of the professions that have completely different mechanics.

Taltevus.3289:

I don’t see why tab targeting can’t be prioritized by the player with a typical default for the class.

Targeting priorities are not the same between a ranger and warrior and a mesmer.

The system is not intuitive at all as it currently stands.
Just because there is a priority in place does not mean that order is well off or proper.

The obvious answer is that the targeting should be defined by the players and how they play.
There are way too many play styles within in one profession alone for any actively thinking person to truly believe that one targeting system is conducive for all of the play styles and absurdly on top of that, for all of the professions that have completely different mechanics.

Ooh. good points. I hadn’t thought of how a ranged class might be better off having a different targeting priority compared to a melee class.

More options would be most welcomed. Though I’d be fine with what we have for now until they can make that happen. I don’t think forcibly changing the way it is now would be a good idea since some players may like the current system. Additional options is what I’m asking for, that way everybody can have it the way they feel suits them best.

Edit: Typos. :P

arcorian.2183:

A 3 years old post… and still not fix on this issue. Recommendation: just copy WoW targeting system and thats it. Its a pain in the back playing with this annoying targeting system. Don’t try to improve anything, just copy it from WoW

It’s not good, I totally agree.

However, I think it may be the same in WoW?

Pretty sure hitting tab, in WoW, targets yellow mobs first, too (for some unknown reason).

Crazy design, but there you go.

I used to do a lot of BGs, in that game and I had to use another key (the one above tab) for “target nearest enemy player”.

Even then, I’m not sure it was always, actually, the nearest enemy player? But still.

At least it was a player and not just random wildlife.