Why is everything so delayed?

Before I start, know that I have incredibly fast internet, so this is by no means a connection issue.

As a PLD I have 7 buffs I use quite often that are not effected by global cooldown. But when I hit them, I have to hit the button over and over and over and over again before they activate. If you try to use an ability not effected by GCD just after using an ability that triggers GCD, you HAVE to wait at least 2 seconds before you can use your non GCD abilities. So basically, it takes around 6 full seconds to cast four abilities that are supposed to be instant and not effected by GCD. Why? Why does it take so long to use them? This is especially frustrating when using interrupts as a lancer or a silence interrupt with other classes. When the healer goes down and I need to pop all of my CDs, it takes me almost 10 full seconds to cast them all, and they are ALL INSTANT.

That's not all that is very delayed. Procs and debuffs. All combos are proc'd by other abilities, but it takes 2 full seconds before the dotted outline appears on an ability that is proc'd. It's even worse with a Pug, you don't know if your stance changes and the next ability is ready until the GCD is pretty much finished. Your DOTs don't show up on the enemy for 2 full seconds as well. So as an archer, putting on your procs(which don't always land), you don't know if you need to use it again, because it didn't work, until AFTER your GCD is done and you're already on your next ability hit.

This is my single greatest complaint. These delays take out any need or reward for good reaction time and cause some serious inefficiencies while using(or wasting) your abilities. Which is game breaking, considering you already have an unacceptably long GCD anyway. almost 3 times the normal length of any game.

Sum this up: If I hit an ability that is not effected by global cooldown, it should be cast IMMEDIATELY. I should NEVER have to hit the button again, much less over and over. If I use a debuff or dot on the enemy, the icon should show up instantly. If an ability is proc'd from another and is ready to use, the dotted outline should show up INSTANTLY as well. I've waited a long time before saying this, in hopes you already knew this stupidity was in place, but to no avail. No updates and not even a mention to fixing it. Well, this is me saying it and you need to read this SE.

FFXIV netcode. That is all. It's not good.

It's probably your keyboard...

It was stated long ago that animation lock was an intended design. Weaving abilities should have no effect on the overall smoothness of your abilities. The only exception to that is probably Jumps because of their slightly longer animations.

The real answer is that there is an animation lock. If an animation is currently playing, you can't use anything else until the animation is finished. It really is very frustrating when trying to use self-buffs that are not on the GCD.

You can't be doing any other animation, which is fair.

What I want is a "queue system" so it activates as soon as the animation ends.

as stated above, the reason you need to click multiple times before an off-GCD attack goes off is the animation lock. Unfortunately, just because your interface says you can cast an ability doesn't make it true...because you know, that would make sense.

Artificial one second cooldown, also known as animation lock.

Yep. Animation cool-down.. And it I hate it! Especially when I'm expected to stun. It isn't enough that Brutal Swing has a stupidly long animation for a stun. I have to try not to use any other skills when I think the time may be coming up to stun. Half the time I miss. Whee.

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Originally Posted by jabbywocks

Yep. Animation cool-down.. And it I hate it! Especially when I'm expected to stun. It isn't enough that Brutal Swing has a stupidly long animation for a stun. I have to try not to use any other skills when I think the time may be coming up to stun. Half the time I miss. Whee.

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Brutal swing actually stuns near the beginning of the Animation now.

Welcome to FFXIV ARR, that's how it is, and since it's anchored in client-server architecture combined with core game mechanics.. I don't see it changing any time soon.
I've grown used to it. If you can't, you're time here will be short lived :(.

Who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised int he future, but I'm not holding my breath.

30 up and 30 down internet here. And soon to have Google Fiber.

People need to understand that having a fast internet connection doesn't mean you have a fast connection to everything that is connected over the internet.

It all comes down to how many connections your computer has to make to the servers you are connecting to, as well as how the server processes that connection.

I don't mind animation lock, I'll wait for the current skill to end. BUT at least give me the effect of the new skill a little sooner. Everything is at the END. Hallowed Ground, end of the animation, Spirits Within's silence, END OF ANIMATION. That stuff is very annoying, I don't mind the lock..I just need those effects sooner :C

Worst part is when you use an ability and the game registers it as used up then placed on a long cooldown yet it NEVER took effect. Pld's and Whm's using hollowed ground/benediction know what I mean.

The dev's themselves said that "Instant" abilities aren't meant to trigger "instantly" and they have no plans to change that. So yeah...all intended by design.

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Originally Posted by Virtuso

Worst part is when you use an ability and the game registers it as used up then placed on a long cooldown yet it NEVER took effect. Pld's and Whm's using hollowed ground/benediction know what I mean.

The dev's themselves said that "Instant" abilities aren't meant to trigger "instantly" and they have no plans to change that. So yeah...all intended by design.

