Equipment swaps and blinking

[Alhanelem]

I would say that <stal> and <stpc> are both failures in the sense that they take you out of the battlefield and bring you back to the foreground, a list of names and stats on the right side of your screen.

If you're a healer and buffer and you're not already looking at these things, you're not doing your job. Try as you might you haven't ever been able to tell if someone needs a cure or not by looking at the battlefield. If you have a keen eye and memorize everyone's max HP you can go by the on screen damage numbers I suppose, but in a busy fight it can start to look like a random jumble.

[Byrth]

I haven't played a healer in any seriousness since the level 75 cap, but I know that I used to target them on the screen using the left left and right d-pad buttons. Obviously the log and HP bars are useful tools, but after a certain point you learn the readying time for certain TP moves and about how much damage they're going to do so you can get the cures on the way before the moves even go off.

[Alhanelem]

but I know that I used to target them on the screen using the left left and right d-pad buttons.

But you still have to look at the party windows to know who has how much HP to decide who to cure, and pressing left and right on the dpad is not any faster or slower than pressing up or down on the dpad.

I understand what you mean about anticipating needs, but if a mob is spamming AoEs you're probably not just sitting there waiting to cure somebody.

[Arcon]

So what?

Forcing you to play a way you're not comfortable with to make up for a problem that shouldn't exist is as close to the definition of "bad design" as any example can get.

Now, don't get me wrong, blinking sucks balls- but the solution we were given was very workable. Calling it "terrible" when it's very functional and easy to use is just ridiculous.

It's not great for healing. But it's absolutely useless for the other two situations I mentioned, which you still haven't addressed. Blinking causes more than just one problem. How does <stal> help with following? How does it help with unlocking your target while engaged to it? It doesn't. That's why it's a bad solution for the problem, because parts of the problem are still completely unsolved.

Changing the way data is loaded and displayed is a change to a core game engine function.

I'm not asking for the way data is loaded and displayed to be changed. I'm asking for the target not to be dropped during that time. Blinking would be perfectly fine if the target wouldn't drop. We know blank targets can still be targeted. At any point during the blinking process, you can target a player, so the target isn't gone. That means there's no reason for the target to disappear when a person blinks, and I can't think of any internal mechanics for why it would. I'm almost certain they purposefully coded it this way. Maybe as one of their ridiculous safeguard mechanics which they needlessly implemented at every corner in the game, who knows. They've shown to be just like that, repeatedly.

Hell, even immediately retargeting your previous target would be a massive improvement and almost unnoticeable if implemented correctly and that would be a seriously minor change, completely unaffected by any data flow. The game knows when a character blinks (otherwise you wouldn't lose the target in the first place), so just retarget it when that happens, done.

Also, there's a significant difference in glancing at the HUD for information and focusing on it to navigate through it for actual gameplay mechanics. And you still have to look at the battlefield in the latter case anyway, to get a feel for positioning and distances, unless you're one of those mages who blame melee for not getting cured when they're out of range.

[Toadie-Odie]

The only thing <stal> doesn't help you with is helping a party as an outsider, and other than power leveling which is in decline due to how fast leveling is I can't think of many places where you'd truly need to do this.

Doesn't <stpc> still work? I seem to remember using that when I was an outside of the party healer.

Edit: but you're right about the need to power level, it is just about gone - and since Abyssea came out I can't think of a time I HAD to be a healer outside of the party.

[Alhanelem]

Doesn't <stpc> still work? I seem to remember using that when I was an outside of the party healer.

I don't remember that one- I know there's <stpt> but that's just an inferior version of <stal> that only targets party members.

It's not great for healing.

I don't know what you're "comfortable" with, to use your words, but it's the most amazing thing there is for healing. I can't think of an easier way to cure anybody in my alliance. What do YOU do? click on people with the mouse? the click detection in the game is so bad it's unseable, and if you tab through people, that's only effective if everyone is in front of you and visible, and still <stal> is faster.

