This thread is Part Inquiry / Part Proposal. ;)
Inquiry:
When do you use Tab to target, and when do you use the Mouse to target?
- In Which Situations? Give an example when you perform which and why.
Proposal:
Proposal came Originally from a different thread. It involves holding down the Tab Key for a number of seconds to alter how Targeting might work.
In order to Target certain Foes type much faster, a sort of List can exist and you could change the Order of the Foe types in it.
So holding down Tab for a seconds or two and pressing a number key like 1, would check the Targeting Priority list to see whats in the 1st position, and sees that BOSS is located 1st in the Targeting Priority List.
Target Priority List:
1) BOSS
2) Lieutenant
3) Minion
...
Does it have to be the Tab Key and Number key?
Nope. My Hope is to allow for Shift and Control to be held down to allow for Targeting Foes or Allies.
In CoH/V, we had Tab target the next Foe, but out of the Box, there was no Target next Ally. :/
Which Key would you suggest be the default one to target an Ally?
I'm hoping its the "~" that's just left of the "1" key.
But to target a specific Team Member, Shift (or Control) + Number key.
Number key corresponding to the Team members position in the Team Listing.
And to target a certain Type of Foe, Control (or Shift) + Number key.
Number key corresponds to the Targeting Priority List (shown above), found in Options.
Or..
[img]http://i.imgur.com/ph179JQ.png[/img]
do you prefer to Cycle through your Team Mates by holding down Shift (or Control) + Mouse Wheel Up, or Down?
or Plus / Minus Keys on the keyboard?
Also, targeting NPC allies?
Ex: In CoH, there was a Rikti invasion event in Talos (or Atlas Park) or was it Zombies.. dont recall :(
After the event, a number of players Leveled UP and everyone rushed to the Trainer.
When I got there, Ms Liberty was swarming with players All around her. She was a K-POP Star.
For the life of me, I could not target her with the mouse. She had a Sea of fans! :< No love for ME! :{
I would like a way to target NPC allies. Maybe holding down Shift (or Control) + 0 Number key?
What are the Pros and Cons you might see with this approach?
And is there a better way?
Thanks. :)
Assigning keys for certain things is always tricky. I would suggest that we allow each user to assign whichever key they want to use for each purpose. I know the ~ key is usually resigned in Ventrillo for the push to talk. Number keys are usually assigned to either powers or item usages. WASD are your usual directional keys. R is used for Running. Q and E for strafing or turning left or right. Space is usually jumping. I know there are a lot of gamers out there that have gaming keyboards, mice, and number pads that can be programmed with certain actions involved as well.
I do like the idea of being able to prioritize targeting. Sometimes I would skip over the boss on accident with Tab targeting because I had to hit Tab so many times in order to go through the mob until I found him. I would like to try to keep it as simple as possible. I don't like the idea of having to hold multiple keys down to target something as one hand is usually on the keyboard and one is on the mouse. Some people also do not have special gaming keyboards and mice, or the know how on how to program macros to do certain things with the push of just one button.
Perhaps Tab could be the default "Target Enemy" key and T could be the default "Target Ally" button. Then in the menu options or setting options we can prioritize what we want targeted first, second, third, etc. For the Target Ally we could have options like: Target Tank, Target Ally with the least amount of hp, Target stunned Ally, etc. That way, depending upon the build of our character, we can prioritize the ally we wish to target the most. For the Target Enemy we could choose: Target nearest, Target Boss, Target Enemy with least amount of hp, etc.
I got chills! They're multiplyin'. And I'm losin' control. Cuz the power, I'm supplyin'. Why it's ELECTRIFYIN'!!
I think we are going for siplicity of design: tab targets closest enemy in perceptoon range and cycles to farthest. Using something like the function keys to select team members in order of appearance in the team window and perhaps a target self function. All of it customizable by the user after our base implementation up to including creating unique mey binds to select desired targets. A good example of this from CoH was the target 'voids' binds for khelds that picked out voids within a spawn.
