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

[Hirosashi]

As a PLD I do not really have any issues with my off-GCD abilities sure I cant activate all my defensive buffs at once instantly but that is fine, you have to plan ahead and watch your health and use strategy more. No skills in the game are meant to be truly instant and I am not sure how you came to that impression instant cast time does not mean it carries no animation, even cast time abilities have a small animation after words in which you still can not activate a skill its just less noticeable.

Here is what I can tell, they have a very complex system in play here, during an animation there are key points in which the animation can change before it is actually fully completed, take circle of scorn for instance, when I jump up I can not activate any other skills but as soon as I start to rise after landing I can activate spirts within. This makes sense because I am not sure if you have every tried but it is impossible to jump up in the air stab something and then stab the ground all at the same time, however once I land the stab is fair game even though there is a little bit more to the animation of circle of scorn than this. This is all about realistic and possible motions, also it is about balance in terms of PVP down the line, having several instant cast abilities that can all be activated literally within the same nano-second could ruin pvp and make it a one-shot fest of off-gcd abilities as fast as you can macro them.

Anyway that is just my two cents on the subject I like the new system and equating it to XI is not a good comparison as they are not trying to replicate the combat in XI in any way at all here and they don't need too, this combat system can stand on its own, GCD makes sense in this kind of system simply because if it was not in place I could easily output over 400 damage in just 1 second or 2 depending on the animations for my fast blade, savage, rage combo, which is game breaking for the way the combat is currently set up they would have to re-work EVERYTHING.