Targeting is killing me !

[DrunkenBeard]

Hi there Retties,

I have a very hard time targeting mobs when dealing with trash packs. When there are only 2 mobs, it's not really a problem but 4/5 mobs and *god forbid* pulling the entire platform/room is the best way to drive me crazy. Long story short, I have found pressing alt to be completely random : sometimes it targets a mob next to me, some other times it will target a mob far way while there are mobs next to me and some times it will even target mobs that are behind me ! When there are lots of mobs in the screen it becomes a real mess to focus anyone, adding the fact that I have to get behind the mob so I don't get parried, I spend most of the fights just trying to figure out how to target that mob right next to me.

So guys, how do you go about targeting ? Is click-targeting a viable solution ? Should I activate nameplates ? Or is there a macro/something to make alt-targeting prioritize the aggroed* mobs that are just next to me.

*aggroed because I'm now used to cast Judge only to notice that the mob was a distant one that wasn't even aggroed.

PS : This is obviously not an issue in boss fights but really becomes a problem when there are big trash pulls or when we're in a crowded room where you should be careful not to ninja-pull.

[Reith]

I use nameplates and click if I have to, personally.

[Riboe]

Alt-targetting? :O What happened to the tab-key?

Personally, I have nameplates active and I use a combination of tab-targetting and clicking on nameplates, depending on the size of the pack and if I want to target a specific mob.

[traen]

Well.. ok. Its possible to do what you want.

Create this macro

/console set targetnearestdistance 10 
/cleartarget 
/targetenemy  

and bind it on hotkey of your choice (even on tab if you want). It will never pick mob that is further than 10 yards.

But you should know, that there are no tanks who use such macroses.
Use nameplates addon like tidyplates and click manually.
Overall I'm pretty satisfied how tab targeting works except really huge mobs, like Al'akir.

[DrunkenBeard]

I have no idea why I wrote "Alt" :O It's supposed to be "Tab"

@traen, I'm not a tank. I'm having problems targeting as a Ret Pally Thanks for the Macro though, I'll trying using it in combination with nameplates and see how it works out.

[Purplekitti]

Personally I find an addon like TidyPlates has improved my ability to target mobs on both my melee and ranged dps

The standard nameplates are quite bulky, TidyPlates does exactly what it says on the tin You can find it on curse or wowinterface.

[Tavynn]

HATE HATE HATE Tab targeting. HATE. Nothing makes me angrier in this game than tabbing and Blizzard's blind dart-player picks 3 mobs in a row that are across the room, not in combat, instead of one of the 4 punching me in the freaking face. I mean, seriously. I submitted that question for both UI and DPS for Ask the Devs. I want to know the logic behind why tab picks the targets it does, and why it doesn't work better.

/RAGE

[Deleted]

/target focus
/assist

after setting a tank as focus works pritty well

[blizzy]

Personally I find an addon like TidyPlates has improved my ability to target mobs on both my melee and ranged dps

The standard nameplates are quite bulky, TidyPlates does exactly what it says on the tin You can find it on curse or wowinterface.

This. Tidy Plates also allows you to quickly see which mobs you have aggro from, or which one you're losing.

[DrunkenBeard]

/target focus
/assist

after setting a tank as focus works pritty well

Oh that's actually pretty interesting too. I'll have this on "~" so I can quickly assist the tank. Great advice, thanks.

So to sum it up : I'll have to decide between click-targeting with tidyplates and tabing using "targetnearestdistance" (maybe in a per-fight basis but I'll have to test each one), with an assist macro as a default target.

[Saphirox]

Oh that's actually pretty interesting too. I'll have this on "~" so I can quickly assist the tank. Great advice, thanks.

So to sum it up : I'll have to decide between click-targeting with tidyplates and tabing using "targetnearestdistance" (maybe in a per-fight basis but I'll have to test each one), with an assist macro as a default target.

As previously mentioned, tidyplates helps. Not only do you see the mobs more clearly (some people don't agree on this) but you can manually click them easier. Also I just wanted to add that you should spend some time to learn how tab targetting works. Find a group of many mobs (or training dummies) position yourself in the middle of them and start tab'ing and see how the targetting circle behaves, now, turn 90 degrees away from half of them and tab away. You will notice that tab targetting behaves in a set pattern and knowing how it works really helps.
Another solution is to macro you CS and TV to automatically target the closest mob, this way, you just make sure you have noone targeted, then push CS and it targets the closest mob for you and hits it. (This would be the same as having noone targeted, Tab once, then hit CS.) I dont have the macro for this right now, but its a simple one like "Targetenemy" or something like that.

Having said all this, having an assist macro (and auto assist checked under settings) will let you either hit the assist macro or simply, click on your tanks unitframe and start dpsing. I do this quite a lot when I'm not 100% sure which mob he's hitting atm.

Good luck.

[Seresumuerte]

Use nameplates, I recomend Tidyplates or threatplates as a good mod to use, and yes, click to target.

[Deleted]

Agree get the addon Tidyplates.

[Beno]

I have noticed the same thing recently - and as ret how random it can be - especially now with judgement range being buffed and stuff just tends to be targeted that is miles away.

I HATE, HATE HATE tidy plates btw - i have played a long time and just like the standard ones as it was what i got used to as the "norm: - so i find that an assist macro is useful