Target Marking

[♦ Assault]

I am writing this post primarily to give Jackal an idea of how I go about marking the targets in a raid environment. I want him to learn so that the raid doesn't slow down so much when I'm absent. If other people are interested in reading the theories and logic behind the target marking and wish to respond with comments or suggestions, feel free.


Introduction:

The goal of marking targets is to keep everyone in the raid on the same page regarding what the kill order is, what needs to be tanked and what is getting CC'd. It's important to keep this principle in mind, because if your method of marking confuses people, then your method is inherently flawed.
The secondary goal of marking targets is to keep the raid moving as quickly as possible through trash. When the raid spends less time on trash, the raid gets more boss attempts before the trash respawns. This leads to faster boss kills and quicker progression. The crucial point to remember is that marking the targets properly and before the raid gets to the next pull will always save the raid more time than the time saved by you continuing to dps the current pull to its finish.

The Marks:

Determining which target gets which mark:
Always know which mark is getting taken care of by whom. Marking a target does not help anyone if that mark is not assigned to a tank or CC'er. Dangerous mobs get priority to be CC'd. Dangerous mobs are defined as mobs that heal (eg. Dawn Priests in Sunwell), mobs that do AoE damage to the raid (eg. Archmages in Sunwell), and mobs that target random raid members to damage (eg. Dusk Priests in Sunwell). If a mob doesn't fall into one of those three categories then it can probably be tanked indefinitely and is not a concern.
Any dangerous mob that cannot be CC'd for whatever reason needs to be killed first. The kill order is determined that way. Skull is the most dangerous mob that is not being CC'd, X is the second-most-dangerous mob that is not being CC'd, Square is the third-most-dangerous mob that is not being CC'd, etc. Please remember that this list can and should change on the fly if a form of CC breaks and cannot be reapplied.

Determining how dangerous a new kind of mob is:
As a general rule of thumb, if a mob is bigger than the other mobs around it, it is not CCable. On the other hand if a mob is the same size as most or all of its companions, it probably is CCable. The exception is paladin-type mobs which are rarely or never CCable. They are typically recognizable by having both a mana bar and a two-handed weapon that's not a staff or occasionally a weapon and shield combination.
Most mobs that have a mana bar should be CC'd. The name usually gives a clue whether it's a healer or a mage that will AoE. Packs of mobs that are intended to be AoE'd by the raid are recognizable by consisting of mobs with only one or two different names. If it consists of mobs of more than three different names, it's definitely not an AoE pack even if there's a lot of them. This is how I knew, for example, the first time we walked into Sunwell that the 7-mob second pack was not intended to be AoE'd.
Using these principles it is possible to predict with a high degree of certainty what mobs will be CCable and what mobs should be killed first, even in a trash pack you have never encountered before.

Assigning the marks:
Try to make the marking as consistent and foolproof as possible, which is not always easy with only eight different marks to work with. Doing so will make the whole system run smoother which makes your job easier.
Make certain people are clear on which mark is the mark they are responsible for and do not deviate from that system unless you absolutely must. If you do have to deviate make sure you let them know, since they can't read your mind. For example, Chasidy usually sheeps the moon. In a pack before Akama I use moon to mark the fourth dps target and instruct her to sheep the rogue which I can't mark because it is stealthed.
Lastly, choose the most reliable person you can to be the main CC'er. In our raid Wenge is the main sheeper. This is because he is rarely or never afk on trash. (I'm not knocking our other mages here, I'm just stating a fact.) Being main sheeper means that if a pack only needs one sheep, that sheep will be Wenge's mark. Wenge's mark is always the first one I put up because his mark needs to be up in every pack that requires sheeping.

Keybindings for marks:
It is necessary to bind the different marks to keys. It is too time-consuming and inefficient to use the drop-down menu for every mark. I bind Skull to my middle mouse button, X to my far right mouse button (my mouse has five buttons), and Square, Moon, Triangle, Diamond, Circle and Star to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively on my number pad. If you bind marks to your number pad make sure you remember that the Num Lock will have to be on for those keybindings to work.

