The Letter is up

[SeraviEdalborez]

Right now it's not like XI where you can just turn around to stop hitting stuff (IE: face the other way and hit 1, you turn around and correct self). Assuming this doesn't change Sleep and Bind become very volatile when ranged attackers are in the party. Close-range auto attack is FINE and A GOOD THING.

It's also hilarious to see people get in a damn uproar over this. You know what the difference between automatically attacking and hitting a button to attack is? Hitting a button. That's it. Anybody "outraged" from either side of the argument should take a deep breath and chill out. It's not a huge deal.

Aside but tangentially related: I miss when "grinding" was just "leveling" and "spamming" wasn't considered repetitive.

[Shikyo]

Checked with the dev. team regarding questions about archers and their ability to auto-attack. Auto-attack as a system will initiate when the player is fighting an enemy in close range. While archers will be able to auto-attack enemies while in close range it won't be with arrows. New animations will be implemented to make this all happen!

WOOOOT! so i think safe to assume FFXI style rng is in close range melee with dagger/axe and long range/shooting controlled manually! although i dont see why it shoulda been done any other way. =/

This is how rng should be done its low lvl but the basic idea is this close= AA w/melee weapon and shoot when you want to. perfect!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFqkt...eature=related

XI rngs know and love this system its just ranged attacker 101

[Nix]

not really, Bind > turn away > monster stays bind, its basic XI logic.

I'm hoping they implement the line of sight malarky then, because as it is now you can be running away from a mob, hit light shot and you'll turn back to face the mob.~ Basic XIV logic!

[Mack]

Archer already has a close range attack. Its called Close Shot and can only be used when you're right next to the mob.

More importantly, if archer doesn't get a long range auto-attack, then we won't get to accumulate TP through AA while using weaponskills like all the other battle classes in that video? That's kind of disappointing. Arrows are already inexpensive, especially if you make them. Many others just opt to use warped arrows. So needless to say I'd rather shoot off an extra arrow while using a skill to get extra TP.

I'll be a bit peeved if this great auto-attack addition ends up not affecting my class in any way meaningful.

You'll probably get "ranged shot" of some sort, I'm guessing they made it this way so they don't have to nerf or forgo abilities like knocking extra arrows and stuff, so its still in the control of the Archer himself/herself.

[Wynn]

I for one am perfectly ok with not having auto attack on my archer's bow attacks. Now I am no longer worried about multishot going the way of the dodo.

[Cutriss]

Guys, I know it's SE and all, but seriously. If you need to disengage to not break bind/sleep, then just go Passive. I'm fairly certain that along with the auto-attack changes, non-attacking abilities will stop putting you in active mode.

[Jinko]

You'll probably get "ranged shot" of some sort, I'm guessing they made it this way so they don't have to nerf or forgo abilities like knocking extra arrows and stuff, so its still in the control of the Archer himself/herself.

They could have redesigned multishot to be press skill once = 2 arrow, press it twice 3 arrows, then press enter to fire the designated amount of arrows or simply convert it to a TP attack.

In fact a TP attack would solve the issue of nub Archers nocking 3 arrows and stealing hate from the get go of a fight aswell.

[Nix]

Guys, I know it's SE and all, but seriously. If you need to disengage to not break bind/sleep, then just go Passive. I'm fairly certain that along with the auto-attack changes, non-attacking abilities will stop putting you in active mode.

This would be a mega pain in the butt if you're trying to keep your distance from something and you keep stopping to go into passive/active.
If SE does turn around and say "Hey guys, actually we'll put Auto-attack on long range attacks for ARC too!" I wouldn't mind as long as they implemented some way to stop the attack chain, like through breaking line of sight for instance.

There are easy solutions to the pro AA and against AA arguments, but it'd mean compromise on both sides since it's essentially 2 different play styles

[Wynn]

They could have redesigned multishot to be press skill once = 2 arrow, press it twice 3 arrows, then press enter to fire the designated amount of arrows or simply convert it to a TP attack.

I'm confused. Isn't this exactly how it works now, except instead of enter you hit 1? Maybe I just don't understand what you mean.

[Xenor]

You apparently never played FFXI. It worked fine then and it will work fine now. RELAX BROSEPH.

I did play XI but I didn't get round to levelling up ranger. I don't see why RNG in XI shouldn't have had auto attack either. Then again ammo in that game wasn't exactly cheap.

I'm sure only people who played RNG in XI will be happy that ARC in XIV can't auto attack with a bow.

Gladiators, conjurers and thaumaturges have an off-hand weapon... a shield.

The offhand weapon slot is a good place for an archer to put a handaxe or a knife ( neither of which is currently associated with another class- to be perfectly clear, a knife is not a dagger ).

But seriously, who is going to use that handaxe or knife? I'll be shooting arrows, why am I going to run into the mob's AoE range and start poking it with a knife? Can you ever imagine a situation where an archer will be invited to a party to use a handaxe over their bow? Or a handaxe over a marauder with a great axe? The only time you'll use it is when you run out of arrows, and if you run out during any situation that matter then you're not playing your job right.

I for one am perfectly ok with not having auto attack on my archer's bow attacks. Now I am no longer worried about multishot going the way of the dodo.

They could have easily changed Multishot to an ability that makes your next shot shoot three arrows instead of one. It's going to get nerfed anyway because its only cost was stamina and without stamina you'd be spamming it if a cooldown isn't added.

I'm getting bored of archer anyway, think I'll be going THM main after 1.18 until they fix ARC. Right now I can imagine playing ARC being twice the job it currently it. You run up close to poke the mob with a knife for TP, you run back out to shoot, then you run back in etc. In out in out, do the hokey kokey. Or you can sit back hammering away at your 1 key between WSs as you do now.

Still no one has answered my question on why everyone made the developers spend months on auto attack when it appears no one actually wants it when it's here.