Animation Lock: Why don't you like it?

[Alhanelem]

A mage can cast spells from afar a melee has to be next to the boss to hit it. Probably why one of the reasons they have to stand still when they cast.

Moving and casting has nothing to do with animation lock. only spells with no cast time can be cast if you're already moving anyway- casting time keeps mages in one spot regardless of whether animation lock exists. Mages are more vulnerable and have to be really careful in PvP.

[syntaxlies]

It wasn't the entire animation that was the problem. It was the few seconds you were locked after the animation combined with lag that sucks

[Hanemakikaze]

I know I'm late to the party but...OP answered his own question.

"Animation Lock: Why don't you like it?"

Animation Lock

Lock

[GodseijuroHiko]

Yes pick one line to carry your joke across. It did make me laugh too though!

[GodseijuroHiko]

I'm curious how some people thought it was immersion though.

I can punch and run, I can swing a sword and run, I can even shoot a bow and run (though honestly I can't hit shit then lol).

Animation lock (on everything) is NOT immersion, in fact its anti-immersion.

There are however some moves that would make sense you couldn't alter while in action, in particular leaps and jumps - if I dash jump into the air it really doesn't make sense I can turn around at the same time or alter course of the jump except for tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny amounts of mid air adjustment for landing.

That's basically all people have been trying to say. Seems like a lot of work though, adding lock for some moves and others. Then it'll turn into frame advantage! People will definitely hate that! Removing ani-lock was probably for the best.

[Shurrikhan]

I'm curious how some people thought it was immersion though.

I can punch and run, I can swing a sword and run, I can even shoot a bow and run (though honestly I can't hit shit then lol).

Animation lock (on everything) is NOT immersion, in fact its anti-immersion.

There are however some moves that would make sense you couldn't alter while in action, in particular leaps and jumps - if I dash jump into the air it really doesn't make sense I can turn around at the same time or alter course of the jump except for tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny amounts of mid air adjustment for landing.

With many of the actions you CAN move while performing, however, strength is lost without that good stance, and with the ones empowered through leg movement, the ability to react should something go wrong is mostly lost when already on the run.

What I'd hope to see is that eventually we will move as more than just capsules with floppy legs following us to mimic real movement. This would be especially important in terms of having the stanced (animation-lock-like) aesthetics without the unrealistic limitations of those locks. Even if left to mimicry, rather than using a point-plant system (essentially, working as if we had real legs), such a system could allow us to take another one or two steps more-or-less freely during the animation. This could then be used for additional effects, without feeling like a hack-and-slash or instant-spam game.

Let's say I'm a Samurai with a defensive ability that will automatically parry the next melee attack from a certain enemy while I have him targeted. If I move in around the enemy's next (auto-blocked) swing, it will bind as well (holding the enemy in a mutual parry, where neither of us can attack further until I chose to break the bind or he backs away or overpowers me). From there some of my abilities will be slightly modified. I can choose a regular heavy attack while stepping towards the outside (everyone in FFXIV was right-handed, so that'd be to the left) and overpower over his blade without risking being hit. I can use a light attack and step forward to cut under his blade while moving past him, again avoiding his attack.

These wouldn't have to be perfectly timed either. Simply hitting the movement key or keys as you start will be enough. They are procedural differences, not hack-and-slash action dynamics. And in the end, this is all you can really do in a true sparring match (to continue with the sword example). Condition-->Trigger-->Procedure-->Retrigger-->Procedure; considering everything in fine and frantic shades of action only gets you killed, no matter how good your reactions are.

To me this makes more sense than our 1.x combos.

[KiriA500]

Moving and casting has nothing to do with animation lock. only spells with no cast time can be cast if you're already moving anyway- casting time keeps mages in one spot regardless of whether animation lock exists. Mages are more vulnerable and have to be really careful in PvP.

You couldn't cast a spell while moving. Even the instant cast spells required you to stop moving.

[Felis]

That's how casting animations worked, but not weaponskills. I'd be all for that.

They can do it if they made the animation like the cast-bar. Player activate a WS, cast-bar start in the form of an animation, if the player don't move during the animation the WS hit the enemy after the animation.

[Roaran]

Already made this suggestion somewhere else, but I'll put it here.

The problem with animation lock is not the animations, but the way in which damage from skills is applied. They are always applied all at once, even for multi hit skills.

Apply the damage in tandem with the animation, then simply remove the lock and allow players to move. The movement interrupts the animation and the damage, but you are free to choose whether to sacrifice damage and live while not having the current alpha system which is far too silly.

[Zantetsuken]