FFXIV Random Speculation/Question thread II: Let's Speculate the Speculations

[Destinye]

It does irk me a bit to see chat messages that you've won and you can do other things, then see the mob go through a death animation 3 seconds later. They really need to send that death animation with the rest of the data if not before.

This is why Alphas generally aren't public..things like this are obviously latency issues.

SE really should have only released testing when it was in beta, so that way people won't get to skewed about how the game is/why it's not an action game etc.

[Urza]

This is why Alphas generally aren't public..things like this are obviously latency issues.

SE really should have only released testing when it was in beta, so that way people won't get to skewed about how the game is/why it's not an action game etc.

I know its alpha. I also know FFXI has the exact same issue this many years after release. I wonder if it might have something to do with the way its coded for the consoles.

Slow death isn't a gamebreaker for me, just an annoyance. Only gamebreakers I see for most people are the horrid PC handling, currently poor ability to socialize (some fixes known to be coming), and the relatively high minimum specs compared to other MMOs. Everything else has lots of potential if they put out their standard quality.

[mr.bryce]

lol. Got a beta invite, but I'm out of the country for 2 and a half months without an able computer or even my RSA dongle to log into the site with. Oh well!

wth dont just say that, lend it to someone else ! (me)

[Lucavi]

This is why Alphas generally aren't public..things like this are obviously latency issues.

SE really should have only released testing when it was in beta, so that way people won't get to skewed about how the game is/why it's not an action game etc.

Not true. FFXI had some of these "latency" issues, where the mob would start its dying animation early, or you'd even put away your weapon, THEN fire the killing WS/blow.

Its good that they released alpha just so they could see how much this kind of thing irks the playerbase before they allow it into retail (as they did with FFXI on occasions) and people justifiably cry "same old thing!" before leaving.

As I said above, wait to see if its ironed out in beta before you automatically assume its just an alpha issue, even when it was a retail and post-post-post-post expansion issue with FFXI.

[Katlan]

edit: wrong thread lol

[Gethsemane]

The combat system doesn't even count in its current form anyways. In many interviews they have explicitly said they kind of just threw it together and it won't really be the version that will be built from the ground up that will be in Beta. Don't judge something that really doesn't matter

Also, I didn't get in :/ But pretty sure everyone has a good chance at Closed Beta invites coming up soon. Wouldn't be surprised if all those who have played FFXI get into it.

[Lucavi]

The combat system doesn't even count in its current form anyways. In many interviews they have explicitly said they kind of just threw it together and it won't really be the version that will be built from the ground up that will be in Beta. Don't judge something that really doesn't matter

Also, I didn't get in :/ But pretty sure everyone has a good chance at Closed Beta invites coming up soon. Wouldn't be surprised if all those who have played FFXI get into it.

It does matter, though I see your point. This current system is a FFXI.5, and so long as their "adjustments" include destroying all forms of that latency and relying only on global cooldowns (and short ones at that! WoW's GC is like... what... a half a second? A full second? something like that) then its fine, but they have in no way, shape or form said outright that their new combat system includes shying away from the slow form of FFXI.

I'm excited as all hell to find out what they come up with, but that doesn't mean that I won't be holding a critical eye to what is as of now an annoying carryover from their last MMO.

[Kaslo]

Hmmm is it about time for:

FFXIV Random Speculation/Question thread III: Now with more non-invite emo-ness?

[Kurokikaze]

(and short ones at that! WoW's GC is like... what... a half a second? A full second? something like that)

1.5 seconds.

[Caerith]

For all the the combat system is going to change, I am not so sure that the combat style will change. With the charge/commit system of using abilities, they're going to want to keep it closer to the pace it is now, though obviously improved once they improve the latency. I'm not sure whether I miss auto-attack.

[Squeaky]

1.5 seconds.

If you want to get picky, most WoW classes have a 1.5 second cooldown, but Rogues and kitty druids have a 1 seconds global cooldown. Though, the haste stat can lower the global cooldown for caster down to 1 second.

[Alok]

How are things like stats and positioning affecting damage and such?

[Lucavi]

If you want to get picky, most WoW classes have a 1.5 second cooldown, but Rogues and kitty druids have a 1 seconds global cooldown. Though, the haste stat can lower the global cooldown for caster down to 1 second.

The fast auto-attack kinda makes up for it, at least when viewing the speed of combat. I know I have a good time rolling into melee range every now and then on my hunt just to see the flurry of swinging steel with my dual axes.

Edit: As far as I've seen in terms of positioning, I get more crits from behind, and do slightly increased damage from the sides (if I had to eyeball it, I'd say about 5-8% more), but I haven't noticed any increase to accuracy, as I'm still prone to engage in a 4-hit whiff-fest every now and then.

[loyaltrekie]

Once again, your friendly neighborhood trollster didn't get in this phase....



