The problem with "Instant OFF GCD" abilities makes combat feel less rewarding.

[Kantide]

Hmm. Okay. Yeah. Now I understand this complaint!

To try and formalize what I think I see here...

So as I understand this issues now: in effect, the problem people are saying is that the icons show as ready, even though they are not, because the action perform is still being animated. This means that those who are only using the visual status to know when to trigger, are in essence hitting certain actions too soon sometimes. This is especially confusing and frustrating to those who equate the cast time, with the total action time, since they believe that it should be instant, and perceive by icon availability that it is instant, when in fact while the cast is instant (and non-interuptable), the performance of the action is on a delay due to being locked to the animation, that is not reflected in the icon.

This makes sense, but isn't the problem as it is being represented in this and other threads. Given the existing behaviour, the problem isn't the instant cast not being instant per-se, but the icon availability (and potentially verbiage some people are confused by), so perhaps this discussion should instead be redirected towards polite suggestions of visual cues and changes the developers could implement to account for the animation lock so that the status of icons can be clearer for these cases.

Of course the developers may still say no, but it seems that suggesting practical improvements to the icons may be a better use of time, than arguing or complaining about differing opinions on that which developers have already said they will not change. This would technically be considered an enhancement as opposed to a bug, so this venting is unlikely to do much good and is in fact likely to feed back into existing frustration with this behaviour, and that will just make the game less fun for those dealing with it.

Anyway! Hope everyone can take a moment to calm down on this (and other) issues. This is a game, and letting yourself get frustrated over it isn't much fun. Better to try and think of alternative ways to improve the game for you that the developers might be willing to consider, and in the meantime, learn to work within the existing environment as best you can.

Just my opinion.

Yes, the ability should be greyed out for .5 seconds. This might be something the devs might consider as even though all ability have the 2.5s GCD the Off-GCD abilities might need a .5s GCD. It's for the same reason that if you make a crafting macro you have to use /wait 3 between actions. Again, the game isn't WoW so you cant spam an attack button over and over as fast as you can. They give you time to think about what you're doing.

I reiterate, if the combat isn't for you then it's not for you.

[Gray_Spy]

oh ok, because "instant" and "latency" have no effect

[danteafk]

Fail game. Major flawed design.

[Raymeo]

At this point, I could actually see myself being happy even if animation locks were left unchanged, and even if the rate in which abilities are used remains the same, as the devs are insisting will be the case... AS LONG AS:

(a) The word "instant" is changed so it is no longer misleading players. While the delay following these abilities may be less than 2.5 seconds, showing the word "instant" instead of a delay time implies a delay of 0 seconds. In reality, this is not the case, so they are not truly instant. These "instant" abilities also imply that they do not obey the 2.5 second GCD of other abilities that are used beforehand, which would lead one to believe that they can be used immediately after an another ability, but in reality they are still subject to the animation locks of abilities that are used beforehand. That is not instant either. If you are going to keep the timing how it is -- which is not instant -- then please, don't hide this timing behind the word "instant." This choice of language is only confusing players. Any other choice of words would be better than how it reads currently.

(b) We get some sort of visual indicator for animation locks on our off-GCD abilities, similar to how the GCD is currently visualized on our other action buttons. Continue doing things as intended and keep the timers how they are, that's fine. Just let me SEE how they are. I don't like being forced into spamming buttons simply because these timers are being needlessly hidden from players. If these timers could just be given a form of visualization, then the lifespan of my input devices will increase dramatically, I will be less likely to develop carpal tunnel, and my significant other will be able to sleep in the same room without me having to listen to them complain about how I should come to bed because my keyboard is making too much noise~

(c) Abilities are changed so they are considered to go into effect immediately when an animation lock begins, instead of after the animation lock ends. Again, keep the animation locks at their current duration and maintain the current pacing of ability use, I don't care. Just don't put my abilities on their ridiculously long cooldowns without them ever taking effect. (*cough* Hallowed Ground *cough*)

If the timing between abilities is not going to change, then at least change these three things, please. They have no effect on the pacing of abilities/combat, because they have no effect on the duration of ability locks or animation locks themselves, allowing the game's tuning to be kept the same and negating the concerns about difficulty that were raised by the devs. Yes, you can keep your animation locks, your visual fluidity, and your cherished pacing of combat and abilities, and I'll get over it in time. Just please, address the needless unpredictability of it all. Is that really too much to ask for?

[Blimbeard]

At this point, I could actually see myself being happy even if animation locks were left unchanged, and even if the rate in which abilities are used remains the same, as the devs are insisting will be the case... <snip>

Yes, this would be something. Personally I think that having the abilities designed this way is completely bonkers, and it doesn't solve the problems it causes, but at least it would inject some clarity into the matter and make it clear that these are abilities are not instants in any traditional use of the term.

[radiationbots]

THE GHOST OF TANAKA LIIIIIIVVVESSSS

[dontcare]

"How long do I have to wait before I can cast my next ability?"
"If I push my ability now, will it go off?"
"The interface didn't indicate any reason why this ability shouldn't have gone off, so why didn't it go off?"

These are questions the player should never have to ask while in combat, and yet every player, at some point, has asked them. Many continue to ask them, myself included. It's bad design, plain and simple.

If they're not going to fix the model, at the very least they need to document this invisible cooldown and give it a numerical value that is indicated visually on the interface.

[Ryihito]

It is getting annoying for me now. It really does feel sluggish and I am not a fan of spamming a button in hopes it activates all the time.

[complexxL9]

Kanzer I think everyone by now understands your position. Thanks for bumping the thread, but enough is enough. You are like one of those 1.0 players who say 2.0 ruined the perfect and unique 1.0 game, but the vast majority will say otherwise.
Same with these mechanics, you can defend it all you want, but for most people sitting with chronometer while waiting for the boss to do it's stuff, so they can interrupt it, is simply not fun. I'm glad it's fun for you, if we are unlucky, it will stay fun for you, but my hope is it won't, as the bug report I made wen't into "duplicate bugs" section - http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ight-mechanics (yep the same video you were defending so pationatelly as working by design).

I don't believe this means they are going to fix instant off gcd abilities, neither they will make any exception for blunt arrow, I just think they will nerf bosses, and make those casts long enough, so you can interrupt them even in the worst case scenario (that is, right after using other ability).

Unfortunatelly I don't think that will please any side of the argument, because what we will have is:
most of the times interrupting will be piss easy and not challenging, but will prevent the rare broken cases like in the video.

However that is way better than being forced to do nothing while anticipating for cast, or to risk interrupt not going off in time.

[Aibo]

Some people's "working as intended — deal with it or go play WoW/LoL" attitude is just sad.