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

[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

[Jinko]

The only reason the ability isn't popping immediately is because you are still under the effects of the cast you just finished. The tactical nature of the game requires a little more anticipation when casting things like Benediction. You had 2.5s of GCD to realize your tank was going to die. You should have either A. interrupted whatever you were casting to use Benediction or B. Find a tank that can survive more than 2.5 on his own.

People keep mistaking this battle design for action when it should be categorized as tactical.

It's like saying "I didn't know I was gonna run out of MP by spamming Medica II".

If thats the case then shouldn't you think the cast bar would take into effect the animtion, so once you cast the spell the effect instantly takes effect.

Or that instant cast skills should have a .5 grey out/recast timer to say you can't spam the next move you have to wait a little bit.

There are much better ways of displaying this information, right now when I click an instant cast spell the next skill is lite up and looks like it can be used but in actuality you can't because there is a hidden animation lock out mechanism which isn't displayed by the action buttons.

Clearly people are confused by this and its SE's fault at the end of the day because they are making it look like instant action/instant cast, but its actually not.

[Rivienne]

instant cast skills should have a .5 grey out/recast timer to say you can't spam the next move you have to wait a little bit.

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.

[complexxL9]

Please share with me a specific scenario where it's impossible to interrupt an ability with either an off GCD stun or Silence due to the animation lock. I'd love to hear it. And whatever you come up with (if anything) I can assure you I can give you advice on how to make it work.

Also share an example of RNG spike damage that's impossible to anticipate and results in a death purely because your benediction didn't go off the exact nano-second you pressed it and not because a tank didn't use a cool down or the ball was simply dropped healing wise somewhere.

Really? It's in the OP - http://youtu.be/40a_cnDQKeE

See that little "E" (3rd skill on 2nd hotbar) being pressed few times and not going off? See it being pressed at 00:04 just before the enemy cast is being finished and still not going off? Well that is Silence not going off and not interrupting one shot boss ability. Is that example good enough for you to stop your bunch of "these lame mechanics is how SE intended them" posts?
I don't care if it's by design if the design itself is awful.

[Dorfentyme]

Really? It's in the OP - http://youtu.be/40a_cnDQKeE

See that little "E" (3rd skill on 2nd hotbar) being pressed few times and not going off? See it being pressed at 00:04 just before the enemy cast is being finished and still not going off? Well that is Silence not going off and not interrupting one shot boss ability. Is that example good enough for you to stop your bunch of "these lame mechanics is how SE intended them" posts?
I don't care if it's by design if the design itself is awful.

^^^^^^ /thread.

As much as I love this game, I cannot justify paying a monthly fee for a game where the devs simply said "it's working as intended, deal with it".

That just boggles my mind. I enjoyed leveling, I enjoy the world, I enjoy the classes and combat(some of the time), I love the music, I love the dungeons(with exception of CM, that was quite possibly the most boring and lame designed dungeon I've ever played in the past 5 years. I'd rather run Sastasha 50 times than CM). But the fact that their crap code and engine isn't going to be changed because they believe its "part of the difficulty"?

Say what you mean Square "We don't know how to fix it, so....its intended".

The second they address these issues(which they may never do), I will be subbing so fast. But I will not continue to do endgame dungeons while the issues still exist.

[Kanzer]

Really? It's in the OP - http://youtu.be/40a_cnDQKeE

See that little "E" (3rd skill on 2nd hotbar) being pressed few times and not going off? See it being pressed at 00:04 just before the enemy cast is being finished and still not going off? Well that is Silence not going off and not interrupting one shot boss ability. Is that example good enough for you to stop your bunch of "these lame mechanics is how SE intended them" posts?
I don't care if it's by design if the design itself is awful.

Impossible? You're joking right?

Let's go over the sequence of events in this video.

1. Bard uses Heavy Shot.

2. Chimera Begins casting Ram's voice

3. Bard Uses Heavy Shot.

4. After using heavy shot bard notices Ram's voice being cast, begins spamming Blunt Arrow

5. Ability Doesn't go off because Bard is stuck in animation lock from Heavy Shot

6. Party dies.

Like I said in a previous thread, if you know an ability is coming up that you need to interrupt, and you're the only one capable it becomes the priority. If the bard hadn't got himself locked into using Heavy Shot, he would have been able to interrupt it with no problem. So no, this is not an example of a time it was 'impossible' to interrupt successfully.

[Dorfentyme]

White Knight drivel

I can't believe someone is actually defending poor design. Name another MMO where you have to actually sit still and auto attack while waiting for your opportunity to do the interrupt?

If they give every boss a set rotation, do you realize how boring that is? Every strategy simply becomes what Titan HM is. A piece of paper right next to your monitor telling you when he's about to do what. Is that difficult? No. It's lazy design. Pure and simple.

[Kanzer]

I'm bad drivel

No point in naming other MMOs, because, well, this isn't other MMOs, this is FFXIV. They made the game, they can design it however they want, just because it isn't what you want, doesn't mean its bad.

Latency could be lowered, but animation locks are fine, and you simply need to learn to adjust to them, you'll have more fun with that instead of incessantly whining. Trust me.