Auto attack not working?

[oldoldman]

Can't find any info on this. I've been leveling up LNC recently and sometimes it just won't let me auto attack. I'll lock on and pull out my spear but it won't attack. Even if I engage it with heavy thrust I still can;t auto attack, any ideas?

[Alkar]

In order to start auto-attack you have to draw your weapon and highlight the action bar. If you still aren't attacking you should see a message saying you're too far away.

[Aratharn]

Yeah make sure your action bar is up. That threw me for a loop at first.

[oldoldman]

I found out what I was doing wrong and it was really dumb... I had to double click on the mob to auto attack.

[Liminality]

I usually just target the mob and spam enter a few times until it decides to do something, lol

[Niiro]

It can be confusing if you have your action bar displayed at all times. If you keep it hidden all you need to know is if you're targeting a mob and the action bar is up, you're attacking.

There's also the little red highlight sword icon to look for next to the mob's name.

[Elites]

I sometimes wonder why they make every type of shit in this game farfetched and so tedious. A basic engage shouldn't have to draw a weapon out > lock onto a target >manually run up to it > press enter to bring up a action bar and then press a skill to start a battle. Why not just make it like any other mmo where there is actually an auto-attack hotkey and that would automatically engage the target within a single step.

[Celeras]

You take out your weapon and target something, that's it. Nigs need to stop adding extra steps for no reason.

[Spider-Dan]

You take out your weapon and target something, that's it. Nigs need to stop adding extra steps for no reason.

Except that this doesn't work. You have to hit enter on a target (after selecting it) to change the little sword icon from yellow to red (i.e. activate auto-attack).

[Celeras]

It's not targeted until you hit X in the first place, don't make it like its an extra step cos you're derping. If you didnt select it then you're hovering over it with a subtarget arrow, the same way you did with the "Switch target" purple circle in XI.

[Niiro]

Oh don't get me started on XI, you had to target the mob, open the sub-menu and only then could you start to attack.

Forget that the game didn't automatically run you to the mob while making you breakfast and balancing your checkbook.

[Spider-Dan]

It's not targeted until you hit X in the first place, don't make it like its an extra step cos you're derping. If you didnt select it then you're hovering over it with a subtarget arrow, the same way you did with the "Switch target" purple circle in XI.

Wrong. You want to know what the purple subtarget reticle looks like in XIV? Here's a hint: it's PURPLE, not YELLOW.

Bottom line: your advice of "just draw your weapon and target it" is EXACTLY the cause of the OP's problem, since there is one more step required to auto-attack. Now, if you want to change the definition of "targeting" from the way it works for every single other activity in the game to fit your twisted advice, go nuts. But for every other activity, "targeting" something does NOT mean "target it with your normal reticle and then hit enter". It means (strangely enough) target it.

As a simple example: if I want to throw a firepot at a mob, I target it (not target and hit enter, just target) and type:

/ac Throw <t>

See, the <t> in that command represents my current target. That's how targeting works.

[Celeras]

"targeting" something does NOT mean "target it with your normal reticle and then hit enter".

Oh, it doesn't? My mistake, I thought it would since you have to do it for every other hostile or friendly action in the game. You're on fucking crack if you think you don't.

[Spider-Dan]

Please tell me you are joking.

/pcmd add <t>
/ac "Sacrifice II" <t>
/ac "Resurrect" <t>

How many of those require an extra Enter, again?

edit: Want another example? Target mob. Click Light Shot on your action bar. Mob gets shot, and auto-attack is still not activated.

[Celeras]

ROFL. A macro, to add somebody to a party. YOU GOT ME.

edit: Want another example? Target mob. Click Light Shot on your action bar. Mob gets shot, and auto-attack is still not activated.

You're right, I overlooked some things. Mostly that mouthbreathers would be posting on BG. Clicking abilities, using macros for things that are by default already on your action bar, thinking things are targeted with a sub-target reticle. I guess to the derp community, auto attack can be pretty complicated.

[Spider-Dan]

Celeras, please name one battle action in the game that requires you to hit enter after targeting OTHER than initiating auto-attack.

[Spider-Dan]

So I guess what we can take from this thread is:

1) Only mouthbreathers understand the difference between the normal targeting reticle (which is yellow) and the subtarget reticle (which is purple)
2) Prior to 1.18, Celeras was running around spamming enter on everything he targeted, for no apparent reason

[Celeras]

Celeras, please name one battle action in the game that requires you to hit enter after targeting OTHER than initiating auto-attack.

Here's the problem, mouthbreather. There are two ways to play the Final Fantasy MMOs, with a gamepad and with a keyboard. In FFXI, the mouse was terrible and useless. So you either used a gamepad, or you used tab targeting. It was acceptable to do either, and was probably split down the middle.

In XIV, the mouse is better. You use mouse and keyboard like every other PC game in existence, or you use a gamepad. However some terribads stuck in 2003 force themselves to use tab targeting in a game where both mouse and gamepad work better. These people think the subtarget reticle means something is targeted, and don't have the convenience of using simple double click or the X button. So when the subtarget reticle is active and they press '1', they think they're playing correctly. Not a problem with the mouse since you already double-clicked, and not a problem with the game pad since you can't even take any action without the action bar active, which requires you to hit X on the subtarget reticle.

Other known rants by the derp clan include but is not limited to: camera controls with arrow keys, auto-run hotkeys accidentally causing them to switch target modes in /targetmode A, etc.

So I guess what we can take from this thread is:

1) Only mouthbreathers understand the difference between the normal targeting reticle (which is yellow) and the subtarget reticle (which is purple)

In targetmode A, when you're filtered to target 'Enemy', the reticle is purple. Would you like me to drop any more knowledge on your face today?

[Spider-Dan]

Why the hell would I use a mouse in XIV, given the current input commands for macros? Stop trying to play WoW.

[Celeras]

I use a gamepad, chief. Keep on keyboard turning.