Targeting Issues that I hope ANet will find resolutions for in the next expansion

[meerfunkuhtron.9725]

Targeting in GW2 has always been an issue for me, especially as a ranger. This has been a complaint for a long time, and it seems like it just has never been addressed. I specifically remember a forum post from several years ago coming from another ranger player asking why their arrows kept shooting at an enemy further away and off to their side, even when they have "target nearest enemy" selected. That was almost... what, 2014? It's 2021, and I'm still having the same issues.

So, some things I've noticed that I hope the devs will take a serious look at:

• Skills will target some enemy off to the side, not being faced by my character, and is further away even when I have a clear enemy right in front of me.-What I've done to try and prevent this: use the keybind for "nearest enemy" and disabled "promote skill target". This eased the issue a bit but not by much. It still happens constantly.-Though this is a more glaring issue with my ranged skills, it still presents itself with my melee (albeit, still with the ranged skill of my melee weapon). I'm sure a lot of you know how it is... you press GS 3 in order to clear some ground and though you have no enemy in front, the skill chooses one from behind you. It's great.-Disabling "autotargeting" doesn't prevent this. I hit the key for "nearest enemy", and I target some Charlie off the far off distance. Why?? So then I cycle through enemies, and...
• Cycling "next enemy" doesn't actually go through enemies in front of me. It will even cycle through friendly targets (??) and will go through so many other targets EXCEPT the one that's literally RIGHT THERE.
• When "allow skill retargeting" is enabled, my skills will literally jump between targets even when they're further apart and I'm not actually facing the other targets.-What I've done to avoid this: Use "call target" feature on an enemy in an attempt to have my skills stick to them. Doesn't work half the time, so I had to disable the setting. However...
• When "allow skill retargeting" is disabled, changing targets doesn't switch the targeting of the skills and I have to press ESC to stop attacking, then retarget, then attack. This wouldn't be an issue IF it weren't for the aforementioned problems surrounding targeting. So the solution essentially simply leads to another problem- the circle of targeting problems, if you will.
• Don't even get me started on the pet AI targeting.... my pet somehow manages to attack an enemy in another room while I'm being smacked somewhere else. This one in particular is not new. Rangers know the pain.

It just seems to me that the targeting system doesn't actually follow the commands it's supposed to. Instead of going off of distance or enemies relative to where the player character is facing (LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO), it's more like it's based on an RNG system within a set radius @_@. And I'm not sure if other classes have noticed these issues; I do know that I notice this so much more with my ranger than with everything else.And just to provide extra info: my computer isn't a potato, and I've noticed these issues come up when I have 50-60 fps and I'm the only player around. So I'm positive this is not a connectivity thing. As mentioned, this has been a thing from years and years ago, regardless of pc capabilities or latency status. I've rebound keys and double-checked that they are not conflicting with other commands as well. Like, I'm trying here, ANet. PLEASE revamp your targeting system.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Alot of this sounds like a symptom of autotargetting which you shouldn't be using. The easiest way to get the right target is simply to click on it, and make a habit of doing so, because its the only certain way to target who/what you want.

In melee this problem shouldn't exist even for ranged attacks because when you cleave an enemy by pressing 1 on open air they'll automatically become your target for leaps, etc., as long as Promote Skill Target is enabled.

Though the keybind to select the closest enemy chosing players or mobs behind you has always been a major problem.

[Hell Nirvana.9045]

I get the same behaviour on occasion, where I have an enemy I haven't targeted yet right in front of me, even at melee distance, but hitting my "target nearest enemy" key targets some other enemy in the far distance.

[meerfunkuhtron.9725]

@Hannelore.8153 said:Alot of this sounds like a symptom of autotargetting which you shouldn't be using. The easiest way to get the right target is simply to click on it, and make a habit of doing so, because its the only certain way to target who/what you want.Yes, it's definitely a problem with their autotargeting, which is why I'm pleading for them to look into this system since it's obviously not working if people have to literally click on enemies just to avoid how problematic their autotargeting is. Which to me nulls their whole targeting system, so I'm hoping something can be done about it. As I mentioned too, this problem persists even with autotarget being turned off.And yeah, I click enemies too since I've had issues with this for a while, but I don't think that should be the only resolution we have. Case in point is when we're fighting a boss which a group of 20+ players have buried under a giant ball. If you lose your target one way or another within the fight, then good luck finding that target by clicking on it.In melee this problem shouldn't exist even for ranged attacks because when you cleave an enemy by pressing 1 on open air they'll automatically become your target for leaps, etc., as long as Promote Skill Target is enabled.As mentioned, this has not been my experience. I've played this game with various settings of 'autotargeting' being enabled/disabled, with 'promote skill target' enabled/disabled, etc. and though I've seen a very slight difference, the problem largely persists. What you're saying is how the system should work, but that's not how it's been working for me or other folks that I've played with through the years. Hence this post lol