Could we get an autoplace aoe option?

[Dogempire]

One of the things I hate (mainly fire arrow on bard) is how if you click on the enemy or player it cancels the placement...why does it do this.

Either an auto cast or having to hit the button again to place it would be fine by me though having to hit it a second time would be better IMO in case you have to turn to dodge something or such.

The way I envision it when you autocast say shadow flare you just automatically start casting it on wherever the mouse is, no clicking since it instantly places itself and begins casting. If you need to dodge then the cast cancels if it's not instant and you can recast it whenever.

I'm not sure how turning to dodge is a problem, especially if your Camera is in legacy mode.

[enthauptet]

The way I envision it when you autocast say shadow flare you just automatically start casting it on wherever the mouse is, no clicking since it instantly places itself and begins casting. If you need to dodge then the cast cancels if it's not instant and you can recast it whenever.

I'm not sure how turning to dodge is a problem, especially if your Camera is in legacy mode.

I wouldn't want it to be casted ability though since it's an aetherflow ability (in case of shadow flare) that makes no sense. I guess if it places it instantly when pressed that is fine.

[Alahra]

I wouldn't want it to be casted ability though since it's an aetherflow ability (in case of shadow flare) that makes no sense. I guess if it places it instantly when pressed that is fine.

Shadow Flare isn't an Aetherflow-tied skill. You're probably thinking of Deathflare or Painflare, neither of which are ground-targeted.

[Kaurie]

I would love this. Guild Wars 2 has this, and it was wonderful.

I always find myself losing target when placing shadowflare and clicking on the ground. It's very frustrating on fights like Faust, where pressing tab through all the adds or trying to click on him with all the explosions takes a couple of seconds to get back on target.

[enthauptet]

Shadow Flare isn't an Aetherflow-tied skill. You're probably thinking of Deathflare or Painflare, neither of which are ground-targeted.

Yes you are correct I was thinking of scholar's sacred soil lol. >.<

[Alahra]

I would love this. Guild Wars 2 has this, and it was wonderful.

I hate ground-targeted stuff in all MMOs, so I'm all on board for something that can make them easier to use. I don't use the mouse for movement, as it never felt natural to me, so my hand is never "at the ready" to quickly place a skill like Salted Earth that's off the global especially. I end up ignoring the on most classes unless I'm very focused because the added damage isn't worth the time lost trying to place the damn things.

[Rawrz]

I don't think using freeze waits for a server tick to go off (every other attack is DoT so this is the only obvious inconsistency with that). As for your other point, ironically, every case you mentioned had nothing to do with lag. You just wait for the animation to finish...

I was specifically referring to sacred soil, collective unconscious, flaming arrow, salted Earth, shadowflare, asylum and any other CONTINUOUS aoes. These work on server tick you silly. xD

The adlo shield/bio lag I mentioned had nothing to do with the server tick, but yes it's an animation thing. I was just saying that it would be better to place sacred soil before deploying your adlo, to compensate for the "lag" in gameplay much like you can bio>swiftcast>bane>shadow flare to buffer this animation lag. It also gives the server a chance to tick sacred soils effect, but might not spread adlo in time because of the way its effect lags behind even its animation. Hope that clears it up.

[Kotemon]

On the PS4 controller, Id rather have the ability to macro and auto place an AOE on a target mob or a default that places it around the player instead. Like Doton's aoe. At least then if I'm walking down Pharos I can either manually place an aoe just behind the tank to trigger bombs to blow out of range or drop it center on the primary target. Alternately maybe macro cast salted earth on my self after a lunge or a target in a group before a lunge. I hear its easy with a mouse but not everyone has something readily to hold a mouse on.

[MaeIsMean]

I hate ground-targeted stuff in all MMOs, so I'm all on board for something that can make them easier to use. I don't use the mouse for movement, as it never felt natural to me, so my hand is never "at the ready" to quickly place a skill like Salted Earth that's off the global especially. I end up ignoring the on most classes unless I'm very focused because the added damage isn't worth the time lost trying to place the damn things.

Every bit of this. I had to re-learn how to move when I played WS, and since then I do have most of my movement keys tied to my mouse now. But when it comes time to place a ground-target spell, my mouse could literally be ANYWHERE on my screen, and I waste time just trying to locate it first, before figuring out where I want to place it. An auto-drop where the mouse is isn't the solution, as it would be worthless to me and who knows where my ground-target spells would land. I'd love it if a second-tap would drop it on my target. That gives me 1 tap to use my mouse if I choose (pre-pull, anticipating adds, etc).

[Mhalak]

I know this post is a bit old, but it is possible for PC gamers to immediately cast ground AoEs using a macro:

/macroerror
/ac "Shadow Flare" <mo>
/ac "Shadow Flare" <t>
/ac "Shadow Flare" <f>
/ac "Shadow Flare"
/micon "Shadow Flare"

If you're mousing over a target - enemy OR friendly - this macro will immediately cast the AoE centered on your Mouseover. But if your mouse is currently over empty ground, it will instead center on your current Target, or else your Focus Target. If none of these is the case, you'll be able to manually target as usual, such as if the party's charging to safety and you want to use a similar macro to cast Sacred Soil up ahead where there's no object to target.

I use few combat macros due to queuing delays, but this is one I use. If you adopt it, you may only want 1-2 placeholders (e.g., <t> and <f>, or just <mo>), but you'll probably want to include the last /ac without any placeholder to enable manual targeting. If not, you could have a separate, non-macroed version of the AoE for manual placement. Since it'll trigger on any Target (enemy, friendly, or even neutral) there's no point in having both <t> and <tt>.