You are not facing XXX/spell fizzle

[Arctigis]

I haven't played much since August. I've recently returned and noticed the following
issues on live which seem worse on Lammania.

1) I commonly get the 'you are not facing XXX' when casting a spell. Except I'm almost always
staring directly at them or they are within 20 deg. of my field of view.

2) I click a spell, cooldown starts, SP are taken but no casting animation and no spell is
produced.

[KookieKobold]

We've received reports about these particular issues before, is there any more information you (or anyone) could provide us with about the circumstances surrounding when these happen?

ie: Were you moving, were the enemies moving, what enemies have you seen this happen to, where has this happened.

Any information you can provide would be great!

[danotmano1998]

We've received reports about these particular issues before, is there any more information you (or anyone) could provide us with about the circumstances surrounding when these happen?

ie: Were you moving, were the enemies moving, what enemies have you seen this happen to, where has this happened.

Any information you can provide would be great!

In the menechtarun desert, facing hordes of undead.
Cast acid rain, jumped over group, turned back around, targeted mummy standing a foot away directly in front of me.
"You are not facing mummy".

This always happens on my casters when I have been moving around trying to avoid incoming damage. It's like the game takes an extra second or two to realize, "Oh yeah, he IS facing that bad guy.. Whoops!"

If I'm facing the target from the beginning I have no issues. It occurs when the casting is done just after moving and retargeting in my case, probably 1/4 of the time I try to cast.

[Ovrad]

I'd like to add that I've seen a lot of 'You are not facing the panel' on my rogue lately. The issue seems very likely related to lag. Let me explain in more details:

You are facing north, searching for a trap, the panel appears east of you. You turn east and use the panel right away, you are very likely to get the 'not facing' message because the game has not caught up yet and still thinks you are facing north. If you take your time give it a few seconds before using the panel, you'll never get the error message.

I'm sure the spell problem is related to the same thing, ie the game checks if the action is allowed BEFORE updating your position.

[TheDearLeader]

It includes just about any movement that involves spinning.

I'm moving, a mob is behind me. I spin to cast on him. - Not facing error.

I'm stationary, a mob that likes to "spin" around you like a Mephit. Target him, cast, he spins - Not facing error. I spin to match pace with him - Not facing error.

This not just works on spells, but basically any "action". This includes Bluff/Intim, as well.

It doesn't help that mobs are allowed to be "in" our personal space, and that we're all but required to backpedal & spin in order to target them in the first place.

[GeneralDiomedes]

I am guessing it is latency/lag related. It seems to happen most of all on mobs which are fast moving and/or tend to run right up to you and get in your face and/or tend to rotate around your current position (try to get behind you?). Examples would be Ghaele, Mephits, Air Elementals.

Just as an aside .. do QA/Devs play on clients which have maximum North American latency simulated in?

[Psiandron]

It includes just about any movement that involves spinning.

I'm moving, a mob is behind me. I spin to cast on him. - Not facing error.

I'm stationary, a mob that likes to "spin" around you like a Mephit. Target him, cast, he spins - Not facing error. I spin to match pace with him - Not facing error.

This not just works on spells, but basically any "action". This includes Bluff/Intim, as well.

It doesn't help that mobs are allowed to be "in" our personal space, and that we're all but required to backpedal & spin in order to target them in the first place.

This describes it pretty well. It doesn't seem to be tied to any locale, it can happen pretty much anywhere.

[delsoboss]

On my caster this happens almost always when i jump and turn around before casting a spell or when i'm turning around to track the movement of something chasing other party members.

For example:

1) BobTheMob charges me, i jump to the side, turn around to face him, when on my screen (important part here) i see i'm facing BobTheMob i fire off the spell and .... "you are not facing BobTheMob"

2) My buddy hits BobTheMob with niac cold ray, BobTheMob start chasing him, i cast a spell standing still (not using movement keys) and turning around to keep BobTheMob in front of my character and ... "you are not facing BobTheMob"

It's a pretty annoying thing since i'm not geared to the gills to just stand there and get beaten while i cast, but avoiding melee contact gets me this error 90% of the time. And being unable to help my buddy when he's chased by dozens of Bobs that want his blood/oil is frustrating.

To sum it up, with my experience with this bug i can hint that is related to turning around your character.

[danotmano1998]

It includes just about any movement that involves spinning.

I'm moving, a mob is behind me. I spin to cast on him. - Not facing error.

I'm stationary, a mob that likes to "spin" around you like a Mephit. Target him, cast, he spins - Not facing error. I spin to match pace with him - Not facing error.

This not just works on spells, but basically any "action". This includes Bluff/Intim, as well.

It doesn't help that mobs are allowed to be "in" our personal space, and that we're all but required to backpedal & spin in order to target them in the first place.

