How do "You" deal with timed abilities.

[Burningskull]

When I refer to timed abilities I'm referring to abilities such as Impact on RDM. I've had some RDMs tell me the avoid Impact all together. I can't count the times I've gone to cast Impact only to have my cast get interrupted because the timer ends. I've gotten to where I "try" to look at the status bar before I cast Impact but that seems to take a few more seconds of reaction time that adds up over the fight. Granted I'm not a savage player so maybe that doesn't matter lol. Anyway, how do you guys deal with or use timer based abilities like these and do you think anything needs to be done with them? For example should Jolt, the move that procs Impact, just upgrade to Impact when it procs and stay there till you use it? Should something else be done with them, like say as long as you start casting the spell before the timer runs out it wont get interrupted?

PS: This example only uses RDM but several jobs have these.

[Mansion]

These are quality of life changes I'd like to see (on RDM at least). Because Impact is just a better Jolt, it could replace it like Ruin IV replaces Ruin II on SMN. And if Impactful falls off during your cast, you should not be interrupted either.

A quick tip is to never let impact fall off. So if you have been lucky enough with procs, and Impact is around 5sec remaining, use it anyway (or even before, if you go in your melee combo, to unbalance your mana and proc on Ver Holy/Flare).
Say you have balanced mana around 40 each, VerFire and VerAero both ready and around 20 seconds each, and Impactful falling in 5seconds, use Impact and dual cast your Verthunder if black is lower, VerAero if white is lower. In the best case, it did not proc, and you can go back on VerStone or VerFire. In the worst case, you will refresh that timer, while keeping an even potency.
Losing Impact and thus using Jolt II later is a slight DPS loss.

[BillyKaplan]

And if Impactful falls off during your cast, you should not be interrupted either.

Always bothered me that they did that for FSH but not for basically anything else :\

[Mansion]

Always bothered me that they did that for FSH but not for basically anything else :\

Fishing is thus the true endgame.

[Nora_of_Mira]

I dont really play red mage so I'm not too familiar with where Impact lies in their openers/rotations, but if its like any other ability tied to a 10s-30s status effect on the player, I would expect to cast it whenever I would normally cast Jolt since its the same cast time/mana but higher potency. At least, that's all i can gather from reading the abilities online.

[Kurando]

RDM Impact is one of the unique processes you have compete control over, you decide when you want it to be active and can even reset the timer for it just by using Jolt II again. Saying that, Impact has a very generous timer to begin with so there isn't really any reason to keep hold of it, just use it when it's up because there are no real downsides to it, aside from that be sure to balance your mana correctly though.

[InkstainedGwyn]

My rule of thumb is that I only trust my impact timer if I've only cast two other procs (so, for example, verstone>verthunder>verfire>veraero>impact). If I've had another proc (always take verprocs over impact) or I've had to pause to mechanic, I go back to jolt.
That being said, I wholly support the idea of the buff not wearing off mid-cast.

As for "never use impact", that's terrible advice based off not being willing to "know" your class. Go for a training dummy for a bit to get a feel and you should already be able to understand roughly how long impact lasts since it's 100% player proc. 270 v 240 (230?) potency isn't a game changer but you're still losing unnecessary damage, especially when you shouldn't have to worry about it. As others have said, the timer is generous, you just need to be aware of where you are in your proc rotation.

[Daierra]

I've made it a habit to glance at my Impactful buff with every few hardcasts I do. I still sometimes let it run too low and have it turn off halfway through my Impact cast, but that's just something that takes practice to judge ahead of time. It might also help to adjust your HUD to put your buffs near your hotbars; less distance for your eyes to cover while looking for procs.

[linay]

If verfire/verstone procs more than once, or if I go to the melee phase, I glance at the timer and do a silent countdown.

[Jijifli]

I've had some RDMs tell me the avoid Impact all together.

Do not listen to whoever gave you that advice. There's no reason to not use free extra damage.

Generally speaking, when the buff's timer is around 8 seconds, I'd make it your hardcast priority. It makes sure you get to use it, as you don't want to waste the ability.

Generally speaking, I'm going to say your cast time is 2.5 on the gcd (to make things simple). After about 8 casts (this counts the dualcasted spells, as they're taking the gcd too), then it's been 20 seconds, assuming you have a 2.5 gcd, and should probably start getting ready to impact.

For example should Jolt, the move that procs Impact, just upgrade to Impact when it procs and stay there till you use it? Should something else be done with them, like say as long as you start casting the spell before the timer runs out it wont get interrupted?

Do a mix of this. It should still be timed, but if you start casting, it shouldn't take it away from you. And I only agree with replacing jolt II when the ability is up because...
1) Consistency with other skills (Ruin IV)
2) I can stop having to explain to someone that Impact even is a spell.