Target Nearest vs Target Next

I work my minions and heroes much to hard. This weekend I finally realized why. I overuse the Target Nearest when fighting mobs. As a Ranger, I kill whats closet to me (say its north of me) then the next nearest creature is south of me, I pivot and shoot behind me. My poor minions run across the field trying to catch up with my less than optimal targeting.

I stopped Target Nearest, C Space when doing PUG quests as I often agro'd more than one mob but never new why.

Any comments or insights on using Target Next in lieu of Target Nearest ?

Thanks

target next will target the nearest, and then the next nearest, etc.
so just cycle thru and kill each group off XD

I would just use target next for the majority of your targeting and use target nearest if you need to well...target the nearest enemy w/o having to cycle through all the other enemies.

Another thing you might want to pay attention to is your Radar/Compass. You will notice that the enemy your targeting is highlighted with a thin yellow circle. This is helpful with direction and aggro of course.

What's a creature doing behind you? That creature shouldn't have been able to get through your minions wall to your squishies.

I believe he is using minions as a metaphor for H&H since minions do not follow calls as far as I am aware.

just be aware of what's closest to you when using target nearest, and use a combination of that, target next, and physically clicking on targets to have complete control over what you're targeting.

I usually just c space, unless I know there is a healer(s)..then I target them first THEN c space. never had much of an issue. the h/h could use the 'exercise' for the amount of times they have wandered off to agro with out me

Generally, as a MoP nuker, I will target the most threatening creature in a mob, calll it, then switch to the physicals charging toward me and Reckless them, then back to the previously targeted creature to finish them off.

If you call, you can pretty much C-space. If you're in a pug team and someone is already calling, you must always attack their target; T-Space spamz.

I just use Tab - Space (and Shift+Tab). Rarely use C - Space, only when I see that my target tabbing gets far away from me usually when i start selecting foes from another mob.

And selecting with the mouse(very rarely usually I'm tabbing faster than clicking:P) when is a high priority target like a hard resser, or a wardkeeper, or a Searing Flames ele, or healer etc.

Ah, now I'm different.

I have a 5 button mouse, so the two thumb buttons are programmed for target nearest and target next. I heartily recommend it.

I always use Tab-Space. My C button is assigned to something else, I don't even have a 'target nearest' button any more...

self-target, tab for nearest enemy
tab to scroll forward through
shift+tab to scroll backward through

make a big compass cause it's good and watch where the yellow circle goes. eventually you'll know the pattern and can select targets a lot quicker as well.

C + Space or Tab + Space is only really that good in teams where you know your allies are taking your target and you're either going to be able to spike them down quickly, or there's absolutely no danger in fighting this mob and you don't have to worry about targeting.

In almost all situations, I still say that manually finding the right target is going to be superior. Mouse over until you find the healer, or res bot, or warder, or pretty much the target that's going to make your battle the most annoying or the most drawn out and kill it fast.

You know you can press Ctrl to show enemies right?

Well, first of all, the OP's problem is not that serious. It happens to me quite often if I'm just doing random stuff in NM. I just let the H&H run back and forth - the mobs die anyway, maybe just a little slower.

If I'm paying more attention or doing something in HM, I will shift target to the nearest one before the first target is killed - often before the H&H have gotten too far. Ofc, I usually run with an MM hero, so there's most often minions to keep all the enemies busy until I get to them.
Also, depending upon the situation, I will target the enemy healer (or w/e priority target) and then switch to the nearest (w/o targeting) - or - do just the opposite and target the nearest and then go for the priority. It depends somewhat upon what sort of mob I'm facing, what the priority target is, and whether or not the "nearest" foe is after my healers, etc.

I've noticed that, if you have auto-targeting on, it seems to act as "target next". But I use auto-target with melee characters - with spell casters it tends to mess up skill combos.

About mouse buttons - my wife recently got a Chihuahua which sometimes likes to sleep in my arms while I play (NM). This means that I basically have only one free hand, so I have one thumb button (mouse4) bound to "target nearest" (C) and the other, mouse5, bound to "Attack/use" (space). (The mouse buttons are directly bound - that is "target nearest" is bound to the "C" key and mouse4. I don't map the mouse4 button to "C".)

I almost didn't post my message feeling it was to basic. I didn't want to look like a fool. I can not tell you how much practical advise I have gotten from these replies. Thanks to all for your help.

This, this, this and this! Agreed so much.

Hmm, I like the two mouse thumb button idea, going to try it.

A fun tip for the inexperienced with mouse buttons: Have 2 of your mouse buttons set up as the following: Select self, Cast Hero Skill Number X (Splinter Weapon, Ancestors Rage, Prot Spirit, ANYTHING that you can think of).


Also you can set one of them to "command all" and do quick quick-flagging. The possibilities are endless and this is the beginning of where the push starts for players who want to be "pro" (so to speak).

Yeah already got that going on:

C = remove flags
V = flag hero 3 (mm discord hero who lags behind casting death nova 0
B = flag all
F1-F4 = certain hero skills