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

[Raymeo]

I don't see anything wrong with it :s As warrior it lets me use a GCD attack and before being able to use the next part of the combo I can use 1 of the various buffs then rinse/repeat and yes it flows nicely, not sure if you notice but yes you cannot use the instant ones in an instant but during them you can break the animation forcing the next move (if that makes sense). Idk im not arguing but thats how its been for marauder/warrior, also Ive been trying gladiator

Do it all the time on my 34 PLD. It's called weaving, you should give it a shot.

Fast Blade > weave in Rampart (or Bulwark if you prefer, makes no difference) > Savage blade > Weave in Fight or Flight > Rage of Halone > Weave in Blood bath.

I have them all up in a single combo and didn't miss a beat.

You're right, you didn't miss a beat. You only missed half of the potential duration of their stacked effects.

I'm not arguing that they can't be stacked. I am simply pointing out that this "breaking of animations" when using off-GCD abilities is non-existent. When you have two or more 15 second effects that you'd like to stack, and the GCD for abilities is 2.5 seconds, you would expect to be able to stack the desired effects and perform 5-6 attacks within their stacked duration. If these "instant" abilities broke animations as Benjamen claimed, then this would certainly be how things played out. However as things currently are, you pretty much sacrifice an attack from being included in that 15 second duration for each effect that you try to stack, due to all of the variable animations and ability delays. So stacking effects is actually detrimental to a player's effectiveness, forcing players to ignore their abilities instead of using them. Being forced to ignore your abilities instead of being encouraged to use them is what we call boring gameplay.

I haven't been having much trouble on DRG. Most of the time my off GCD abilities are triggerable about halfway thru GCD

No trouble? Look at your own words!

If you want to button mash, then that's fine, but maybe this game isn't for you.

It's like you haven't even played this game. Button mashing is rampant. We DON'T want to button mash. We are SICK of having to button mash in order to get a supposedly instant ability to trigger. That's the whole point of this thread. Have you even read it?