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- Combat Mechanic -
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I personally use Tab and Shift+Tab to cycle through the targetting (if I Have to). The thing is, depending on the game, they each have their own "quirks" in how they target/deal with mobs behind each other... Some go left to right in order of distance, whilst others tend to do the "front to back/ left to right" order.
But I also use CTRL+Tab and CTRL+Shift+Tab[1] to cycle target through friendlies.
If I need a *specific* mob, I generally click with the mouse for them (lots of mobs), or a quick cycle through (if its just a couple of mobs in range), it depends on the character I am playing/combat style of the game though as to which I would do.
I also use an MMO mouse, so for me, most (if not all) of my main skill activations are done by my thumb, so I can easily afford to spend time with the mouse targetting/clicking with finger, whilst also activating attacks with my thumb (Hold to continue casting is useful here as well so I can spam the same attack if I really want to without repeatedly pressing keys).
But in CoX, I used to use CTRL+ (number) to target players... and then in the end I just resorted to just clicking on their name when I changed my gaming setup. It was easier for me to do it that way.
[1] I use a G13 game pad, so I can easily set up a single button to do these combinations if I have to, so to me, the actual *keybind* doesn't matter, it all goes onto the thumb stick for me.
And yes, some people say I am cheating when I can game/targeting everything without needing to touch the proper keyboard.
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YIVYAfP.gif[/img][/center]
Umm... is that like the 1st image? Or is it more like the 2nd?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/aPAozqh.png[/img][img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ee/18/32/ee18328c0d45dc70e82c6fd045ee9130.jpg[/img]
;)
The real answer to this question is ... Keybinds.
My personal UI standard is to use Tab as well as the ~\` key to the left of the 1/! key for specialized targeting.
Rather than using WASD for movement, I typically use WER/SDF instead for movement and rotation, because shifting my hand one key to the right on the keyboard gives my fingers a better spread/reach for the ~ through 6 keys and the F1 through F5 keys without needing to look at the keyboard. It also opens up the left side of the keyboard to use QAZ for additional functions, such as throttle control in Star Trek Online (Q and A), and other purposes. I'll also often keybind TYG to some commonly used interactive features.
For Ally Targeting, I'll often resort to use of Shift+Numpad# because of the two handed nature of the operation, making such commands very deliberate. That then leaves the unShifted use of the Numpad available for things like Pet Control Commands (I learned my lesson with Masterminds!).
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I usually just use ~ for "target nearest enemy" and Tab to cycle.
I don't know how useful it would be, but I was wondering if a key could be assigned to cycle in a user-defined priority. You could pick any order you want it to cycle through.
For example, tap it once to target the nearest Boss, if there's no boss it would target the nearest Lt, if no Lt, then a minion and so on.
Would that be taking too much of the work out of it?
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation."
No matter what the default settings are, I'll be happy as long as everything is customizable.
You know I tried playing Terra and found it unplayable because of the control scheme
The only way to turn was using the mouse, which made it impossible to click icons on the screen
You were supposed to memorize a billion hotkeys for all of your actions
I cant even type without looking at the keyboard so this was beyond impossible
I loved city of heroes where I could use QWE & S to turn and move and click icons for other actions
Thanks to Dungeons & Dragons I've gotten used to using F for push to talk
In COH,I didn't know about Tab targeting for more than 2 years
I always targeted using my mouse until once while fighting some AV in the roman setting people kept telling me to attack the purple things flying around him and I said, "I can't target them they're moving too fast". That's when someone told me about tab targeting. I've been loving it ever since.
Death to twitch Death to Twitch Death to Twitch!
Long live Tab targeting.
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++++++1
PUHLEASE let us bind all keys AND EVEN ALL MOUSE KEYS as freely as possible. This just eliminates so many problems because people can choose. Use whatever defaults you want, but let us bind everything as thoroughly and freely as possible.
Two key (get it?) points:
1) This GREATLY helps anyone with special needs or limitations of any kind. I've seen this mentioned many times by CoH people who had limitations.
2) I want to personally request that you let us bind not only mouse click R and L, BUT ALSO CLICKING R/L at the same time. Sooooooo versatile for movement and powers.
