AOE Rings

[Drewbie]

well in the Letter From the Producer VII there is also another AOE ring look closely at around 1:20:17 Bam!!! green ring when using what looks like a item?

[Darkoon]

rings or...... that one can easily distinguish what is the difference if its easy?
let me guess rings are too easy i bet!!

No, you missunderstand. Imagine this scenario, a giant Ogre is preparing a Quake like attack, he lifts his hammer up high and slams it into the ground, causing the ground to shatter. Now imagine the same scenario but instead all the animations are replaced with a charge, a cast bar and a red ring underneath. SE's team is going with the second approach here because it's easier to design. My arguement has nothing to do with difficulty.

[Kairukun]

No, you missunderstand. Imagine this scenario, a giant Ogre is preparing a Quake like attack, he lifts his hammer up high and slams it into the ground, causing the ground to shatter. Now imagine the same scenario but instead all the animations are replaced with a charge, a cast bar and a red ring underneath. SE's team is going with the second approach here because it's easier to design. My arguement has nothing to do with difficulty.

Who said the first idea couldn't be implented along with the second? While the first is nice and sounds amazing, you don't know the area of effect or how big. Is it all in front of him? How long? Or is it just a cone? Is it just a line?

[Darkoon]

Who said the first idea couldn't be implented along with the second? While the first is nice and sounds amazing, you don't know the area of effect or how big. Is it all in front of him? How long? Or is it just a cone? Is it just a line?

That is when experience comes into play.

[ArkhamNative]

well in the Letter From the Producer VII there is also another AOE ring look closely at around 1:20:17 Bam!!! green ring when using what looks like a item?

Pretty sure that was just an ability. (Label said "Sprint".) Not AOE, just a whoosh-like effect that sort of radiates outward.

[Duuude007]

No, you missunderstand. Imagine this scenario, a giant Ogre is preparing a Quake like attack, he lifts his hammer up high and slams it into the ground, causing the ground to shatter. Now imagine the same scenario but instead all the animations are replaced with a charge, a cast bar and a red ring underneath. SE's team is going with the second approach here because it's easier to design. My arguement has nothing to do with difficulty.

I think that in this case, you are the one who is misunderstanding. The animation was there as well. The purpose for the ring is so that you can react to the enemy based on the enemy, rather than based on the battle log.

Your complaint equates to asking for them to permanently filter the Enemy's spells and aoe abilities from the battle log, because it gives us too much information.

[Alhanelem]

i can't believe people are talking about AoE radius guides as if they're a stain of evil. It's a wonderful feature to have and doesn't in any way "scream low quality.' as long as it's done properly. Why should I have to guess at or feel around to figure out the actual radius of a spell or effect?

It's not like this plays the game for you- you still have to get out of the way if it's an enemy attack and you still have to move into the right position if it's a spell you're casting. It simply allows you to make a more informed decision- it doesn't reward laziness or poor play. With the sphere effects and enemy auras in FFXI, without third party tools you had to completely guess or feel around for the edge of the radius. You aren't even given the slightest clue. having to intentionally subject yourself to something in order to learn its radius is silly, as is blindly casting a spell to find out that yes, the AoE radius is that huge and caused you to hit 5 mobs you didn't intend to hit.

Just as it could be argued that you don't need this feature once you learn this stuff makes it useless to have, it can also be argued that since only one trial/error session is necessary, why not just eliminate that by having the range indicators? it's not like you're not going to learn it anyway. Let the people that like it turn it on and let the people who think it's ugly/ruins immersion/takes away "skill" turn it off. I guarantee you, you won't be able to tell the difference as to who's using it and who isn't.

I think that in this case, you are the one who is misunderstanding. The animation was there as well. The purpose for the ring is so that you can react to the enemy based on the enemy, rather than based on the battle log.

Your complaint equates to asking for them to permanently filter the Enemy's spells and aoe abilities from the battle log, because it gives us too much information.

Also, this. It's essentially a visual substitute for the battle log. Some people don't like spending most of the game looking at the bottom left of the screen reading all the text rather than looking at what their character is doing.

