The problem with "Instant OFF GCD" abilities makes combat feel less rewarding.

[Rivienne]

I love my instant cast spells! I am not sure I entirely understand this issue...

As far as I have ever been able to tell it casts instantly, just like it says, doesn't it? It goes off, you see it go off, then you see it hit.. No waiting for the GCD, non-interuptable. <3

The way I see things is as follows (correct me I am wrong):

GCD:
Trigger Action -> Action Performs -> Global Cool down -> Trigger Next Action -> Action Performs -> Global Cool down

Off GCD:
Trigger Action -> Action Performs -> Trigger Next Action -> Action Performs

And with off GCD, you can alternate, without waiting in certain circumstances. like

GCD Action -> Perform -> Off-GCD Action -> Perform -> GCD Action

Thus allowing you to just keep going without pause if you have figured out a good strategy.

One example of where I use them is when I go solo monster hunting I can chain like so: Lightning -> Virus -> Aero -> Stone -> Fluid Aura -> Repose -> Cure 1 -> Wait for Virus and Fluid Aura cooldown while Sleep in effect, then repeat (or some other similar chain using stone II).

I never notice any delays in this, it is a very smooth chain of events both in action, and in appearance.

In dungeons I often use <tt> macros, and am prone to throw the instants in between cures of the tank where it is safe (both in terms of healing and aggro) just for a bit of extra dd. And on a rare occasion if I am having trouble keeping the tank healed with a particular mob monster, and things are about to go south fast, I can do fluid aura <tt> to push an enemy away from the tank, and then cast cure II, before the enemy returns (I am also looking forward to getting swiftcast).

Anyways, just my own input. Not entirely certain where people are coming from with complaining about this because I honestly don't see what is wrong in the first place. Granted, I am not the fastest of players. But even so, the only way to decrease the wait would be to remove the perform step, or make a shorter animation, which would reduce the overall quality of the game visually. For me at least. Or to use a stacking attack, where it performs all the animation at once, but not sure how well that could work in an environment like this, more the pure turn based games.

Off GCD:
Trigger Action -> Action Performs ->0.5-1sec animation cooldown-> Trigger Next Action -> Action Performs->

I could be wrong, but I think you misunderstood me. The perform step is the action being performed, not the action taking effect. There is no animation cooldown, because the action doesn't take effect, until the animation is complete. This isn't a post action cooldown, this is the action being carried out.

[complexxL9]

The way I see things is as follows (correct me I am wrong):

GCD:
Trigger Action -> Action Performs -> Global Cool down -> Trigger Next Action -> Action Performs -> Global Cool down

Off GCD:
Trigger Action -> Action Performs -> Trigger Next Action -> Action Performs

And with off GCD, you can alternate, without waiting in certain circumstances. like

GCD Action -> Perform -> Off-GCD Action -> Perform -> GCD Action

Off GCD:
Trigger Action -> Action Performs ->0.5-1sec animation cooldown-> Trigger Next Action -> Action Performs->

And with off GCD, you can alternate, without waiting in certain circumstances. like

GCD Action -> Perform -> 0.5-1sec animation cooldown-> Off-GCD Action -> Perform ->0.5-1sec animation cooldown-> GCD Action

here you go.

[Rin_Kuroi]

Anyways, just my own input. Not entirely certain where people are coming from with complaining about this because I honestly don't see what is wrong in the first place.

Animations block the use of certain skills. If I want to use Atherflow + Lustrate (two instant cast abilities) to heal the tank I have to wait for the animation of Atherflow to finish before I can use Lustrate. Since just about everything has an animation this is effectively a GCD for all abilities even for non-GCD ones.

[Rivienne]

Animations block the use of certain skills. If I want to use Atherflow + Lustrate (two instant cast abilities) to heal the tank I have to wait for the animation of Atherflow to finish before I can use Lustrate. Since just about everything has an animation this is effectively a GCD for all abilities even for non-GCD ones.

I think you misunderstood what I was getting at. Every skill performed takes effect after an animation of the skill being performed. That is, the enemy doesn't receive damage from an axe blow until after the axe visually is seen to hit the enemy. I just am not sure I understand why people equate having to wait for the blow to land in the first place before being able to trigger another, with a post-effect cooldown.

This isn't technically a global cooldown, because a cooldown takes place after the action has already taken effect, and the effect isn't taking place until the animation finishes. The reason you cannot stack as quickly is simply because you cannot trigger one action, until the previous action takes effect. You aren't waiting for the animation, you are waiting for the effect itself, which is dependent on the action being performed, which is in this case tied to the visual representation, or animation.

I think this makes the most sense personally. Sure I would love if I could re-actively hit buttons and have them take instant effect, but then I wouldn't see any visual representation of the actions, it would simply be instant effect, or it would be a delayed animation which would stack strange since you could strike a killing blow, but then not see the blow until after the enemy dies. Which detracts from the immersion of the fights. Either you get real time animation, at the cost of waiting for the animation before the effect, or you get no animation, or you get a lagged animation which would be detrimental to the quality of the overall visuals.

Not trying to be argumentative here, I simply don't see a problem. I am looking at this from both the immersion perspective, and the implementation perspective, and I would prefer having consistent visuals with consistent effect time, over instant attacks with inconsistent or non-existent visual effects.

Not true, on ADS the second i hit blunt arrow the cast bar for high voltage stops, not stops when the animation is done. just because there is a delay to when you see the number (client side) and when you hit the skill, does not mean there is a delay on the server side. If it worked the way you say it does then there would be many more issues with stuns in game then there are.

Hmm. That is very interesting, I would have to see it in action to understand what you are trying to say, but I have not myself seen anything like you describe as Archer, Conjurer, or Arcanist (I haven't spent enough time on the other classes to feel I can speak to them). At a guess, there may be secondary issues relating to a) the general issues people have with drawing priority and b) server client lag, muddying the waters here. Because this has truly been absolutely consistent for me barring the occasional lag spike rubber-banding. I spent awhile playing with Virus and with Fluid Aura when I first acquired them to understand how to make use of them, and I have never seen this inconsistency you are speaking of.