Raid Management:

Pay attention:
If a form of CC gets broken and cannot be reapplied, that mob is probably a dangerous one (if it isn't dangerous it probably shouldn't be getting CC'd). That means that you need to instruct the dps to kill it, because that mob probably just became the most dangerous un-CC'd mob. Make sure you are decisive when you redirect the dps. It's better to decisively make the wrong choice for a target so that the raid is at least focus firing one mob rather than indecisively choosing a target so that the dps becomes split. Split dps is almost always a bad thing.

Mark the next pull early:
Do not engage the last mob or two of the current pull. Run ahead and mark the next pull. This hurts you on the damage meter, which is irrelevant because it ultimately makes the raid move faster. However, make sure you don't mark the next pull too early, because you don't want to cause confusion by removing the marks on mobs that are still alive and in combat.

Distract and stealth:
Distract and, to a lesser degree, stealth, are what make a rogue ideal for this job. Stealth is useful because you can get closer to the mobs than others can to more clearly map out the pull beforehand. This is typically unnecessary except for new content.
Distract is helpful in stopping patrols so that the raid can engage them sooner. Always keep in mind whether the next engagement will be a patrol. If so, keep an eye out for the patrol and distract them when they enter a suitable engagement area. This can save the raid a significant amount of time that would otherwise be spent waiting for the patrol to come around.
Remember that distract can be used out of stealth, and that it requires 30 energy which may require several seconds to generate. Vanishing and running up to the patrol is always an option, however, it is rarely necessary. If you pull out your distract and place the far end of the targeting circle so that it's barely touching the patrol, you are 40ish yards away from the mob and will not accidentally pull it even if you are out of stealth. This maneuver may take some practice.

Conclusion:

Hopefully this guide will be helpful to Jackal or others. If anyone was confused about my methods when I mark the targets in our raid, I hope this has demystified the process. Also, most of the principles I've outlined apply to 5- and 10-man content as well, and not only to rogues. Feel free to incorporate these ideas to how you mark the targets next time you lead a 5-man or a raid.

[• Aurorawind]

Thank you for posting that, I did pick up a few tips out of that.

[• Zhek]

there is no fucking way im reading that giant heap of droneing text spooge

[♦ Wenge]

Zhek, it's okay, we know you don't read.

[• Jackal]

Printed it and reading at work. Will post any questions or ask in-game if any come up. Thank you Assault.

[• Jackal]

A question has come up. I want to keybind the marks to my number pad. Let's say I want the number one to be my skull. How would I do that? I can't see it being macro'ed so do I need an addon to be able to manage the marks on targets?

[♦ Assault]

If you go into your keybinding window from the interface/options menu in WoW down at the bottom are options to keybind the different marks.

Also Zhek, everyone thinks you're a troglodyte already, so you don't have to keep trying to convince us.

[• Jackal]

Thanks Assault. Bharrai guided me to a site that explained it all to me how to keybind the marks. I will work on it this weekend. Hopefully I don't fuck it up that bad. Lol.

[• Jackal]

I apologize for the slow marking of targets last night. I even marked stuff randomly to make sure it had a mark so everyone knew where our targets were at during times that pulls were being done fast. I also assumed that since we've all done trash before that everyone would know what to pick up and what to CC. I'm sure in time I'll get better and be able to fill Assault's shoes when he's not raiding with us. Anyway, I'll be much better prepared for next time.

[♦ Nortibiry]

Don't worry about it I know I was pushing the pulls reasonably quickly too, and for almost all of that trash I don't think the marks are critical. I do appreciate that you're taking the time to figure it all out, I think it's healthy for the raid if we have multiple people who can do all these little jobs, both to prevent burnout and to make us more robust in case people can't make a raid for whatever reason.