Animation versus hit registration.

How long is this going to continue to be a problem with this game? Why do some abilities such as Royal Authority, Blunt Arrow, and GL stacks with the 3.0 update all apply almost as soon as you hit the button, while other abilities such as Hallowed Ground, Benediction, Rage of Halone, Demolish, and Spirits Within still suffer from random registration times? Is this by design or am I missing something? I personally feel it to be more satisfying for the hit to register as soon as I hit the button as opposed to when it hits 'in the animation.'

It's not random. The animation determines when it registers... those with a long animation they want to play out, the effect only becomes active at a certain point in the animation. This is by design.

It's even on less commented on spells. It's possible for a Cure spell to finish casting and the animation to play on someone that's dying-- if they take that final hit before the animation gets to the point where HP is restored. But it's a fast animation, much less of a problem compared to benediction and HG and so on.

It's annoying, though.

I agree, it's super annoying. Don't like the way it's designed.

What about jobs that are proc reliant, such as MCH, BRD, or BLM? BLMs having to wait for their projectiles to actually hit the mob before they know they have a Firestarter proc or not feels like awfully wonky design.