Solution to "blinking"

[Merton9999]

Actually, I've had the cures fail with <stpt> <stal> when I was targeting myself and selecting someone else. When I blinked the target was on me and depoped.

I had this problem with <stal> and <stpt>, when the equip change needs to be before the spell cast. I just changed my macro like this:

/target <stpt>
/equip head "Warlock's Chapeau"
/ma "Refresh" <lastst>
/equip ...

It targets the person first before it swaps your gear, then casts the spell on the stored target. My only gripe with this is it requires an additional macro line, so less room for equip swaps. I only need to do it if I have an equip change before the spell cast, like for FC gear. If the gear can be switched after the cast line, I just use /ma "Spell" <stal> first , then the swaps. I've never lost my target if my equip change is after the spell like that.

I don't really see the issue with RDM. I have every single spell and JA macroed, with lots of room left. Some creative uses of /macro set and /macro book make this pretty easy imo.

[Firesped]

The idea was to add a function that would allow you to select the gear you wished to always appear to wear, even if it isn't what you have equipped. In theory this would mean that you would not blink since your model would not have to reload when you change equipped gear. it would be limited to head, body, hands, legs and feet. So the question to the devs, "Is this possible?"

I've seen other MMOs with this option and special gear is also made only for these appearance slots.

[RAIST]

I am just wondering why DEVs says that it isn't -possible- to change. Not technically possible? Cannot be true as we all know that certain tools allow players to perform a such thing. If something can be performed by a third party tool, how come it cannot be implemented natively?

I am not encouraging anyone to use third party tools don't get me wrong. That's a violation and can get you banned.

Yet I have a hard time accepting such an answer : "not possible". I wouldn't mind if DEVs were saying "We want players to re-acquire their target manually everytime". But saying that is isn't possible is like saying that Final Fantasy XI will never be playable in Windowed mode on PC...

It isn't that it can't be done in general....it is that it can't be done on the PS2 because of a hardware limitation (forget if it was system or graphics memory limitation, but it was at least one of them). The same core code from the PS2 is used in both the PC and Xbox version to maintain continuity of code as well as the gameplay.

[Elexia]

I understand why it can be hard and such but I do not understand why people can work around it and make thier own programs for it ( blink me not i think it is called?) but SE can't

Pretty simple and obvious - their change only runs and takes effect in conjunction of another program, Square's change would have to be an actual design change which is probably nestled so deep these days it's almost pointless to go back and do it.

Anything is possible but impossible could just mean it's out of reach or would take time away from more important matters.

[Raksha]

<stal> is ok for what it is, but not bringing up the targetting arrow kinda sucks (especially for SCH since we need to be able to gauge how many party members we can hit with aoe spells) It is also annoying to have a cure macro that can't cure people outside of the alliance. <stal> is a sloppy bandage that's just covering the wound but not fixing it.

P.S. need to fire the guy who said it was impossible to make characters stop blinking.

[Sekundes]

The problem with blinking as far as I am able to tell is one from the very backbone of the game engine. When you change gear your character model reloads, this includes the name and frame as well as the actual visual appearance of gear. Third party tools work, I can only assume, by disabling this and forcing a character to stay on screen and in the prior gear. This is not really a solution to the game's issues as it ends up causing others. The only way to stop blinking and not change the nature of the game would be to disconnect the name and targetable character from the actual gear and visual data that it is merged with. This would require, if my understanding is correct, a complete re-haul of many in game systems.

Can it be done? Yes, programming is powerful, you CAN do a whole ton of things.

Is it practical? I can't say. It would probably be beyond expensive to make these changes but I honestly would be one who would say it is worth it. Blinking, cure-lock and event skip are some of the most aggravating parts of this game. I know that more than anything they could fix as far as glitches and annoyances this is my top priority as it is for many.

You cannot have a game that possesses such a fatal flaw in the very system that makes it stand apart from the competition. Why should players have to use a work around just to do the things the game was originally designed to do? The <stpt> and <stal> commands do not allow you to see a cursor above the players heads which is an indicator that I use when I cast on PC's. They make things easier for certain but perhaps the dev team could consider the costs and trials to fixing this issue and weigh it with how much better the game would be as a whole with this change.

[Alkalinehoe]

There's only two games I know of that allow gear-swaps mid-combat. This one and Lineage II. L2 doesn't have the character blink, so that part is a non-issue. Since FFXI's UI has to reload the whole character whenever gear is changed, it is really the only MMO that has this problem.

That being said, it was a bad move to design so much of the game around swapping gear, because it does create issues (both on the end of inventory space, not to mention ruining any semblance of immersion and making things harder for people that are not keyboard masters or who can't quickly type things in mid-combat due to the blinking itself).

PS: Stop blaming the mages. This is purely a design issue that we happen to get hit by more than other classes.

No. There is no reason mages should be letting DDs die because of blinking. There are macros to prevent that, pressing CTRL+1 is not being a "keyboard master."

Like you said:



That only you know of^_-

But I agree on the swapping of gears. Its annoying. You should get a "bonus" from locking gear at MH or something.

I doubt it would offset the "bonus" of TPing in full haste and WSing in full WS gear.

[Sarick]

I had this problem with <stal> and <stpt>, when the equip change needs to be before the spell cast. I just changed my macro like this:

/target <stpt>
/equip head "Warlock's Chapeau"
/ma "Refresh" <lastst>
/equip ...

