I h8 f8

[Lance Berg]

On a raid today (which I'm currently crashed out of for some reason), we
had an event where many adds, some invisible, were going to pop.
Offtanking was required for this, and the raid leader suggested that we
needed to use F8 to find the mobs, aggro and OT them.

Let me say this: f8 is NOT your friend.

f8 targets the nearest mob to you. Hit f8 again, and you get the same
mob again, unless something moved or died.

Its a poor solution to the offtanking problem, because the other OT's
are doing the same thing, and in many circumstances, getting the same
mob as you are. Meanwhile, mobs further away from the action are
wreaking havoc on our soft underbelly of healers, CC, nukers, maybe even
melee DPS.

Its possible to overcome this to some extent by spreading out the OT's,
getting them in positions where each will be the closest to some mobs
and not to others. And you can try and overcome it by running around
like mad, spamming f8 and looking for something that isn't being handled.

BUT there's a better, simpler solution, that only takes a minute to set up.

EQ has a "cycle thru nearest NPC" button. This button lets you target
the nearest NPC, like f8, but if you hit it again, you'll get the next
nearest, and the next and the next, till you're all the way thru all the
NPC's nearest you. Then the next time you hit it, you're back to
targeting the "f8" mob, and around the cycle again.

What button is this, you ask? Well, although the capability exists, for
some crazy reason EQ doesn't assign it to a button by default. You have
to set it up for yourself.

Simple to do: Hit the EQ button, Options, Keys, Target, and down on that
list is Cycle Nearest NPC. Click on the spot under the column where
other targeting options like f8 are listed and then push any button you
like on your keyboard. This will assign the cycle function to that key.
I'm personally using the - key for this, as its right next to the = key,
which I remapped my autoattack button to. But pick anything you like as
long as you'll be able to remember it.

f8 will still work just like it always did. But use your new key
instead, get used to it, and I think you'll learn to love it... and hate f8.

[D.J.]

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 08:27:14 -0400, Lance Berg
<***@NOSPAM.dejazzd.com> wrote:
]What button is this, you ask? Well, although the capability exists, for
]some crazy reason EQ doesn't assign it to a button by default. You have
]to set it up for yourself.
]
]Simple to do: Hit the EQ button, Options, Keys, Target, and down on that
]list is Cycle Nearest NPC. Click on the spot under the column where

Or alt-oh, and the click on keys tab. Gets there faster.

JimP.

[Lance Berg]

Post by D.J.
On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 08:27:14 -0400, Lance Berg
]What button is this, you ask? Well, although the capability exists, for
]some crazy reason EQ doesn't assign it to a button by default. You have
]to set it up for yourself.
]
]Simple to do: Hit the EQ button, Options, Keys, Target, and down on that
]list is Cycle Nearest NPC. Click on the spot under the column where
Or alt-oh, and the click on keys tab. Gets there faster.
JimP.

Its true, a handy shortcut. But when I tell people stuff like this I
take the step by step route, figure they're more likely to remember it
than some key combination.

[D.J.]

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:34:46 -0400, Lance Berg
<***@NOSPAM.dejazzd.com> wrote:
]D.J. wrote:
]> Or alt-oh, and the click on keys tab. Gets there faster.
]
]Its true, a handy shortcut. But when I tell people stuff like this I
]take the step by step route, figure they're more likely to remember it
]than some key combination.

Yeah, I have even seen a bit of /ooc where people who claim they
have played for years not knowing about alt-oh.

JimP.

[Eric D. Braden]

Post by Lance Berg
f8 will still work just like it always did. But use your new key
instead, get used to it, and I think you'll learn to love it... and hate f8.

Wow, that's good to know. When I went to FFXI from EQ several years
ago, I loved that you could "tab target." Now that I've come back
(from WoW), I've really missed the ability to cycle targets instead of
just F8. Thanks :D

[murdocj]