That last one I've been wanting in every game I've played but never get it. Yet simultaneous R/L clicking is independently assignable.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
I always use the keyboard, though I'm really old-school and use the directional arrows to move, so I have Del, End, and PgDn bound to Prev, Nearest, and Next target. Needless to say, Tannim's comments about customisability are extremely welcome news. One thing I really hope CoT avoids is reserving keys like Shift and Control for meta-functions. RShift and RCtrl have been my Run and Jump keys from time out of mind.
Spurn all ye kindle.
As a (dark) defender I used tab targeting a lot, simply because in the chaos of a brawl that I -had- to be in the middle of because of my auras there was simply no way to reliably click target. (and I had to switch between targeting team members and enemies a lot too).
The proposed 'hold tab for X seconds' is waaaaay too slow for that kind of combat. Unless the team was basically padding for a tank that was soloing farming missions I had to switch targets as soon as any power activated because whatever I needed to do next was entirely situational and depending on the power I wanted to use I needed a different target. (dark defense was fun that way :) )
For targeting you ideally have the ability to create simple macros like "target @team3", "target @tank" and "targets target @tank". In addition to that you will want to be able to apply various filters like "nearest' and 'farthest" so you can select the nearest lieutenant to anchor your toggle power on. Bonus points if you can also combine that with ground targeting (where your mouseclick targets an area to which your targeting macro applies).
Of course this is tied to a fairly dynamic, and a little quicker, playstyle that is heavy on using targeted toggles, and other roles that need to switch targets quickly and often. (controllers, some defenders and non-overpowered tanks come to mind here).
It is not exactly aimed at twitch gamestyles, but a slightly quicker paced than CoH, where combat typically lasts longer than a few seconds for minions and where situations can change on the drop of a hat because the nature of enemy AI is a bit more advanced than CoH had (and that allows enemies to apply a small degree of smarts to a fight instead of mindlessly piling on the tank because he or she taunted a few times).
ANY control scheme for Targeting that relies on a Time Delay falls completely into the YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG™ category. Period. End of discussion.
Why?
Because any control scheme for Targeting that involves Time Delays is useful only Out Of Combat, as opposed to During Combat. When I'm busy fighting opponents, I shouldn't ALSO have to fight the User Interface programming.
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I used to play with left control as target nearest enemy. If i had a specific target i used my mouse unless the enemies were stacked too close to get a good click. For alies I either clicked on them directly or their name on the team list depending on the situation.
Although i wasn't much for keybinding (not even on my mastermind), i know many players relied on it. I am sure some of our devs did and they will give us at least the same amount of customisation.
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I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
I totally agree with Redlynne
Universe explodes
Game Over
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I remap movement and targeting to the Number-Pad like an old-school EQ player.
One frustration in some games, 'Target Nearest' should ALWAYS target the nearest enemy in front of you. Not the nearest one behind you, not the nearest one in the treeline to the left. It also should not step through targets, but consistently target That One That's Trying To KILL You!
Be Well!
Fireheart
Just trying to imagine how such a feature could be (pre)programmed makes my head hurt. I can envision a system that ... prioritizes ... $Targets in the direction of the camera view, up to and including programming the system such that the only $Targets that can be automatically selected by Tab must already be within the field of view of your camera. But that's about as far as I can stretch such a limitation on the programming.
And speaking as a Scrapper who used the "Jackie Chan Keybind" of everyone's favorite "targetenemynear$$follow" so as to spin around and attack the closest range target and move myself into melee range (and stay there!), I can tell you that I settled on use of a camera distance of 30 ft so as to be able to see behind myself and engage hostiles attacking me from the rear. The easiest way to prevent that kind of 360 degree engagement performance was to simply move the camera in closer to my avatar such that Foes behind me were no longer within the field of view of my camera.
S imple
E asy
E ffective
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I also would like to ask for the ability to do custom keybinds to target by name, the way CoH did.
It was like night and day on my TA defender to have a dedicated button to target my oil slick.
That thing was VERY hard to find amid a large group.
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation."
+ eleventy-one trillion !1!
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Our goal is to make things as configurable as CoX or more. Most likely more with the flexibility we hope to have with Unreal.
