Auto-attack is a step backward.

[Preypacer]

I like manual-attack but look forward to auto-attack. It will be nice to be able to type more than one word while in a party. Silent parties are really a bore.



All I can say to this is, I was always doing something and very busy in a party in XI no matter my job.
I never understood how people had the ability to concentrate on a movie or other game at the same time. I was constantly pressing buttons. If I were only engaging and hitting weapon skills I wouldn't be doing my job very well.

Oh I agree.

I always kept myself busy in groups as well. But there are many who were leveling jobs that, frankly, you can tell they didn't like playing but were doing it just so they could have the appropriate sub for their main ("having the right sub" is something a lot of people in XI were very specific about, as I'm sure you noticed, too). They weren't inspired to play the jobs, and didn't have the independence to say "No, I don't want to level that job"... so they did as little as they could get away with.

Other times, they just wanted the reward without the effort, and since they were able to get away with doing nothing but auto-attacking... that's what they did.

There are many players in the MMO scene who are specifically reward-driven. If they could play a game where all they had to do was walk around talking to NPCs in one little area, getting 20% of a level each time... they'd be in heaven.

But for me... if I'm playing a game, I want to beplaying the game. And so, like you, I made sure to keep myself busy... I'd pay attention to mob behavior, throw in a stun of some sort (I loved shutting down bomb tosses, for example), look for an opening and WS with another party member when they weren't chaining with someone else, etc.

Of course... on the other side, there's the aggravation of having people in you party who you can tell are there purely to leech xp while doing as little as they can. I've had people in my groups outright state they weren't paying attention to the game, but watching anime while we were in Crawlers' Nest.

I think so long as they implement something in FFXIV that makes it less feasible to rely entirely on auto-attack, that it'd be fine.

[Gramul]

I just want to chat while I fight.

[Xatsh]

Auto Attack could open the ability to chat while playing which would be a huge plus, it all depends on how it is implemented. I have a feeling it will slow down the pace of battle though which some will probably rage about.

In the end this is what the majority of the people wanted in the player polls... so now that it is here as a community we have no right to complain.

[Mack]

whatever

just implement jumping

Ok small brain.

[Preypacer]

I'm gonna go ahead and say people who they are afking in a pt that's dropping mobs at an steady pace to get chains in xi i cant see you going afk to watch t.v it would show to much. I played that game for 7 years and could see spot an slacker all the time.

So could many people. And again, others had absolutely no qualm about coming right out and telling you they weren't paying attention to the game most of the time.

In some parties the leader put up with it. In others they kicked and replaced them as soon as they could. In others they kicked them outright and we made do with 5 people.

Especially in FFXI it's very easy to tell when someone's not pulling their weight. Only question after that is how they're dealt with.

[Dreamer]

Unfortunately for people like myself and the OP, this game and its forums are inundated with people who either want a WoW-clone or a FFXI-clone. If it's not what they're used to/familiar with, they want it changed to match. Forget something new, different, unique. Just give them what they know and what's convenient, and they'll give the game 10's across the board.

Also, you players who are spamming 1-1-1 are terribad players. Auto-attack isn't going to make you any less bad, just more lazy about it.

Also, it utterly baffles my mind that they saw people complaining about attack spam and their first thought was 'oh, let's add auto-attack!' I literally facedesked over that. So, lowering TP costs, optimizing stamina regeration and costs, making high-cost TP attacks more worthwhile...these never crossed their minds even once?

[Mack]

Auto attack wont control the game, they said its going to be a lot faster than FFXI meaning the reliance will come on various other abilities and weapon skills a lot more than auto attack. As fun as mashing one button is, I can at least vouch for it that it put things in your control and that's always a good thing but it was still unnecessary for the most part however if auto attack is slow and we're watching more than we're involved in the fights they did something wrong. I don't think this will be the case, I think auto attack will be fast and you will be involved in the battle quite a bit using other abilities. As a GLA I hardly ever use regular attacks anyway and I'm always clicking buttons, other classes can be just as involved with abilities and positioning and what have you.

