Visibility of actions in FFXIV (Visual cues)

[Sephr]

I was wondering what you guys think about the on-screen understanding of what's happening. What i mean by this is being able to see who's doing what (Mostly DoM) without having to consult HP bars. I think currently one problem is, all casting animations are the same with no difference between different types of magic, and it's very easy to lose sight of the magic effects when they actually occur on a player (such as a cure or spell) or a target (debuff etc).

Aside from simply making spell effects more flashy (would be nice in the future), I think it'd be great to add in more interaction between the two parties involved like in FFXII and FFXIII. In this situation, casting a spell would result in them sort of 'throwing' a sphere at their target which looked different depending on what they casted. I think this would be a nice and relatively simple way of displaying what people are casting without having to look away from the action.

What do you guys think about something like that?

What about other visual cues such as HP-bars below a characters name being toggled on?

I was looking for some videos that provided a clear example, but it's quite tough to find specific examples what with FFXIII being pretty fast-paced and all.

[Nephera]

while i do like the casting animation. Yeah being able to tell whether a conjuror is casting fire or cure would be nice.

[Fensfield]

Hm.. well, I've not had much bother from seeing what was going on as any of my classes, Conjurer or Lancer. But.. I certainly agree on casting animations. That's one of the few things did disappoint me - I kind of like the understated magic effects, but the actual casting? You can add a lot of character just by changing the way a spell looks as it's being cast.

Ragnarök Online, for instance. Their graphics engine could only handle one casting animation per class sprite, but every spell had a unique circle generated around the caster prior to activation.

[Kulbay]

I would like better affects after the spell is cast, a huge fireball or a shower of ice (Shiva anyone?), big ole nuke action for flare. Etc, Etc it would make the mage classes a lot more distinct. Also would like to see some different weapon styles for all the classes. Most of the axes look alike, swords, lances, they are allready discussing implementing class specific armor, why not some prettier weapons while we are at it.

[Speeral]

I would like better affects after the spell is cast, a huge fireball or a shower of ice (Shiva anyone?), big ole nuke action for flare. Etc, Etc it would make the mage classes a lot more distinct. Also would like to see some different weapon styles for all the classes. Most of the axes look alike, swords, lances, they are allready discussing implementing class specific armor, why not some prettier weapons while we are at it.

That's my biggest gripe is the spell animations and lackluster performance, especially with the AM's I mean 100MP and almost 1 minute for the spell to actually hit . . . and for what 300-500 dmg? big deal . . .

in grind pt's with efts in BR, using Prof II and the thaum ability which eludes my right now. As well I use cake for grind exp
my tier 2 nukes do anywhere from 1200-2300 dmg on efts using thunder II. But I would like the animations and calculation on the dmg and modifiers fixed up and make nuking worth it.