AoE indicator

[bobbygunz]

It's hard to figure out range of AoE. Now, I don't want this game to be stupidly easy. But I do want it to be more playable. So without further adieu.

When casting an AoE spell, could we get what Guild Wars 2 and TERA and Age of Conan have? That is to say, could we have an AoE indicator? For example, when you cast an AoE spell, you get a positioning circle to move around on the ground. This makes more sense than targeting a single mob with your cursor and then casting AoE on it.

[Ruri]

I vote yes on this.

[Asiaine]

So far it has always been 'target' based (where target is a mob, player, or yourself). Not sure how targetting a 'grid' on a square will be (or if it will fit in with any of the lore, mechanics, balance, etc).

Also how would you be told what the range is for each of your different attacks, in a timely/useful manner? Do I:
Select Mob -> Select Fire -> See what AOE range is -> Select Fire to cast
(Which then adds one more command to send).

After a while you do get a 'feel' for what the range may be. And then you can have those fun moments where you are: oh dear.. it must have been just in range... umm.. raise please ^^;

I can appreciate how it could be useful, but I have not yet been in a situation where it would have made any actual difference in my choice of actions.

[Enfarious]

I can't see them giving us a "center the spell on this point" rather than on a specific enemy, and I don't mind that. Having a "Range Ring" around that target when casting AoE spells so you can see what if anything else will be hit by the spell/ability I could see as a not terribly bad thing. It might make things a tad too "easy" in some peoples opinions though.

And with the exception of Tactics AoE ranges haven't ever been show, that I can remember.

[StateAlchemist]

Hmmm. I agree this may be good for some but it would force me to use a mouse. I play keyboard only(not even mouse) and it would be nearly impossible to implement this without requiring the use of a mouse or controller.

Having just an indicator (hopefully not too visually intrusive, maybe toggleable so people who don't want to see it don't have to...) that shows the actual AOE area for an ability would be kind of cool.

[bobbygunz]

Hmmm. I agree this may be good for some but it would force me to use a mouse. I play keyboard only(not even mouse) and it would be nearly impossible to implement this without requiring the use of a mouse or controller.

Having just an indicator (hopefully not too visually intrusive, maybe toggleable so people who don't want to see it don't have to...) that shows the actual AOE area for an ability would be kind of cool.

Well targeting is one of the main problems with combat, and is sort of one of the main reasons I wanted this; to be able to hit a group of mobs in a pinch without trying to get the cursor to land on the mob you want.

In 2.0 they will have drag and drop. If you still want to play without a mouse or controller, you will be at a huge disadvantage anyway. Most people play with either one of those, and I think S.E. should make use of that.

However, they can still utilise the keyboard anyways. Perhaps just assign the reticule movement to the i,j,k,l camera movements keys.

[Asiaine]

If you still want to play without a mouse or controller, you will be at a huge disadvantage anyway. Most people play with either one of those, and I think S.E. should make use of that.

Just want to mention here that it was said somewhere that Yoshida prefers to play with keyboard and even stated his prefered configuration settings to take advantage of keyboard (which I use myself and find quite good). SO there is a good chance that Keyboard emphasis will continue.

For the moment I typically only use a mouse if I need to quickly select a specific moogle in the king mog fight (since it is hard to tab through them as they go behind you and can no longer be selected).

If that gets fixed then I can toss the mouse ^.^b