[Dargoth_Draconia]

It is refreshing up to about rank 50, now I want an auto attack feature more than anything, if I want to take it easy for a minute or go afk while fighting an NM or something at very least my guy will auto attack instead of being useless. I honestly do not understand how people don't want this feature at all or not backing it 100% it will make the game flow better and allow you to time and use your abilities a bit easier. I missed getting in BRs at times because my guy wouldn't stop attacking because of attack spam delay. If the game was action rpg I wouldn't want an auto attack but it's not and you have a delay before you have to hit your button again to actually attack and that leads to people being impatient and spamming attack.

I don't get how spamming 1 extra button every few seconds could feel refreshing at all.

[Physic]

you haven't played mage long if you think that's what we do in this game lol. I'm a CON. CON has horrible nuking damage on NMs. I'm not allowed to nuke unless during BRs (I could but it wastes MP). DoTs aren't used because, since I'm a CON, I'm always on healing duty. Due to the MP cost and no real way of restoring MP, I have to save my MP for the cures (This was my idea and so far, it's worked pretty well) so the THMs take care of the DoTs. Why do I spam spirit dart? Only when I'm not cure bombing the hell out of the pug, I spam spirit dart for some good dps (compared to my nukes...) and then I have a levinbolt up for BRs.

Even on battle classes (Pug being the exception) you spam 1 2 or 3, depending on where your attacks are. You're almost always spamming a button where as with auto attack, you press a button and it's done.

On glad you have to be constantly putting shield up, using phalanx, or tanking skills, On lnc, ideally youd be moving around a lot trying to maximize pierce, heavy trammel and doomspike to hit multiple targets, and to keep yourself out of most aoe range. (problem is we only fight groups in leves) archer, well they dont really spam much, they are generally doing multi shot and buffing and offloading tp.
Marauder is probably the most basic attack heavy class, when it isnt tanking.

I will say that mages seem to get the least excitement in the current system, But for DoW i can say with certainty, that you should be using multiple types of attacks and skills fairly often, if you want to maximize your potential. I play my lancer fairly lazily, partially because i dont want to spend massive time reassingning skills from pug, and also because i usually play with an archer friend who is higher level, and thus everything is usually dead before i even get there, but when i see him playing his lancer well, he is all over the place trying to get multi hits on peirce, which leads to instant tp for WS, aligning himself to take the best advantage of his various multi target skills, as well as using survival skills, because while he hits multi mobs easily, Pug is mostly single target.

i wouldnt mind an optional auto attack function, for say mages, to whom it is mostly annoyance, but building the whole system aropund auto attack seems like a bad idea

[Physic]

It is refreshing up to about rank 50, now I want an auto attack feature more than anything, if I want to take it easy for a minute or go afk while fighting an NM or something at very least my guy will auto attack instead of being useless. I honestly do not understand how people don't want this feature at all or not backing it 100% it will make the game flow better and allow you to time and use your abilities a bit easier. I missed getting in BRs at times because my guy wouldn't stop attacking because of attack spam delay. If the game was action rpg I wouldn't want an auto attack but it's not and you have a delay before you have to hit your button again to actually attack and that leads to people being impatient and spamming attack.

I don't get how spamming 1 extra button every few seconds could feel refreshing at all.

because your not supposed to be spamming an attack, each of your attacks is supposed to be useful, The whole, id love to go to bathroom while fighting an NM/afk is the problem. You should not be able to contribute to the game while you are not at the keyboard.

Timing and using your abilities, is what manual attack is about stamina system allows you to not be hitting the button all the time, and store actions. you dont need to hit the attack button every time the opportunity comes up, you hit it when its a good time to. IE if you think they are going to do a BR, dont attack 1 second before.

The reason people think they need auto attack, is because they are playing the game like auto attck, you are not supposed to always hit the button as much as possible. you are supposed to hit the button when it will give you the least risk/most benefit.
This means i hit the button when i think the monster is not about to AOE, i hit the button when no one is doing a BR. I do not hit the button if i think i am about to evade/parry. I wait till right after the monster attacks to unleash 2 quick hits, then wait to see what he does.
Blow all your stamina, then talk to party saying what you think the plan should be, by the time you finish typing your stamina is full.

the reasoning that the game should play itself while im busy, is bad reason for autoattack. Auto attack gives you less control over timing when to burst and when to wait for an opening. Its not about being refreshing, its about when you have to play with skill/tactics, auto attack gives you less control, and less options.