I keep seeing, on almost every forum, people complaining about not having a target's target button. I myself, at first, was this way.. However It is in the game and so there is no need to complain about it. They just didn't tell you how to do it.

 

How to: Target's Target

Target's target allows you to say, select a the tank, and then press a button to automatically select what he is targeting. By default this is " Alt+T ". If you wish to change this, you can. just go into options and at the bottom of the windows there will be a tab labelled "Key bindings" go to it and select targeting. close to the very bottom is target's target. feel free to set it how you want.

 

How to: Focus Target

Focus target is a great feature for everyone, but mainly healers. Focus target allows all abilities to be directed to a pre-selected target. So if you are a healer, you want to have your tank focus targeted, so when the time comes you can just hold down the focus target button and hit your heals. By default this feature is not even turned on.

 

To turn this feature on you go into your options and.. (oops forgot where?) well you should be able to see a box that is labelled "enable focus target". Make sure you select that.

Once on, you may not use this handy feature. By default "alt+f" selects your focus target and holding down "f" and using an ability will direct that ability to your focus target. Once again, you can change this in the key bindings -> target area in options (i know classes that use the cover feature, have F for cover)

 

I hope that is easy to understand... and I hope it helps you out!

Good info. This should be stickied. Or at least embedded somewhere in the new player guide. Edited December 22, 2011 by dragnn

While switching to Target's Target is useful for, say, assisting a tank, I think what people want to be able to see is a live view of the Target of Target. For instance, if I am tanking, it is nice to see that the mob I am attacking is paying attention to me, or if I'm healing and the mob switches from the tank to another player, I can know who I'm going to need to save while the tank picks it back up again.

 

Alt-T is a start, but it doesn't cover all the use scenarios that people were looking for.

Good to know but it's an unnecessarily complex way of doing it. I should be able to target a player and see what they're attacking and have the game smart enough to realise that if I use a damaging ability it should target through the player and a heal should target on the player. This is a pretty standard feature in MMO's.

Good to know but it's an unnecessarily complex way of doing it. I should be able to target a player and see what they're attacking and have the game smart enough to realise that if I use a damaging ability it should target through the player and a heal should target on the player. This is a pretty standard feature in MMO's.

 

How is it complex? It's a keypress, you're pressing keys already, how does it make it any more complex? If anything you're asking for it to be dumbed down so any monkey could heal.

Most other games SHOW you your target's target visually so you can see what it is before you select it. I think that's what Wookielicious is complaining about. And it's a valid point.

 

On the other hand, no MMO I ever played (and I've played quite a few, but obviously not all of them) had this in at launch, they all added it in shortly after. It's just one of those things that they all forget about for some odd reason. I'm confident they will add this in eventually.

How is it complex? It's a keypress, you're pressing keys already, how does it make it any more complex? If anything you're asking for it to be dumbed down so any monkey could heal.

 

There's a difference between dumbing down and offering something intuitive.

A system that doesn't show what your party members have targeted, who an enemy has targeted and requires an extra key press every time you switch targets and heal to get back to an enemy target just strikes me as being more complex than it needs to be.

Not to mention the focus system is not switched on by default.

 

Is it a game breaker? Of course not.

Would the game be better without this roundabout way of targeting? I think so and so do a lot of other people posting here and discussing it in game.

After playing a little more and experiencing this first-hand (especially as a healer), I have to agree. This needs to be made a lot easier.

 

I like the whole Focus Target thing. But even this is more complex than it needs to be. If I am targetting a friendly character and I activate a hostile power, it should automatically target the friendly players target.

 

If I target an enemy and use a heal or other benefiical power, then it should automatically affect that enemy's target (if it's friendly).

 

That's just common sense and every other MMO I've played does it that way.

I'm a healer and I even use this solo now with my companion. There isn't anything hard about this in all honesty.

After playing a little more and experiencing this first-hand (especially as a healer), I have to agree. This needs to be made a lot easier.

 

I like the whole Focus Target thing. But even this is more complex than it needs to be. If I am targetting a friendly character and I activate a hostile power, it should automatically target the friendly players target.

 

If I target an enemy and use a heal or other benefiical power, then it should automatically affect that enemy's target (if it's friendly).

 

That's just common sense and every other MMO I've played does it that way.

 

I've never encountered a "smart" assist like that. Even in WoW. I've also played countless F2P games and again, nothing like that. The default friendly action usually lands on yourself.

I've never encountered a "smart" assist like that. Even in WoW. I've also played countless F2P games and again, nothing like that. The default friendly action usually lands on yourself.

 

"Cast through target" functionality exists in WoW, EQ1, EQ2. You can set it so that if you target a friendly and cast a harmful spell it will land on their enemy target, if you target an enemy and cast a helpful spell it will land on their friendly target.

"Cast through target" functionality exists in WoW, EQ1, EQ2. You can set it so that if you target a friendly and cast a harmful spell it will land on their enemy target, if you target an enemy and cast a helpful spell it will land on their friendly target.

 

It only exists through WoW using macros, it's not a default setting or a keybind.

If I target an enemy and use a heal or other benefiical power, then it should automatically affect that enemy's target (if it's friendly).

 

That's just common sense and every other MMO I've played does it that way.

 

This!

Originally Posted by SheckyS

If I target an enemy and use a heal or other benefiical power, then it should automatically affect that enemy's target (if it's friendly).

 

That's just common sense and every other MMO I've played does it that way.

This!

 

Actually common sense would dictate that if you use a beneficial power or heal on a hostile enemy that it wouldn't work or it would affect yourself. Whether or not other MMOs do it is another story.

It's been a long time since I played WoW, so maybe I am wrong, but I could've sworn it worked that way.

