After re-watching the stream for the umpteenth time I started thinking what everybody thinks of target tagging. What I mean is a system like many other mmos have where you can mark a target for the entire group. Whether that be with certain icons or numbers it does not matter. It would just serve as a visual queue to show a kill order of sorts.
I did a quick search to see if this topic existed but not a great one so if it's somewhere else please merge or delete thanks.
I both like and don't like this mechanic.
In raid situations, while discussing strat in voip its nice to be able to tag something; which aids in the whole raid being able to follow the discussion better. Ultimatly cutting through the kaos and creating some sense of a plan :P.
On the other hand I usually don't use it because it just slows you down and I really appreciate a group that can read the scene, assist/focus etc properly.
So I guess it would fall into the nice to have tools for me.
-Az
I think icons/numbers are kind of immersion breaking, maybe a spell that shines a light on the mob or makes it glow to the group. Maybe give archers the ability to mark a mob that takes 8sec or so before they agro..
I do kidna agree with azaya, the situation determines the usability of it. as a former enchanter i wish there were times when i could put a big giant get the hell off my mob icon above the mezzed mob, however it was usually reserved to group leaders etc. in raids i find this very useful in a group however if they can not make an /assist macro /kick... JMO little harsh but i mean cmon basics are basic.
I don't really think it has a place in standard groupings as, frankly, you should be paying attention to the chanter's '/g mezing %T you hit it and its YOURS' messages etc. Situational awareness is king in these areas.
However, where it may play a role is in rain scenarios. A big boss with 3 nasty guards that need off-tanking, lulling, sneaky FD pulling etc may well find tagging #A, #1, #2, #3 useful when outlining the plan (in 'planning phase'. These tags could only work outside combat for EG, or could be limiotred to players with an in-game 'tactics' skill even! You may even need a high skill to show to more people, or to tag more mobs.
Just my 2c
I like have a target tagging system. While it's not normally needed (especially if using VOIP), in big fights with lots of adds, it becomes important for the spotter to find that healer add or DPS add so some of the party can peel off and take care of them. Would be more than happy with just a single target capability for a group.
I don't know how I feel on this subject since I really am looking for immersion in this game, and the act of marking mobs for death with giant numbers kinda reminds me I'm in a game lol. However on an off thought, besides obviously using chat to tell the party, what if we had abilities that painted targets? Maybe we could use something like paint pellets to mark a target, creating a giant red mark on the most important target,and yellow for next, etc. Same thing as number tagging with a more realistic twist
I think it would be cool if the worked the mob target tagging into some of the class's skills and spells. Instead of just giving raid leaders the ability to put 'plus symbols' and 'skulls' above mob's heads, give the bard or ranger or whoever a spell that marks the mobs.
And I've seen mez have graphics that signal to players that the mob is mezzed but a lot of the times the graphic is very subtle and is hard to recognize. A couple of zzz's that float around the mob's head or the mob simply stands there wobbling asleep. I mean if you are paying attention like you should then you should be able to see it but it could also be a little more noticeable in some games too.
NoobieDoo said:I think it would be cool if the worked the mob target tagging into some of the class's skills and spells. Instead of just giving raid leaders the ability to put 'plus symbols' and 'skulls' above mob's heads, give the bard or ranger or whoever a spell that marks the mobs.
And I've seen mez have graphics that signal to players that the mob is mezzed but a lot of the times the graphic is very subtle and is hard to recognize. A couple of zzz's that float around the mob's head or the mob simply stands there wobbling asleep. I mean if you are paying attention like you should then you should be able to see it but it could also be a little more noticeable in some games too.
