The sin of Tab targeting
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 7th 2009 at 11:00AM
I'm not a keyboard turner -- my steady diet of FPS games growing up made sure of that. And while I do occasionally point-and-click abilities, for the most part, I do use hotkeys. But, just like Tank Like a Girl, there is one control-scheme sin that I'm definitely guilty of: I am definitely a Tab-targeter. I guess the issue is that sometimes you do have to use Tab to choose your different targets -- sometimes, you can't quite click on the thing you need to target, so instead you hit Tab to flip through all the available targets until you get to the one you need. But that's a no-no. Flipping through the targets takes more time than you should (if you happen to miss your target, you need to flip through all of them yet again), and, as I know from personal experience, Tab targeting often ends you up on the wrong target. Not that CC is so much of an issue anymore, but let me tell you: the first time you happen to pull that one dragon your group has cast sleep on, it'll be embarassing.So how to get it right? TLaG suggests this post from TankingTips, which hints at using the mouse instead of the keyboard to target (you can choose friendly targets easier that way), but doesn't offer any real suggestions of how to make the switch. Moving the camera back is one, getting your positioning right is probably another. And learning to use focus and macro targets is probably the best tip you can have: anything that's more specific or direct than either Tab or click targeting is probably better. Addons like Promixo will help in the Arenas as well.
No one's perfect, and no one way to do things is perfect either -- depending on your situation, Tab targeting might be better. But it's important to have as many tools as possible, so if you, like me, find yourself depending on the Tab key more often than not, it might be time to mix up your toolbag a bit.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, PvP, Raiding, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Knob Jul 7th 2009 11:05AM
"(if you happen to miss your target, you need to flip through all of them yet again)"
Not really, just Shift+Tab to target your previous target.
Karilyn Jul 7th 2009 11:41AM
Even without Shift-Tab, tab is still an invaluable tool.
It's important to realize that sometimes you need precision targeting, and sometimes you just need to target anything other than your current target.
Tab is a valuable tool of tanks everywhere, to build aggro roughly equally on multiple mobs. Unless one mob in particular is starting to lose aggro, there is no reason for precision targeting while tanking. You just need to be attacking ANYTHING, as long as that anything is something other than what you hit with your last attack.
bushkanaka86 Jul 7th 2009 12:19PM
Melee use:
/script SetCVar("targetNearestDistance", 5)
/targetenemy
/startattack
Sets tab distance to 5 instead of 40. Depending on the fight, ranged could change it to 20 maybe so they don't pull the long range mobs at 40 on accident.
There is a line you can add at the end that sets the tab distance back to 40 when combat ends, but I don't remember how to type it.
Aedilhild Jul 7th 2009 1:51PM
Blizzard obsoleted SetCVar some time ago, unfortunately.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18031365360&sid=1
I prefer to tab-target while tanking, and such a macro would have made that tactic foolproof.
bushkanaka86 Jul 7th 2009 2:00PM
Really? Dang. Well I haven't used that macro for a year, so I guess I won't be using it now. That is sad. It was a perfect macro for multi-target tanking on my 35 warrior. :)
Gonna have to go back to tabbing I guess.
Aedilhild Jul 7th 2009 2:09PM
I know. I read forum threads on a how-to, spend the whole day thinking --
TAB-TARGET TO HEART'S CONTENT // TAB-TARGET TO HEART'S CONTENT
-- and then came home to try it, only to find it didn't work. So disappointing!
dan Jul 7th 2009 5:50PM
That function MAY have been obsoleted (I've run tests with it and it still seems to work) but regardless angling your camera can avoid the issue of targeting something to far off anyway (which is why that variable was in that macro in the first place). All in all it's still valuable as is tab targeting in general when you're a tank and you're trying to build uniform threat on a pack of mobs. Click and focus or /tar macro targeting serve a different purpose (a specific target). Both are useful options depending on the scenario.
Mihalach Jul 7th 2009 11:09AM
What Knob said. Also, using raid frames is a lot easier for selecting friendly targets then clicking on the target directly. Heck, for a Battle Rez I've been known to mash out " /target 'name' " and then hit battle rez if I'm having trouble for whatever reason.
Aigarius Jul 7th 2009 4:37PM
For enemies use tank boxes of you favorite raid assist addon, such as ORA2.
IncubusHead Jul 7th 2009 11:09AM
if you pass the target, doesnt Shift +TAB go back the other way? I tab target in cluster bombs of mobs to get to the marked one but i do it out of reflex mostly so if i pass i THINK i hit Shift+TAB but i honestly cant remember.
pietrex Jul 7th 2009 11:09AM
"Not that CC is so much of an issue anymore, but let me tell you: the first time you happen to pull that one dragon your group has cast sleep on, it'll be embarassing."
CC isn't an issue? Not in Ulduar. If you mess up with CC on Freya or Vezax trash, you're pretty much dead. :)
Other than that, I like the article. I do use the Tab key, but I also try to target with my mouse when possible.
bushkanaka86 Jul 7th 2009 11:23AM
I must say I miss CC. I took a year break which overlapped the first 4 months of WotLK. When I came back to the game and started running stuff, I would mark targets for sheep or ice block, or whatever and people would laugh at me. There is no need for CC.
