Spellcasting after an Enemy Dies

[Mihana]

First Rukkirii thanks for passing along this note to us. Now I know that you can only post info as to what they give you but could we please get some more information regarding these reasons? They seem... lacking for better words.

• Canceling magic is easy due to the fact that simply moving will interrupt casting

That's fine, in fact it's true it's easy to cancel, but doesn't seem like a valid reason to leave a mechanic like this in the game. It would just possibly be as easy to make a spell auto-cancel instead of continuously going through the animation.

• MP will not be consumed if an enemy has been defeated

Again true, but it doesn't really explain the reason.

• Besides the time spent casting, there isn't any downside

Afraid that is wrong, the downside as it's been mentioned is it leaves you open for incoming damage. Here's a scenario.


You're fighting a large mob with a party as say THM or BLM. As you're going through the stage of casting a long spell (Firaga perhaps.) the mob you were targeting dies but the others are alive. You now have to either:


A.) Run around like crazy until the spell stops casting.
B.) Wait until the spell finishes and cancels on its own.


The downfall with the scenario A is now you're stuck waiting for the server to register that you're not moving before you can cast again. During this period the mobs you're fighting might use a nasty AoE that silences the party, may damage them, or worse. This could have been avoided if you could only cancel the spell immediately instead of having to wait for it to end or running around to cancel it.


Then we could look at the issue of if you're bound. Some mobs (Like archers especially.) love to nail targets with this move. If you're bound it doesn't cancel a spell since you can't move. Also on the subject of moving, some mobs such as even Coincounter require you to stand in a specific area to avoid damage from certain moves. If you're roaming around trying to cancel a spell you risk the chance of being hit and possibly killed. Also, what if you're surrounded by mobs that aggro by sound? Few battles have this currently but if such a mechanic exists even into 2.0 what if such battles become a bit more common? A smart player will try to walk than run, but the average player will jiggle that analog stick quickly or hit their movement keys without that in mind to try and cancel the spell immediately.

Overall, time is often of the essence on some battles especially in speed runs. This mechanic offers more hindrance than any benefits. Now, if there's something like having to change an entire code involved or rewriting an entire script or what have you involved then I'd completely understand leaving it in. But the reasons you listed just makes it feel like they're just saying "We don't feel like changing it so there".

[Naelle]

You're fighting a large mob with a party as say THM or BLM. As you're going through the stage of casting a long spell (Firaga perhaps.) the mob you were targeting dies but the others are alive. You now have to either:


A.) Run around like crazy until the spell stops casting.
B.) Wait until the spell finishes and cancels on its own.


The downfall with the scenario A is now you're stuck waiting for the server to register that you're not moving before you can cast again. During this period the mobs you're fighting might use a nasty AoE that silences the party, may damage them, or worse. This could have been avoided if you could only cancel the spell immediately instead of having to wait for it to end or running around to cancel it.

Not sure if people are forgetting this or if I'm special and it only works for me, but, pressing the key for the spell while casting the spell cancels the cast. No moving around required.

[Viritess]

Not sure if people are forgetting this or if I'm special and it only works for me, but, pressing the key for the spell while casting the spell cancels the cast. No moving around required.

Issue is at times it your accidentally press twice, the latency will start the cast and then stop it, and if you try to tap it a 3rd time to cancel the cancel, it won't go through. AT that point you really don't know what to do except wait.

My only hope is that if the jump button is our cancel, please have it just cancel, and not actually make me jump...It sounds so lame ><;

"Oh no better cancel that Stone spell, cure needed" *Hop* "Oh Raise won't go off in time, need to regen party instead!" *hop*....*hop* *bounce* *boing* ......Ugh.....

[TenraiNagi]

For AOE spells when you target one mob and go from that once that enemy gets killed before the spell is complete you first have to wait for the spell casting to finish to target the next. Good example is when fighting the ants sub-boss in CC.

Even if it's not possible on current would be nice if you can choose a target and have set as a ground aoe. When it's set to ground you can't have the mobs move so you have to keep the mobs in the aoe range OR could have it where the aoe range follows the initial target but when the spell is casted it's casted on the ground area of where the mob is alive or dead that way you can still cast even if the mob dies while casting. And if you want to cancel the spell all you have to do is move so that will still work.

^ This is the best solution imo.

[prymortal]

We’ve been receiving feedback about magic spells not being canceled until the end of the cast time when enemies die mid-cast. We wanted to explain our reasons behind why we do not have any plans on changing this system in version 2.0:

• Canceling magic is easy due to the fact that simply moving will interrupt casting
• MP will not be consumed if an enemy has been defeated
• Besides the time spent casting, there isn't any downside

• Canceling magic is easy due to the fact that simply moving will interrupt casting

This does not alway happen & the best example of this would be non japan players in ifrit. ~ will this be fixed by 2.0?

