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

[complexxL9]

Well... look at your character more instead of the hotbars. As soon as the animatoin is finished you will use whatever ability you are trying to use. And as each skill has its own animation you KNOW if it went off(except for these situations in which you have 20 enenmies, each dying within 2 seconds). I haven't ever encountered a situation in which I pushed a button and didn't know what would happen.

Oh but you have to look at hotbars for your GCD, are you suggesting watching both character animations and hotbars at the same time? It's simply bad design. It looks like an experiment gone wrong and they need to adjust this asap.

[Malitias]

Oh but you have to look at hotbars for your GCD, are you suggesting watching both character animations and hotbars at the same time? It's simply bad design. It looks like an experiment gone wrong and they need to adjust this asap.

You do not know when 2 seconds are over? Well.. Not gonna argue with that then.

You're lvl 50, you should kinda be used to when you can hit the button.
Also, I bet most ppl mash their buttons anyway, so there is also no need to look at the hotbar.

[complexxL9]

You do not know when 2 seconds are over? Well.. Not gonna argue with that then.

You're lvl 50, you should kinda be used to when you can hit the button.
Also, I bet most ppl mash their buttons anyway, so there is also no need to look at the hotbar.

I should not be forced to get used to shitty mechanics. Either put on UI indicator when you can't use skills, or activate them when I push the button.
Who came up with this great idea that UI shows skills as available yet you can't use them. Animation cooldows are bad as they are, but what good is UI for, if you can't trust it? They should put 2 layer GCD animation if they are not going to change the mechanics itself.
But it looks like SE will let this issue "resolve" itself. Just wait long enough and all the unhappy people are gone - problem fixed.

[Malitias]

I have tried out playing the way you mentioned. Staring at my hotbar instead of the scenery. Didn't work for many reasons. This way I couldn't dodge AoEs, realized much too late I had to interrupt something and lost aggro from time to time. And yes, you do not exactly know when your animation is over. So why do it? ^^ Again, it ain't too hard to count to 2 to push the button, is it? (those were lots of "t(w)o" O.o)
But there is one situation in which it would be quite a help to have an indicator for the animation-lock:
Game gets too flashy. If there are 8 ppl using whatever skills they have and some or the majority of them are casters, it is most likely you start to have problems to see your character properly and thus his animation. That is true. Greying out abilities until usable would be an improvement, I agree with that.
I totally disagree with changing the combat mechanics. It is kinda what makes this combat system unique and, in my opinion, enjoyable.