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Often time, when a developer says "Intended by design," it means, we don't know how to solve this problem or it will be too much work to solve it, so we just roll with it.

tldr
but iinm it's animation lock

Overused menus, animations, cut scenes, and npc dialog is a staple of every FF game. It wouldn't feel right without it. FFXIV has added a whole lot more to your experience. Add that to useless world bosses, seasonal events and total casual content then you have just described FFXIV.

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Originally Posted by GabrielK

Welcome to FFXIV ARR, that's how it is, and since it's anchored in client-server architecture combined with core game mechanics.. I don't see it changing any time soon.
I've grown used to it. If you can't, you're time here will be short lived :(.

Who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised int he future, but I'm not holding my breath.

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You know, every MMO has "client server archecture." peer to peer UDP does not work for MMOs. The issue is how much information that the server trusts the client with controlling. The more you trust the client with, the more responsive things can be, but the easier it becomes to hack and cheat as well. However, the issue at hand here isn't even response time or server delays, it's an animation delay.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

You know, every MMO has "client server archecture." peer to peer UDP does not work for MMOs. The issue is how much information that the server trusts the client with controlling. The more you trust the client with, the more responsive things can be, but the easier it becomes to hack and cheat as well. However, the issue at hand here isn't even response time or server delays, it's an animation delay.

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I like when people use words to try to sound smart (not you, the guy you quoted).

Zoom out the camera.

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Originally Posted by Ri_ri

You can't be doing any other animation, which is fair.

What I want is a "queue system" so it activates as soon as the animation ends.

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That'd be nice but... "server limitations". You know how it goes.

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Originally Posted by CHunterX

Zoom out the camera.

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+1

As others have said. Welcome to FFXIV. Most of the game is delayed.

While SE do x9999 better in terms of delays compared to 1.0, it's still far from being in-par with other MMO's.

Look at animation of red circles, the explosions happen after you're already gone far from it, instead of making the explosion animation happen when the red circle is still there (and have the explosion animation disappear along with the red circle, and not long after the red circle had disappeared).

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Originally Posted by Jubez187

Everything is at the END. Hallowed Ground, end of the animation, Spirits Within's silence, END OF ANIMATION. That stuff is very annoying, I don't mind the lock..I just need those effects sooner :C

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Spirits Within's Silence effect actually triggers faster now.

Because SE apparently didn't learn from their biggest 1.0 mistake that not everything needs to be verified or relayed by the damn server.

animation lockout has nothing to do with lag. If they wanted to, they could have the instant abilities have the same input delay as any other skill, they just chose to make skills unresponsive.

1 - What you are describing is the Internal Global Cool-down. No matter what ability you use (on or off GCD) it initiates a ~1.33 second internal global CD. This is by design.
1.5 - This is NOT animation lock. I repeat, this is NOT animation lock. Take, for example, Rage of Halone and Spirits Within. If you hit Rage of Halone, the animation takes roughly 2 seconds to complete, the damage, enmity, and str debuff will not be applied until that animation time is finished. HOWEVER, you are absolutely allowed to use Spirits Within on the 1.33s IGCD timer. RoH animation will stop, you will begin SW animation, RoH effects will apply, and then SW effects will apply. Limit Breaks break these rules. They have true animation lock. I think a better term for the traditional delay between activation and application of an ability should be "Animation Delay."
2 - Yeah, that sucks. I know exactly what you are talking about, and with my internet and my PS3 in some rare cases my abilities will not combo until WELL after the GCD refreshes. Which sucks because I play PLD and MNK primarily lol.

I will also say: Sometimes I feel like on skills like Spirits Within or Selene's Silence and a few others that the abilities seem to get "stuck." i.e. if I spam the crap out of them they seem to just light up over and over but never fire off. If I just hit them at a moderate pace (even repeated) they will go off when iGCD is over - but if I am trying to jam something in before everyone gets hit by Ram's Voice or High Voltage...my human instinct is to blast the button as hard and fast as I can!

its called animation lock. Even though its OFF GCD you still have to wait for your animation to end from what ever skill you just used before you can use the next ability. Even if its Off GCD. Each animation has about 1 second duration. So say you use Rage of halone and you have 2.5 second GCD 1 second after you cast RoH you are able then to use 1 off GCD skill. .5 second later you can use a GCD skill and soforth and so on.

Yeah, I noticed this today. The animation lock is a terrible idea. You sacrifice efficient and skill based gameplay, for looks. It's an unnecessary RPG element that hinders the fun of the game. I respect the idea behind it, but it's only superficial and it gets old fast. Maybe SE will read this and do something about it. It would be nice to see if they are willing to sacrifice their need for style to give us a better experience. Games like this are about the players and what we want, what is fun. It's up to them to decide which is more important. If they ever want to add any impressive tactical fight mechanics, they'll need to make the game more precise. Precise and skill based gameplay> style and animation appearances.

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Originally Posted by Ri_ri

You can't be doing any other animation, which is fair.

What I want is a "queue system" so it activates as soon as the animation ends.

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This is actually a very good compromise, at least a good start. I can't even remember how many times I've hit an ability and then had to repeatedly hit it because it wouldn't queue.