Determining the Number of Mobs Within Some Distance of Your Target

Clamsoda · 05-02-13, 07:13 PM

Good evening,

I am curious if there is any way to ascertain how many mobs might be withing a certain distance of a target.

The example would be: If I targeted a mob; would there be any way to see how many mobs are within 5 yards, or 10 yards of THAT target.

Thank you for any insight.

Phanx · 05-02-13, 07:20 PM

Not possible. See also:

Originally Posted by Phanx

Addons cannot tell which direction mobs or other players are facing.

You cannot have an addon that tells you if you can use Backstab right now.

Addons cannot determine the position of mobs or players outside of your group.

You cannot tell exactly how far away something is from you.
You can only get a general idea by checking to see if spells are in range.

http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=42367

Clamsoda · 05-02-13, 11:52 PM

There is an AddOn (apparently), that can tell you the amount of mobs in front of you, to gauge the effectiveness of Chi Wave. Wasn't sure if there was a way to tell inside of an instance with the new minimap changes.

semlar · 05-03-13, 01:12 AM

Does this mysterious addon have a name or do you expect us to just know what you're talking about.

Clamsoda · 05-03-13, 02:48 AM

I haven't got a clue, this isn't my question. I was asked if such a thing was possible, and when I said there was no way to know where a mob was, I was told that there is an AddOn that already does it.

That being said, the person who asked me if I could make an AddOn to tell how many mobs are around a target has no experience beyond using AddOns, and could be completely mis-describing the functionality of the "Chi Wave AddOn".

Was hoping you guys knew.

I edited my previous post to emphasize the "apparently" portion, considering I've never heard of it either.

Edit: I think the only reason I decided to ask, rather than dismissing the notion, is because there are modules for Grid that gauge the effectiveness of Chain Heal, Circle of Healing, et cetera. Also, the Sha Assist AddOn, and the range modules for BigWigs and Deadly Boss Mods at least have the illusion of knowing where units are. I wasn't sure if that same API could be translated to mobs to achieve a similar goal.

semlar · 05-03-13, 03:08 AM

Well, you can tell them that it isn't feasible to accurately detect the position of an enemy unit.

There have certainly been addons in the past that show how many friendly units are within range of an aoe heal, but what you're describing can't really be done.

You can get the position of units in your group, and through addon communication it is possible to transmit the coordinates of other units running the addon, but outside of that there are no api functions for getting real positional data.

There is one teeny tiny exception involving the combat log and friendly unit positions but as far as I know it's never actually been implemented into an addon and it wouldn't be reliable enough to use.