That's pretty much what I was thinking! Like a Ranger could equip a paint pellet to their arrow that would visibly mark the mob with a color:)
Instead of dev time into making a marking system, I would rather a more intuitive tab-targeting feature so I can easily, and quickly target the mob I want without using the mouse. A settings option to tab closest to furthest mob, furthest to closest mob, toughest to easiest mob, etc. are some possible ways to handle it. I would also like having choices like using tab, alt-tab, control-tab to go through the different cycling techniques.
edit: spelling typo
Alic said:After re-watching the stream for the umpteenth time I started thinking what everybody thinks of target tagging. What I mean is a system like many other mmos have where you can mark a target for the entire group. Whether that be with certain icons or numbers it does not matter. It would just serve as a visual queue to show a kill order of sorts.
I did a quick search to see if this topic existed but not a great one so if it's somewhere else please merge or delete thanks.
No. Nope. Negative.
All you need is an assist key, intelligence, and patience.
In guild raids I didn't find them necessary because you got used to raiding with the same people and those that couldn't handle basic targeting didn't usually go on many of the raids. The only time I found it truly useful in raids was for marking mez targets. Dunno why, because it wasn't very difficult, but I liked it.
It was a bit more useful in groups for who to mez etc especially in a pug but a more difficult camp. With macro buttons I had no problem marking 1-3 (that was the EQ limit right?) mobs quickly either mid pull, yay auto-run!, or right before tagging a mob.
Immersion breaking, yes, and I can understand why people would be against it. Afterall, we did fine without them for many years. Multiple people have mensioned spells to mark mobs which I'm definitely all for. A number floating above a head isn't exactly "realistic" but a spell that puts say a blue aura around a mob or marked with an arrow is fun. There are probably much more creative/better ideas than that that players and devs can think up of course.
edit: Forgot my answer: I'd like numbers (shapes were wierd in WoW imo), but as long as there's some method I'll be happy enough.
Completely for having a tagging mechanism. I think it's far too easy to get caught up in the "it's immersion breaking" or "this would never happen in real life". Well in real life we wouldn't be doing this stuff anyway :)
I thjink Hunk kind of hit the nail on the head, difficulty for the sake of difficulty just leads to frustration. This is one of my main issues with EQ and some other games. While in some ways they were great.. in others they were nothing but painful for no real reason when they didn't need to be.
Doing CC or targeting when there are multiple mobs with the same names/types can be complex. Sure you can use /assist, but that is also not always practical either.
Would love to see this in game.
Santiago said:I thjink Hunk kind of hit the nail on the head, difficulty for the sake of difficulty just leads to frustration. This is one of my main issues with EQ and some other games. While in some ways they were great.. in others they were nothing but painful for no real reason when they didn't need to be.
Doing CC or targeting when there are multiple mobs with the same names/types can be complex. Sure you can use /assist, but that is also not always practical either.
Would love to see this in game.
You two wrote out those points quite nicely :)
Hunk said: Gonna argue with this point. From a game design perspective making game play mechanics complex for the sheer sake of complexity is bad design. There's absolutely zero reason why in this day in age that classes can't be given a method to mark out targets and still keep it "in game" immersion. No matter what one's opinion is of League of Legends the design perspective there is brilliant. Anyone who is brand new to MOBAs or gaming in general can watch a LoL match and quickly figure out just about everything going on. Despite the sheer skill cap in that game being incredibly high. Clear and visible markings in game that fall within lore mechanics is never a bad idea. This isn't 1999 anymore...the *everything* has to be uphill both ways will not fly now a days. The difficulty of the game won't be compromised due to cleaning up a few tedious aspects. Ultimately we want the player base to grow. Not decline due to every single aspect of the game needing to be a pain stakingly tedious.
/golfclap
I always hear the non-stop "EQ did it this way so it should be this way" talk, and it worries me that there aren't more voices to push back in the higher pay tier forums. Great Post.
Alexander said: Or maybe a raid leader ability, if "raid leader" is a thing.
They added this later in EQ, with a group leader version too, as part of a group/raid AA sort of system. It was like AAs in that you trasferred exp to the points and could get bonuses such as marking, more group/raid HP, HoTT, etc. Group/raid leaders could also delegate people to mark targets.