I love beautiful animations.. but I think they're too slow for this game

[Riaayo]

LOL gameplay sucks? As in combat? I'm having fun, and so are the other countless number of people always on my server apparently. I mean with the server congestions on dungeons and the inn being broken in Ul'dah... but the gameplay sucks LOL.

I think you are mistaken lad..

I think you are mistaken, as I know a multitude of people who are unhappy with this game and know the gameplay sucks despite still playing it and seemingly trying to pretend like they're having fun. I'm feeling like I might be one of them... But this is not to say that you yourself are not having fun, or the people you know are not. Simply that it's not a tiny handful of people who are displeased (hell most of them left the game and don't even bother with letting you know their displeasure on these forums).

Combo system is a lovely idea and for the most part feels pretty good, but it's held back by the servers and engine. You can hand me the best game in the world in terms of design, but if I can't fluidly interact with it or feel like I have 1:1 control of my character (not motion control or anything) then I will have to put it down.

In a game you are supposed to fight the challenges put into the game, not fight the game's controls to even play it. Currently, FFXIV still has too much feeling of the latter... I really hope it is fixed in 2.0, because it really will kill this game.

[Saiph]

My Opinion:

Animationlock for casting spells needs to be removed, because we cant cast anyway while runing but still get lock at the end of the spellcasting.
Animationlock for buffs need to go and some/most/all animation need to be changed so it fits when you use a buff while runing. atm most/all buff animation lets you character crouch when using it and it wouldnt fit when you crouch while runing.
Animationlock for Weaponskills needs to stay but it shouldnt lock you any longer then the actuall animation takes.

[Neptune]

At this point it's REALLY just about opinions which I'm pretty sure everyone's opinion will have equal weight in how they go about fixing it. The graphics will remain pretty, we won't get stuck in place anymore, and the servers will be more responsive. WE ALL CAUGHT THE DRAGON AND WON.

I haven't been keeping up with this thread but it's not all about animation locks. Even if it was about that, a one-sentence response in an interview is nothing to go on. 2.0 is looked at as the Second Coming of Christ but it is hardly that and I would like to hear some comments from the battle team about what this thread IS about, which is about animation implementation in this game, including animation lock.

In the original version of this game there were no raids; nothing but open world NMs. The limitations of the animation implementation weren't totally apparent. Crafting was boring enough to force serious crafters to Netflix, but I think it's only now becoming apparent through the release of timing-based encounters what the underlying approach was to animation in this game. It's simple, animation needs to be completely overhauled. I'd like to know how it's going to be.

once again this seems like a cry from someone who can't adapt to the game mechanics.

i'm going to hit a lot of points already mentioned: animation lock is great! it's frustrating but to some extent, it separates the the skilled from the unskilled. you need to know when to use what and compensate for any other factors present.

OP; this is just a nice way to say that you suck and want the game dumbed down. moving during animations!? sliding across the screen??? come the fuck on now, if they make it so you can move during whirlwind, possibly the LONGEST AND WORST ws to use, on basically any boss and maybe even EVER then that's fuckin retarded.

you're trying to score huge numbers on an enemy so you should also be taking a chance with your life! i can't even really gather all of my feelings about this because it's just another one of those whines from players with the inability to adapt! it's like people who cry about getting hit by eruptions. i went to ifrit the first time since the patch yesterday and killed ifrit in 4 minutes... FOUR MINUTES! i wish they would make him HARDER! MUCH HARDER, so all you gimps don't even have a fighting chance.

it's my birthday and i'll cry if i want to but it's not so go pro or go home DAMN, yall make me seem like such a pissed off, jerk.

You're not a pissed off jerk, you're just someone of very average intelligence. I'd put your IQ somewhere around 100. Why? Because I think WSes shouldn't be clipped. Somehow you missed that due to some slower than average reading comprehension. Also if you didn't have your head up your ass you'd know I don't think the encounters in the game are hard at all. I also didn't say anything about sliding. I've also done everything there is to do in this game. I'd say more but you probably wouldn't be paying attention.

[Jinko]

I know some people just don't like WoW or mmos like it and that is ok too; I am pointing out the people who have never touched it but judge anyway.

Yup there are a lot of people like this, but its ok because they probably watched their friend play it..

Solo? Party? Raid? There is no blanket statement here. Being a raid dps takes no skill at all under a "WoW" sort of system (not that it orginated there but whatever). You know what you do? Spam your skills in a practiced predetermined rotation while a cpl raid healers keep your hp up. Skill? Laughable. If danger comes guess what? You can run away! The only skills required in this situation are finger dexterity and knowing when to run away. Even tho, most ppl dont even bother running in those situations...thats the normal culture.

