"Magic" Damage

So in the tanking forums, while discussing Parry (which is really the last thing tanks have to argue about anymore), it's come up a few times that the Parry stat does not affect magic damage. In a few instances, this has actually been confirmed by developers, with interviews saying that magic damage cannot be parried, and that it will never be able to be parried.

In my mind (and the mind of anyone else who hasn't read up on it, from what I've seen), this would make any spell-type damage unable to be parried.

But then we get to the Chrysallis. Nahabrales casts Quake III, and I can parry it. In fact, there are several instances wherein a seemingly "magical" attack can be parried and/or blocked.

So, localization team, can you help us understand what is meant when "magic" is used as it pertains to a type of damage, and the Parry stat? It is a point of some ambiguity, and I wonder if it might be a mistranslation.

It's not really a localization or Parry specific issue, it's an ambiguity issue, back in the day you used to be able to cheese Titan Ex on blackmage by nullifying landslides since they're physical. But back on topic, if we could get some kind of color coding for the damage numbers or special fonts to differentiate physical and magical attacks that would be amazing.

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Originally Posted by Jamillion

It's not really a localization or Parry specific issue, it's an ambiguity issue

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Well the ambiguity of what is and is not "magic" could be localization-related. I only framed it around Parry since that's the context where it comes up the most for me.

I suspect that a term they're translating as "magic" might not be 1:1 with the connotations the word bears in English. If, for instance, the word the developers are using had broader meaning that somehow delineated the attacks as special, but not necessarily magical in the context of the game, it would clear up some of the ambiguity. I can't confirm or deny this either way, as I don't know Japanese, but I have a hunch, and thought I'd check.

Your hunch is probably correct that "magic" attacks actually denotes what we would more commonly know as "special" attacks.
or more that it includes special attacks?

Like your Quake 3 example, i'd wager it can be parried as whilst the cast is "magic", the hit is physical since... well its an "earthquake" type thing, and i [personally] would call that a Special attack.
So it can be parried as its not pure magic, like say an enemy cast of Fire IV, but its classes as a "magic" attack since there is either an element of magic within its .... creation? process? .. casting i guess, and/or its not physically performed by the caster [like titans stomps]

at least thats what i guess is the case, we know and recognise a 3 type system; Magic, Physical, Special; whereas the game only has 2, which in turn adopts the 3rd into itself.

idk

official responce/clarification would be nice on this

Ne-ne-ne-necropost!

I'd still like some clarification on this point. Lots of ambiguity, and I feel that it might be responsible for a lot of the ire in the tanking community (even to this day).

I too would like to know why I can't block/parry a boulder flung at me, but can parry a stream of bullets.