Yeah, it's not hardware issue on my end, either. Running 2 SSD's, other's for Windows and it's programs, the other's solely for games. Apart from them, the rest is overclocked and watercooled. Only my location (north Europe) could be anyhow relevant to a "hardware issue", having a constant ping of 200-400.

What it comes to Tera, i didn't mean to post it as a ... um ... possible threat as a competitor, but mainly for the mechanics. The battlefield there lives all the time, and you can dodge enemies attack "in real time" by actually hitting a separate dodge button. It's kinda more like ... Let's say Elder Scrolls in third person, but online. Fighting and is more about collision detection, rather than straigthforward target-to-target algorithms.

As we all can agree, FFXIV not a [fast-paced action MMO] like the previously posted Phantasy Star Online 2 & TERA and it's definitely not a [turn-based tactical strategy] like, Magic the Gathering-card games or Warhammer tabletops. It's more like a combination of both. The battle has a generally slow pace, compared to many games on the market that offers PvP. Take a look at Aion, WoW, Runes of Magic, the above PSO2 and Tera. The movement there is much more smoother and "faster paced".

The issue with the current mechanics in FFXIV is kinda simple.

It doesn't yet seem to know, which category it falls into. They're adding a lot of stuff that requires fast decisions during a slow-paced battle, but at the same time, they prevent players from turning their decision to action with a horrible animation locking. How many times has a player died on Ifrit's eruption, just because he just did a short WS at the wrong time, or the lag killed him, even when s/he claims to be out of the plume's radius?

I totally understood when they wanted to remove casting while running. I can totally learn to compensate the lag issues between when a players stops, and when s/he is supposed to start casting, so that server doesn't claim that s/he is still moving. I have no problem counting seconds and estimating when Ifrit pops his next WS, in order to fire off mine, but what i cannot handle or understand, is why we have player's lock into one position with every goddamn skill they use?

On top of that, SE keeps making their dungeons and achievements based on how fast you can clear content. I mean, there are clearly major conflicts between how we are supposed to perform, and how we are allowed to perform. No wonder the successful speedruns are scarce. They require just a bit too much luck, talent, and a good group who preferably communicate over a VoIP software in real time.