/wrist

Awesome.

[omegaB]

FFXIV (in its current form) has the same massive server-side delay between attacks. Its just built differently than WoW, which only has a delay with the global cooldown which prevents too much info from being slammed into the server at once.

SE's online servers are just strange in that there's always this weird delay when it comes to combat; both in getting in and getting out. Its not to say that you can quickly chain through mobs, but from a player of other MMOs, its always going to feel a little disconcerting.

Part of me is optimistic that they'll iron out that delay between alpha and launch, but the other part of me sees how similar FFXIV is to FFXI and feels that they'll keep a good bit of that delay in the game, simply because that's how they build their servers or game engines. WoW probably has a completely different engine. Even the F2P MMOs I played had faster lead-ins to combat than FFXIV/FFXI, but we'll see if this delay turns out to be just something that SE puts in purposely.

The beta will answer a lot of questions. If its still a 1.5-2 second delay between being able to bring out a weapon/put one away and still a hefty delay before attacking (even if you've already charged up your regular attack, there's still a delay before it comes out, even when lined up with the enemy), we'll just have to chalk it up to SE either not knowing how to build their system differently (think about it -- all of their games have had delays leading into fights/attacks, mostly through the use of entering a separate battle screen, and even FFXII had delay), or just being used to doing it that way and not seeing a problem.

I'd love for it to be a little faster to get in and out of these things, especially in a next gen game, but it is what it is.

Hate it or love it, ff14 combat isnt very close to ffxi combat at all, ive played both and its a totally different feel and strategy, which is not tsay its great, just that it is definately a different.
As to the delay on pulling out a weapon, its some what slow, but its also a game mechanic, (this is what slows down instant job changes/gear changes in battle) a big thing a lot of people dont get is, in ffxiv you dont put your weapon away untill your finished attacking, all the mobs you want to kill, you run around with your weapon out, this allows you to attack the next mob instantly, and keep your tp if you attack fast enough. putting away your weapon is what you do when your not ready to attack, IE when you want to run somewhere else with greater movement speed, or rest hp, which generally you dont even do, you try to use skills or magic to replenish hp till you can get to the next crystal.

the speed isnt that slow, tp is damage based, you have way more skills, theres no auto attack, positioning matters allot, regular attacks can interupt tp skills, mobs run from aoe, or try to range you, sometimes running for back up, its really very different from ffxi.

Is it slow? hmmm compared to some other games yeah, but not nearly ffxi speed. and it has way more options than ffxi. I mean if you want a fast paced action game style battle system, i dunno if your gonna get it here. but i suppose we ll see either way soon. i just hope thier new battle system isnt actually a poorly planned out hussle remake, because honestly with out the lag, this battle system has a lot of potential, with maybe just a few instant skills.

[Hyan]

this battle system has a lot of potential.

Everything said so far can be summed up with this. We'll see what happens today. E3 attendee's can at least play around with the character creator, that's for sure. Hopefully there's more than that as well, but if not, we'll hopefully get some details in the upcoming interviews if nothing else.

[Ramsey]

The enormous delay that exists right now between confirming an ability and it actually activating is absolutely an issue with the server. There will definitely exist a delay of pulling your weapon out and putting it away, that delay is the duration of the animation.

On the other hand that huge spike of time it takes between confirming something and having it occur is a combination of kinks needing to be ironed out and server issues. Will you maybe sometimes see those delays in the game due to heavy lag? Yes, but they won't be something you regularly experience.

[Hyan]

I kinda thought that there are multiple servers for handling specific tasks in-game like maybe AH/delivery system and maybe something else (like some combat functions)? I dunno, but if there is, when Beta starts they'll most likely be opened as well.

[roippi]

I kinda thought that there are multiple servers for handling specific tasks in-game like maybe AH/delivery system and maybe something else (like some combat functions)? I dunno, but if there is, when Beta starts they'll most likely be opened as well.

One 'world server' is in fact a large cluster of servers. It is less what you're thinking of as discrete servers with discrete tasks, and more along the lines of a bunch of parallel boxes that grab whatever task is on top of the queue.

[Oreth]

Has anyone played the Archer class at all?

Im having a real hard time getting to like it! The attacks are really slow even when you dont let your ability charge up! Multishot seems kind of pointless other than your opening attack if you have 3 arrows notched. The damage seems meh compared to the other classes. Im sure they dont want it being the powerhouse it was when it rolled into FFXI first of all but it just seems a bit lackluster at the moment.

I definately see a difference in damage to flying mobs though so at least tha aspect seems to have carried through. Im Physhical 10 and Archer 11 at the moment and am yet to get a WS. Does any class get a WS in the Alpha? There is a very short distance you can actually target and hit the monster from especially for an Archer. I think i read somewhere that they said parties would be more of a roaming thing than an actual puller? Is that right? maybe thats the reason why?