Auto Attack wins!

[northernsky]

@northernsky
You see that is just it, Auto-Attack for things like Full Thrust would lessen your effectiveness. Through my experiences thus far in the game I have found the other basic attacks to be situational. Also they have purpose in things like Battle Regimens (Mind you BRs can be a little flaky and seemingly insignificant).

I just hope that it's one of the things that has been considered when implementing Auto-Attack. Without more information, it's hard for me to make a call one way or the other. If they considered ways to do these types of things, then by all means I can see this as a positive direction.

I think the intricacies of the current system are not taken advantage of because they are minimal, and to notice them you have to pay very close attention to things like overall damage output and group dynamics. Most gamers want to have a good time, and easily see the benefits of their in-game skills. Even I will admit, I can easily spam Light attacks and be mostly successful. However I have found enjoyment in figuring out the subtle differences to placing skills at the right time against tougher mobs.

For an example, just last night we would use Heavy Thrust to bind Raptors that would get out of control, then have 2 Lancers balance the timing of Twisting Vice in order to prevent 90% of those AOE attacks that Raptors can do. It paved the way for less healing, and more offensive magic. This in turn came full circle as Raptors would want to attack mages, but could not because we would keep them bound long enough that they would swap targets back towards our Marauder Tank.

I would hope that these kind of things can continue under the coming Auto-Attack system.

Yup you're right, and those subtilities make the fights exciting, I also hope that auto-attack will preserve this. Actually, I think it will be even easier, with more time to focus on the mobs moves, on your fight log "monster X readies TP move Y" and on your reflex moves.

I'd like to be able to change the base ability to auto-attack on the fly, not in between fights.

If you can toggle what action your next auto-attack will be I think you may still do like you described, especially if they actually implement a fast auto-attack (the current actions are not 100% instant anyway with lags and natural cooldowns).

[Kallera]

I know the battle system needed tweaking, but I've a lot of reservationations about putting auto attack in.

The reason dragon age ii put in the action oriented battle system was to attract the console playing crowd, I personally enjoyed it. What SE is doing for console release is the opposite.

For SE, the console release is pretty much THIS game's last chance, unless they intend to pour copious amounts into advertising, knowing full well they are going to be in the midst of releasing 2011 games.

And if they so much as even think of automating crafting, I'm leaving.

[Corrderio]

Maybe I'm a minority but I really don't think a full auto attack system is necessary, in fact I like the manual input. I think something simple like toggling a regular attack on/off would be better than just forcing auto attack on everyone.

[Zkieve]

I think the bottom end is how the introduce auto attack , not if they introduce it or not.
people saying AA= game doomed , or saying AA= game fixed are both out of their minds.

[northernsky]

I think the bottom end is how the introduce auto attack , not if they introduce it or not.
people saying AA= game doomed , or saying AA= game fixed are both out of their minds.

This, and how they modify the rest of the battle system and future content regarding auto-attack

[Holy_Dragoon]

I'll be brutally honest. I did not discover the subtleties of the current battle system for months. Now that I have it's like the game completely opened up to me in a very enjoyable way. Now the unfortunate thing is, I have my main class at R47 now, and completed all but the final (current) story mission.

Where a fault may lie in SE's design is that it takes too long too learn the depths of the system and take advantage of it. I like to consider myself fairly adept at gaming, coming from the earlier generation of gamers (AKA I started gaming on the NES). Despite my enjoyment for all things gaming, it did seem to take a long time to learn this system. If I recall correctly (and unfortunately this puts me in the good things from XI club), you were forced to learn to take advantage of the FFXI battle system by rank 20 or you were completely crushed. That is with auto attack too I might add.

It looks like Auto-Attack coming whether I like it or not. I hope that Auto-Attack is added in such a fashion as to take advantage of the current system, and to tweak the current system so that the effects are more profound. Maybe this would enable players to learn and take advantage of it sooner, and thus making their experience more enjoyable.

[Zkieve]

I'll be brutally honest. I did not discover the subtleties of the current battle system for months. Now that I have it's like the game completely opened up to me in a very enjoyable way. Now the unfortunate thing is, I have my main class at R47 now, and completed all but the final (current) story mission.

Where a fault may lie in SE's design is that it takes too long too learn the depths of the system and take advantage of it. I like to consider myself fairly adept at gaming, coming from the earlier generation of gamers (AKA I started gaming on the NES). Despite my enjoyment for all things gaming, it did seem to take a long time to learn this system. If I recall correctly (and unfortunately this puts me in the good things from XI club), you were forced to learn to take advantage of the FFXI battle system by rank 20 or you were completely crushed. That is with auto attack too I might add.

It looks like Auto-Attack coming whether I like it or not. I hope that Auto-Attack is added in such a fashion as to take advantage of the current system, and to tweak the current system so that the effects are more profound. Maybe this would enable players to learn and take advantage of it sooner, and thus making their experience more enjoyable.

The problem is the people who currently enjoy the game is not enough to make this game a success.So radical changes need to be done in order to attract more players.

Whatever the people currently in love with the game cry and wrist. Is what it needs to be done.

[Holy_Dragoon]

I completely agree that changes need to be made. It shouldn't take a person 5 months before they learn how to play. Especially if they are aiming to gain some of the "casual gamers." I'm hoping though that some of the good things about the system, such as it's depth are not forgotten but put into the spotlight.

Regardless of the fact I currently enjoy the game in it's current form, many do not. As such I'm glad SE is trying to address this.

[BelgianRofl]

The problem is the people who currently enjoy the game is not enough to make this game a success.So radical changes need to be done in order to attract more players.

Whatever the people currently in love with the game cry and wrist. Is what it needs to be done.

^This, and I've said it a million times. Square-Enix is not a non-profit corporation... We all need to keep that in mind.

[Alcide]

The problem is the people who currently enjoy the game is not enough to make this game a success.So radical changes need to be done in order to attract more players.

Whatever the people currently in love with the game cry and wrist. Is what it needs to be done.

But if everyone after understanding the gameplay are having fun there must a reason...
Isn't it better to improve it so that you can enjoy it early rather than doing it from scratch?