[dev1032] Spell Casting Animations Needs More Love

[Anty]

+1 from the Mog.

Epic animations make it feel like Final Fantasy ^^

And mages NEVER have gotten good animations, just good spell effects.

sad but true, but in ffxiv we have neither atm... the ultimate winners are the ancient magic spells, you usually don't see them goin off, and since the dmg sux as well you can only tell someone is casting it looking at his/her mp bar... thats sad.

[DoctorMog]

I do wish there was a "highlighted" area on the ground where the AOE effects take place.

Not knowing if the thing 20 yards behind my target will get hit is kinda .... scary...

[zaviermhigo]

Yeah I do like that toggle, kinda reminds of dragon age, but it wouldn't have to be flashy, simple transparent lines of an easy to see color. Just for those moments where you think you know you're range and you hit that one mob that was borderline in/out of it. It wouldn't be needed all the time, but useful for when everything kicks your butt, hell give war drum and aoe moves one on DoW the most, some of them really need it >.>

[Estellios]

If I recall right they were planning on implementing an AOE indicator a while back, but it was a WHILE back before the dev team changed. Hopefully it's still planned to be implemented once these revamp patches are over with. It's one of the features of FF12 I was hoping would have made its way into FF11 waaaay back when along with the "aggro lines" =P

As far as animations though I like the casting animation just fine, personally. It gets the job done and I like actually using my staff to cast. The spell effects could be nicer. I'd like them to look more powerful but not take a year to get through the animation. The recent Persona games come to mind where higher level spells look wicked strong but are really quick so the pace of fights stays brisk.

[Buckles]

Though I agree whole-heartedly with the animations (or lack thereof) needing work, I would add to the suggestion that spell sound effects be revised along with any change in this matter.

Currently, magic only very faintly sounds like what is it. An example being when casting fire you can hear only a very faint "whoosh" of flames, which is 90% drowned up by what I can only describe as 'the metallic, laser vvruuunndgg' that comes hand in hand with all spells; it is like a longer, drawn out version of the sound that occurs when you select buttons (which thankfully you can disable).

Same goes with ice spells, you hear a minor 'csshink', but again mostly drowned out by the offensive 'vvruuunndgg' (btw, whoever can best phonetically spell the sound I am referring to will win the internet). Right now, the only spell that can get away with this universal drowning effect is lightening, since it does sound like lightening (although the faint, actual sound is much better)

If spells are designed in two parts, the part that affect the mob, and the purple 'wobble' in front of the player, I assume the sound we all hear the most of is the purple 'wobble'.

Am I alone in this dislike of the sfx, or are there others?

[Darrkness]

people need to check out this thread and look at the youtube link in the first post. screw everything else and fix This first and foremost

[Tibian]

Supported.

In my opinion this is a very critical part to making mages exciting.
Not only do the casting animation of the hands/weapons need to be redone, but I feel the spells themselves need to be redone. A blob of red isn't fire. A blob of bubbles isn't water.

Also spell trails from the caster to the target should be implemented on some spells, also it would be nice to see some type of spells have CONSTANT effects. By that i mean, each time dia ticks for damage it could sparkle or emit some type of light.

[Misha]

/agree ^^

At least we'll get to cast while in passive in 1.19 ... good start imo!

[Gidonoidon_Sur]

Wondering if we could get a rep to press the dev team about this. In particular, with the "diversification of battle animations" coming up in patch 1.19, does that include casting animations? From what I can tell, it implies auto-attack motions. However, I think we all would like to see better casting animations. I in particular would be fine with those in FFXI.

[Trigger]

Agree with everything in this topic so far and also want to add that some of the spells visual effects need to last longer. You cast fire and it appears on the mob for half a sec if that.