If you're a mage its the same thing, spam spam spam in a predetermined rotation. Tank? Spam spam spam in a predetermined rotation. The only two classes that really face difficulties in that situation are healers and tanks, due to the sheer amount of finger dexterity required to keep up with everything. Other than that its a joke. Unless you're a healer, or *maybe* a tank, all you need to do is press buttons as fast as you can to run up parser. Pvp? Same thing. I press my buttons faster than you I win, unless your gear is way more OP than mine. Because things move so fast there's very little time for strategy, since it is over within a few seconds anyway. Generally speaking, gear being equal, first hit wins almost every time, not counting class advantages.

This is basically what we have in this game, as a BLM I spam Thunder and Thundara and the odd buff to increase DPS, throw in a freeze to lower enmity etc, that is my rotation.

Don't pretend this game is any different.

[Neptune]

The animations in this game are better than any other MMORPG I've played - it would be a shame if they were lost just because some people aren't happy with their speed. The real problem is the way every ability in the game roots you; they need to change it so that the entire combat system is more fluid, and you don't need to kneecap the current animations to do that.

Agreed!

I hope the dev team does NOT see this thread. We don't need them to make dull animations to satisfy people that don't like animation lock. The ONLY reason I see them catering to animation lock is from self buffs and that's it.

So now change = dull? Why's that? Who said anything about dull animations? I didn't read one post where someone requested dull animations. This is a talented team, let them do their thing. The animations need to be improved, not dulled down. Do you really like watching the lush, extravagant, slow crafting animations every single time you choose an action? It should be one lifelike animation sequence that loops and changes continually while you choose actions instead of waits and pauses in between. That is what we are talking about here. It can still look great and be a lot more functional.

[Jinko]

I think part of the problem is that SE have used motion capture for many of the animations which means that it has to play out exactly as the animation has been recorded. (this is assuming you don't cut off during the animation)

They should be looking more at procedural animation and blending of different animations, they managed it with the transition from running with a weapon sheathed to running with it unsheathed, so it's clearly possible.

[bobbygunz]

I think most games have some degree of animation lock. I heard someone complain of animation lock in TERA too, but I guess it's not as annoying though as in FFXIV, or you'd hear more about it. It happens in real life too. For example, in real life, you can't do a cartwheel and a pole vault at the same time while simultaneously shooting an arrow, so in that sense, animation lock isn't really a big problem. However, the playability of the game is somewhat compromised when you are getting stuck in an animation which you can't even cancel. If I'm casting, at least I can cancel by running away.

[Jinko]

I played Tera in beta and didn't see animation lock, I didn't play the slower classes though, but then if you play a slow class maybe you should expect that ?

in real life, you can't do a cartwheel and a pole vault at the same time while simultaneously shooting an arrow, so in that sense, animation lock isn't really a big problem

-.-

It is when you are provoking something and can't move, I don't think anyone is against animation lock during weapon skills as that kind of makes sense, but when doing 2-3 buffs in a row and being stuck in place it's not a good thing and makes you feel like the game is purposefully trying to hinder you.

Also about weapon skills, you shouldn't really be locked any longer than the length of the animation, but in the case of this game the lock continues a while after the animation is over.

[Gortox]

I've also done everything there is to do in this game.

Hmmm, your Lodestone page disagrees.

[NationOfZealots]

Yeah.... gotta love a game that actually makes you want to play WoW. I gave up on WoW years back, but after I played long enough during the free to play period of ffxiv, I actually wanted to go back to WoW. I told myself I wouldn't play it anymore, but just the thought of pressing a button and my character actually responding in real time was just too enticing.

You really take simple things like that for granted. FFXIV really opened my eyes on how stressful a game can be without adding anything to really stress over. The control scheme is just that poor. The Ifrit fight is the perfect eye opener. People view the primals as a tough fight, but it's for all the wrong reasons. The ifrit fight in theory is probably one of the easiest fights ever. Only thing that makes it unnecessarily difficult is the fact that the game never responds to your actions when you actually need it to. You actually have to predict when ifrit is going to use a move so you don't risk getting your character stuck in a lockout spell animation. REALLY?!?!?!? This game doesn't reward good reactions, but good mind-reading ability?

My only hope in 2.0 is that they "actually" fix the issues, and not just touch them up. Like the OP said, the dev team needs to play WoW. It's 2012 now. Simple actions taking place when you command them should not be a difficult thing to accommodate to anymore.

Well said, these boss fights are rather easy in theory however due to the dramatic slowness of it all and off-chance of dying A LOT, it makes me feel like a dumb RPG player when in fact I blasted all the other Final Fantasies (exc XI), this was my first shock lesson (XIV is my first MMO) that has definitely ruined the FF brand but MMO fanboys will think OP is being overly dramatic when there is sense.