Responsiveness of Crystal Tower compared to other content.

[Teuciont]

Going forward, I hope that the developers continue to use the method of damage calculation in regards to indicated abilities that is used in Crystal Tower.

What do I mean?
Bosses in Crystal Tower seem to have a much tighter netcode compared to the primals and other 2.0 bosses. Yes, EM primals are technically 2.1 content, but I would have a hard time believing that they didn't re-use code from the HMs. What am I getting at with this? Whereas Primals and other 2.0 content have the damage done tied to the cast bar, it feels as if Crystal Tower has the damage tied to the animations, and rightly so. Retrospectively, it may have nothing to do with the netcode at all and more to do with when they decide the abilities will deal damage: at the end of the cast bar or during the animation itself.

Some Examples
King Behemoth: Damage is tied to the point of impact, or perhaps even slightly after. The cast bar ends and the meteor begins to fall. Being so used to 2.0 encounters, I ran out of behind the comet AFTER the cast bar had finished but was still killed due to not waiting for the actual meteor to make impact. This is fantastic. Not the dying part, but seeing the damage actually rely on what's going on in the fight and not the cast bar alone.

Acheron: While I have no specific examples, he too seems to obey this animation tied damage that makes the encounter feel as smooth as it does.

In Conclusion
I created this thread due to a conversation with a friend who pointed this out to me after I had already experienced it. Are we imagining things or is there some merit to our discussion? Has SE finally realized how much smoother tying damage to the animations rather than the cast bars is? What do you all think?

[Sfarzoso]

I did noticed that as well. But I still think that Primals battle are easy! Yes! Even the Extreme Modes !

[Gardes]

Yeah, I noticed this as well. Especially noticeable for me considering I have 280 ping on average and the first time I fought Acheron, I thought I'm in hell until I started trying to dodge his attacks. Not only I ended up dodging everything on reaction, I had FUN, unlike a certain primal fight I know. Then I started paying attention to the other fights, especially King Behemoth's Meteor. I've seen plenty of last second dodges on meteor that looked perfect in motion.

I like this and would like to see more of this in future fights, including the ones that have tighter window.

[Stuzack]

I must confess I have noticed this as well.

After doing Titan Extreme for 2 weeks, (I finally found a group who could dodge, yay!) I've been able to get out of the "Weight of the Land" attacks with ease, and even time to spare.

However, when helping out a friend with Titan Hard Mode, I found that WotL was harder to dodge, even when I knew they were coming. I was the same issue with Landslide.

Not that it's causing a lot of issues, but it is worth noting.

[Sub-Xero]

I, too, have noticed this.

[Gardes]

I must confess I have noticed this as well.

After doing Titan Extreme for 2 weeks, (I finally found a group who could dodge, yay!) I've been able to get out of the "Weight of the Land" attacks with ease, and even time to spare.

However, when helping out a friend with Titan Hard Mode, I found that WotL was harder to dodge, even when I knew they were coming. I was the same issue with Landslide.

Not that it's causing a lot of issues, but it is worth noting.

Could be your imagination. I run out into Garuda EX's mistral shriek where the cast bar finishes but the attack hits me in animation all the time and didnt suffer damage.

[Zumi]

It's just that CT bosses have an longer charge up time for all their attacks, making it so people who react slow can move out of everything while on stuff like Titan they die due to moves having fast cast time.

[Arcaloid]

It's not really about Responsiveness, but more about difficulty.
Crystal Tower is designed to be casual and easy. So it gives people more time to dodge AOE.
Even if they tight the animation to the cast bar/red circle in EX primal, it will not make it any easier. Unless you always dodge by looking at the skill animation, which you really shouldn't do.

[Gardes]

It's just that CT bosses have an longer charge up time for all their attacks, making it so people who react slow can move out of everything while on stuff like Titan they die due to moves having fast cast time.

I dont think you get what the OP is talking about. Casting time has nothing to do with it. In non CT content, the get hit or not get hit check is done entirely within cast bar window and animation is ignored. This is not the case in CT. In CT, it feels like the dodge check is done without being totally dependent of the cast bar and is more in time with the actual animation. You can dodge an attack by running out of an aoe zone even though the cast bar has already finished and disappeared a second before the marker is gone and you would not get hit because the animation of the attack didnt hit you.

In non ct content you would have died regardless of any of the above because during casting (before the attack actually happened) you are inside the aoe zone and ignores where you are when the attack actually happened, which is totally bogus! I have seen myself and other people die because I/they saw the casting bar for meteor finish and ran out of the rock as the meteor falls and touches the ground. Same with all of acheron's attacks. With this system, even a faster cast bar on an enemy attack would still look and feel right if you just dodged the animation..the actual attack, not the actual casting.

It's not really about Responsiveness, but more about difficulty.
Crystal Tower is designed to be casual and easy. So it gives people more time to dodge AOE.
Even if they tight the animation to the cast bar/red circle in EX primal, it will not make it any easier. Unless you always dodge by looking at the skill animation, which you really shouldn't do.

Oh, so SE actually designing combat encounters that feels tight and responsive and fair is something they shouldnt strife for in every content, because that's just for casuals. Right.

[Skies]

I'm more partial to saying that due to CT having far more people you are much more liable to suffer the effects of lag.
My connection is kind of slow and rather unstable, for me the timing of dodging in titan hard and CT is the same, a moment after the cast bar is finished to ensure the server knows where I am.

I am confident that is all there is to it, actually.