Surecast Enhancements, Please!

[Felis]

Surecast
Allows you to move whilst casting and keeps your spells uninterrupted, however reduces damage and healing of spells by 35%
Permanent Buff, you turn it on and off like stances.

Also reduce walking speed while casting by 25% (the caster have to concentrate)

And you turn it only on like stances. It should go automatic off after a cast.

[Gunspec]

Surecast is bad because you usually shouldn't be getting hit as a caster, at least in group content. With the exception of a few endgame fights, it exists as something you can use if you think you MIGHT screw up in the next, what, 10 seconds?

How about modifying surecast so that it is prevents interrupt on one spell for the next minute? If the buff duration and the spell cooldown are the same, it essentially protects you from one interrupt per spell cooldown. You could keep it up constantly, not because you are planning on getting hit by something you should have dodged, but just in case you screw up.

[Yumi_umi]

Imo we should keep surecast its own thing and not some swiftcast hybrid cuz casters wanna become bards.
Surecast trait should be similar to equanamity ( tht pvp skill ).
It'll allow you to cast things with no interruptions (except movement i.e getting knocked back etc ) for 10 seconds.
But to make it a "trait" it'll allow u to cast thru debuffs i.e paralysis without interrupt. Imo it wouldn't be game breaking and it'll allow for more recovery. Handy for when dps or healers have paralysis and cannot get it debuffed. Most debuffs like mechanic paralysis lasts longer than 10 secs so ofc u'll want to try and do mechanics right.

So its obviously not a crucial skill to have but more so its optional JUST like how surecast is now.
That way casters still channel their casts & swiftcast gets to keep its identity.

[Atlaworks]

But... Surecast already IS swiftcast but less useful. The changes people propose are things that differentiate the two.

And it already is similar to Equanimity.... because they're the same thing. The only difference is that Surecast fades after one spell, and Equanimity lasts it's duration.

[Lemuria]

You seem to forget healers can also use Surecast you can heal through those certain attacks the moment you're hit by them under the effect of Surecast without being cancelled out of the cast instead of trying to time it right and risk being cancelled.

You seem to forget yourself that the chances of you getting interrupted by attacks is pretty small to begin with, and while there are are tiny percentage of big hitters which can do this none of them are used often enough that Swiftcast isn't the superior option.

Surecast is just... rubbish. If it's so important to get that spell out, then Swiftcast is the better option simply for speed. However short, using both Swiftcast and Surecast requires time. With swiftcast, that extra time is negated because the resulting spell is instant. With Surecast, you have your normal casting times on top of that.

Also, bear in mind that Surecast is NOT immune to the obvious pitfalls of Paralysis, Sleep, Stuns and so forth. If you're Paralyzed while in Surecast, the paralysis can still prevent you getting a spell off. Swiftcast has a far smaller margin for error in that situation.

I've watched you desperately try to defend this worthless skill in this thread and while I can't help but admire your passion, it's impossible to take the posts seriously. In fact, I'm convinced we've all been successfully trolled.

Honestly though, even if they allow Surecast to be used while moving it would still be pretty worthless. I think they just gave it to Thaumaturge because they ran out of ideas.

[Sunako]

I think we do not need that kind of effect. We have plenty of instant cast and swiiftcast for moving. I think it is good as it is now. THere is plenty of situations where you can use it. Like in leviathan once you wanna dot tail, second cast get interrupted without surecast or once spumes explode your cast may get interrupted by damage without surecast. In shiva extreme if you stand still and take ice ring damage, you can keep casting with surecast but without it your cast can get interrupted by damage.

[Hyouretsuzan]

But... Surecast already IS swiftcast but less useful. The changes people propose are things that differentiate the two.

And it already is similar to Equanimity.... because they're the same thing. The only difference is that Surecast fades after one spell, and Equanimity lasts it's duration.

I think the problem is that it fades after one spell. Ideally, the best time to use Surecast is when you're casting a long spell like Flare. But when do you get a situation where you HAVE to use it? I play BLM as a sub and I never really get a chance to use that spell. It's just sitting on my hot bar. If it did work like equanimity, then it would have more use. But it does not. Look at Apocatastisis. That spell was useless for a BLM but they changed how it goes. Now it's a pretty damn good spell for tanks. We'll see how it goes in Heavensward. BLMs are getting a new rotation so we can see how that pans out.

[Atlaworks]

I think we do not need that kind of effect. We have plenty of instant cast and swiiftcast for moving. I think it is good as it is now. THere is plenty of situations where you can use it. Like in leviathan once you wanna dot tail, second cast get interrupted without surecast or once spumes explode your cast may get interrupted by damage without surecast. In shiva extreme if you stand still and take ice ring damage, you can keep casting with surecast but without it your cast can get interrupted by damage.

So, in both of those situations, why wouldn't you just use swiftcast instead?

Also, what's this "we" you're talking about? Because the only instant cast spell black mages have is Scathe, and I think the only one white mages have is Fluid Aura, if that counts? It's a cooldown. Are you talking about Arcanists? Because they have Bio, Ruin II, and Miasma II as instant casts. I assume so, since your main class is shown as arcanist. I could also include Fester, though that has a 10 second cooldown itself and is summoner only.

That being said, "We" are not all arcanists.

[Kaethra]

The only time I've ever used Surecast is doing speed runs of like Wandering Palace or Darkhold. That cannot be the intended use for the spell. No it seems like it was a great idea on paper, especially if you've ever solo'd in a game as a caster in a MMO since 2004.

But interruptions just don't happen often enough or happen with a predictable frequency to warrant this spell a spot on the hotbar.

Its needs a change.

I like the idea of it allowing casts while moving. But only one spell. Or if it does more than a spell its duration should be cut drastically. Like to 5 seconds. Maybe allow the Thaum trait to increase this to its current 10s duration.

But if we allow it a 5s duration. I'd like to see mana cost go up by 20% and movement speed cut by 35% like someone suggested. What that would do is make it so on quick reactions.. you're probably not going to do it. But can still get an extra cast or two during planned movement.

With Black Mages and the 10s duration from it may seem OP. But with an extra 20% mana cost.. those Astral Fire stacks will make that VERY expensive. They will lose a Fire 1 in their rotation. But at least they can get one or two off while moving. But due to the increased cost they won't keep that buff up all the time.

[Lemuria]

Also, what's this "we" you're talking about? Because the only instant cast spell black mages have is Scathe, and I think the only one white mages have is Fluid Aura, if that counts? It's a cooldown. Are you talking about Arcanists? Because they have Bio, Ruin II, and Miasma II as instant casts. I assume so, since your main class is shown as arcanist.

Well, to be fair WHM also has Regen as an instant spell, but otherwise your argument is on point. Regen's a nice spell, but it's really only useful over long periods of time rather than an instant panacea.

To the defenders I ask only one question, and be honest if only to yourselves. How often do you actually use Surecast? I can tell you in the numerous years I've played FFXIV I've used it less than 10 times. It's never been necessary, ever. Never been useful, ever. In PvP it's still as useless as ever due to latency issues so the game considers you as still moving while casting. That is, unless you stay put for a whole 10 seconds. A suicidal situation if ever there was.