Combat is too fast

[MartaDemireux]

I don't think OP is Titanmen or any other Troll. I can actually see where this gripe is coming from. For example, the animation for Living Shadow for DRK is absolutely wonderful. Too bad it takes about a good 1.5 seconds to fully play out, which will undoubtedly clip my next GCD, so I don't ever see it fully unless I am soloing stuff. BTW, it's not the animation of the shadow coming to life that I am talking about. It's the one where the DRK rips the aether or whatever right out of their chest and then holds it up.

Other animations cause a lock though, so I think it is actually a twofold issue, but animations that lock a player in place are the truly evil. Not being able to see the animation in full is not something I would think warrants heavy consideration from the devs, but animations is definitely something the FF franchise is known for. The current GCD being longer than most other mmos is a testament that they had to compromise a bit here, otherwise we would have an even longer GCD.

I wonder if speeding up some animations to fit within a time frame would look really janky or not. It's a possible solution but not if it looks like fast forwarding a VHS.

To the OP:
As for channeled abilities, there are more than just Collective Unconcious (see: Flamethrower, Improvisation, Meditate, Anatman, Passage of Arms). Even though they look cool, I kind of hate them. I don't like clicking an action and then doing nothing while my ability plays out. I don't like having them be interrupted by the need to move out of AoEs because that feels bad and like a wasted ability use. The downtime abilities/mitigation work well for that purpose but otherwise all feel bad to use in combat. The one true channel, Flamethrower, is even worse the longer you use it. Just doesn't feel like a good system in this game.

[Coletergeist]

Just allow the animation to go through then. Most content, other than like...savage, it doesn't matter really.

I let my animations (that I like) play all the time. If folks throw a fit, they themselves can leave the party. Doubt they would though, or care for that matter for content below savage.