Battle Reform: Auto-Attack (06/30/2011)

[Cutriss]

Auto-attack will be implemented for Disciples of War and Magic only, and will take the form of a melee attack for all applicable classes. For instance, archers will strike with their bare fists, while conjurers and thaumaturges will deliver a blow with their equipped weapon.

Changes Accompanying Auto-Attack
The stamina gauge will be abolished with the introduction of auto-attack. Consequently, certain actions that have been dependent upon the stamina gauge will either have their effects revised, or be made to affect attack delay. Below is a list of main adjustments being planned.

The following basic attacks will be removed:

• Pugilist: Heavy Strike
• Gladiator: Light Slash
• Marauder: Light Swing
• Lancer: Light Thrust

The following actions will be made obtainable at rank 1 instead of rank 2:

• Pugilist: Concussive Blow
• Gladiator: Red Lotus
• Marauder: Trunksplitter
• Lancer: Skewer
• Archer: Puncture

The abilities Light Shot (Archer), Spirit Dart (Thaumaturge), Phantom Dart (Conjurer), Throw, and Stone Throw will remain available, although their usage will be regulated by a recast timer.

Recast timers will be adjusted for certain actions obtained via quests and guild marks whose action costs were managed solely through the stamina gauge.

• Pugilist: Light Strike / Flurry / Pummel
• Gladiator: Light Stab / Heavy Slash / Heavy Stab
• Marauder: Broad Swing / Full Swing / Heavy Swing
• Lancer: Heavy Thrust / Pierce / Full Thrust
• Archer: Multishot / Close Shot / Heavy Shot
• Thaumaturge: Shadowfall / Silhouette
• Conjurer: Nature’s Fury / Elemental Shroud

The effects of the following actions will be changed:

• Speed Surge will affect auto-attack delay instead of the stamina gauge.
• Ambidexterity will increase the chance of blocks while guarding, instead of halving the stamina gauge cost of your next action.
• Chainspell will no longer reduce the stamina cost of your next spell.

Patch 1.19 and Beyond
Auto-attack functionality will be prioritized in 1.18. Changes such as battle algorithm revisions, attack motion diversification, and peripheral motion tweaks are scheduled to take place in 1.19 and subsequent patches.

Attack Delivery
1.18 will introduce auto-attack in its basic form, which will permit Disciples of War and Magic to deliver a single strike (double for pugilists) each time it activates. Future patches will usher in multiple attacks, the activation rate of which will be determined by actions, traits, and items.

Algorithms
The existing algorithm will be maintained for 1.18, with attack delay to be introduced as a new parameter for weapons. Work to revise the algorithm will commence in earnest from 1.19.

Actions Obtainable via Quests and Guild Marks
Actions falling into this category will be brought under re-examination, which will include a review of developmental direction. This will be done together with the planned revisions we have for actions in the future. As this may result in drastic changes to certain actions, we are considering ways to allow players to reselect actions, such as a refund of guild marks.

[Cayos]

I swear I checked lodestone not even 5 minutes ago and it wasn't up. That was fast.

[Cutriss]

I was honestly surprised nobody had posted it yet.

[Alkar]

I like the last part. Mage abilities are simply useless right now.

[Corrderio]

Still kind of curious why they didn't want light shot/spirit dart/phantom dart AA, but either way this is some nice news.

Curious about the timer on basics learned by quests/marks though.

[Meko]

I just want the patch to launch already so we can have some hands on action! I want to see the new dungeons/raids and see the direction. So far, the info has been good but until we can experience it...we can't really see the direction. I'm still hoping for some UI changes sooner than later.

[Tortalius]

I'm a little disappointed because they've acknowledged that the animations and such are going to be wonky until 1.19. People are going to harp on this and it'll be unfortunate.

[Zubis]

What I'd like to know is how ARC (and CON/THM) will work now. This sadly doesn't answer any questions..

[Sonomaa]

For instance, archers will strike with their bare fists

[Zubis]

Haha, great, I completely missed that at the top.

I agree with you, Sonomaa.

[Meko]

Wow. I somehow missed that. That's cool though. Archers should be using their fists for attacking. It makes good sense really when you think about it. I mean, they could use their bow to hit the mob...yea, that'll work.

[Shuichi]

Not sure why they didn't implement an auto-attack for bow. Does ARC have a lot of abilities that allow them to go through a rotation without really worrying about auto-attack?

[Sonomaa]

cause an archer punching something and breaking their hand is a FANTASTIC idea if you look at it from a realistic sense

when you suspend realism though and look at it through a fantasy sense, NO ARCHER EVER didnt carry at least a weapon, a curved dagger, two swords, maybe a longsword and a bow
the only ones who didnt carry close range weapons just never stopped shooting arrows

[Amastacia]

Yeah...

The shittiest part about RNG in FFXI was spamming /ra (when KC wasn't appropriate).

The shittiest part about ARC in FFXIV will be spamming /ra.

Should've just done it right: replaced arrows with quivers, abolished limited ammunition, and made Light Shot the default attack action.

Maybe add a dagger secondary weapon that gets pulled out in melee range to replace firing point-blank with the bow, but that probably wouldn't work with SE's battle system.

I would love to hear why the FFXIV dev team is scared crapless of ranged auto-attacks. It's not like mages are going to set the world on fire with their damage, and there are other, better ways to mitigate any possible advantage ARC has besides turning it into a spamfest.

If they're trying to get rid of the button mashing aspect of the battle system, making one of the main DD jobs a button masher permanently while no one else has to suffer along is pants-on-head retarded.

Also, they should've just abolished the alternate basic attacks and refunded guildmarks. So stupid leaving basic attacks around that will still be mashy, since they're frequently moar better.

[Sonomaa]

here is an idea, make auto-attack use generic arrows, low damage ones you CAN upgrade through some nice quests later on in the game, from bone > iron > silver > mithril > imaginarymetalones > adamant
then make other arrows, elemental type arrows, for your bigger things, so yeah, you can auto-attack with arrows and do ok damage, or you can shoot off that fancy FIRE ARROW for an elemental attack or enfeeble!

[Xcrunner]

Wow... bare fist? lol

[Crizto]

Wow... bare fist? lol

See when you shoot your arrows sometimes they don't go into the enemy's body all the way. This way you can really make sure they go all the way through! More damage son.

[Arximiro]

I would hope an Archer at no point wouldn't be attacking with arrows so this doesn't really matter. Chatting will still be a pain in the ass for archer just like in XI though.

[Sonomaa]

I would hope an Archer at no point wouldn't be attacking with arrows so this doesn't really matter. Chatting will still be a pain in the ass for archer just like in XI though.

so everybody else can say something and fight except archer/ranger

Fantastic!

[Kaeko]

No mention of toggling this on/off.

If you're a mage, shit runs up to you, you sleep it and consequently go into 'active mode', you'll just strike it right after because you're in melee range.