Hello!

I had all these clever puns about targeting but I'm going to let the QOTW speak for itself instead.

This week our community manager spotted some questions we specifically want to 'target' with a couple quick answers you might like to hear. It's about... you guessed that right, targeting in Earthrise combat.
 
Q: Will people be able to break target by moving fast (such as running fast past someone)?
 
A: Yes. Smart and well-timed use of abilities that raise player's movement speed will make it possible to confuse your opponent and make it difficult for them to aim at you, even if they have an assisted targeting box around your character.
 
Q: Will you be able to break targetting by walking behind some object?
 
A: Maybe. It will depend on the type of object. Some objects such as buildings will naturally will provide cover and will not allow to score an attack at your target. If your target walks behind such objects, its assisted targeting box will be invisible too. If the target and its targeting box remain invisible for long enough time, targeting will break.
 
Q: Is it (targeting) going to be required in order to cause damage/heal someone, or can I just look at someone with the cursor and I can click?
 
А: Earthrise uses a dynamic combat system similar to shooting games you might be familiar with and does away with the simple click and forget combat mechanics used in classic MMOs. You will need to target your opponents in order to attack them or successfully use abilities that require an exact target.

Q: Will soft-lock be a pre-requisite to firing a gun, or will spray and pray (for lack of a better term) work also? 

A: Even though we stress how important it is, a targeting box isn't required in order to score an attack and cause damage or choose a target for your abilities, but it really helps your success rate. The targeting box helps you score successful attacks against moving targets by shooting within a small range of them and hitting.

A short QOTW, but an informative one none the less. Feel free to add your thoughts, below.
~ m.

Good stuff, but I would like to hear what exactly this means in terms of obstacles.

For instance, I fire a gun, but before the projectile colides with the target, the target moves behind an obstacle, but since the gun was fired before the sead target was behind that obstacle, does the projectile esentially go through that obstacle and hit the target or does it hit the obstacle since in that time the target managed to hide behind it while the projectile was still in the air...?

well I would imagine that the bullets travel in a straight line (negating a true ballistics arc ) rather then locking on like a heatseeking missile. Hence the afor mentioned projectile will idealy caren into the wall, leaving our target damage free.

Thanks Moll for the additional information on soft lock mechanics

Regards
Ironfield

Jumping uses up stamina.

Thanks for the good QOTW.

I like that you'll be able to use movement speed to be harder to target, as  this emphasizes player skill.

I wonder what kinds of AOE weapons like shotguns and flamethrowers might be in the game and how they might differ compared to single-target weapons. Larger target box, a target box that doesn't lock on and is fixed to the camera angle, reduced penalty for spray-and-pray, same as single-target box but with splash damage, stuff like that.

thats how Im reading it, its thrown some more questions into the air now

Then this player takes the damage (confirmed: http://earthrise.firesock.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?cat.57).

Next week bring on the No-lock weapons like ground targetting AoE...?

Good info. Nothing unexpected here. Hopefully there will be a good balance in skills that alllow someone to get up close, and also allows someone to keep you away (I know we've talked about that before).

In any case, I'm with another previous poster...non-target box, ground AoE...bring on the flame thrower.

Thanks moll.