Auto-attack is a step backward.

[Nabiri]

I like manual-attack but look forward to auto-attack. It will be nice to be able to type more than one word while in a party. Silent parties are really a bore.

That many/most past MMOs had an auto-attack (including FFXI), is something many people started complaining about because it made combat feel too hands-off to them... In FFXI in particular, a common complaint is "You sit there, watch your character auto-attacking, and hit a Weapon Skill once in a while when you have the TP."

All I can say to this is, I was always doing something and very busy in a party in XI no matter my job.
I never understood how people had the ability to concentrate on a movie or other game at the same time. I was constantly pressing buttons. If I were only engaging and hitting weapon skills I wouldn't be doing my job very well.

[Physic]

FFXIV it's not action mmo, and Auto-attack is necessary.

out of 14 ffs, only 2 of them had auto attack, and only 1 of them didnt give you the option not use it. Auto Attack is not required a part of tradional rpg formula

[Elexia]

out of 14 ffs, only 2 of them had auto attack, and only 1 of them didnt give you the option not use it. Auto Attack is not required a part of tradional rpg formula

Actually, traditional rpg sometimes has an "Auto battle" mechanic which wasn't always smartly scripted. FF wise, a few of the remakes incorporated an Auto Battle mechanic as well.

[Dragon]

I loved FFXI and I'm all for making this game more like an HD version of FFXI but this is one of those features that I think is just dated. Especially an auto-attack system like the one in XI. Auto-attack makes the player even less involved and you ultimately end up just watching your character more often than you are actually playing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the current system is spectacular but it's definitely miles ahead of an auto-attack system.

I can't be the only one who feels this way. I'm very afraid for the future of this game if the auto-attack change goes through.

Definitely not. As a matter of fact, I was one of those players that in FFXI would just play something on my PS2/PS3 or Xbox 360 while in an exp/merit party, or even dynamis/sky (some limbus floors too). Auto-attack just makes things uninteresting and way too easy.

If anything I would like to see a "/auto attack on-off" option that would allow players to choose how they wish to play the game.

Yeah, I'm fine with that. That or make auto-attack so slow and stamina-reliant to still force skill-heavy fights.

[Physic]

Actually, traditional rpg sometimes has an "Auto battle" mechanic which wasn't always smartly scripted. FF wise, a few of the remakes incorporated an Auto Battle mechanic as well.

so auto attack, is like auto battle? whose only purpose was to play the game for you if you found it to tedious to kill things? honestly id rather them just create a autobattle/bot option than forcing every one to auto attack all the time.

They probably should add a voice option, or a speech2text option because auto attack really isnt the best battle system, people who were spamming 1 never learned the way you re supposed to play the game, though i will say battle was pretty involved when you did it right, making it less involved and more like automated play for everyone, is a bad idea

[Firon]

I'm gonna go ahead and say people who they are afking in a pt that's dropping mobs at an steady pace to get chains in xi i cant see you going afk to watch t.v it would show to much. I played that game for 7 years and could see spot an slacker all the time.

Also LOL to people saying i can go afk during Sky fights and dyna and limbus your group must have failed al ot case of you.

[Dubont]

Auto attack is needed for most MMORPGs with this style. Spamming 1 (yes, you DO spam 1) is not only unhealthy for the comp and your hand, it's also extremely annoying. To those saying that with auto attack, you can watch movies while playing. I can do that with the current system as well. Keep my finger on the 1 button and just glance over from time to time to see if anyone needs a heal. Your argument is now invalid. To those that are saying it's a step backwards, have you actually played this game? I'm pretty sure button spamming was from the early 80's. Argument = invalid.

[Nuru]

You know they aren't just adding Auto-Attack. There is much more to this new battle system than we can assume. If it was just auto-attack, YoshiP wouldn't have spent so much time working on it. We would have had the Battle System already and they'd be giving us content, etc.

No, instead of being lame and dull, the dev team have spent nearly 5 months working with the new battle system, at least wait and see what it has to offer before you say its a step backwards.

It may just have its fair share of action. Besides, its not what the Battle System is itself, its what you can do with it what matters most.

[Dragon]

I'm gonna go ahead and say people who they are afking in a pt that's dropping mobs at an steady pace to get chains in xi i cant see you going afk to watch t.v it would show to much. I played that game for 7 years and could see spot an slacker all the time.

Uhuh.

Also LOL to people saying i can go afk during Sky fights and dyna and limbus your group must have failed al ot case of you.

Kirin, Byakko, Suzaku, Seiryu, Genbu, et.al, were all easy. You had to be in an extremely gimp linkshell to lose to Kirin (I've seen linkshells where it may have taken more effort to lose to Kirin than to defeat him), or take more than 45 mins to defeat him. Meanwhile, the only challenges in Dynamis were maybe Tavnazia and Dynamis Lord, everything else was just EZmode. In limbus, Proto-Omega was hardly a challenge - I spent more time in groups just waiting for pods to be released to destroy than bothering to take down with Proto-Omega (I've even fallen asleep in one or two Proto-Omega fights because there was no action).

[Ava]

Using FFXI as an example of auto-attack is pretty stupid. Auto-attack is just fine in most games, FFXI was an exception, and it was more an issue of weapon skills and TP than auto-attack itself. If done right, auto-attack is a good thing.