Battle Reform: Auto-Attack (06/30/2011)

[Len]

Will Close Shot and Shadowbind finally find some use in (solo) battle?

Will TP gain be reduced for long-ranged attacks from Archers, Conjurers and Thaumaturges?

How long will the recast timer be for Light Shot, Spirit Dart and Phantom Dart be?

So many questions left unanswered..

Edit: A YouTube video would have been nice, Square Enix!

[Alcide]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Full Thrust, Flurry and all the other basic attacks are gonna be just normal skills and not switchable AA, right?
That sucks so badly...

Basically talking about the battle system, 1.18 will just have the AA thrown in and a couple of skills revisited... so we are gonna have a lot of new content but just a "draft" of the battle system... doesn't it go against any logic? o.O

EDIT: also i would point out that after you get the different types of normal attacks you NEVER use the "Light" one anymore (at least for the class i tryied).
So if they're just normal skills with short recast time well say goodbye to AA, you're still gonna use those skills a lot; otherwise if they have a long cool down the majority of them are gonna be useless... they're meant to be an alternative to the "Light" attack, so if it becomes automated all of them should do the same.

[Eekiki]

1.18 includes the following:

1. Removal of the Stamina Bar and implementation of Auto-Attack. (Letter #11)
2. Adjustments to Guildleves. (Letter #12)
3. Implementation of Settlements as quest hubs. (Letter #9)
4. Implementation of two instanced dungeons. (Letter #11)

1.19 includes the following:

1. Auto-Attack fine-tuning and animation diversification. (Letter #11)
2. Implementation of Beastmen Settlements. (Letter #9)
3. Adjustment to recipes. (Letter #12)
4. Implementation of the Materia Crafting System (Letter #12)

Did I miss anything?

Abolishment of the fatigue system will happen in either 1.18 or 1.19 I believe.

[Amas]

I respectfully disagree with that generalization.

If I am playing solo as a Disciple of Magic, I will be in melee range because the enemy will close in.

Right.

So if you remove the Multiplayer aspect from MMORPG, you need to have a melee attack. Why couldn't your ranged Phantom Dart also function from melee range?

Just saying, mages should have an auto attack that functions at range, since in group activities (you know, massively MULTIPLAYER online roleplaying game) they will be at range and should be able to attack mobs between spells.

Don't design an MMO around solo play. Design an MMO to permit it.

Will Close Shot and Shadowbind finally find some use in (solo) battle?

Will TP gain be reduced for long-ranged attacks from Archers, Conjurers and Thaumaturges?

How long will the recast timer be for Light Shot, Spirit Dart and Phantom Dart be?

So many questions left unanswered..

Edit: A YouTube video would have been nice, Square Enix!

I'm going to go out on a limb and say no, Close Shot and Shadowbind will still be about as useful as they are currently.

It would waste so much time and be so frustrating to have to Close Shot -> run away -> 1 RA -> Close Shot -> 1 RA -> Shadowbind -> run away -> repeat. The sheer loss in killing power thanks to wasted time would more than offset the utility of binding to move to arrow range.

[TirionCrey]

I'm fine with their schedule for adjusting stuff etc.

The only thing that makes me worry is the fact that they decided to keep battle algorithms as they are right now for 1.18 and start adjusting them with 1.19

This could very well cause a lot of annoying stuff while fighting in 1.18. May it be dungeons or just any kind of PT based stuff you do. What if hate algorithms are completely screwed and tanking is pretty much impossible without the adjustments? I'm willing to wait for the final result, but that they didn't adjust the battle algorithms together with implementing Auto Attack makes me worry a bit :/

[Chinook]

Too lazy to check where this was from, but I thought the Hate algorythm / meter was to be introduced in 1.18.

[Kiote]

Wow.. You all need to read more closely..

They have announced so many things that are being released in 1.18 I don't have time to list them but its well over four..
Go back and read what they said, and actually read it this time don't just skim through and pick out what you want to see.

As far as Stat Adjustments are concerned, they won't be able to do them until they see AA in action on a beta test level..

and as for Archer AA I dont get the whole fist thing.. they should make Archers stab with an Arrow and calculate base damage off the type of arrow equipped.. maybe people will stop using rank 1 arrows..

[Zeno-Ira]

lots of fundamental changes

[Xenor]

Man, not giving ARC auto attack (no one is going to auto attack with punch any more than they throw stones now) is the worst decision they've made with this patch. I'm not looking forward to it at all.

Giving light shot a recast timer instead is going to be painful in a game where recast timers almost never display properly. I'm currently chopping trees and my abilities are so out of sync I can hit the 30 second recast quick ability and have it show up to be used again immediately. To fix that I have to log out completely, shut the game down and log back in. Even then it won't be long (usually one or two region changes) before they're a few seconds out again. There's going to be so much "You must wait longer to perform that action" spam on my screen because no way do I want to shut the game down every other hour.

[Alise]

They should just delay 1.18 until they finish at least all the battle part. because it gonna be a mess with half-finished work....