So no, it's not in any way shape or form bad design. They made it as easy as it could possibly get. it's BETTER than curing with tabbing/mousing, blink or no blink. I would keep using it even if blink went away.

I'm not asking for the way data is loaded and displayed to be changed. I'm asking for the target not to be dropped during that time

(edited) I want that as much as you do, but the nameplate's position (what you use to target) is relative to the model. I think if they were to do this, your name would drop to the origin position (the floor at the spot you're standing) during the change, which would cause your camera to change suddenly which could be very disjointing especially with taller characters. I guess it's better than target loss, but changing the way model data is loaded would solve both problems (but is most likely more difficult as well.

[Mookies75]

There's an aspect of the PvP island that penalizes people for gear swapping that I always felt should've been made a normal aspect of gameplay. This way people would weigh the consequences of swapping gear, and decide whether getting an extra 2% damage is really worth facing the penalty.

I have a feeling they would not.

Just no. This goes against everything this game is about.

[Arcon]

I don't remember that one- I know there's <stpt> but that's just an inferior version of <stal> that only targets party members.

It's not inferior, it's for a different purpose. It allows you to quickly get to the last person on your pt list, unlike <stal>. When you only have your party to cure/buff, it's certainly useful.

I don't know what you're "comfortable" with, to use your words, but it's the most amazing thing there is for healing.

Yes, it is. And it's still not great. That's my point. The best they have just doesn't cut it for everyone, hence it's not great.

What do YOU do?

On-screen targeting with the keyboard is very fast and efficient if done right. It can take only 3 key presses to cast on anyone in the entire party, and that includes hitting the macro. Hit the <stpc> macro, rotate camera slightly (this can even be done before casting to have the two most important people in front of you) then hit Tab or Shift+Tab.

I have to admit though, that that's not what I do, precisely because of blinking. I use commands for everything instead.

So no, it's not in any way shape or form bad design. They made it as easy as it could possibly get. it's BETTER than curing with tabbing/mousing, blink or no blink. I would keep using it even if blink went away.

Good for you, I wouldn't, and judging by what other people said in here I'm not alone. And I never said <stal> was bad. I said it was a bad solution for the problem, because it's not a solution to the problem. Offering <stal> instead of an actual fix, that's what's bad design, not <stal> by itself. <stal> itself should remain regardless, because of the people who like it or got used to it.

(edited) I want that as much as you do, but the nameplate's position (what you use to target) is relative to the model. I think if they were to do this, your name would drop to the origin position (the floor at the spot you're standing) during the change, which would cause your camera to change suddenly which could be very disjointing especially with taller characters. I guess it's better than target loss, but changing the way model data is loaded would solve both problems (but is most likely more difficult as well.

That's true, but that only applies if you're locked onto a target, and aside from locking onto enemies (which don't blink) and locking on in order to follow someone (in which case you don't care about the camera), I don't know why you'd lock onto your target. At least I can't think of any benefits for doing so during battle.

[Alhanelem]

Yes, it is. And it's still not great. That's my point. The best they have just doesn't cut it for everyone, hence it's not great.

Subjective opinion. I think it IS great. You're probably just trying to make it sound worse than it is to add weight to fixing it...

Good for you, I wouldn't, and judging by what other people said in here I'm not alone.

You're probably not alone. But neither am I.

Anyway, please don't get me wrong. I do want to see some more action taken to solve the blinking issue. But it's really hard not to be cynical these days. hell, we have a version update coming within the next 10 days but we really don't know anything about it beyond meebles and a few small things.

[Arcon]

Subjective opinion. I think it IS great. You're probably just trying to make it sound worse than it is to add weight to fixing it...

It's not subjective, because I listed the flaws. I don't think it's not great, I say it's not great because of the limitations that come with it. Just because some people aren't bothered by them doesn't mean they aren't there. <stal> only addresses one of the several issues of blinking, and even that one only partially.