 

I know for sure I've used this on other MMO's. I could be thinking of DCUO, Champions Online, or maybe even City of Heroes.

 

But any way you slice it, it's incredibly useful, and not just for healers.

 

Want your whole group to always attack the same target? No problem. Just select the tank and you will attack whatever he attacks. And if you're a healer, when you use a heal, you will be healing the tank. Super simple.

 

Much much easier than...

Oh, okay, so the tank's health is low and I set him up as my focus target, so I have to press the focus target key which I mapped to the letter 'n' and then my heal power is mapped to the number 7, and in the mean time, I have to use both hands, so I can't move around because I don't have a third hand to use for the mouse.

 

Yeah, okay, I know, I'm exaggerating, it's not really THAT bad. But there's really no comparison in terms of ease-of-use and simplicity between the way it is now and what I am suggesting.

It's been a long time since I played WoW, so maybe I am wrong, but I could've sworn it worked that way.

 

I know for sure I've used this on other MMO's. I could be thinking of DCUO, Champions Online, or maybe even City of Heroes.

 

But any way you slice it, it's incredibly useful, and not just for healers.

 

Want your whole group to always attack the same target? No problem. Just select the tank and you will attack whatever he attacks. And if you're a healer, when you use a heal, you will be healing the tank. Super simple.

 

Much much easier than...

Oh, okay, so the tank's health is low and I set him up as my focus target, so I have to press the focus target key which I mapped to the letter 'n' and then my heal power is mapped to the number 7, and in the mean time, I have to use both hands, so I can't move around because I don't have a third hand to use for the mouse.

 

Yeah, okay, I know, I'm exaggerating, it's not really THAT bad. But there's really no comparison in terms of ease-of-use and simplicity between the way it is now and what I am suggesting.

 

WoW does not have it as a default, the only way you can get that function is through a macro.

 

Would it be easier? Sure. Is it necessary? No. They have bigger fish to fry right now than quality of life issues.

EQ2 had the heal thru/dps thru target functionality, and I loved it!

 

In that game healers not just heal bots, but we offered debuffs, cc, and other tools to help a group/raid aka flashpoint/operation. DPS could not split up DPS as they were targeting thru the tank or thru the assigned DPS thru target in raids.

 

I personally find the additional key clicks annoying, and I can't see who pulled aggro until their health is diminishing. Granted, I can key target of target... it's still annoying. Let me lock onto a mob and see/heal thru what the mob has targeted.

 

I hope they consider adding this convenience feature in the future. Granted they do have other higher priority projects, but this would be awesome in the future.

Actually, City of Heroes has had the automatic target priority for casting for some time.

 

For example, if I was playing a healer, I could select a teammate, and any heals would be focused on that team member. If I fired off a damaging ability though, it would automatically redirect to whatever he had targeted at the time.

 

Similiarly, if I had an enemy targeted, damage would hit the mook, heals would hit the mook's target.

 

As mentioned previously in this thread, that wasn't something CoH had from the get-go. It was added within the first year of live play, though, so I conjure that the SWTOR dev team may already be considering it in a future patch.

so, I target my friend and then attack him, but the attack actually goes to his target? that sounds like dumbing down to me.

The focus is very useful when using it for the pet since it rarely goes into a LOS condition - but I find it tougher to do with players. Primary healing on other players is in PvP though, so if you are running flashpoints then focus will still be a good benny for you.

 

For PvP I use 2 keys - I have set my auto run to KeyPad 7 and kept numlock active. This allows me to set KP (-) as next friendly and KP (+) as target of target.

 

If healing a melee you can cycle players using the KP - key, and heal the ones that need it.

 

If healing a tank you can swap between tossing damage to its target and heals on the tank by toggling the KP + key.

i think too many people dont understand completely what target of target is. a few of you do but unless i misunderstood the op he doesnt.

 

when i target the mob i want to know who the mob is targeting. i want to know my "target of target". when i target a group mate i want to know what he is targeting.

 

this way if it is a group mate i can attack the same target he is. this is called assisting the tank. or main assist if not the tank but rather a designated person the raid leader makes. there is little need to mark targets this way. there is also no confusion as to what to attack and when. also when the main tank dies or loses agro the main assist will "lose" his target forcing you to stop dpsing.

 

as a healer i can "heal through the mob" which is alot easier on a tank switched or if a dps pulls agro. that way i can also cast interrupts, do dps or debuffs too on the mob.

 

as a dps i can tell who the mob's top agro target is. if it is anything other than the tank, i know to lay off and let him gain control. if it is me i know to start running to him if i am range dps to 'give" it back to him. if melee dps i know to hit my agro debuff ability if it is up and to lay off dpsing.

 

with real target of target there is no need for a agro meter.

 

i cant remember if wow had this as i left it in fall 2004 and went to eq2 which does. i think rift has this too. this makes grouping and raiding real easy for new players and you never target the wrong mob either.

 

hopefully this will be of help.

There's a difference between dumbing down and offering something intuitive.

A system that doesn't show what your party members have targeted, who an enemy has targeted and requires an extra key press every time you switch targets and heal to get back to an enemy target just strikes me as being more complex than it needs to be.

Not to mention the focus system is not switched on by default.

 

Is it a game breaker? Of course not.

Would the game be better without this roundabout way of targeting? I think so and so do a lot of other people posting here and discussing it in game.

 

+1 - I come from playing 5 years in EQ2, and I really miss seeing targets target. It is a basic feature imo which should be there.

pretend it is IRL, you have 7 of your college friends are fighting a corporate ******. You will literally be able to see who ****** is targeting by looking at him taking shots at someone else. Now back to the game, while we all can kinda see what something is aiming at it is usually up in the air if 16 people are all standing around the target.