An open petition / discussion about Animation Lock and FFXIV

[MegaMage]

Well, Yoshi P said these would all be "fixed." I don't see why they could just greatly reduce animation lock. If they can reduce it, why not just get rid of it?

If a third-party bot can do it for FFXI, I'm positive SE can do it themselves for FFXIV.

I am hoping for the best too when it comes to completely removing it. I know they have the capability. We've seen it before in XI with apps. We've seen it in XIV with active/passive mode. That's why I started this thread to try and get a specific answer from anyone on the team. I think with the introduction of the paid period closing in, we are entitled to more information about this huge design flaw. I personally want to know whether or not I should be supporting this game once I am given the chance to do so.

[AceofRains]

Animation lock is fine. I'd rather that than have abilities and run all over the place. A good example is how archers attack. An archer needs to take aim, realistically, if hes moving and jumping everywhere, hes gonna be really inaccurate. But that's just aesthetics. Its part of strategy... Here is an example: at lvl 15 as a PUG I'm fighting moles around drybone. Moles have that wonderful dig attack that if you notice their attack patterns, will see they use this move towards the end of their lifespan. You should be expecting that it will activate the technique, and anticipate when is not a good time to pop a skill so you are not locked to your location when the mole digs. I've only fought mini ifrit so i have no boss mode comparison, but i think animation lock should stay.

[MegaMage]

Animation lock is fine. I'd rather that than have abilities and run all over the place. A good example is how archers attack. An archer needs to take aim, realistically, if hes moving and jumping everywhere, hes gonna be really inaccurate. But that's just aesthetics. Its part of strategy... Here is an example: at lvl 15 as a PUG I'm fighting moles around drybone. Moles have that wonderful dig attack that if you notice their attack patterns, will see they use this move towards the end of their lifespan. You should be expecting that it will activate the technique, and anticipate when is not a good time to pop a skill so you are not locked to your location when the mole digs. I've only fought mini ifrit so i have no boss mode comparison, but i think animation lock should stay.

Yes that's all good and blissful at level 15 when you have maybe 2 skills to activate total, no one to heal and nothing to dodge that instantly kills you. Unfortunately, in the large aspect of the game the need for urgency in skills and spells in a short window becomes more crucial. With the loss of character control this really can't be expected at a constant rate when things go awry. I hope you're not just defending an unpopular concept for the sake of it. I think most people agree animation lock is a relic.

[Lienn]

Animation lock is fine. I'd rather that than have abilities and run all over the place. A good example is how archers attack. An archer needs to take aim, realistically, if hes moving and jumping everywhere, hes gonna be really inaccurate. But that's just aesthetics. Its part of strategy... Here is an example: at lvl 15 as a PUG I'm fighting moles around drybone. Moles have that wonderful dig attack that if you notice their attack patterns, will see they use this move towards the end of their lifespan. You should be expecting that it will activate the technique, and anticipate when is not a good time to pop a skill so you are not locked to your location when the mole digs. I've only fought mini ifrit so i have no boss mode comparison, but i think animation lock should stay.

I agree. Animation lock is part of the strategy. It's not the animation lock that is the issue, it's the server latency.

[Xquiel]

Animation lock is fine. I'd rather that than have abilities and run all over the place. A good example is how archers attack. An archer needs to take aim, realistically, if hes moving and jumping everywhere, hes gonna be really inaccurate. But that's just aesthetics. Its part of strategy... Here is an example: at lvl 15 as a PUG I'm fighting moles around drybone. Moles have that wonderful dig attack that if you notice their attack patterns, will see they use this move towards the end of their lifespan. You should be expecting that it will activate the technique, and anticipate when is not a good time to pop a skill so you are not locked to your location when the mole digs. I've only fought mini ifrit so i have no boss mode comparison, but i think animation lock should stay.

agree, the same with ifrit battle =)

[Dragonhaven]

They need to just get rid of all animation locks! They removed it for pulling out your weapon and putting it away why they did not remove it for everything else is beyond me. I agree that the vague answer is not any answer at all its just a delay tactic. How about posting the fix for the horrible delay, position lag and animation lock on the design chart for the game, honestly this is my biggest issue with the game id throw down the full price for membership in the game if this was looked at as a big issue by Yoshi. This issue actually affects end game play and battle, it prevents a lot of people from enjoying iffrit (myself, and several people who I have spoken to in game about this issue). Please fix this soon I wouldn't care if you took out the moogle battle, adv jobs etc as they mean nothing if everything which is kept server-side (retarded) is lagged to hell.

[MeowyWowie]

Well, it looks like they will be removing animation lock completely anyways.

However, I would prefer if they kept it for weapon skills. Using abilities and casting magic while running seem realistic, but weapon skills, not so much.

[AceofRains]

I agree. Animation lock is part of the strategy. It's not the animation lock that is the issue, it's the server latency.

This

Well, it looks like they will be removing animation lock completely anyways.

However, I would prefer if they kept it for weapon skills. Using abilities and casting magic while running seem realistic, but weapon skills, not so much.

And this.

When I refer to lock, its mainly on weapon skills. there is a ton of server delay on it, which is one thing that makes it feel slow, which in reality its not. The reality is that about half way through the animation, you can select your next skill. Your game think thinks you've already done the attack, but the animation is still running. THAT is what needs to be addressed. Although its not as bad as people seem to make it out to be.

On the subject on magic, I dont feel particularly locked when the spell goes off, nor should you have to feel that way. More than anyone, a mage needs to be able to quickly reposition themselves after a cast.

[MegaMage]

I would agree with maybe weapon skills having an animation lock seeming you'd be focusing attacks on that. However, casting cures and using abilities (things that in the roleplaying world would be considered as skills a character has attributed to them intimately) should definitely not have animation lock. It irritates me that I want to use Soughspeak + Cure III to keep hate low and instead it's just better to Cure and use nothing. The current Ifrit strategy of "use nothing and be aware of swipe/abilities" is really boring. Although they are changing the number of abilities we get, if we still don't use anything but the same 4 spells and move around the whole fight that is not innovative nor is it challenging.

[Buddhsie]

Taken from another thread, please read:

For the record, animation lock isn't a mistake, it's realistic and it's an obstacle you have to deal with when playing. If you don't like animation lock, then don't use weapon skills like Doomspike II. If you can't avoid using it, then plan better, don't blame the game for something like dying to Ifrit because you aren't able to time weapon skills appropriately.

Same can be said for abilities.

umad.