Of course, I was one of those "just use tab for closest target" guys. All of my characters had the same control layout that way I could hop around and be familiar. Yes, I am a member of altaholics anonymous.
[color=#ff0000]Sound Lead, Bullpen Writer[/color]
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I liked the enemy targeting options that CoH had...Target Closest, Target Next, Target Previous, as well as the /target custom options for macros. Those were -incredibly- useful. The ally targeting could have been better, but it was still workable. I'd like to see marking/call target functionality added for teams, with the ability to bind a button to target a specific mark, or even just the ability to set a focus target. Even when you're not killing a specific mob, the ability to mark an AV to make them stand out, and maybe monitor their health and status separately from your current target, is very useful. Allowing that sort of functionality can also allow for some additional mechanics in fights.
Besides using a mixture of the usual Tab and Shift/Crtl+Tab and mouse-selections schemes already described, I added this permanent keybind in CoH:
SHIFT+` "beginchat /bind tilde targetcustomnext "
Any time I needed to target something very specific, I hit SHIFT+` (the tilde key) to invoke my "on-the-fly" keybinder for tilde in the chat window:
/bind tilde targetcustomnext [blinking cursor]
Next, I simply typed the name of the desired target and hit enter, which set my tilde key to target entities with that custom name, until further notice.
Not sure if anyone else used a keybind like this, but I'd certainly like to see this sort of functionality preserved in CoT. It helped in picking certain NPCs during hectic large team combat (sappers, etc), and when hunting specific enemies for badge progress (masks, ghosts, etc). I can't recall, but it may have worked for targeting PCs too.
I think i understand.
You would like to duplicate the current Target window panel and Lock it to that target.. and it always shows, even when you need to target an Ally to heal or buff them? :)
"Focus", they call it in WoW. It can also work for friendly targets. There's also an option to have it show up on your minimap. ^_^
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In CoH, I think I set the option for overhead health bars to "show always" rather than "show when targeted" so I could monitor everyone's health at all times, but I could see value in the new feature that Darkfaith and Izzy described. It's a nice middle ground option to provide most of the value given by "show always", while avoiding its distracting or detracting effect to some players' experience.
More options + more customizability = more WINNING!!!
Nuff said.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
heh.. imagine if we refereed to it instead as Target Lock? ;D
I agree with you both. Universe re-implodes. Extra life used.
/roflcopter
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Agree with Redlynne et. al. Re-Implosion creates multiverse from sheer numbers of '+1's'
I rebound R to target nearest foe, it was then easy to immediately hit F for follow or not if I was using a range attack, such as Focus or Shockwave.
I also rebound several keys for targeting specific things such as Sappers, Eminators, Nictus Crystals or Oil Slick. The binds were sometimes on nearly all my characters sometimes fairly character specific.
Learned early on though to be careful of what to keybind things to. Initially I bound my target nearest to 'P' thinking being way across the keyboard I wouldn't be hitting it accidently while in combat ... then my scrapper decided to type "Maybe we should [b]p[/b]ull the _____" and shot off with /SR speed right at the all too dangerous Igneous. Silly, stupid noob scrapper :p
I got very quick at creating the macro for targeting specific foes if the need arose during the game.
Oh yeah I'd like the option to change my settings Globally (for all characters on my account) or Locally (just for this toon)
Naturally I'd want to set things up globally when I start the game for the first time, then locally when I want to set options for a character's special needs.
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+1
Or if offering both is too much trouble (I wouldn't think it would be), then at least just locally. It's a pain to have to change your setup when switching between toons that you play differently. And with as much variety as CoT looks to offer, this will be even more of an issue.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
After a few moments of thought, the way I'd do it is to have a 'base' configuration that you can set which is loaded as the default for all characters and then each character also has a 'local' configuration which loads second, with the configuration changes that are specific to that alt.
Thats how I normally do it where I can
If this is implemented, I'd like it to be an option and not mandatory, please. I find games that *don't* target enemies behind me to be very frustrating. Sometimes the guy trying to kill you is the one stabbing you in the back.
