Why do people hate Bards so much??

[RiceisNice]

They should just change the cast times to animation locks. Then they will actually have something to complain about. Ever use jump and get hit by an AOE twice?

It's actually both. Animation locks combined with cast times makes for a very clumsy gameplay if the animations don't actually accommodate the cast times.

[UBERHAXED]

It's actually both. Animation locks combined with cast times makes for a very clumsy gameplay if the animations don't actually accommodate the cast times.

You don't seem to understand what an animation lock is. When you use jump, you cannot move your character despite using the mouse/keyboard/controller to command you character to move. This caused the majority of deaths for dragoons in fights like titan. Even worse though, it made you be in two places at once. If you can move to interrupt your cast or oGCD (which isn't animation locked) then it's not animation locked. What you are talking about is not animation lock. It's the delay due to animation, which are on all skill. For example, holy has cast time, but the action doesn't occur until the animation completes (as is the case with skills off GCD, like benediction and HG). They balance this so they can adjust skills without adding cast time to them.

[RiceisNice]

...but the action doesn't occur until the animation completes. They balance this so they can adjust skills without adding cast time to them.

And this is in full force for bard with the cast times, and how their animations are not changed to accomidate it. Trying to get the procs off heavy shot is even worse than firestarter even if you use an oGCD skill to cancel heavy shot's animation. And to add on, you can't use skills right after another until part of it's animation goes through, like how you can't do jump until you're half way into your full thrust animation. Bloodletter (or rain of death if you're multidotting for AoE) can reset off DoT crits, and it really doesn't work well with the amount of oGCD damage skills you use and the cast time; it creates a very fragmented flow of gameplay that feels very awkward to dance with.

[UBERHAXED]

And this is in full force for bard with the cast times, and how their animations are not changed to accomidate it. Trying to get the procs off heavy shot is even worse than firestarter even if you use an oGCD skill to cancel heavy shot's animation. And to add on, you can't use skills right after another until part of it's animation goes through, like how you can't do jump until you're half way into your full thrust animation. Bloodletter (or rain of death if you're multidotting for AoE) can reset off DoT crits, and it really doesn't work well with the amount of oGCD damage skills you use and the cast time; it creates a very fragmented flow of gameplay that feels very awkward to dance with.

Every job has this though. The difference is that bards get a 1 second lead time compared to casters (you actually aren't firing arrows due to game physics reasons so the animations are short). Of course, melee are get a longer lead time until the next actions, but the animations are naturally longer anyway. For example, the animation for fire does complete until 1 second unto the next GCD, so even if you did magically see the future an know that you will get a thundercloud or fire starter and began to cast on the next GCD, you will end of hard casting an not using the proc. It is impossible to use a proc like this for BLM due to cast times lining up with GCD but bards don't have this problem.

[RiceisNice]

...

Even with the 1 second lead, that's only enough for 1 oGCD ability which can reset its cooldown, along side other oGCD abilties. Fire I animation completes as soon as the fireball hits, or if you used an oGCD like a buff, tranpose or an instant cast thunder. The latter doesn't apply to heavy shot's proc. You will still hard cast a straight shot even if you got the buff from the previous one until you wait one second after the GCD from using heavy shot ends.

Straighter shot does not pop immediately until heavy shot's animation ends, but that happpens after the GCD finishes because the animation does not start until after the 1.5 second cast, nor does using an oGCd to cancel heavy shot's animation work.

[UBERHAXED]

Even with the 1 second lead, that's only enough for 1 oGCD ability which can reset its cooldown, along side other oGCD abilties. Fire I animation completes as soon as the fireball hits, or if you used an oGCD like a buff, tranpose or an instant cast thunder. The latter doesn't apply to heavy shot's proc. You will still hard cast a straight shot even if you got the buff from the previous one until you wait one second after the GCD from using heavy shot ends.

Straighter shot does not pop immediately until heavy shot's animation ends, but that happpens after the GCD finishes because the animation does not start until after the 1.5 second cast, nor does using an oGCd to cancel heavy shot's animation work.

You seem to be misunderstanding something. They way the game is now, you will cast fire, followed by blizzard III and will already be in umbral ice by the time fire starter procs. This is nothing like what you have for bard.

[RiceisNice]

You seem to be misunderstanding something. They way the game is now, you will cast fire, followed by blizzard III and will already be in umbral ice by the time fire starter procs. This is nothing like what you have for bard.

And I can cast heavy shot, cast heavy shot again, and get the straight shot proc in the middle of my second heavy shot animation, even if I use an oGCd to cancel the first heavy shot's animation. The second heavy shot is interchangable with straight shot since you need to keep it's buff up, and the proc can still occur during that, except it's not a free shot so that's TP wasted.