[Akujin]

I personally like them. I made a topic ages ago during 1.0 about the same thing. Some form of indicator when you're planning to either use an AoE yourself, or when a mob is about to use one, to gauge who is and isnt within the range. That way you can switch between different targets to make sure that you utilize the aoe distance fully.

[Spy]

Um...>.>...I did notice that the mob also made a gesture before it performs it's aoe attack...so the circles and the animations will go hand in hand.

[Preypacer]

I think that in this case, you are the one who is misunderstanding. The animation was there as well. The purpose for the ring is so that you can react to the enemy based on the enemy, rather than based on the battle log.

Your complaint equates to asking for them to permanently filter the Enemy's spells and aoe abilities from the battle log, because it gives us too much information.

Nonsense.

Learning enemies by "reading" their animations and learning their "tells" is a very long-standing means of learning and defeating enemies in games - MMOs and otherwise. You only have to read the chat log, or look for circles on the ground, if you never bothered to learn the encounters.

I've been playing TERA for the past month or so. In TERA, you have mobs known as "BAMs", they're basically miniature raid bosses which can take several minutes to kill (up to 10 if you're soloing them).

They each have some seriously powerful moves that can mess you up in a number of ways (slow, DoT, massive spike-damage, knock-down, etc) and make a good fight go bad very quickly. There are no rings, cones, lines, or anything indicating what its move is going to be. The only warning it gives is that, for certain attacks, its eyes will flash red before attacking.

At that point, you have to pay attention to its animation/behavior to determine what its attack is going to be, and then react appropriately to avoid or prepare for the attack.

However the red flash doesn't happen before all moves. Some are telegraphed only by an animation it does prior to doing the attack.

There's nothing else. No other indications of what its damage radius is or of how far away you have to get. Yet, people learn the individual BAMs, learn their behaviors, their attacks, their attack ranges, and their "tells", and become capable of taking them down - even solo.

Check out this video. This person is soloing a world boss, likely intended for 5 people. You can see how they react based on the enemy's animations, and know to get out of the way, and how far. They know how to tell when it's setting up for its AOE electric field. They know how to tell when it's going to leap. They know how to tell when it's going to slam its tail down, etc. One bad mistake, and that fight could have gone down the tubes for them.

While I'm not nearly on level of this player, I've managed to take down a number of BAMs solo myself. It can be extremely difficult when you're not as familiar with them. But it's also actually a hell of a lot of fun and very rewarding. Especially when you get to the point of knowing how to read a BAM - which used to smack you around like a rag doll - well enough to get through an entire fight almost unscathed.

And please, nobody say "well, TERA's an action game, FFXIV Isn't... so it's not the same" because that makes absolutely no difference here. Whether the combat is point and click, Tab Targeting or Action-Based, it would apply exactly the same way. Also nobody say, "well stop trying to turn this game into TERA", because that's not what I'm saying either. The concept of depending on 'tells' and animations to know what an enemy is going to do and follow appropriately is not limited to TERA. It applies to all styles of combat. In fact, it's been in previous FF games as well.

The problem is these days - the impatient, "gimme now" generation we're in - people have become spoiled by and dependent on Wiki Guides and Helper Add-ons to complete anything. The Helper Addons in particular have become an absolute crutch. It's most apparent when you see people (as several have in this thread, and on other forums) arguing that it would somehow be not possible, or overly difficult, to defeat enemies by learning their patterns and figuring out how to fight them effectively. It seems, in some cases, like these people don't realize people have done just that for years now, and continue to in some games to this day (see my TERA example above).

It's not some crazy, untenable concept. It's a tried-and-true, road tested and proven mechanic in games, particularly against boss type creatures.

So, it's clearly not an issue of "it can't be done". It's an issue of "they don't want to do it". Two very, very different things.

It is what it is. Yohi-P has been clear in his intentions to make this game extremely casual friendly, with "strong guidance" (his words) in the gameplay and such. So, hey, for the people who "need" (read: want) things spelled out for them... rejoice. You're getting your way. Those who prefer to be a bit more involved in the equation and figure things out for themselves will learn to deal with it, or move on I suppose.

Just another example of how players are pushing to have their games more and more simplified, and more and more dumbed down. All the while, complaints of "why are games getting so boring?" are increasing. Coincidence? I don't think so. I'd say it's Cause and Effect in action.