Casting

[Vatom]

Just a quick question and maybe we can brainstorm more possiblities but why is it that casters have a cast bar and a gcd.

I understand that all classes have this and the cast bar was added on top but why?

My other question is would it be possible to remove? I don't know FF code or engine to the point of questioning this but I am curious. If they can I think they should but if they can't well that explains alot more but still cast times just feels dumb when a gcd is still stopping you from the next cast.

Note this is just for educational purposes I'm not attacking SE design or your favorite class.

[ItMe]

Also having the GCD is kinda nice in my opinion because it means you have a hard understanding of when you can weave in oGCDs. If it were all based on cast time some jobs would have really wonky skill priorities.

[Kirika-]

Not all caster's casts cast over time, some are insta-cast.
Without the GCD, it would be.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ekugPKqFw

[Tulzscha]

Cast times limit mobility and use of ogcds, the gcd limits how much you can do (for balance and overall structure of gameplay). Not all cast times are equal to the gcd, they serve different purposes.

[Katie_Kitty]

Sounds like the job for you is summoner. They have like.. 3 spells they need to cast? something like that.

[Frizze]

Yeah, Tulzscha is on the right track. The GCD and cast times are separate things because they serve separate purposes. The GCD is your overall limit on how often you can use a basic attack, and it gives a clear indication of where your weave windows are for oGCD abilities. Every class has this on every basic ability and spell(though some classes have longer or shorter GCDs as part of their playstyle, and some players build to specific GCD values via skill/spell speed materia), as this is one of the core balancing mechanisms. This is not going away, though that wasnt your question.

The cast timer is an indication of how much energy and focus you imbue into a spell before it goes off. Rather then a limit on how often you can attack(again, your GCD handles this), this is a limit on what you can DO. You cant use another ability while channeling a spell, if you move you risk losing the cast, sometimes being hit violently enough will interrupt the casting action. And even more so then different classes having different GCDs, different spells have different cast times. You see some spells cast instantly(cast while on the run, more or less uninterruptible), others with cast times shorter then the GCD(which allows for some movement or a small weave window in between casts), yet other spells with cast times equal to the GCD, and many of the strongest spells actually have cast times LONGER then the GCD. This encourages different strategies for when and what to employ. A Black Mage getting ready to cast Flare(4s cast time) and a Summoner casting Painflare(instant) need slightly different mindsets and preparation, even though both are executing AoE attacks they learned at or near level 50.

This is acutely felt by healers. Needing to know when to use a full cast spell, when to use a quick cast and weave in an oGCD ability, and when you can ignore the damage for another round or two(and maybe have a better ability available to use). This level of understanding of their kit is(one of) the difference(s) between an ok-to-good healer and a great one.

So to answer, could they remove the cast timer? Of course. Not every spell has one, so clearly its something that could potentially be removed. But they arent likely to, because the timer serves a different purpose then the GCD.

[Karshan]

Taking out the cast bar removes all the "complexity" of the role.

Melees have to glue to the boss and do positionals
Casters have to glue to their spot to maximize damage thanks (or because of) the cast bar mentionned
Range don't have any limitations and thus deal less damage to compensate.

So both casters and melees are fight dependant and progging the fight is also progging the class, while on range, once you have the rotation down in muscle memory at the beginning of expansion, you're never bothered and can fully focus on mechs. This is a slight advantage paid for in DPS (a little heavily in my taste but, oh well so many topics on that no need to bring it here).

If you remove the cast bar, you'd be down from 3 styles of gameplay to 2. No thanks. Game's already getting dumbed down enough.
Mapping out your mobility tools and your positioning are part of what makes endgame stuff fun as a caster.

[wereotter]

I can only say that removing the GCD on caster would make things funky for red mages who have an instant cast after every hard cast. As it is now, a red mage has a small window to move between casts, but if the GCD were reduced to just the cast time, then they go straight from cast to dualcast to immediately into another cast.

This also would effect a job like black mage where it may become more effecient, which good button mashing skills and high ping, to just spam scathe rather than do the rotation, and would make summoner's Ruin 2/4 have a similar outcome.

[Vatom]

Ok I see you point I was more leaning on the side of them not having a GCD and how would that play out. Though I didn't think about RDM that would screw them up pretty bad. Overall I was just trying to understand and see why and you guys certainly helped with that. Thank you I will think more into this.

[CKNovel]

Your best way to look at cast would be... The ranged role.

In HW they had 1.5s cast, low enough to weave, high enough to make the GCD feels like having an impact.
The problem is that BRD was not designed to work with casts while MCH was.

So they removed it in SB for both BRD and MCH.
It did wonders for BRD but MCH... Its kit made no sense anymore. Which is why they had to remove a lot of MCH kit from SB to ShB.

Even if SB MCH would have an overheat button during SB it would have remained a boring job during filler phases.

If you were to remove casts from casters, many tools would not make sense anymore.
BLM Leylines would feel weaker, its triple cast would be useless thunder stack would be extra damage only.
SMN ruins and extra ruin would be useless.