Will casting while moving be brought back for 2.0? as currently the stand still & get raped system is just not fun or good. ~ even limited movement would be a great improvment from standing still.

thanks

[Mihana]

• Canceling magic is easy due to the fact that simply moving will interrupt casting

This does not alway happen & the best example of this would be non japan players in ifrit. ~ will this be fixed by 2.0?

Will casting while moving be brought back for 2.0? as currently the stand still & get raped system is just not fun or good. ~ even limited movement would be a great improvment from standing still.

thanks

I don't think the issue at hand is the lag, or at least the deal with spells not cancelling right away when a mob dies. Basically that response is to pretty much say if you're casting a spell and the enemy dies before it goes off you're expected to move around to cancel it. That's the gist of how it works now, and how they expect it to work in 2.0.

[prymortal]

I don't think the issue at hand is the lag, or at least the deal with spells not cancelling right away when a mob dies. Basically that response is to pretty much say if you're casting a spell and the enemy dies before it goes off you're expected to move around to cancel it. That's the gist of how it works now, and how they expect it to work in 2.0.

True but there are many other probliems related to it which need sorting prior to 2.0 & these are also some of them

[Raldo]

I always thought the best solution would be:

1) Monster dies
2) Check the area for another target that would have been hit by the AOE
3) Found one? Continue spell (centered around wherever the original target died). Nothing there? Cancel.

It is soooooooooooooooo frustrating to have your AOE targetted on one of the few monster that die where then there still several others crawling around available to be hit. As many have stated, the Cutter's Cry mid-boss (Myrmidon Princess) and her many adds is the perfect example of this.

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

Just gonna copy/paste what I wrote in response to this in Reinheart's thread.

I think dev is not understanding what the player's issue is. This is disappointing as this is a big issue for me that I hope will be addressed in the future.

Basically the problem is when you are fighting a large group of enemies and try to use AoE spell to damage the whole group, even if one of the enemies is defeated you can't damage the other ones that are still left alive because your spell is cancelled. Would be easier if the spell just went off anyway so that you can damage the other ones too without having to target a new enemy and recast the spell all over again.

Sometimes your party can go through an entire group of enemies before you ever get the chance to use your spell, because you had to keep recasting it every time one of the monsters dies. You waste a lot of time and lose DPS because you have to recast the spell.

I hope dev understands this is an issue and finds a way to address it.

I think would be fine if the spell just finished as normal even if your target dies. Then you would hit in the same area you meant to in the first place. Just use the dead monster as the center for area of effect.

In current version it is already possible to target dead enemies with spells. We used to have Siphon MP and Siphon TP, which these spells were meant to be used on dead enemies, so why can't they just use this same coding ? I remember I used to time my Siphon MP so that I started casting spell while the enemy was still alive, but finished casting after it was dead for more MP. So this is already possible, dev just needs to fix it.

If you want to cancel it, for example if the dead monster was the last one in the group, you can just move to cancel it as you said.

[Duuude007]

This is archaic use of targeting. Let me explain.

FF1: battle with 2 goblins.

1. All 4 characters queue up attacks and spells on goblin 1
2. Character 1 and 2 deal damage to goblin 1.
3. Character 3 deals damage on goblin 1, goblin 1 dies.
4. Character 4's commands are cancelled. Queued round ends.
5. All 4 characters queue up attacks and spells on goblin 2.

Compared to the updated...

FF6: battle with 2 goblins.

1. All 4 characters queue up attacks and spells on goblin 1
2. Character 1 and 2 deal damage to goblin 1.
3. Character 3 deals damage on goblin 1, goblin 1 dies.
4. Character 4's deals damage on goblin 2. Queued round ends.
5. All 4 characters queue up attacks and spells on goblin 2.

So lets put this in FFXIV perspective:

FF14: battle with 8 Sabotenders. (Party of 8 black mages)

1. All 8 characters queue up firaga, on the grouped-up Sabotenders.
2. The fastest 4 deal damage to 8 Sabotenders. 4 sabotenders die. The other 4 begin casting 10,000 needles.
3. The other 4 mages' spells are cancelled despite the aoe being in range of the other sabotenders.
4. all 8 mages begin casting fira & firaga to kill the remainder sabotenders.
5. 10,000 needles goes off first. Party wipes.

Even if this weren't the case, players these days depend heavily (too heavily if you ask me) on who can out-parse who, and this is often based on system speed, controls and lag-free advantages. Not saying its a rule, but it is a trend.

One possible 2.0 solution could be to allow aoe spells to be performed on a targeting reticle, ignoring individual targets.
You use the command to cast, and it sets up a circular outline you can move around the field and hit confirm when in position.

example from Dragon Age:


If the enemy runs out of the range it is unaffected, but ANYTHING alive or dead will be affected in that range, much like how blizzara and flare already operate with yourself as the center point.