Automatically Facing Directions

[Roser]

Im sure most of you know about this, if your opponent is still on screen after/during a fight or a duel you will automatically turn towards them every 5 seconds or so. It's hard to say if this is a last target thing as I've seen mixed results, especially in group fights.

There does not seem to be a way to stop this from happening, except waiting for the combat timer to expire.

What exactly is this function? Why do we have it, and is it era accurate?

Does this mechanic contribute to player's desyncing? It acts very similar to the directional "look" you give to a target when casting a spell on it, which also pauses you for a split second.

People complain about UOSA having desync issues in comparison to other RunUO servers, could this be why?

[nightshark]

I've tried playing with this in the past on RunUO.. it's actually an entirely client side thing that's impossible to get rid of. It will continue to happen even if you pull your net plug out or otherwise stall the server. Seems to be a function of war mode and combatants.

[Kaivan]

This is something that's associated with your aggressor list and whether you're still in war mode. It's typically linked to the last person that you were in combat with and will turn you to face that opponent if you're within a short distance (~10 to 15 tiles). I don't know if this is a specific function that's replicated via RunUO mechanics, or an entirely client side behavior, but I do know that reports of this behavior do exist on the newsgroups from the era, which suggests that this is a mechanic that's always been around, or is a direct feature of the client. Either way, it's correct for it to be happening here, presuming it's something we can even control.