Its ffxiv combat really so slow and boring?

[Maero]

Boring is subjective but slow yes especially if you compare to combat like Tera or other games.
That's just how FFXIV was built, i guess one either likes it or one does not

[Aylis]

What i wanted to ask is if you really think the combat is boring. And what example would you use to describe a fast combat system since it seems i havent experience

For me, absolutely I find it boring. Partially because where I come from and partially because the devs can't find a happy medium between encounters and its either one extreme or the other.

When I first started FFXIV way back in the 1.0 era, I came from an older MMO which had the same slower paced combat. So back in those days I didn't really mind it as much because it was what I was used to. When it was time for FFXIV 2.0 I was playing TERA during the downtime and since I became used to that style of combat, only then did I really take noticed just how boring the combat was here.

As for the happy medium part. The devs did a good job at masking the slow combat by making later fights more or less a dance fest between all the mechanics going off at once. Based off videos I've seen of Kefka Savage. The fight looks about 80% dancing to avoid mechanics and 20% actually fighting him in respect to doing damage. That;s one side of the extreme. The other side being where its about 90% actually fighting the boss vs the 10% doing the mechanics dance. Where its just kick the boss in the shin with your basic rotations till it falls over dead and side step once or twice to avoid an aoe or mechanic. Without the dance, the mask is gone and the boring combat shines through. It's always going to be about the dance. Without re-doing the whole combat system from scratch they can never accomplish a happy medium between the dance and actually fighting it.

[Odstarva]

I sometimes feel like I'm the only person in the forums who plays the game and enjoys it for what it is.

With no ifs or buts attached.

[MomomiMomi]

Don't consider it slow, but it is boring.

I actually wish they would simplify the rotations because they're so uninteresting. We don't need so many different button presses when we could accomplish the same thing with less.

[Jonnycbad]

To people who think the game is too slow: do you want FFXIV to be an RPG or an action game? Running around and hitting things in real time is more like an Elder Scrolls/Dragon's Dogma/Monster Hunter type experience. FFXIV is meant to be the pace its at so you can think about your rotation and avoid mechanics instead of mashing attacks out every half second. Plus, they already stated that the faster they made GCD the more they'd need to curtail the beautiful animations of the spells and effects. WoW's animations are crap because they need to dissipate before the next GCD. FFXIV prides itself on being a visually stunning experience. But yeah, mashing out hotkeys while dodging attacks would make FFXIV almost feel like a fighting game or an action game than an RPG.

[Aerlana]

*snip*

So, aesthetic > gameplay
...
to be honest, aesthetic questions are always the last thing i am asking myself to consider a game... Far after things like gameplay or leveldesign

[Yzuna]

So, aesthetic > gameplay
...
to be honest, aesthetic questions are always the last thing i am asking myself to consider a game... Far after things like gameplay or leveldesign

Well, same for me. But feel that your skill have impact is part of the gameplay for me.
Skills/spells with longer Cd and/or build-up but with more impact on the fight could actually be interesting. More so if you had to time those skills right (waiting for significant buffs, synergy with other PT member, timing for boss weakness etc.
Right now, you are using almost everything on CD, without really thinking about it.
They tried this, like with Ninja weakeness debuff, but all in all, it doesn't really change much, and you almost never should delay a skills to wait for debuff/buff.

[Aerlana]

*snip*

It stay a gameplay question and not aesthetic.

I dont give my opinion about the boringness of the gameplay. Because yes i feel it. I dont want to be the number 23723 to say "boriiiing" but i also dont want the easy way "look at wow with 1 second less on GCD, and the hast (spell/skillspeed) growing faster (so even more GCD reduction). Mainly because i dont thing it is the only way to solve this "boring" matter.

I love wow, as i love BDO, as i love BNS gameplay also. I am globally an easy customer not hard to make me happy in fact. (and FFXIV, a game i have so much hope in fail to it ^^" ) I want FFXIV to define his own way to be a MMORPG with tab targetting system.

A way (close to what you say) would be to insist more to an important "decision making" : choosing the right skill at the good time. Where BNS/BDO are action RPG, and wow get a faster gameplay (with priority system) we could have FFXIV getting a slower gameplay (without going a turn system like dofus) where the matter is clearly "not mistaking the skill you choose".

It is a way, there are probably man others. I prefer for this Say "hey dev team, there is a problem here" and let the professionnal they are find the solution they prefer work on. they are a really heavy team to do brainstorming... Ideas are not the matter i think.