I miss the days when it took a well balanced group with a skilled CCer in order to succeed. I am not sure why Blizzard decided that CC was no longer an essential group component but I wish they would bring it back.
Unless you had a very well geared group, things like H. Shattered Halls, H. Slabs, Moroes in Kara, even ZG way back in the day would have been impossible without CC.
Jack Spicer Jul 7th 2009 12:20PM
My secret hope for the panels at Blizzcon is that the developers address this issue of CC being dead in most content. I would like them to acknowledge that maybe they erred too much on the side of easy and short dungeon runs with Wrath. I don't want a new LBRS or even Shadow Labs, but something like AN is ridiculously short and simple for what its supposed to be.
Chris M Jul 7th 2009 1:01PM
I'll reiterate- I dunno what content you guys are doing but CC is alive and well in Ulduar. Mages are dusting off all their special polymorphs, warlocks are banishing, hell- I even saw a retadin use repentance. Why he had it in his PVE spec is beyond me, but it happened.
I guess if you're just doing FL, Naxx and Heroics (or just the Siege, Naxx and Heroics) then yea, CC is pretty dead to you. Everyone else uses it though.
bushkanaka86 Jul 7th 2009 2:08PM
Well that is great that CC can be used in the highest content in the game only.
What I am referring to is pre-WotLK.
How many heroics in BC needed CC to be successful? Many of them. Kara needed CC as well.
How about pre-BC? I used Shackle Undead over and over in both Strat and Scholo. UBRS, LBRS, BRD, CC CC CC.
Now, Ulduar uses CC....great. Nothing else does. I throw a shackle on a mob in Naxx and I get yelled at.
EZ Jul 7th 2009 6:53PM
CC in 5mans is non-existent. I hate the 6 hour BRD pugs, but I also don't like every single instance being of the 30min aoe-then-boss style. I wish Blizzard would throw in at least 1 or 2 long, sprawling, complex 5man dungeons. Something with the idea of BRD, but with the 'fun-factor' of TBC and Wrath dungeons. Some variety in the 5mans would be perfect.
And yes, the long and complex dungeons should require CC.
jbodar Jul 7th 2009 8:46PM
As much as it bores me to see many pulls reduced to "Rain of Fire spam", the CC issue meant that it was nigh impossible to PUG for certain 5 mans ( like Magister's Terrace) if you were DPS without CC. People like to say, "Oh I felt like such a special snowflake when I was allowed to CC!", well imagine trying to playing the DPS spec no one wants because you are literally a hindrance to the group unless the tank is over-geared. "Sorry, Fury Warrior. Get to tanking or go cry in the corner." BTPNTC was a noble goal even if they didn't quite hit the mark. I like the fact that a 5 man can take any DPS that doesn't suck. They could've just given all DPS some CC, but that would have unintended PVP repercussions as well, not to mention having to shoehorn some elementals/demons/undead into every instance/pull for Banish/Shackle.
agnoster Jul 14th 2009 8:02AM
Chris M:
"I even saw a retadin use repentance. Why he had it in his PVE spec is beyond me, but it happened."
Why *wouldn't* he have it in his PvE spec? Even if [Repentance] weren't a requirement for [Fanaticism] (increased crit for judgements and ret's only threat reduction talent) it would still be better than most of the other garbage ret pallies have to throw talent points into because after about 50 points there's no further DPS-increasing talents to take. (This might partially change in 3.2 with the Seal of Blood/Martyr deprecation making [Seals of the Pure] a more attractive talent.)
Oh, what's that? You've never looked at the ret talent tree? Then why are you saying "Why he had it in his PVE spec is beyond me" - might as well say "Why anyone would spend any talents in the Retribution tree is beyond me" or "Informing myself before I voice my opinions is beyond me" or something.
(Not actually that bitter, just have a tendency to be annoyed when people act like they know something when they haven't even done an iota of research. I should probably just accept that people do this on the internet, and I simply don't have time to correct them all, but deep in my heart I hope that if people are consistently made aware of their intellectual laziness they might do something about it. Oh, and that I'll get a nuclear-powered space pony.)
Soluna Jul 7th 2009 11:14AM
Being a warlock using tab targeting, I've gotten myself into some very sad situations. Fortunately, using the "V" and "Shift+V" has helped out my issue a lot. I still tab through the monsters usually, but that extra visual really helps.
Cyanea Jul 7th 2009 11:14AM
I've dreamed of an addon that puts a small box of every enemy within range that has you on their aggro table, complete with Lucky Charms display so that you can just click and be done with it.
I use Enemy Nameplates when I'm tanking as a quick "at a glance" view of whether or not I have aggro on everything in the pull, and mouse targeting is a real pain in the ass when you can't QUITE get the one mob who's about to break away because the nameplates keep shifting as the mobs move around.