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

[Hulan]

If you removed cool downs there would still be rotations. Combos are instantly grouped together. Then you have your buffs, ou will always use them with the skills that they are best suited for (mostly). If you removd cool downs it would just allow players to spam there best combo ovr and over again.

Not if you are limited by resource, which is my point. I agree completely that with a system like this (or anything even close), there will always be rotations. Without cooldowns - and limited resources - though, each step along the way has to be used at it's optimal time. Cooldowns, in a way, remove a choice from the players, that being "when".

I'll grant, for that to be true, a few other things have to fall into place as well. For instance, battles need to be complex enough that "when" doesn't always boil down to "as soon as possible". That can be arranged though, something as simple as a boss that has an ability the turns him invincible for a few seconds at a time would do the trick.

It's not like there haven't been classes that had to deal with this already. BLMs as I understand it (I'll admit, not one of the jobs I leveled in FFXIV [though I was a career BLM in FFXI]), has pay attention to hate, MP, and mob position. All of those factor into his/her decision on when to cast a spell, none of which usually line up with the Cooldown. In that way, BLM might as well not have cooldowns, since it rarely effects what spell they cast when. Though that's just an example.

[syntaxlies]

Not if you are limited by resource, which is my point. I agree completely that with a system like this (or anything even close), there will always be rotations. Without cooldowns - and limited resources - though, each step along the way has to be used at it's optimal time. Cooldowns, in a way, remove a choice from the players, that being "when".

I'll grant, for that to be true, a few other things have to fall into place as well. For instance, battles need to be complex enough that "when" doesn't always boil down to "as soon as possible". That can be arranged though, something as simple as a boss that has an ability the turns him invincible for a few seconds at a time would do the trick.

It's not like there haven't been classes that had to deal with this already. BLMs as I understand it (I'll admit, not one of the jobs I leveled in FFXIV [though I was a career BLM in FFXI]), has pay attention to hate, MP, and mob position. All of those factor into his/her decision on when to cast a spell, none of which usually line up with the Cooldown. In that way, BLM might as well not have cooldowns, since it rarely effects what spell they cast when. Though that's just an example.

I play blm a lot and I was always waiting on cool downs. Blm had 2 hat reduction skills which made it a non issue. You always had to make a decision to waste mp and use a less potent spell or wait for cool down.

[Hulan]

I play blm a lot and I was always waiting on cool downs. Blm had 2 hat reduction skills which made it a non issue. You always had to make a decision to waste mp and use a less potent spell or wait for cool down.

Fair enough, I have to admit, most of the things I hear about BLM are colored through the lens of my own experiences in FFXI as BLM (pre-abyssea).

[syntaxlies]

What you are talking about kinda sounds like the old stamina bar which I really didn't like

[Zezlar]

I haven't seen any long-term battle videos provided by the dev. team that allows us to come to a conclusion about a 50tp/Tick regen.

Wherever you are getting that info, have you confirmed that an auto-attack doesn't generate any additional TP, or are you saying that each auto-attack generates only 50 tp?

It's been confirmed by reps that auto-attacks generate 0 tp. Instead we are given a set amount every tick. In the video from the LOTP it was roughly 50tp/tick give or take. Hit or miss AA you are getting a set amount of tp. Perhaps more if they keep store+tp on gear and materia.

[Hulan]

What you are talking about kinda sounds like the old stamina bar which I really didn't like

Technically, TP was just the stamina system, just re-branded and obscured behind attacks and the fact that you started at 0 instead of full.

[Zezlar]

What you are talking about kinda sounds like the old stamina bar which I really didn't like

Good point there, as you said that the dots connected. It will be similar in structure. It is there now really, but it becomes more apparent with the 3 second GCT.

[Almalexia]

It's been confirmed by reps that auto-attacks generate 0 tp.

What! Where?

[Colino]

It seems to me that without staggered cooldowns, people are just going to be picking the best WS/Combo every time right?

You just pick your biggest/highest damage WS/combo and spam it everytime. Isn't that kind of boring?

I'm not sure I get it.

What I hope is that each combo has different uses as well as debuffs on the enemy or buffs to yourself.

Otherwise it will become exactly like you mentioned and everyone will just spam one combo.

[Orophin]

I know people may feel burned over their feedback getting ignored in alpha and beta of 1.0, but it was clearly stated by Yoshi-P in his last letter that Alpha testing is strictly to test the stability of servers. As of now, the whole Armory and Battle systems have remained pretty secretive among all the other information released. How about we wait until beta comes out to critique the battle system we think we know how it works.