Melee while casting?

[Greatguardian]

About to head out the door, but just a couple of things to comment on,

Firstly, I'm fairly sure that the actual spell casting time calculations and such are handled server-side at the start of the cast rather than client side or in real time. The cast time bar is just a graphical doodad which fills up at a rate specified by the spell's cast time in the .DATs (which is why it never adjusts based on fast cast, and instead you just see spells go off at 50% cast time) in the form of ([1/Cast time]*Pixel size of bar) pixels/second

This would also explain why you see the kind of lag that you do when spells are interrupted. Rather than sending a "Stop casting spell" command to the server in real time, I believe the server simply flips a boolean for "SpellInterrupted" to true whenever an attack/stun would interrupt casting. This boolean is then only checked when the game actually processes the end of the cast, at the same time that the server checks to ensure that the player's ending position is the same as the starting position.

You can see evidence of this in the way the server handles player movement while casting. As long as you end the cast in the same place that you start it, the cast will go through. This means that the client is most likely not sending any information to the server about casting status in real time, as then any movement would stop the casting of a spell.

This is also visible in the way the server handles gear swaps during casting. Casting time is calculated at the beginning of the spell, and potency is calculated at the end of the spell. Taking Fast Cast off in the middle of a spell won't change the rate at which you cast the rest of the spell.

These sorts of things are where I derive my server casting model from. Looking at that model, I'm not sure where I would inject a command to do anything about melee attacks. Overflow/queue errors can also become an issue in high-haste/low-delay scenarios. It's interesting to talk about (certainly much more interesting than normal red mage melee talk, I agree), I just think it would be extremely awkward to try and implement without redoing the system.

Edit: Mana. Shut up. This discussion is significantly more productive than half of the other threads in this forum combined. Rather than sitting off in fairy land where pissing and moaning equates to results, we're discussing how this might actually be implemented or jury-rigged into existence if they actually decided to take a look at it. I'd appreciate it if you kept your nose out of it if you aren't going to contribute in a meaningful way.

[ManaKing]

Edit: Mana. Shut up. This discussion is significantly more productive than half of the other threads in this forum combined. Rather than sitting off in fairy land where pissing and moaning equates to results, we're discussing how this might actually be implemented or jury-rigged into existence if they actually decided to take a look at it. I'd appreciate it if you kept your nose out of it if you aren't going to contribute in a meaningful way.

Nice opinions as usual. Thanks for having opinions, expressing them while on the internet, believing you are actually capable of being right, and assume everyone that doesn't agree or think like you is wrong. I'm sorry you are rude and incapable of seeing that you are talking in nothing but opinions, but what i really don't understand is why you are on the RDM forums and posting about RDMs when you even admit you don't play it anymore. You don't even suggest ideas, you just sit on other people's discussions and act like you are a moderator or someone that is actually paid to be here. Stop being so condescending and actually suggest something or is being negative and getting in the way all you can do?

The obvious answers is obvious. You just build a condition on top of casting just like the devs did with Zanshin. If you don't realize why that is simple and would work you just don't really get programming. It's simple as pie and easy enough to implement that people could actually do it. The Devs are more than capable of doing this. The question is will they do it and is there anything that anyone can come up with other than gaining additional attacks that would benefit RDM more?

Job Trait:
RDM 30) Manablade- Attacks occasionally regenerate MP while wielding a sword.
This would activate around 10% and the amount gained would scale with levels (ex. Manablade II at 70).

Thank you, that is wonderful. If I had more mp to use while meleeing, I would be a happier RDM, especially outside of aby.

Enhancing Spell:
RDM 45) Subtle Sword- Self-only, potent Subtle Blow effect.
RDM 70) Boost-ACC- Does this exist yet? If not, it would help.
RDM exclusive, self-enhancing spells like Temper are the road to melee RDM...sorry, but it's the most realistic way to make it happen.

*How powerful are En-Spells right now? This should be the road to RDM melee, so a boost is in order if they don't make it worthwhile (worthwhile is just enough to not be wasting your time).

Enspell damage is still in bad shape. SE doesn't comment if we are actually getting Tier IIIs or merit upgrades at any point.

I would prefer if they consolidated subtle blow and acc+ on Temper. I don't care if I have to merit for it, it would be worth it for the convenience of just casting 1 spell.

[SpankWustler]

The Devs are more than capable of doing this.

After surveying an internet's worth of images of people laughing, I've decided on this one.



I feel it best conveys the underlying bitterness within the humor of the phrase "The Devs are more than capable of doing this." I am confident they could set out to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich and end up constructing two very sticky and biodegradable hats instead.

Although, you raise an interesting possibility with the mention of something like Zanshin. While it's not very probable the Development Bros could make it possible to melee while casting, a job trait that makes a character attempt one (or more) auto-attack round(s) if engaged when a spell is cast would probably be much easier to implement.