(edited by Mayama.1854)
Selecting targets
Honestly, I’ve had this problem since the beta. I quit the game for 8 months, came back, they supposedly changed something in the targeting code in a patch, but the problem it’s there unscathed.
Never had too much problem with nearest enemy and cycling next enemy – nearest enemy tends to prioritise players over AI in any case. I don’t often have to click select unless I’ve cycled to AI accidently and there’s a few petting zoos to cycle through.
But yeah, it’s something we just have to live with – the targeting system will always be kitten in my opinion.
PvP Gameplay Programmer
Pretty sure we updated targeting some many months ago to tighten up the vertical selection distance (on level 3). The goal was to better allow selection over/behind people’s heads and selecting people on geometry like bridges. The change was very slight though, so I doubt it would impact your experience.
If you’ve been away for extra long, there’s a new option to disable right-click interact which helps prevent deselects.
Bra (80 Guard), Fixie Bow (80 Ranger), Wcharr (80 Ele)
Xdragonshadowninjax (80 Thief)
I have this pro mostly with humans and sylvari. I have disabled right click selecting
Currently @ some T1 server in EU
Pretty sure we updated targeting some many months ago to tighten up the vertical selection distance (on level 3). The goal was to better allow selection over/behind people’s heads and selecting people on geometry like bridges. The change was very slight though, so I doubt it would impact your experience.
If you’ve been away for extra long, there’s a new option to disable right-click interact which helps prevent deselects.
The problem is not in deselecting targets with right click.
The problem is selecting target with left-click which sometimes doesn’t simply work at all, we need to click twice moving the pointer in a slightly different position on the target model to get the target. And moving the pointer horizontally does the trick, so I don’t think that it’s caused by a vertical selection problem.
In PvE it’s not really a problem, since targets are almost always static, but in WvW/PvP it’s a major annoyance, especially when playing with classes which needs in some instances fast actions (for example, using port skills with thief in order to disengage rapidly targeting a far away enemy, etc.).
Though it’s not such a problem in sPvP, I really wish neutral mobs (the ones with yellow names) weren’t targeted except by deliberately clicking on them.
I know there are reasons to attack them in PvE (certain Tasks/Renown Hearts, for example), but in the overwhelming majority of cases, I’ve found it’s just a frustrating delay in cycling through to the hostile target that’s already attacking me. If I hit “target nearest” when something is attacking me, I shouldn’t get some yellow moa and have to tab through all the other yellow moas around the hostile target before I can choose it. If I want to attack a moa, I could click on it.
Just my suggestion. I hope you like it. A lot.
and the stupidest grown-ups who are the most grown-up.”
- C. S. Lewis
Evan, as some have described, the problem is generally that left-clicking on a target model does not always select it. I can think of two possible reasons why this could be the case:
1. the selection “hitbox” on a character might not be exactly the same in height as the character
2. target selection is not handled entirely client-side, so is subject to client/server lag.
Obviously I don’t know how your game engine works internally, so I have no idea if either of these is the case. I’m just guessing because that’s what it feels like sometimes: you click on an Asura’s head, and it’s not selecting, you then click on its torso and it does. Also, charr with huge shoulderpads: you click on their shoulderpads and the charr isn’t selected. It just feels as if the target box is smaller than the model, or that the character isn’t exactly where my client is displaying it. I realise this isn’t exactly your area, it’ll probably be either a network programmer’s or an engine programmer’s job depending on which one (if either) of my guesses is right, but if you know how targeting is handled you’ll be able to tell who to send it to.
Of course, there are also other issues why effective click-targetting is difficult in this game (particle effects obscuring character models, no body blocking meaning targets can clip into each other, massive character size disparities meaning a character can be completely obscured by anyone standing next to them, tiny Asuras and fast movement with a lot of teleport skills mean clicking on someone is harder than a headshot with a railgun in Quake 3, camera issues when you’re close to any wall where the camera zooms right up against your own character and you can’t see anyone else), but this issue isn’t related to them: it’s that even in ideal conditions you sometimes click a target and they don’t get selected.
I, like everyone else, use tab-targeting 99% of the time, but there are problems with that too. High number of AI things in pvp is one of them, andc there’s not much you can do there, but the even greater problem is that tab-targeting only selects targets within your field of vision. If someone’s right behind you they won’t get targeted, even if they’re on-screen. So you try to click on them, and you select yourself instead. Tab targeting would be much more effective if it cycled through ALL enemies in range, whehter your character can see them or not. And we wouldn’t need to bother you about fixing click-targeting. :p