The game has an assist target function

[rabidfox]

A lot of people never dig thru their keybinds in the game and are unaware that the game has assist target (by default it's unbound and thus unused). It's a handy thing to bind and use. How it works is as follows:
A) target a player and click the assist target key and it'll switch to whatever they have targeted. Great for focus firing a mob (where you can select the tank/etc. and then swap to their target).
B) target a monster and click the assist target key and it'll switch to whatever they have targeted. Really useful on healers if you're trying to quickly figure out who a boss/reaper/etc. is about to wreck and be able to start proactively healing them.

 

[Xgya]

I didn't even know that was a thing in DDO.
Interesting.

 

[Buddha5440]

Been quite a while since I've played a healer and I completely forgot about this (even though I have it bound).

Thanks for the reminder and GREAT info for all.

 

[rabidfox]

Been quite a while since I've played a healer and I completely forgot about this (even though I have it bound).

I know a few people that rediscover it every year or so and then proceed to forget about a few months later.

 

[Buddha5440]

I know a few people that rediscover it every year or so and then proceed to forget about a few months later.

I can understand that...It's a very niche thing, but still good to know and remind/inform people about (so thanks again for that).

 

[Cordovan]

Good advice!

 

[Sammy]

Huh, interesting. I remember many years ago, someone asked about a feature like this so they could assist their tank with DPS. Everyone said it wasn't a thing. Good to know it actually is. Perhaps I'll find some uses for it.

 

[rabidfox]

Everyone said it wasn't a thing. Good to know it actually is.

That's how it usually comes up in party chats or on discord. Someone mentions they wish they had it, someone says DDO doesn't, then someone (if they're lucky) corrects the conversation and says it exists but it is hidden away in the settings. It's one of the best kept non-secrets in the game.

 

[Aaumini]

I played Everquest years ago and it had something similar.

At one point they took it a step further and introduced a small UI element called “Health of Target’s Target” (HoTT for short). If you clicked the name in the box it would target Target’s target (like the keybind in DDO)

Something like this would be a very welcome addition to DDO - especially since it can be hard to retarget what you had targeted in the first place (like that doom all over the place) to see if it switched targets and you’re now healing the wrong target.