It targets the person first before it swaps your gear, then casts the spell on the stored target. My only gripe with this is it requires an additional macro line, so less room for equip swaps. I only need to do it if I have an equip change before the spell cast, like for FC gear. If the gear can be switched after the cast line, I just use /ma "Spell" <stal> first , then the swaps. I've never lost my target if my equip change is after the spell like that.

I don't really see the issue with RDM. I have every single spell and JA macroed, with lots of room left. Some creative uses of /macro set and /macro book make this pretty easy imo.

There are only 6 lines per macro and your solution although works in some extent a line of code is lost. These limitations are also limited by design when there are macro book switches on the fly but that's another story.

[vyhakeyo]

As someone that is on the 360, and has played since it came live for the 360 users, I must say blinking people is a major problem and not the fault of the mages. <stal> and <stpt> is an ok solution if I kept my keyboard on my lap at all times so I can tab though my party....But I dont. Now I know accessories like Back, Belt, rings, and ear rings dont cause a blink, just the main gear everyone can see and ranged causes a blink. So let me give you a healers perspective. Trust me DD and Tanks, I understand yours....I've heard it enough about why the gear change is needed...Improves WS....Improves casting time of shadows....Gets faster TP. I get that....So here is the healers side playing on the 360.

A few years go...Doing Dark Ixion...PLD is tank...I'm on WHM and main healer. Party set up was 1 whm, 1 rdm, 1 brd, 2 plds, alliance set up was rngs, blms, and smns. PLD dances around to avoid Lightening Stance and Wrath of Zeus. The PLD blinks for WS, Shield Bash, and his cures...NP...Ranger gets stomped on for getting hate...Not in my pt so out goes <stpt> and <Stal>...So scroll though macro book to get other cures for out side pt and cure them...Mean while as I get that done, PLD gets slapped around pretty hard, RDM is spaming Cure IV on PLD. I get back to my page for tank party and resume keeping the tank alive. Now, PLD dances the wrong way to avoid Ixion's move, runs out of range, Ixion makes the PLD die...Second PLD is up. Second PLD had a very bad habbit of changing gear for everything. Exact same gear as the first pld, but changed gear for cure, flash, and everything you can think of. <stal> helped here, but every time someone else took hate, I had to scroll though my macro book to get to the cure macros to cure them then have no choice but to go back for the blinking pld....Who no one could target including the rdm because he blinked so much. He was hardly ever on the screen he blinked so much. Stressful? Oh hell yes...Took a lot of focus and stress to heal in this situation. By the time Ixion was dead I was worn out because I could not take my eyes off the TV, had to read every bit of info to take of debuffs, and keep them alive while stressing though macro book to do it. Is it right? I dont think it is. And yes, I did get blamed for deaths even when they ran out of range. What would of been easier? Being able to stay in the same macro set and use the D pad to target the different members of the alliance...A lot less stress. It didnt matter what HNM we did, it was always this way.

Recently I was in a regular Abyssea party on WHM...Only WHM too (sigh). Everyone blinking in the different alliances. I had no choice but to use my general cure macro set to keep people up....And it's very annoying when you just get the person targeted, hit the left trigger for the macros, and they blink. Then go and re target them, hit the left trigger, and they blink again. Rinse and repeat until I finally get the stupid cure off...And by then someone else is hit and needs a cure. Stressful? Yep...And so annoying that I just wanna throw my controller across the room. And people wonder why no healers can be found for Abyssea parties on Ifrit. Maybe us healers should demand all the DD to always sub dnc and keep yourself alive if you want to blink....Thats like blaming us healers for not being able to target out side of their party easily and DD die.

Like I said <stpt> and <stal> are good for the same party the healer is in, but once you get out side of that party and into the alliance, those dont work. I'm not saying force people to lock one certain type of gear....That would kill even me on my BLM, which requires gear changing as much as a regular DD...If not more....But I dont think it is right for people to blame the healers for them dieing in a game. What I think SE can do is once the mob is claimed and the fighting music starts for those members, visually lock them in that gear where they can not blink until the mob is dead. I'm not saying totally lock them in that gear, just visually....What we see when looking at them. They can gear change during it, but we dont see it and stops the blinking. That way they can have their TP/Haste gear, Cure Gear, and all the other gear everyone feels they need, and change it as they want, but we see them still in their original gear they started their fight with. Only way to find out if they are gear changing is by checking them during the fight. So if a NIN starts off in TP gear, thats all we see even though they have changed several times during the fight. Or if there is a way, what the person that is changing their gear sees is the blink and the gear change, and the rest of us still see his locked in gear at the start of the fight. I mean we can turn off the animations others can do, so you dont see other brd songs but your own, or other blm nukes but your own....Why cant you put in a blink solution under that? Where we have the choice to see them locked into a certain gear yet they can still change it and stop the blinking? I know I would have that turned on at all times!

Ok shutting up now. Oh and as I tell people I'm healing...."Blink as your own risk"

[Simian]

Perhaps it is time for the Dev team to seek these 3rd party groups and make an alliance with them to incorporate their technology so it is no longer a violation. Clearly the mechanics are available. But they are available outside the current framework of the game. The only real problem is the balance issue where this is not something that everyone will have available to them. we are at a point where the Dev team will have to decide that upgrades are more important to the life of the game than supporting outdated game systems that can no longer keep up. Sorry PS2 users, but it is the major thing that is holding the game back, those limitations of that system. The PS2 systems according to what has been posted is at max capacity. So much so that we do not even get new relevant translations without having to sacrifice older ones.

Something to think about.