GCD questions

[Sylvain]

Hi, so we've all seen some RDM video by now showcasing the fast space at which this job dps.
However, there's something that bothers me.

Basically, RDM cast time can be put into three categories

=GCD, 2.5sec cast, this include the melee skills, verfalre and holy
<GCD, 2sec cast, the quick Verskills, melee embued,
>GCD, 5sec cast, the "u need the quick cast" skills, Verthunder,Veraoe


The melee embued spell (when you have enough black and white mana), also reduce the GCD to 1.5.
But all instant or shorter-than-GCD spells have a recast time of 2.5.
So, let say I stand still and cast 3 times the same spell in a row, is there any difference between these 3 spells?
instant, recast 2.5, potency 300
2sec, recast 2.5, potency 300
2.5sec, recast 2.5, potency 300

If there is no effective difference, then what is the point of having a shorter casting time if you have to wait for the GCD to end anyway. (beside mobility)
I don't say that instant shouldn't have GCD, but what is the difference between a 2sec cast and a 2.5sec cast if you have to wait 0.5sec after the 2sec cast?

Same goes for the healers, does this mean that if I spam CureI, I effectively can't do nothing between everycast for 0.5sec?

I never paid too much attention as the only caster I played was BLM which doesnt have this problem (Since FIV has a longer cast).
But I'm considering RDM as an alt and this made me wonder about the nature of the GCD in this game.

[Zojha]

A cast time shorter than the GCD means that you can use that time to get out of your princess circle or AoEs without losing DPS.

See it as a nice little perk.

[Sylvain]

A cast time shorter than the GCD means that you can use that time to get out of your princess circle or AoEs without losing DPS.

See it as a nice little perk.

So beside that, there's no gain from having a shorter cast?
That's a bit disapointing.

[Zojha]

So beside that, there's no gain from having a shorter cast.
That's a bit disapointing.

There is another - Your OGCDs will clip less with your GCDs (or even not at all, depending on how short the cast is - see instant cast for reference). That allows for some rotation optimization.

Doubt that would matter much with 2 second cast, tho. 1,5? That's one second free time. I think you could squeeze one in with good latency.

[Sylvain]

There is another - Your OGCDs will clip less with your GCDs (or even not at all, depending on how short the cast is - see instant cast for reference). That allows for some rotation optimization.

Doubt that would matter much with 2 second cast, tho. 1,5? That's one second free time. I think you could squeeze one in with good latency.

Do you think they do that because of some rusty coding to prevent clipping with OGC spells?
I don't recall having any issue in WoW casting any number of OGC spells between 2 cast having the same casting time as the GCD (1.5)
like scorch for instance on fire mage.

[Mhaeric]

So, let say I stand still and cast 3 times the same spell in a row, is there any difference between these 3 spells?
instant, recast 2.5, potency 300
2sec, recast 2.5, potency 300
2.5sec, recast 2.5, potency 300

The first spell you can weave 2 instant ogcd abilities before the next gcd without clipping it, the second you can only weave one without clipping, and the third you can't weave any without a slight bit of clipping. That's in addition to the additional mobility the extra time provides if you do decide you want/need to move.

Same goes for the healers, does this mean that if I spam CureI, I effectively can't do nothing between everycast for 0.5sec?

With healers there's also the extra benefit of getting the heal out faster. With dps it doesn't matter quite as much when the damage actually lands, but when it comes to healing a 2s cast time can result in less stress over a 2.5s cast time and an instant heal is a godsend. Also the 2s cast time is helpful with ogcd instant heals or other abilities like AST cards or mitigation tools like Virus. E.g. Benefic --> Esssential Dignity --> Benefic has zero clipping because the essential dignity fits neatly within the 0.5s window between the cast time and the gcd.

[Zojha]

Do you think they do that because of some rusty coding to prevent clipping with OGC spells?

No idea why they do it. But I like to think they're not really all that concerned with it - took them a while to realize how problematic mudras were in that regard. I have my doubts they truly learned the lesson.

As for WoW: I think they don't have animation locks on their skills. Like, when you do an OGCD in FFXIV, you'll have 0,25-0,75 seconds (plus latency effects) in which the animation will play and no other commands will be allowed (sometimes also locking your movement). I don't remember that being the case in WoW.
So using OGCDs in general should be less of a DPS loss in that game and the emphasis of using GCD windows for OGCD windows seems smaller (I think my Rogue GCD was like 1 second?)

[Sylvain]

Thanks for the detailed explanation

However, if they do keep it so high to allow ogc skill to be used without clipping, that's slightly retarded. The number of skills OGCD vs IGCD makes you loose quite a bit of time overall.

If their concern is the animation thing, they could simply make that OGCD do not exist anymore. U just have different "recast time"
anything you want instant and "OGCD" would have 0.5 for instance.
That wouldn't mess up their coding since they can already do that.