Does WoW have a faster pace than FFXIV?

[linay]

No.. you're not. You're not reacting to anything. A reaction means something has occurred against you and you are taking an action to actively avoid it. A scripted encounter means that you move from position A towards position B not because something has occurred to force you to move/react; but because you saw the boss take a completely separate action, but that action precedes the ability that would need to be avoided, and so you preemptively take action to negate what will follow in the bosses ability procession.

A scripted encounter is about order of mechanics. You are still reacting to the mechanics. Take Titan's landslide. In a scripted fight, you know when it's coming, but you don't position yourself until the time to react to that mechanic. And depending on the mechanic, there may still be further things to react too, like AOEs that follow you around. You react to the first marker that tells you it's coming, and then you react accordingly as each successive AOEs come to actively avoid them. The script is there to prepare you to know about the mechanics, but you are still reacting and dodging the mechanics accordingly.

It is simply easier to memorize a pattern to be followed than react to semi-random events within a fight, as the pattern never shifts and you never really have to think about what to do IF an event will occur and take you out of your comfort zone in a fight as you only have to keep in mind the (unchanging) order in which the events will occur.

I did say:

Sure, and a script is a tool to make that learning easier.

That doesn't change the fact that it is still hard for some people to do.