Removing the recast timers in FFXIV - good idea?

[loreleidiangelo]

A game with instant recast timers (ie, no global) would be a nightmare for players without stellar ping. Did you even Blade and Soul? Animation canceling made that game brainless AF; just smash your buttons in arena and hope the other guy lives in Australia.

That said, 2.5 seconds is a hyperbolic eternity and I'd really like to see the GCD sped up a bit. Yes, I'm aware MNK and NIN have shorter ones - 2 seconds, thereabouts; still double the time of any non-DK class in WoW. Devs, please stop assuming we're all controller users or keyboard turners with sausage hands and speed up the gameplay a little, thanks. You can thank me for your players not quitting before they reach level 30 later.

[Gumbercules]

idk i like the pacing here feels like its own take on the active time thingie from the ff franchise, and feels nice specially 50+. Would not mind a tweak to gcd as ppl level though just cuz it is really slow at start, but to turn it into an action game would be way too much. Maybe it could be presented as a new jobs "playstyle and gimmick" but to tune the whole thing to BnS/BDO levels, it would honestly ruin it for me personally. I mean i played BnS a to 50 and enjoyed it a decent amount and i play BDO here and there, but...i have those for that, and ff 14 for its own pace.

[Zojha]

That said, 2.5 seconds is a hyperbolic eternity and I'd really like to see the GCD sped up a bit.

As melee, I'd rather not. Between the 2 seconds GCD that I have to perform my set rotation, I have to look at the target circle and move for positionals, watch my own debuffs and buffs, watch the ground and boss for mechanics and weave in OGCDs. And all of that at 130 MS latency. I'm busy.

I can see and agree that early game can feel slow, but ugh...sorry, I'm not seeing it at 60. Maybe if rotations and OGCDs weren't a thing >_>

[loreleidiangelo]

As melee, I'd rather not. Between the 2 seconds GCD that I have to perform my set rotation, I have to look at the target circle and move for positionals, watch my own debuffs and buffs, watch the ground and boss for mechanics and weave in OGCDs. And all of that at 130 MS latency. I'm busy.

I can see and agree that early game can feel slow, but ugh...sorry, I'm not seeing it at 60. Maybe if rotations and OGCDs weren't a thing >_>

Maybe the broader issue is on how some classes are structured versus others? I don't feel busy or engaged as a caster at endgame, tbh, maybe because of the lack of oGCDs and positionals. SMN has a decent amount of oGCDs, but nothing spectacular, and I never had difficulty clicking the pet abilities from the default bar either, so I can't imagine how easier it's be if I macroed or hotkey'd them. BLM probably feels slow as heck, but mine is still only 50 so not sure how accurate that is. It also doesn't help that aside from MNK and DRG's Heavy Thrust positionals don't actually come into play until the seriously advanced levels (does NIN even get any pre-50?).

If most every ability triggered a global, but the global was faster, I think every job would start to feel the same in terms of "busyness", AND it would help alleviate the boredom of those two-button early level rotations. Maybe I'm too used to other games though, idk.

[Radacci]

i'd like it, cause the combos we have now are kind of done so that the 2nd skill starts where the 1st animation ends, but with all the down-time, it feels really disconnected, and not really like a combo at all - you go back to idle pose, before being able to start next skill.
the problem is that you can cancel animations by using another skill, so with no CD you'd cancel your combo animation, which would look stupid.
if they made it so that the next skill is qued instead, for after prev animation ends, then long animation skills, would reduce your DPS, so they'd have to speed up the animations to fit into the 0,5sec time-frame where you can't use another skill...and that would be awkward.
it would burn through your TP in seconds, rather than minutes, so they'd have to re-design the entire resource system.
so basically...no, it's a terrible idea

[aesteval]

Maybe the broader issue is on how some classes are structured versus others? I don't feel busy or engaged as a caster at endgame, tbh, maybe because of the lack of oGCDs and positionals. SMN has a decent amount of oGCDs, but nothing spectacular

Err, maybe spend time with jobs that have positionals then? Or more ability weaving? SMN uses the GCD to think, plan, and adjust and is a bit less of an active button mashing role than other jobs. They're the only non-healer with an in battle res and need to pay attention to the party in addition to killing things. I actually like how SMN plays and would hate to lose that because someone else wants it to play like something else. :-p

[Remus]

The question is... how often do you see the sentence "Action not ready" at the top of your screen? Each time you press it the message will re appear and make a noise. Clearly you want faster combat because you are mashing the button. Kappa

[loreleidiangelo]

Err, maybe spend time with jobs that have positionals then? Or more ability weaving? SMN uses the GCD to think, plan, and adjust and is a bit less of an active button mashing role than other jobs. They're the only non-healer with an in battle res and need to pay attention to the party in addition to killing things. I actually like how SMN plays and would hate to lose that because someone else wants it to play like something else. :-p

I won't harp on the issue, but I will just say that I do play SMN optimally, and I still find the downtime between abilities excessive. Maybe a compromise of a new caster job with inherently faster cast times/recast timers a la MNK/NIN would be the compromise we could come to? I can respect that some people prefer the slower gameplay for whatever reason, but I think there should be faster options for those of us who prefer more frenetic rotations. I don't want to be pigeonholed into a melee job when casters happen to be the style that I like.

Radacci actually brought up good points about potential gameplay and design issues that adjusting the global could cause, so I appreciate the differing perspective. It might just be easier for the devs to balance and offer gameplay options at the individual job level, rather than gameplay level. That said, I do think player boredom/attrition at early levels needs to be looked into - the most common complaint on Reddit I see in regards to XIV is the "slow" gameplay, and not everyone is willing to tough it out through 40+ levels to get to the part where it "gets better".

[Lone-wolfe-02]

No thank you.

[dragonseth07]

Lowering the GCD could be great. But, they would have to do SOMETHING about oGCD abilities. Right now, the pointless animations on them already make double-weaving in some instances difficult or impossible. It would only be worse with a lower GCD.