Option to Disable Auto-Targeting of Next Valid Target

[Sunsette]

Asked around a few places, I don't think this is an option in the game; if it is, please tell me how to disable it and I hope the option gets a little more visible.

 

I think a lot of ranged-heavy players can sympathize with the following: you're in a team, rapidly bringing enemies down, you target the guy who's got a sliver left -- but someone brings them down at the exact instant for your character to know that they're a dead, invalid target so you automatically rotate 47 degrees and fire a beam into a group 80 feet away that you never intended to pull.

 

It was merely annoying before, but Advanced Mode content makes this actually dangerous, especially for characters who enhance their range. 

[megaericzero]

Are you clicking the power multiple times when you go to fire it? To my knowledge, it would take one click for your client to switch from a dead target to the next-nearest living one and a separate click to actually queue the power.

 

Sound suggestion either way.

 

(Also, can we get an option to re-enable this behavior for Levitate? I rolled a new Mind Control character the other day and noticed Levitate no longer does this, presumably because of the update to interact with Telekinesis.)

[Sunsette]

35 minutes ago, megaericzero said:

Are you clicking the power multiple times when you go to fire it?

 

Yes, my finger muscles aren't great and getting worse with age; I often multi-press a bind, especially when I'm excited and tense like during a hard fight. In other games I often disable this behavior to deal with the issue. Up until recently it didn't really matter in CoH but now it does.

[biostem]

I think such a feature would also have to extend to how your powers behave when you have an ally targeted, otherwise you could inadvertently attack whomever they have targeted.  Basically, what we'd need is a "never target anything beyond what I specifically have targeted" or "never switch targets".  The downside is that in the heat of combat, you might find yourself hammering a number key because you just keep getting "invalid target" or "no target selected" when your current target is defeated and fades way.  Still, as an option, I'm all for it.

[Sunsette]

21 minutes ago, biostem said:

I think such a feature would also have to extend to how your powers behave when you have an ally targeted, otherwise you could inadvertently attack whomever they have targeted.

 

I would be for this as a *separate* feature toggle, but I specifically attack through others on purpose on a regular basis -- it can help with finding hostless nictus in Adv. ITF (esp. in situations where more than one has popped and you need to prioritize specific ones) or prioritizing the many many kill targets of Adv. LGTF.

Edited March 17 by Sunsette

[biostem]

Just now, Sunsette said:

I would be for this as a *separate* feature toggle, but I specifically attack through others on purpose on a regular basis -- it can help with finding hostless nictus in Adv. ITF or prioritizing the many many kill targets of Adv. LGTF.

Oh no doubt, but my concern is that this has more to do with a tendency to spam the attack key than with a general targeting issue.  Maybe a simple "only attack enemies I specifically target" would be the most eloquent approach...

[Saiyajinzoningen]

yup this happens to me when I'm playing a blaster all the time.

I accidentally aggro another mob because of cued up targeting

I know I can press esc to stop it but as OP said I'm old and my reflexes are slowing