Which brings up a question I still have: will CoT automatically turn to face a target when the character attacks, as CoX did? I really miss that feature when I play other games. Maybe it's not that much of a problem for folks who use the keyboard to activate powers, but as a power-icon-clicker, it's difficult to try to use the mouse to rotate while activating powers at the same time.
Spurn all ye kindle.
+ 10
I miss being able to "tell my hero there's someone behind him" and watch him turn and deal with it rather than manually do everything as if he were a marionette.
It's one of the many little things that made CoH combat feel like on-the-fly combat choreography rather than being twitchy, and made the combat somehow a magic mix of relaxing and exciting that I could play for hours rather than stressful and exhausting like some games that I can't play for more than an hour without needing a break.
The excitement came from choosing the correct strategy and tactics on the fly and how wonderfully powerful feeling and actiony the animations were, not from actual twitchiness.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Okay, these arguments do make sense. I suppose that what I object to is the sense that a game actively prefers 'target-nearest' to target an enemy that is 'off camera'. Sometimes I'm fighting some goons right in front of me, but pressing my 'target-nearest' key sends my focus off to someplace I can't even see, let alone hit.
I do remember the pleasure of:
'target'
'auto-follow'
'jump'
...timed right, you would charge the enemy, leap over his head, spin in the air, and come down fighting in the opposite direction. Which would often turn the whole crowd of enemy to face away from your team. Useful tactic.
Be Well!
Fireheart
Yeah, I do remember tabbing in close combat and just having the target box disappear because it locked onto an enemy behind you. That could be a pain.
But totally worth it for the ability to pull stuff like you just described. Now THAT is fun action.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Target by Highest Treat Level? ;D
What kind of treats are we talking about here, Izzy? ;)
Regarding the auto-turn, I'd like this to be an option as well. I used to love selecting an enemy behind my character, hitting an attack, and watching them spin about and punch automatically.
Ohh Gawd... Its too early for me to be tired. :{
Nooo Nooo noo.. its not the Clown from The Spawn series thats a Treat to Kids. ;)
Short video of what I think of when targeting Front and Back:
http://youtu.be/KgH8Lo0pjqs
I think this thread is bringing up some really good points about the kind of visual action we enjoyed in CoH verses what these days is often termed an "action MMO".
I remember the first time I fought with a buddy of mine who was an energy blaster. We were on a stairwell and a mob behind me was about to finish me when my buddy turned around and blasted over my shoulder. The mob flew off the stairs, but before he made it to the floor below his foot hit the edge of a lower rail and he hung there upside down.
I couldn't frickin believe it.
THAT is Superhero action, not reticle targeting, kiting, or dodge mechanics.
Another time me and my buddy were on a team with, among others, a SS tank. We were in a big room and the tank knocked a mob up over the group. As the mob was soaring over my buddy blasted him from below and he flew up into the ceiling, hit a wall, slid down, and, well... he didn't make it.
I miss THAT kind of action in a game!
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Gah, took some time to get back to this thread. Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Being able to pick a target to monitor independently of your current actual target is very useful.
One of my favorite moments in CoH was with a low level Energy/Ice Blaster. I was jumping around everywhere. Running up and down a fire escape against a Hellion in AP!
Sadly a lot of CoH combat was not running around. It was very much stand there and hit buttons.
I semi-agree. Two things.
One: I've played games where the mechanics FORCE constant running around. Constantly having no choice but to move is just as monotonous as standing there, just in an exhausting way. I think it's a balance--some need to move and re-position is fun, but not so much you feel like a hyper ADHD kid at recess who just can't be still for a nanosecond.
Two: I don't want to just RUN around, I want to fly, super-leap, teleport, wall-crawl, super-speed, and power-charge around and knock, levitate, blast, teleport, and and send stuff flying around.
And, every now and then, I want to just stand there in an heroic pose, and unleash a devastating blast/haymaker/sonic scream/mind blast/unholy spell/endgame eyebeam/etc., because the attack is just so super-powerful that I need to brace myself or I can't move while unleashing it--and there's no need to.
You know, like a comic book :).
