Archer auto-attack (Yes, please.)

[Cutriss]

I'm going to try to break this discussion out into its own thread.

Archer (and any other future ranged classes such as Musketeer) should have auto-attack. It doesn't make sense that melee classes will no longer have to hit 11111111 over and over, but archer will still retain this. It makes it more difficult for players playing Archer to communicate during battle, since they will have to stop firing in order to type in the chat window. It also means that network connectivity will factor heavily into DPS calculations for archers. If the client does not release the attack button in a timely fashion, then the archer will be firing at a slower rate.

There have been no sensible arguments made against Archer auto-attack that have not been addressed.

Ammunition cost - Depletion of ammunition will occur no faster than if the player was having to manually fire each shot. Auto-attack will not simply force the player to keep shooting after a target is dead, no more than a Marauder would keep swinging his axe after his target has been felled.

Overpowered class - This should be adjusted in the relative class calculations, and not addressed by hampering the playability of the class overall.

Melee auto-attack - By having ranged classes auto-attack with their ranged weapons, this mitigates the debate over whether or not an archer should attack bare-fisted, an act which the Twelve currently frown upon.

Buff stacking - A ranged attacker (as with any melee attacker) should be able to turn off auto-attack as desired in order to use actions without automatically re-entering auto-attack. If this is a problem for ranged attackers, the same problem should apply to melee classes as well.

Sleep/Shadowbind - See above. This problem affects melee classes just as much, and therefore should not be an argument against ranged auto-attack.

Mobility - Auto-attack would not and should not impede the mobility of a ranged attacker any more than it would impact a melee attacker. A gladiator can dance around a goblin all day long, hoping to dodge Bomb Toss, and it will not impact his ability to swing his weapon. A conjurer may complete a short marathon during the time he is casting Blizzard III. There is little reason why an archer should not be able to reposition himself during an attack, and mobility is part of the "theme" of ranged attackers anyway. For those that believe that firing a bow while moving is difficult/impossible, I would agree, but then also point to numerous fantasy depictions of running archers, as well as the historical evidence of horseback archers (in both Native American and Japanese history).

I would propose that a Steadfast-like effect be granted to ranged classes to increase their accuracy, and that as part of class balancing, the overall accuracy of ranged classes be reduced to compensate. In effect, you'll be able to continue firing as you reposition yourself, but the encouragement will be to stand your ground.

This thread is not about daggers vs barefist attacks. There's already a thread for that here.

[SeraviEdalborez]

3 words:
Pre-attack buffs.

[Cutriss]

3 words:
Pre-attack buffs.

3 words:
Turn off auto-attack.

Or is that four?

[SeraviEdalborez]

The removal of the core basic attacks in their entirety for the 4 other melee classes implies AA won't be a toggle. True, passive/auto switch has been stated to undergo changes that will make it more fluid, but that's not seamless. In fact it's kind of worse than what we have now, except that stamina would no longer be a factor, by a second or two. This is assuming...
Now: Buff, shoot
Proposed: Disengage, buff, re-engage, wait for AA to kick in (shoot)
What will be: Buff, shoot

[Cutriss]

The removal of the core basic attacks in their entirety for the 4 other melee classes implies AA won't be a toggle. True, passive/auto switch has been stated to undergo changes that will make it more fluid, but that's not seamless. In fact it's kind of worse than what we have now, except that stamina would no longer be a factor, by a second or two. This is assuming...
Now: Buff, shoot
Proposed: Disengage, buff, re-engage, wait for AA to kick in (shoot)
What will be: Buff, shoot

I'm basing this off of the AA video and the way XI worked, which is to say that I don't think buff stacking would really be a problem anyway in XIV. Just hit your buttons in order and then hit your WS, or use a macro (I expect the UI tweaks will speed macro execution up). Take SATA for example - the only reason it was difficult to do in XI without a macro is because you'd have to get in the WS menu before an attack round hit. Rather than use a full SATA WS macro, I often just kept a SA+WS macro, and activated TA and then the macro.

Delay on bows and guns is likely to remain one of the longer delays in the game, so there should be sufficient time to set up a stacked WS before an attack round fires.

As it is though, it's an issue that would impact melees just as much as archers, so it's not necessarily relevant to ranged auto-attack.

[Richard]

Guess what? It's not going to happen. Archer is confirmed not to have it and considering the recent "we understand your concerns but we just aren't going to change our plans" posts by the Devs, it's safe to say they won't be changing their position on it. Like it or leave it.

[MagicofGaia]

3 words:
Turn off auto-attack.

Or is that four?

I would be open to a system for archer that let's say:

-hit 1 to engauge auto attacking
-Cd's are ready, hit 1 again to disable auto attack
-use attack buffs
-use special attack
-hit 1 again to resume auto attack

[Cutriss]

Guess what? It's not going to happen. Archer is confirmed not to have it and considering the recent "we understand your concerns but we just aren't going to change our plans" posts by the Devs, it's safe to say they won't be changing their position on it. Like it or leave it.

This is what has been said about Archer auto-attack so far:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...700#post182700

Checked with the dev. team regarding questions about archers and their ability to auto-attack. Auto-attack as a system will initiate when the player is fighting an enemy in close range. While archers will be able to auto-attack enemies while in close range it won't be with arrows. New animations will be implemented to make this all happen!

That doesn't say anything about "We don't want to do it."

Furthermore, I don't care if you want to have a passive attitude about it. I intend to change minds, not just give up.

[Richard]

This is what has been said about Archer auto-attack so far:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...700#post182700


That doesn't say anything about "We don't want to do it."

Furthermore, I don't care if you want to have a passive attitude about it. I intend to change minds, not just give up.

Hey dum dum, they've already confirmed Archer /ra and Conjurer/Thaumaturge darts won't be AA: http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...50c372373a87e4

Each job WILL have an AA in the form of melee or hitting mobs with their weapons when in melee range.

That's the way it worked in XI and that's the way its going to stay here whether you like it or not lol

[Cutriss]

Hey dum dum, they've already confirmed Archer /ra and Conjurer/Thaumaturge darts won't be AA: http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...50c372373a87e4

Ohnoes, so I forgot to include the boilerplate update article rather than the things that real people are saying!

OBVIOUSLY I know what the current plan is, which is why I'm posting to argue against it. Are the windows that foggy on the short bus?

Each job WILL have an AA in the form of melee or hitting mobs with their weapons when in melee range.

That's the way it worked in XI and that's the way its going to stay here whether you like it or not lol

If you don't like it, GTFO the thread and go troll somewhere else. The prevailing opinion on BG has been that ranged AA is a *good thing* and clearly you're more interested in pissing me off than trying to tell me why it's a bad idea.