Well put. +1

[Vengeance777]

The times I've encountered the bug the most is when I am turning toward a mob, jumping backwards from a mob, or if the mob is standing directly next to me when I am casting. Spells don't seem to want to cast when the mob is nearly touching you or directly under you. Most of the time both the mobs and caster are moving. The failed cast takes sp and puts you on spell cooldown.

Here's an example of this bug I caught while trying to get screenshots of another bug. Notice all the failed lightning bolts in the combat log. Those were made while the mob Karas was in melee range, directly in front of me. There are at least 8 lightning bolts that failed to hit the mob in the combat log most fired straight up instead of at the enemy.

[jortann]

Sometimes I feel like it happens when the mob is too close. I will get the message and be like, "are you kidding me he is pounding on my face?" At times like that I feel like maybe the casting motion reaches over the mob and then the game thinks the mob is not in front of you.

Don't know if that made sense, but I feel like I can not cast a ray spell on anything that is too close.

Or maybe when they are that close it is easy for them to be a little off to the side and the game doesn't think they are in front of you enough.

[psi0nix]

I've seen a bit of this on Ghallanda - take pots or use scrolls and i get the animation but nothing else happens and the item is used.

Hate having to use 2 invis scrolls or stoneskin scrolls to get one effect.

Seems to be random happening too.

[Algulcz]

Happens to me all the time too. But I don't think it's just game lag related. If I run away from mob and jump/turn around to cast spell, then almost all spells will give me "you are no facing xx" -> game probably think I didn't turn around yet, BUT if I cast aoe spell like cone of cold it will properly fire in my current direction and harm all mobs that were behind me. So in my opinion it must be related to lag with line of sight calculations.

[Aeolwind]

I'd hazard to say that this issue is directly related to the 'Skating Stunned Mob' issue. Where once a mob starts to move, regardless of what happens between the start and end of the move, the mob is classified in its end spot. Saw an ogre that died mid triple hit recently: dropped his purple bag, finish the 2nd and 3rd swings, then die after the 3rd swing fired some feet away.

That entire issue is related to how the server updates mob position. I'd suspect that it is //hack'd in like clickies.

[cdbd3rd]

Sometimes I feel like it happens when the mob is too close. I will get the message and be like, "are you kidding me he is pounding on my face?" At times like that I feel like maybe the casting motion reaches over the mob and then the game thinks the mob is not in front of you.

Don't know if that made sense, but I feel like I can not cast a ray spell on anything that is too close.

Or maybe when they are that close it is easy for them to be a little off to the side and the game doesn't think they are in front of you enough.

That's what I've noticed most - especially with Runearms, but some with crossbows as well. Have also gotten that message when I seem to be standing to close to a door/portal I need to get thru. I take a tiny step back and works fine.

[Postumus]

It includes just about any movement that involves spinning.

I'm moving, a mob is behind me. I spin to cast on him. - Not facing error.

I'm stationary, a mob that likes to "spin" around you like a Mephit. Target him, cast, he spins - Not facing error. I spin to match pace with him - Not facing error.

This not just works on spells, but basically any "action". This includes Bluff/Intim, as well.

It doesn't help that mobs are allowed to be "in" our personal space, and that we're all but required to backpedal & spin in order to target them in the first place.

This encapsulates my experiences with this as well.

[Postumus]

There are at least 8 lightning bolts that failed to hit the mob in the combat log most fired straight up instead of at the enemy.

Happens a lot with my rune arm shots when the mob is too close: shots fire straight up at the ceiling. I see this most frequently with devourers hunger and tira's splendor. For some reason Khyber' Fury doesn't appear to do this.

[ferrite]

Yea I get that too. A LOT.

You are not facing...
You are not facing...
You are not facing...
You are not facing...

Been going on for a number of months now and slightly annoying. Happens all the time.

Spells frequently, but even more so when shooting a bow.. the shot is fired and suddenly..

You are not facing...

We've received reports about these particular issues before, is there any more information you (or anyone) could provide us with about the circumstances surrounding when these happen?

Best advice, take a break from tickets and fire up the game as a caster or ranger. Play normally for a bit and I guarantee within 5 minutes you'll get

You are not facing...

[LrdSlvrhnd]

And sorta on the subject... is there any way to get rid of the "Your hireling is not facing the enemy" pop-up when they're doing stuff on their own? It's one thing to tell 'em to cast something and get that, but it's annoying if you've got 'em on auto and that keeps getting spammed.

[BladeTricks]

Yeah, as mentioned by other posters, mephits are prime targets to see this happen. Go into Extraplanar Mining challenge or other quests with lots of mephits, you're bound to see that message.

I guess maybe I misunderstand how this is designed to work? i.e. I would expect to be able to target a mob that is the toon's field of view, but maybe the D@D rules are much more restrictive than that (say 10 degrees each way for example).