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
I do like the calling the target feature in GW2, I think it is a useful feature for both action and classic styles of MMO combat. Players of course have the option of not focusing on the target, but it can really help in a massive pile of enemies to take out the biggest trouble maker.
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I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
I don't entirely agree. This was true in some circumstances, especially if you were just going through an attack chain, but many powersets demanded movement. For instance, positioning was vital to Storm Summoning---Herdicane™, Lightning Storm, and Gale especially relied on where you stood in three-dimensional space to be most effective. The same could be said for Force Fields, Dark Miasma, and any attack set with lots of cones and/or knockback. You also had to move around quite a bit if enemies were spread out.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying your opinion is wrong. Many of us have had a variety of different experiences in combat. I just don't think this is fair to say as a generalization, in my experience.
Hmm.. was he actually referring to a kinda/sorta Chase After Foe / Be Chased By Foe event? :|
I can speak from experience as an Ice/Ice/Arctic Tanker that for some builds being able to Plant The Flag and play Queen Of The Hill was not only intentional but also extremely advantageous and efficient. An Ice/Ice Tanker (properly specced out) was essentially a Flypaper sort of build. You [b]*INHALED*[/b] aggro like a wind tunnel and just drew the herd onto your position. Knockback was the bane of your existence, since it would knock stuff out of your auras (plural) which were a significant factor in not only doing damage but also protecting yourself from damage.
The flipside was that there were builds where ideally you [i]want to be[/i] in nearly constant motion, especially as a Ranged attacker or when Hovering in the air the way that bricks don't, but every attack you did would put your movement on pause.
The danger is to think that one way is better than the other in ALL circumstances. The better answer is that some builds, strategies and playstyles are advantaged by "planting" themselves and then fighting all comers (usually the aggro magnets do this) ... while for other builds, strategies and playstyles, being mobile (and staying mobile) forms its own measure of protection and advantage.
So ideally, you want to "support" both alternatives, rather than just skewing one way or the other.
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Even when I played Tanker, which would be one of those relatively immobile ATs, I would often be strafing a few feet one way or another, adjusting my melee-cones, pushing my auras out to catch extra mobs, or... grooming the shape and spread of the enemy, to pack them tight for party AoEs. I was almost never completely 'immobile', which is probably why I never got very far with a Stone Armor Tanker... much too limited mobility.
So, I never experienced this 'stand still and mash buttons' gameplay, but I do recognize the sort of 'create a strong-point and then defend it' strategy that might lead another player to conclude it was a static gameplay style. If someone throws down a sticky-field, or a static damage-zone, or a healing-station, or some other immobile force-multiplier, then that ought to become part of the strategy and tactics for the team. We just hope they're smart about where they deploy these things, rather than throwing them down at random.
Be Well!
Fireheart
I personally think coh nerfed taunt too much. Herding tanks were fun
That's where Player Skill and Situational Awareness comes into the equation. Needless to say, the default expectation always was that PCs were supposed to have greater skill and awareness of where they "planted the flag" than NPCs, including Pets. That level of "thinking ahead" made the difference between a mediocre Tanker and an awesome Tanker.
On the flipside, get enough NPCs throwing Target AoE/Target Location stuff at the PCs and it could get extremely annoying for the PCs. Knives of Artemis chucking Caltrops by the dozens comes to mind, where staying in a deep stack of Caltrops could become extremely hazardous. The difference was, the NPCs were numerous, and thus able to generate DEEP stacks of AoE effects like Caltrops ... whereas the PCs were few, and it was actually rare to have more than one PC on the Team with identical Powers. This made for a curious asymmetry that counterbalanced "plant the flag" strategies by giving NPCs what amounted to Area Denial strategies when attacking PCs [i]cooperatively[/i].
There were other examples, of course ... Devouring Earth Emanators, Carnies upon defeat, Malta, Circle of Thorns ... you get the idea. But there were also PC powerset combinations that could be extremely advantageous as well. All it took was intelligent and ingenious Players to find the combinations and work together.
