This is kind of a silly little question, like most of my posts... but I'm seeing this more and more in arenas (regs) and before I get all high-and-mighty about how stupid it is...

 

Before the arena starts, someone gets marked with a target... and then someone with a star, and then someone with the lighting, and then EVERYONE HAS A MARK (it's like Opera giving out cars).

 

Am I supposed to know who to focus, because... I dunno... people in ranked or somewhere have some secret handshake and just know that when there are multiple marks the order is 'star, target, shield, green clovers, blue diamonds" or some such thing?

I always figure the cross hairs is the focus. If there’s a tank and they are marked with the shield, it helps to know who to neutralise while you focus the target.

 

Other than that, the other marks mean anything you want. Sometimes I’ll pop one on a stealth before he vanishes incase he stealths out in a fight to go heal. Those big arse marks make it easier to see them if they are hiding behind some LoS.

 

I don’t mind if everything in arena is marked, as long as people communicate before hand and work out the order.

The marks actually help me keep track of who is where.

Edited September 13, 2018 by TrixxieTriss

I view multiple marks as meaning these all are good players that deserve to be focused. The problem is, sometimes these marks were done so not because it's tactically smart but instead because someone on our team simply hates them and wants them to die.

 

I have seen really good DPS on the opposite side and marked them because when left alone they wreak so much havoc they need focused interference, but then someone on our team will say "WHY DID SOMEONE MARK THAT SNIPER HE'S NOT A HEALER YOU DUMB ****!!!!"

 

Thing is, marking targets is a crap shoot. Sometimes people care, most of the time in regs I find many incapable of focusing anything even when it's marked. My pet peeve is letting a healer freecast too, I like to have healers marked don't get me wrong. But there are some enemy DPS that deserve to be tunneled.

I view multiple marks as meaning these all are good players that deserve to be focused. The problem is, sometimes these marks were done so not because it's tactically smart but instead because someone on our team simply hates them and wants them to die.

 

I have seen really good DPS on the opposite side and marked them because when left alone they wreak so much havoc they need focused interference, but then someone on our team will say "WHY DID SOMEONE MARK THAT SNIPER HE'S NOT A HEALER YOU DUMB ****!!!!"

 

Thing is, marking targets is a crap shoot. Sometimes people care, most of the time in regs I find many incapable of focusing anything even when it's marked. My pet peeve is letting a healer freecast too, I like to have healers marked don't get me wrong. But there are some enemy DPS that deserve to be tunneled.

 

The “Vanilla only” tactics guys at the detriment of everything else make we want to pull my hair out. It’s always “mark the healer and focus first”.

Ok, that’s fine when it’s tactically sound to do so, except a lot of the time it’s not.

But you can’t tell some people and if you try to suggest anything that’s not vanilla tactics, they will yell at you, call you bad, rage quit or blame you when they lose (when it was their own dumb tactics that lost the match).

 

The problem is the bad players now out number the average, mediocre, good players by 3:1. So they have no one to learn from and they think anything that isn’t vanilla tactics must be wrong.

I usually always mark healers because noone else does and i use the crosshairs or star because visually, they stand out really well against everything. I find it kind of annoying when someone marks with the red flame. In arena i like to have a mark on the healer even if they are not the focus target just so its easy to see their position in the crowd.

Target - Kill this guy first, do whatever it takes (typically would be the healer)

Flame - Kill this guy second, use heaviest attacks (typically would have crazy DCD's so burst them so they do not get a chance to use them god bubbles)

Shield - CC this guy until they rage quit because they cannot do anything (Will have group utility, if CCed no chance to use it to save people)

Cog - HAHAHAHAHAHA, kill last or just let them /stuck it (deemed, as guy is useless ignore since they will not do anything, typically lightning sorc/tele sage, I will note there are some exceptional lightning sorcs, but those are too few and rare)

Yeah I always thought it was:

Scope - 1st

Fire - 2nd

Shield - Tank

 

Other than that, if you're not in VC, it's just confusing.

Back in days when I was premading, “target- star” would be “focus first-focus second” in all-dps arenas we got into.

 

In tank-healer games we used to mark tanks with “shield” and heals with “green-whatever-it-is”, there you switch.

 

“Blaster”, “lightening” or “fire” were used to mark a skilled player who had to be either shut down (cc’d) or kept in range, because focusing him first would mean help him practice his extraordinary kite skills. I barely recall using any of these “target sets” paired or altogether.

 

I still use ”target-star” as “focus first-focus second” in pug arenas , but whatever you use- just type in chat what the hell do you mean. Some people see target mark and they think it’s a healer marked and then yell why did you focus tank or trash dps. You name it. I saw people placing targets on teammates, don’t ask me why and what that means.

Curious topic, btw, Banderal.

Edited September 13, 2018 by zhezvya

Generally people use the crosshairs for the first target and flame for the second. The blue shield also gets used often for tanks and green lightsaber for healers.

 

*But* if multiple targets are marked the person doing the marking should clarify what they mean in Ops chat, at least if it is done before the match starts.

 

Sometimes you get multiple targets marked because two different people in the arena have different ideas about who should be focused first.

Edited September 13, 2018 by Aeneas_Falco

I saw people placing targets on teammates, don’t ask me why and what that means.

Curious topic, btw, Banderal.

 

I think that is usually salt.

 

Player 1 is mad at Player 2 because of something from a previous match, and marks him or her. I had someone who was doing to me for awhile when we'd end up on the same team, after he got wrecked in the third round of an arena where we were the last two left and on opposing teams. I knew it was him because he sent me an angry tell after the match about how Mercs are OP, his teamates were garbage (they weren't), ect. and I'd only get marked with a target in spawn whenever he was on the same team for a couple weeks after.

Edited September 13, 2018 by Aeneas_Falco

I give guildmates the cog of shame when I'm on a toon they don't know about.

I give guildmates the cog of shame when I'm on a toon they don't know about.

 

The cog of shame... hahaha. Wait, does that mean when I go down last in an arena it's NOT because of my awesome skill? It's because I got marked as inconsequential with the cog of shame?

 

Anyway, thanks for answers. I guess if everyone is marked and no one bothers to say why they marked anyone, I'll just assume the target-star order. I knew shield was commonly used for tanks. I didn't realize that the green saber was common for healers. Interesting.

The cog of shame... hahaha. Wait, does that mean when I go down last in an arena it's NOT because of my awesome skill? It's because I got marked as inconsequential with the cog of shame?

In case you're serious..the enemy team cant see marks that are placed by your own team. I do suspect sarcasm and think you already know this fact, i'm just so used to dealing with ignorance surrounding pvp lately i jump to conclusions.

apologies

In case you're serious..the enemy team cant see marks that are placed by your own team. I do suspect sarcasm and think you already know this fact, i'm just so used to dealing with ignorance surrounding pvp lately i jump to conclusions.

apologies

 

Yep, I knew that. But thanks for making sure.

 

My sarcasm was actually directed at the enemy marking me with the cog, which, of course, I can't see those. It's like an old D&D comic I saw, where a character is walking along and suddenly stops all nervous, "I think I just failed a spot check!" In this game it's, "I think I just felt an enemy mark put on me!"

Back in the day we used :

target = primary target

flame = secondary target

star = cc

shield = tank/cc

cog = ignore

saber = we used for healer

 

It seems to work generally in arenas atm too.