Quote Originally Posted by Jim_Berry View Post
I swear, before the change to Clemency, I would sometimes get "Parried" or "Blocked" on my screen during Clemency's cast time. I noticed it because back then, I would time the cast with Holy Bladedance from the Knight on Thordan, and would get the text.
You could also have exploited the magic pixel for Pld cast times.

It's a little weird, but near the end of a cast bar a Pld can actually move despite seemingly being locked into the casting animation (something you may have noticed from time to time while dodging AoE's). It's tricky timing, but to the outside observer it looks as though you are moving and casting at the same time. The reason is that the game registers the action as "completed" a short time before the animation is done. Whm's, for example, finish the actual cast of holy LONG before the glowy disco-ball goes off. Pld's Flash mechanic works in a similar fashion, as well. If you've ever Flashed while running, you might notice that the flash light gets left behind you, fixing the AoE in that spot rather than where you are in real time. It's something you can easily test just by casting flash while moving at a steady run in one direction.

The reason I mention this is because your character's block rate is also restored during this time. As soon as your character is capable of moving, your block rate is back in action. So it's possible that you were blocking attacks during that magical little period of time in which the game's visuals are not keeping up with the calculations being done in the background. It's easier to notice on multi-hit moves like Holy Blade Dance, because you're being hit consecutively. The initial volley of hits (during the bulk of your cast) are not blocked because you are considered to be "casting." However, the hits that land near the very end of your cast bar can, sometimes, be blocked if they happen to line up with when the game considers the cast to be done and completed. It's a strange thing to see in practice, and not something I'd recommend relying on, but it could explain why you remember blocking the occasional hit while casting.