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[i]Verbogeny is one of many pleasurettes afforded a creatific thinkerizer.[/i][/center]
Playing as a Storm Controller had you running around a lot since so much of what you did was positional, and rarely the same position. That was the fun kind of activity (unlike chasing after runners, or trying to find that one missing thorn in an oranbega defeat all mission ... )
Ah, the memories of having two storm controllers against nasty elite bosses... Gentlebeings, your pinata is served :)
I played all the ATs. Got them all to 50 except the Kheldians (I tried! I just could not have fun with them :( ) Even had the Ice/Ice Tanker.
Just didn't find running around wasn't usually warranted. Running away and losing agro perhaps!
3 of the 9 powers in AR, including the two most powerful, were ranged cone attacks. Repositioning yourself was vital to your overall damage output. Even if you had a controller or the like on the team locking down the movement of your targets, it was still important to stand in the right place when firing.
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I never set anything on fire accidentally!
The Titan Legacy - Defender of the Inner Flame
Yeah, spines too. I had to re-position my spines scrapper to get as many as possible in his cones, half-spheres and spheres to get really good DPS. Led to cool actiony looking movement, but less frenetic and more fun than the movement of, say, the reticle or dodge mechanics that many games use to try to force constant movement.
FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)
Even Energy Blaster sin CoX had to understand KIB and how to use it to your advantage or else it was as much a drawback as an advantage.
R.S.O. of Phoenix Rising
Moving around versus staying in place was definitely a situational choice for me. My Ice tanker, as Redlynne said, tended to choose a spot and declare that that spot was the keypoint of the battle. My Elec/elec blapper, on the other hand, was constantly running, jumping and hovering around, positioning herself more advantageously during the course of the fight.
Everquests use some of the function keys for targeting allies and then one for nearest enemy as well as for camera options, etc... Also, you can optionally use either a hotbutton in a bar in the crafing window of EQ2, or the number associated with the button. I don't know if this falls under copyright or not, but, thought I'd bring it up. Even if it does fall under copyright, permission to use the idea, with a mention in game credits may be possible...
As far as targeting keybinds went, the custom target commands were wonderful, but some improvements I would like to have seen for it would be additional variables for targets to ignore (like invulnerable civilians in the friggin bank) and range (so that my Blapper won't accidentally agro the next three mob groups because I'm spamming my attack macro while the roomie is distracting me).
While I want all of this to be doable through keybinds, I have to say it would be nice to have a "target priority interface" that lets me input certain default variables like FoV range, rank, custom names, and all the other stuff that can be incorporated into a custom target keybind. Especially if one of it's functions was to show how a keybind would look that worked for those settings.
In fact, that's a feature I'd really like to see for most of the game functionality, is being able to show a keybind for an action or ability. Sure, I'm comfortable copying cmdlist from the chatbox and going through it testing functionality of powexec_wtfisthis commands, as well as learning and teaching on the forum threads, but all of that makes keybinding feel kind of exclusive, or at least elitist or arcane. I'd love if players could activate a keybind tutorial mode so more people could learn how to do this more easily. I remember some days I would just hang out in AP for a few hours offering to teach people keybinding basics, and it seemed to me that a lot of people were really intimidated by it, like it was screwing with programming they weren't meant to touch, or they thought they weren't smart enough to do stuff like that. It'd be "heroic" imo if the game wasn't just about punching people for XP but also making them feel more empowered as gamers.
Customizable keybinds are good.
I always set Tab to "Target Nearest Enemy" so I could direct attacks from my pets onto the most immediate threat.
I always set Shift+Tab to "Target Next Enemy" so I could cycle through a swarm of enemies until I found the most dangerous threat and direct attacks on it.
I used Keypad7 for "Tier1Pet1 attack selected target" which normally functioned as my "get the heck out of dodge" escape key.
For movement I generally rely on my arrow keys. Being right handed I have far more control that way and I can jump to the mouse if I need to.
Keybinds for Dual Sword used my entire keypad, one combo for each row of numbers in order from fastest cycling (7-8-9) to highest potential damage output (1-2-3).
So forth and so on.
So, yeah. Default standard settings are nice, but default standard settings plus customizability is even better!
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