[dev1022] Auto-attack system questions and discussion

[Powercow]

What I think would be awesome though would be the ability to mix "special normal attacks" (like Pummel or Flurry) in with an autoattack using your stamina bar.
Let's say, for example, a Pugilist attacks every 3.0 seconds with two punches with autoattack. Flurry, Pummel, weapon skills, etc. would all be on the stamina bar and separate from autoattacks. Any abilities used from the stamina bar would delay your autoattack by... oh... 0.6 seconds so the animation could go through smoothly, and to keep the pace reasonable.

Example:
0.0 Autoattack.
3.0 Autoattack.
3.2 Flurry.
6.6 Autoattack.
6.8 Flurry.
7.4 Flurry.
10.8 Autoattack.

So pretty much you could autoattack normally, but you'd also be able to use your stamina bar to throw in some extra punches with Flurry to up your basic DPS, or a few with Pummel for some more TP, or throw in a Victimize for a nice burst of damage (and to make use of TP.)

This type would allow you to feel like the pace of combat is faster (as your character is doing more actions) but less spammy and more tactical (since you are inputting less actions that have a greater consequence.) In the above example you attack 7 times (well, double/triple attacked) in just under 11 seconds, but the input was only 3 actions. But those 3 actions would heavily dictate how combat paces itself.

Good? Bad? Not clear?

[Minzara]

I love if they added Auto-attack. I get tired of pressing the same button over and over. It's hard to do other skills while doing that. For example, healing, or buffing. With Auto-attack, or so form of one. This well be fixed I hope.

[Ava]

I feel that auto attack can only benefit the game. While I do enjoy playing games that offer a variety in gameplay, the truth of the matter is this is a MMORPG. It lives by people feeding the developers subscription fees. Square's priority should be bringing in new players and to do that they need to make the game more familiar to MMO players. For this reason, I support an auto attack system regardless of my personal feelings.

Now, for my personal feelings, I like where the combat system is right now but I think the classes could use a lot more variety. If you look at other MMORPGs different classes have their own "gimmick" that makes them feel unique. Some examples are in WoW, Rogue uses energy + combo points, warrior uses rage, death knight uses runic power and runes. These varied resource systems make each class feel unique regardless of whether or not you're spamming 1-2 buttons. I think that a system similar to this would go a long way in making XIV more enjoyable for me.

For example, I play a Thaumaturge. The description (going off memory) was roughly a mage that harnesses both light and dark magics. So why not do some sort of a balance system for Thaumaturge? For each umbral spell you cast, your umbral spells get stronger, but if you cast too many you hit overload and have all of your umbral spells locked out. In order to lower your umbral meter, you have to cast some Astral spells to prevent overloading. This would give Thaumaturge a sort of rotation. This would take place of Stamina, THM resources would be Balance and Mana only.

For Pugilist, there could be like a combo system. This system could be a system where a player queues up several different attacks ahead of time, and different combinations have different effects. They could have like a self battle regimine system similar to how SAM could self skillchain in XI. A Pugilist could have some form of "points" (think runes in wow/death knight) and each ability set in the queue would consume points depending on how much damage it does. They can then release this combo at the expense of all points which would then slowly regenerate over time. The combo would release the attacks at a higher FPS and the benefit would be the high burst which would need to be properly timed so that you dont pull hate. In this system, PUG would use combos and stamina, no mana.

There are major problems with a system like this, though. There are problems with adding new jobs because after the players play with these systems it's hard to top them, there are only a handful of different unique combinations you can really have before they start feeling rehashed. In addition, using a system like this might be difficult without adding some form of auto attack because using my ideas, what would a Pugilist do between combos? Maybe they'll need to seperate their skills into two categories, "Combo moves" and "Regen/Buffs".

tldr: I'm all for auto attack and think that it's probably the dev's most reasonable option, but I do think that there is potential in the current system.

[SirEdeonX]

I don't really like auto-attack. It would bring some good with it - like the ability to chat in-battle and focus on skills, but is it really necessary? I like to choose when to attack, to feel like I made that choice, that I'm controling the battle.

If the standard attack is better then the skills, then the skills are lacking, not the attack. And with auto-attack you would never even touch the battle then.

[Sorel]

I would not quit the game if auto-attack was introduced "copy-paste" from FFXI.

But if it was to be introduced, I would prefer it be somewhat more refined. Perhaps with more options, like the other posters described.

Or broaden the concept. Why does it have to be an "auto-attack"?? What if it was an "auto-action" that you could configure? Attacks are just one type of action in FFXIV. What if your Conjurer could configure their auto-action to be Cure? Every time the cooldown was ready, a Cure would fly off to whichever PC they were targeting. Naturally, if the Conjurer started initiating a different action, that would take precedence, over the auto-action, just like using a weaponskill would stop a warrior's auto-attack temporarily.

Just a thought.

[Vespar]

I would love to see this so I can type a sentence while Im fighting and not get owned because my char is just standing there like an idiot.

[TinnySnips]

Auto attack could be implemented in a way that it doesn't really interrupt the way the game currently works. It's quite simple really. First: allow the players to decide what their auto attack action will be. Second: allow the players to toggle the auto-fire of this attack on and off. Third: auto-attacks are only initiated when the stamina bar is at 100%. Fourth: Add a delay value to all weapons, but not like FFXI. This delay value can be multiplied by a base-value per action to determine how much stamina the action consumes. This way we won't have issues where a dagger uses just as much stamina to attack with as a spear does. Also, this will add more depth to weapon selection, which I think is a good thing.

[Galamantyl]

Best solution: Toggle auto-action.

You pick an action and toggle it to automatically execute when stamina is available. Activating another action will override the next action in the auto-action sequence and reserve stamina for it accordingly.

This doesn't require discussion. It's common sense. Should've been in since beta.

[Sorel]

Best solution: Toggle auto-action.

You pick an action and toggle it to automatically execute when stamina is available. Activating another action will override the next action in the auto-action sequence and reserve stamina for it accordingly.

LOL. That what I said. But I was much wordier. Anyway some examples might be ...

• A Thaumaurge sets his auto-action to to Slow when he's in a party, but changes it to Poison when he's playing solo.
• A Conjurer sets his auto-action to Cure when he's is a party, but changes it to Fire when playing solo.
• A Gladiator set his auto-action to Provoke when he's in a party, but changes it to Guard when playing solo.

[Galamantyl]

LOL. That what I said. But I was much wordier. Anyway some examples might be ...

• A Thaumaurge sets his auto-action to to Slow when he's in a party, but changes it to Poison when he's playing solo.
• A Conjurer sets his auto-action to Cure when he's is a party, but changes it to Fire when playing solo.
• A Gladiator set his auto-action to Provoke when he's in a party, but changes it to Guard when playing solo.

You should be able to toggle those as auto-action, yes. I agree. But those aren't really the best examples. Slow has too long a recast time, and cure is situational whenever HP is needed.

99.999% of the time, auto-action would be used for 0-cost immediate actions, like regular attacks (spirit dart, light swing, etc.,), but that's not to say you couldn't use it with an action that has a cost. Especially now since mp regeneration pretty much makes every spell free to cast.