Forgive me..what skill do you mean exactly when you say "cooldowns"?

A quite fundamental definition which confuses me many times. As English is not my original language, I fail to understand some typical words in this game.

The word "cooldown", many of you mention it as a certain type of skills in discussion, I know its meaning in general but can't get what it exactly means here.
Could someone explain it in examples, in case of BLM/DRK? For the two jobs, what're the "cooldown" skills?

Think of cooldown as a status / state of one of your actions that are not on the GCD (Global Cool Down, which is 2.5 seconds default).

Raging Strikes for example has a cooldown of 180 seconds, the period of which you have to wait until it can be used again.
Shadowskin has a cooldown of 90 seconds.

"How long is your raging strikes on cooldown for?"
"Only 30 seconds left"

"Cooldown" refers to when your Global Skills are on cooldown. Meaning its the waiting period after using a primary skill until your skills can be used again.

This also refers to buffs like "Blood for Blood" or skills that are off the global skills like "jump" or "DragonFlare"

In general a cooldown is the time between using a skill and being able to use it again. Nearly all our skills in this game have a cooldown of some sort.

But when players talk about someone needing to use their cooldowns, it's usually referring to those skills that have their own individual cooldown timers (rather than the ones sharing the global cooldown). Those are mostly skills that grant your character a defensive or offensive boost for a little while (as opposed to direct attacks or heals, most of which share the global cooldown). For instance, when healers complain about a tank who doesn't use her cooldowns, it means she's not using her skills that would boost her character with defensive status buffs.

To further confuse the issue, there are also skills that have their own individual cooldown timers, but which aren't about giving your character a status buff. These tend to combine an attack with another effect (like attack + stun) that you can only do occasionally. Whether people are also including those when they're talking about using cooldown skills depends on the discussion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Genaxx

Think of cooldown as a status / state of one of your actions that are not on the GCD (Global Cool Down, which is 2.5 seconds default).

Raging Strikes for example has a cooldown of 180 seconds, the period of which you have to wait until it can be used again.
Shadowskin has a cooldown of 90 seconds.

"How long is your raging strikes on cooldown for?"
"Only 30 seconds left"

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It seems I have not missed the main meaning too much haha
GCD in ff14 is a bit too long, I have to say, and what skills we can use in this interval seems limited.
But yes, some "cool-down"s are quite important, now I know what I am really confused about--it's the necessity of these cool-downs to rescue a team and how people judge if others are using cool-downs properly.
Further more, if I'm complained for not using it, I'll feel undeserved in case not understanding it at all. Now the worry has gone, I'm sure I've pulled all the skills onto the bar haha.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Astral145

"Cooldown" refers to when your Global Skills are on cooldown. Meaning its the waiting period after using a primary skill until your skills can be used again.

This also refers to buffs like "Blood for Blood" or skills that are off the global skills like "jump" or "DragonFlare"

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Yeah, if not misremembered, "blood price" is a cooldown of DRK. Despite whether it is or not, I rely on it so much these days.

Cooldowns is probably referring to any type of Buff ability/skill.

Example: "Tank, could you please use some cooldowns. You are getting hit so hard."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

...
To further confuse the issue, there are also skills that have their own individual cooldown timers, but which aren't about giving your character a status buff. These tend to combine an attack with another effect (like attack + stun) that you can only do occasionally. Whether people are also including those when they're talking about using cooldown skills depends on the discussion.

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Yeah you got the point, the occasion often occurs in arguing that if team players pull their weights. Normally I'm busy on my dps and do not pay attention to what others are doing in the team. Several times I did not notice tank had fallen until the mobs began to hit me. So when I see others point out their team-mates not using "cool-down"s, I think "it's complex job to watch others while doing one's own job, anyway, let me know what's 'cool-down' first" haha.
Now I see what I need is more experience, maybe also more attention to the overall situation of a team, to know how others are doing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Judge_Xero

Cooldowns is probably referring to any type of Buff ability/skill.

Example: "Tank, could you please use some cooldowns. You are getting hit so hard."

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Hahaha it seems tanks are asked a lot.

Thank you all guys, such vivid explanations let me learn a lot.
Hope my using of "cool-down"s will not annoy healers too much haha.

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