Global Countdown Timer - My big concern for the future on FFXIV.

[yukikaze_yanagi]

i think you're on the wrong forum.

[Zezlar]

i think you're on the wrong forum.

True, I should have posted it in the Battle mechanics section, but no one looks there remember? :P

[yukikaze_yanagi]

True, I should have posted it in the Battle mechanics section, but no one looks there remember? :P

no, this should belong to the alpha forum. Don't be surprised if get canceled

[Reika]

no, this should belong to the alpha forum. Don't be surprised if get canceled

You don't need to be in alpha to know that WS's will be on GCD and TP will be full from the start... that was already shown to us.

[Zezlar]

no, this should belong to the alpha forum. Don't be surprised if get canceled

Did you read the first paragraph? I'm not in the alpha. I would love to be actually, since their forums probably mean a lot more than this one. I could also get more accurate information on the system i'm describing.

[Shurrikhan]

True, I should have posted it in the Battle mechanics section, but no one looks there remember? :P

I look there, specifically, about every time I come on for exactly stuff like this.

To be honest, a 3-second GCD really sounds a bit long to me. Without the actual time-costly animations we had before, we'll basically be jogging in place or super-breathing while we wait for our next high-speed attack to be available. It's not a long delay, but it certainly doesn't feel fluid either.

The reason I bring this up is because it's about the only thing that seems close to set about the combat system thus far-- high-reaction, while still running about the same speed of attack as 1.x. (When tp-dumping/chaining, movement for combos aside, you're attacking roughly once per 3 seconds already, and as fast as per 2 seconds with certain attacks [Pounce, Demolish, Howling Fist is probably the fastest I regularly use, along with some Lancer strings].)

Even if there are no solid individual ability cooldowns, there are numerous alternatives that can be implemented to carry the same idea of sparse usage without a hard number being given to it. Gliding TP costs for example, would cause an ability to cost more tp when reused immediately. Gliding damage/effect modifiers -- takes a (likely stat-factored) amount of time to reach 100% damage/effect potential again. Conditions can be added, such as these costs being wavered or reduced when a status effect fails to afflict the target, the attack misses, crits, whatever makes sense for that particular attack, attack stratum/string/niche.

I can only hope that something of this sort will find its way into the combat system so we aren't merely spamming abilities conditionally. (Blunt bonus damage taken ailment -- Simian Thrash x 99...)

I prefer things to be less exact, less preset. Having the idea of combos carry through without the 'hit the next highlighted ability' (do not stray from order!) system sounds refreshing to say the least. This can help with that, if done right.

It's a bit annoying that they went through all the 'trouble' to remove the stamina bar only to re-implement it under TP, but hopefully they'll find what they're looking for soon.

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My vague hopes:
- Start off with a fair amount of TP, but rise with successful combat, and not just auto-attacks.
- Various categories also build up with combat
- While using the same system, its feel varies from resource-managing to opportunistically oppressive to chain-complementary, etc, depending naturally (rather than through ruleset changes) on class and/or role.
- Applies personal and group long-term and short-term strategy.

If anyone has any ideas of their own imagined system that gets those points ^, I would really, really love to hear it. : )