[KaldeaSahaline]

I'd just like to ask people who play other MMOs how "build-based" systems are better than this. Because, from what I've heard of these "build-based" MMOs like WoW (which you get one class per character and from what I've heard you have to uproot everything to re-build), if you are not the optimal build people refuse to play with you essentially.

Build based systems are superior (IMO) if they're well designed/thought out, but if they aren't there are issues that muddy the waters.

Your WoW example is nothing more than a hyperbole though. I pick whatever talents I want and I do some of the hardest content in the game, successfully. No one kicks me, I get invited to pugs no problem, and do organized events with no one telling me how to play.

WoW does have less freedom to switch around roles/class than FF14 does, and that is a strength in FF14s column for sure, but it's not completely uproot. A lot of content is account bound in that if you unlock XYZ on your main, it's automatically unlocked for any and all alts and each class has multiple specs you can switch between on a single character. Again, still more restricting than FF14, but not some crime people make it out to be.

FFXIV is meant to be the pace its at so you can think about your rotation and avoid mechanics instead of mashing attacks out every half second. Plus, they already stated that the faster they made GCD the more they'd need to curtail the beautiful animations of the spells and effects. WoW's animations are crap because they need to dissipate before the next GCD. FFXIV prides itself on being a visually stunning experience. But yeah, mashing out hotkeys while dodging attacks would make FFXIV almost feel like a fighting game or an action game than an RPG.

Think about your rotation? I don't understand why people always cite this as a reason for the 2.5s GCD. If you're "thinking" about your rotation you're already playing sub-optimally. It should be muscle memory ESPECIALLY with how binary 99% of the rotations are.

While FF14 has absolutely beautiful animations, better than WoWs for sure (which are not nearly as awful as the game has gotten older), I'm not sure it has to do with the GCD TBH.

Quicken the GCD and it makes each individual GCD feel less impactful. When you're casting Flare/Deathflare or whatever [insert huge damge GCD] much faster than you are currently, they feel less important than "ive been building up to this huge attack for 30 seconds, time to unleash it!" vs "i can do this move every 10 seconds, no biggie".

So by this statement if you were to increase GCD to 5s would it make them MORE impactful?

That's absolute hogwash. None of these GCDs feel impactful in this game because they're binary. They don't do anything fancy, they just do damage. They don't have much if any synergy. They're simply mash on CD with next to no decision process elements.

I'm talking about PING, not a specific persons point of view.

And I'm sorry. You are objectively, factually incorrect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwaz_aAih-A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meDtc3QqQeI

Say that when you start playing on the high-ping side (like, 300-400 PING). You most likely never tried that. Go ahead and try playing the likes of Titan (it's Weight of the Land is particularly nasty) on a Japanese or European server. Can you do it?! Yes, absolutely. But you'll see how much worse you will do simply because of PING difference. In a game that is made to minimize that.

And don't tell me that I could just play on European servers. I could, but if I would, I'd never even start playing. I came here upon a friends invite and that friend was playing on NA servers...starting early on in 2.0 I believe. It's simply not a choice.

It is a choice. You made the decision to sacrifice significant performance to play with friends (and I get and respect that). I'm going to say something that might ruffle some feathers, but with all due respect, you shouldn't be catered too. I don't think anyone should be designing systems with the idea of having people from the other side of the planet into account until infrastructure is there to support it. It's a stupid limitation to put on yourself. It's why every major game puts servers in major areas to mitigate this. If you have 300ms to an NA server you don't belong there. Simply put.

Your BNS examples are hardly what I consider egregious btw (20% slower speed fro 8ms to 160ms). Again, if you had 300-400MS on BNS NA you don't belong on that server. Simple as that. Find one closer.

[Aylis]

To people who think the game is too slow: do you want FFXIV to be an RPG or an action game?

Who says it can't be both? RPG just means Role Playing Game. Basically a persona living in an imaginary world starting out as whatever, and facing all sorts of trials and tribulations. Peaks of high moments, peaks of low moments. Friends and enemies you make along your way. All leading up to an end goal in the games world. There's no written rule that says RPG must mean poking bad things with a stick once every couple minutes and going to make a snack while waiting for your next stick poking turn is the right way to RPG vs a world where that same character can move as greased lightning. The world, the setup, the story, the situations are what make an RPG an RPG, not the combat. Hence the genre "Action RPG" was born.