Thread: So... Why IS the GCD 2.5 seconds?

I think that's pretty much what ppl said above that 2.5 seconds won't let players pressing buttons too much while it's not that slow.

one more thing I think can be contributed to the 2.5s GCD is one point from dev team's interview @ 1.0 to 2.0 period. There was one thing they brought up about the graphic quality and game setting. A pretty game like FF14, dev team dont want players kill mobs too fast. if players killed mobs too fast that means they need to make more mobs on the field. So, the dev teams default setting in their mind is 15-30 seconds a mob. From there, they setup the dmg per second on combo damage or AoE damage. If you are in dungeon, you can feel roughly each group of 3 mobs takes you 1 mins to kill them and run to next bunch... I know that cus my divine seal will always ready from batch to batch

Coming from Aion, where servers regularly grind to a halt in large field PvP and PvE, I think the GCD choices are wise. As gear continues to ramp, and skill speed pushes GCD lower and lower, there's plenty of run to manoeuvre with performance still. It also makes the game a lot more deliberate, and makes non-GCD skill weaving all the more effective. I'd rather a slower game with a higher skill ceiling than a mashfest, like so many other MMOs out there.

I like the way it is now. I use some Spell Speed but I'd never want something shorter than 2 second, it'd be too frenetic. The pace is just perfect.

For me is perfect. The quicker you make it the more spammy and mindless combat becomes.

2.5 is fine. It gives you time to think between attacks.

To be honest, i actually prefered the stamina system we had in 1.0

You could set the pace of the battle by deciding how fast you wished to burn through it. There were no auto attacks, just light attacks which recovered stamina on each hit, and skills which used up stamina.

You could opt to burn through it all in seconds for short fights, or to set immense amounts of hate on something, or choose to pace it out a little for longer fights. It made getting hate back easy since you could just push yourself a little more when needed.


Then they took it away, gave us a super slow and weak auto attack and stuck to just the TP system. Rubbish.

Is 2.0's system better than the one we got after the auto-attack addition in 1.1 or 1.2 or something like that? Hell yes! Because that was basicly waiting 10 seconds to swing an axe once, getting a hand full of TP back, and blowing through it 1000-2000 at a time (with a max of 3000 you could hold). Fights were rediculously slow, and that's basicly what killed version 1 of XIV for me.

But is 2.0's system better than the stamina system of 1.0? Not even close. Yet people's biggest problem with it was mashing buttons over and over. And for some reason, people are doing the exact same thing now but are completely fine with it. Even with it being more limited than that was too.

2.5s GCD system is a good balance between a fast paced battle system (way faster than FFXI ever was), but still gives you a reasonable time window, and yet it's not to slow either. For example the combat in 1.23 was slower and leans more towards FFXI. Some classes need abit more time to position themselves such as Monk and DRGs that's why a 2.5s GCD is just about right. It's good, not to spammy and not to slow either.

As most people have said, 2.5s was mostly for the console players, and probably just the type of playerbase SE wanted to pull in. They wanted this game to be more casual than other MMOs.

I personally would have really liked it to be 2 or 1.5 seconds. I find myself sitting there waiting for the GCD pretty often in combat. But that's just my personal preference. I enjoy faster-paced combat.

Originally Posted by Althea

They wanted this game to be more casual than other MMOs.

Yet I'm having more trouble in the endgame of FFXIV than in a lot of past MMOs I played. Skill speed has nothing to do with hardcore. You can make a hardcore slow game easily and you can make a fast paced casual game too.

Just compare the flashy button mashing of god of war with the slow and tactical combat of dark souls.