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 08:27:14 -0400, Lance Berg

Post by Lance Berg
On a raid today (which I'm currently crashed out of for some reason), we
had an event where many adds, some invisible, were going to pop.
Offtanking was required for this, and the raid leader suggested that we
needed to use F8 to find the mobs, aggro and OT them.
Let me say this: f8 is NOT your friend.
f8 targets the nearest mob to you. Hit f8 again, and you get the same
mob again, unless something moved or died.
Its a poor solution to the offtanking problem, because the other OT's
are doing the same thing, and in many circumstances, getting the same
mob as you are. Meanwhile, mobs further away from the action are
wreaking havoc on our soft underbelly of healers, CC, nukers, maybe even
melee DPS.
Its possible to overcome this to some extent by spreading out the OT's,
getting them in positions where each will be the closest to some mobs
and not to others. And you can try and overcome it by running around
like mad, spamming f8 and looking for something that isn't being handled.
BUT there's a better, simpler solution, that only takes a minute to set up.
EQ has a "cycle thru nearest NPC" button. This button lets you target
the nearest NPC, like f8, but if you hit it again, you'll get the next
nearest, and the next and the next, till you're all the way thru all the
NPC's nearest you. Then the next time you hit it, you're back to
targeting the "f8" mob, and around the cycle again.
What button is this, you ask? Well, although the capability exists, for
some crazy reason EQ doesn't assign it to a button by default. You have
to set it up for yourself.
Simple to do: Hit the EQ button, Options, Keys, Target, and down on that
list is Cycle Nearest NPC. Click on the spot under the column where
other targeting options like f8 are listed and then push any button you
like on your keyboard. This will assign the cycle function to that key.
I'm personally using the - key for this, as its right next to the = key,
which I remapped my autoattack button to. But pick anything you like as
long as you'll be able to remember it.
f8 will still work just like it always did. But use your new key
instead, get used to it, and I think you'll learn to love it... and hate f8.

Cycle thru next NPC became my best friend quite a while back when I
was taking my enchanter thru SRO LDoN. I don't know if they've fixed
it, but at the time for some reason mouse targetting was almost
impossible. You would click and click on a mob and nothing would
happen. Particularly for someone who has to mez this is pretty much a
disaster. "Next mob" key saved the day.

[Don Woods]

Post by Lance Berg
EQ has a "cycle thru nearest NPC" button. This button lets you target
the nearest NPC, like f8, but if you hit it again, you'll get the next
nearest, and the next and the next, till you're all the way thru all the
NPC's nearest you. Then the next time you hit it, you're back to
targeting the "f8" mob, and around the cycle again.
What button is this, you ask? Well, although the capability exists, for
some crazy reason EQ doesn't assign it to a button by default. You have
to set it up for yourself.

Aye. This dovetails nicely with another thread going on at the moment,
reminding folks that it's good to periodically check the choices listed
under the Options --> Keys window.

It's also good to periodically reread the FAQ. :-) Question 8.3, "corpses
and other targets" under Miscellaneous Tips, includes a mention of the
"cycle through available targets" keys. Note that I say "keys" plural,
because you can also set one up for PCs. (Not as necessary as for NPCs,
but still occasionally handy when trying to target one PC in a crowd.)

FWIW, I chose to assign those functions to alt-F8 and alt-F7, since they
cycle through the alternatives for F8 and F7 targetting. But then, due
to my growing up with keyboard-only computers (before the days of screens
and mice), I'm accustomed to UIs where shift/ctrl/alt are used as
modifiers, sometimes in combinations.

-- Don.

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[Richard Carpenter]

Post by Lance Berg
On a raid today (which I'm currently crashed out of for some reason),
we had an event where many adds, some invisible, were going to pop.
Offtanking was required for this, and the raid leader suggested that
we needed to use F8 to find the mobs, aggro and OT them.
Let me say this: f8 is NOT your friend.
f8 targets the nearest mob to you. Hit f8 again, and you get the same
mob again, unless something moved or died.

Any reason you can think of that f8 shouldn't be reassigned to the cycle
targets function? Honestly, I don't really run into many situations where
the nearest mob is obviously the one I want. As a matter of fact, after
that first hit or two from the tank/melees, it usually *isn't*.

[Mark Rafn]

Post by Richard Carpenter
Any reason you can think of that f8 shouldn't be reassigned to the cycle
targets function? Honestly, I don't really run into many situations where
the nearest mob is obviously the one I want. As a matter of fact, after
that first hit or two from the tank/melees, it usually *isn't*.

I use F8 to reset the target cycle to the closest mob. It's fairly often that
I'm keeping some mobs mezzed, and there are more in line of sight that aren't
aggro but still take too long to cycle through to get back to one that needs
my attention.

Thinking about it, I could perhaps just use escape or f1 to break the cycle,
and then cycle target would go to the nearest, regardless of what was
previously targetted.

So, yes, I can think of a reason not to do that, but it's a wrong reason :)
--
Mark Rafn ***@dagon.net <http://www.dagon.net/>