[dev1058] Why has animation-lock during movement/combat not been addressed?

[Celeras]

And if it has been addressed, why am I so blind that I can't find it?!

Seriously, it's a bit disheartening to read that Q&A in the battle reform thread. Good information and all that, but what I feel is the #1 problem with the game is not even mentioned. For a game supposedly based around positioning/movement.. why are we rooted to the ground with every single action? Every time we sheath our weapon? Everytime our shield drops? Every animation, no matter what it is, roots us to the ground.

-Want to use 'Quick' as for running a->b? Sorry, it's hardly worth it unless you're in the middle of a fight as you'd have to: stop to draw your weapon, stop to use the ability, and stop to re sheath your weapon. You barely gain any ground over somebody who just kept their weapon sheathed and ran.
-Want to dodge that Puk's backflip, or maybe that Gnats Thunderbreath? Hope you didn't have your shield up, or queue an action as it readied.. because you're not going anywhere.

It's a huge problem for everything you seem to want this game to be. And from where I'm sitting, it's an easily solvable and completely unnecessary issue (granted, I know squat about game design from a technical standpoint). I'd hope it would be gone with the battle reform... because it would only get worse with auto attack.

[Teknoman]

Why would it get worse with auto attack? Even in XI, you could still move around while you were auto attacking...just really slow. Now if you've already initiated a weapon skill attack animation, then I can see why you'd be locked into place. But during normal attacks, with the new system i'm sure you'll be moving around easily.

Some skills should just go straight into effect though, like quick, sentinel, etc. that I agree with.

[TomCarroll]

Probably not addressed because that's the game's intended function. Probably because fighting is more straight-forward than in say, WoW, where most instance/raid bosses have gimmicky fights where you jump/move/etc. at a given interval. Using XI as an example, very few fights ever required you to move (sans kiting) with a few exceptions like colossal blow or throat stab, which could be avoided, but you had to really watch for them. Even so, those moves were both aggro-reset, so in the grand-scheme of things, they really weren't intended to be avoided, were they?

[Teknoman]

Thats why i'm sure things will be different here, since they actually want you to be able to dodge things like dig, corrosive spit, etc.

[Physic]

it used to be a choice of when to attack/buff with stamina you didnt have to do something all the time, but with auto attack that will change, so i expect that they will ease up slightly. I think they mentioned you would be able to move while auto attacking

Sheathing unsheathing was supposed to have a delay, its choosing what mode your in.

[Naqaj]

It's a huge problem for everything you seem to want this game to be. And from where I'm sitting, it's an easily solvable and completely unnecessary issue (granted, I know squat about game design from a technical standpoint). I'd hope it would be gone with the battle reform... because it would only get worse with auto attack.

More likely it's not been addressed so far because it's not easy to solve at all. Enabling the players to move during an animation would likely require SE to remake most if not all of the animations. That is not feasible at this point in development, where they need to get the game to a playable (and billable) state ASAP.

[Celeras]

More likely it's not been addressed so far because it's not easy to solve at all. Enabling the players to move during an animation would likely require SE to remake most if not all of the animations. That is not feasible at this point in development, where they need to get the game to a playable (and billable) state ASAP.

If it wasn't easy to solve, FFXIV wouldn't be the only game in existence that forces it upon you. More likely, its a difficult thing to actually let slip through the alpha phase.

[Naqaj]

If it wasn't easy to solve, FFXIV wouldn't be the only game in existence that forces it upon you. More likely, its a difficult thing to actually let slip through the alpha phase.

What I meant was: it's difficult to solve that problem now. If other games don't have the same problem, that's because they decided early in development to approach combat and animations differently.

SE made this the decision years ago. It's most likely not something that can easily be reversed at this stage of development.

[Eldaena]

Love bump. ~<3

Hoping for redesigning of animations and not the rooted to the ground stuff as well.

[Physic]

pretty sure it was intentional, not an oversight, with manual attack/stamina you always chose when to attack, if you wanted to move you didnt act, and let your stamina build. Being in the middle of an action was a risk, now with AA/no stamina the same no longer applies, so they are changing it.