Ability Delay -- Character Responsiveness (This will make or break SW:TOR)

[Radagastimus]

Do you know what Star Trek Online used? Because STO also felt delayed, unresponsive sluggish, clunky, slow, annoying and disconnected (dusc-sad! ;-)) to me and that is why I quit it after 1 month.

 

STO used same engine as Champions online and City of Villains/heroes. Cryptic engine was ingenious name Cryptic used of it. But STO combat as of present feels very good and responsive opposed to what it was about half a year after launch a<nd pre-launch as i was part of Beta then.

[Cherme]

So is this up to 1200 pages roughly? with one response during that whole time, the response of "we're not sure its a problem"

[Owarida]

Greetings Vindor,

 

 

I am Protocol Droid U3-K5 of Human-Cyborg Relations...

 

I have received your transmission regarding your inquiry about the skill cooldown time not working properly.

 

We apologize for any inconvenience.

 

But let me just inform you that the game was made to be as real time as possible. That is the case when it comes to cooldown time. For example, you cast a skill that uses a light saber, you need to wait for the animation of that skill to finish before you can cast another skill that uses a light saber. It is the same for skills like force and the likes. Basically in a nutshell, if you are casting a skill that overlaps with another skill (ex. Gun to another Gun skill) the animation has to finish first. And there are other factors involved also, like skill cooldown, channeling etc. This is to make things more realistic and prevent skill spamming as opposed to other games.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us again if there is anything further we can help you with. Have a good day.

 

Galactic Support is our specialty...

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Protocol Droid U3-K5 (aka Jan)

Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service

 

LOL.

 

Really?

 

Edit: This is a copy/paste that someone in Thread #3 said that they recieved as a reply to them from BW. *not from me specifically*

Edited January 2, 2012 by Owarida

[Radagastimus]

So is this up to 1200 pages roughly? with one response during that whole time, the response of "we're not sure its a problem"

 

If you do and read from the beginning there is actually a post from BW that they are aware of this and investigating.

[Radagastimus]

This issue is under active investigation.

 

The complication is that there are actually a number of different issues with very different causes and potential resolutions lumped together in this thread.

 

All we can say for now is 'we are actively working on the topic of character responsiveness'.]

 

Here it is

Edited January 2, 2012 by Radagastimus

[Domstep]

LOL.

 

Really?

 

If that's real they have no idea *** they are doing.....

[berothop]

ive lost all hope i had..

[Owarida]

guys

 

i just played my first warzone since my teens

 

i click all my moves and let me be the first to tell bioware that there is no delay

 

this game is rly awesome i especially like the 1 quest were i helped the kids get credits and water for 100 light side pts

 

the game is flawless and perfect no delay

 

all the people here saying there is a delay are lying

 

This is why inbreeding is illegal. People actually believe that ****, Reedful.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Owarida

[Owarida]

If that's real they have no idea *** they are doing.....

 

It's an email reply that someone got and posted in the last(now locked) thread. I just drug it over here so that it didn't get lost.

[Sileh]

It's an email reply that someone got and posted in the last(now locked) thread. I just drug it over here so that it didn't get lost.

 

If that email is actually real and that is Bioware's stance on this issue then I see no other option but to stop my subscription.

 

I don't have a problem with animations as long as they take as long as the cast time of the ability and not 0.2 - 0.5 longer which currently is the case for the majority of spells.

[Isgarot]

Greetings Vindor,

 

 

I am Protocol Droid U3-K5 of Human-Cyborg Relations...

 

I have received your transmission regarding your inquiry about the skill cooldown time not working properly.

 

We apologize for any inconvenience.

 

But let me just inform you that the game was made to be as real time as possible. That is the case when it comes to cooldown time. For example, you cast a skill that uses a light saber, you need to wait for the animation of that skill to finish before you can cast another skill that uses a light saber. It is the same for skills like force and the likes. Basically in a nutshell, if you are casting a skill that overlaps with another skill (ex. Gun to another Gun skill) the animation has to finish first. And there are other factors involved also, like skill cooldown, channeling etc. This is to make things more realistic and prevent skill spamming as opposed to other games.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us again if there is anything further we can help you with. Have a good day.

 

Galactic Support is our specialty...

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Protocol Droid U3-K5 (aka Jan)

Star Wars: The Old Republic Customer Service

 

Hope that its a fake ... or i run to unsub just to be sure to dont pay another mounth for a unresponsive game ..

Edited January 2, 2012 by Isgarot

[Reedful]

I love how the customer service rep has the balls to say, "as opposed to other games." It's like they're still on their EPIC COMBAT EXPERIENCE THAT WILL TAKE SUBSCRIBERS AWAY FROM WOW bit. It's funny because EA's office in LA looks like a trailer park compared to Blizzard's campus. Why do you think that is? I like to think it's because Blizzard isn't a bunch of idiots.

 

Keep on pretending your game has some features WoW doesn't have. You only had like, an 8 year advantage on making a game that is more advanced. You could have released this game in 2001 and I still wouldn't be playing it.

[Rogueish]

I've played every base class to at least level 20 and I'll honestly say I've not noticed a real problem with this. I did notice a problem on my Marauder with Retaliation - the tooltip said it wasn't tied to the GCD, and the first few times I tried to use it it didn't want to fire right away. I just dismissed it as a bug that will get fixed eventually. The last couple days I've not really noticed an issue with that or Force Scream at all.

 

I've spent the most time on my Marauder recently. Being melee I think I'd have noticed if there were real issues with responsiveness, and it just hasn't bothered me yet to any great degree. I've been playing MMOs since EQ, and I have played WoW almost continuously since release. I have over 100 days played on a Rogue in WoW, including Arena experience, so I'm definitely acquainted with the subject.

 

I'll have to pay more attention now to see if I'm having the problem too. One thing I find interesting, though: SWTOR runs as two different processes. A guildie told me that one process is for network communication, the other is for the UI. This struck me as a bit odd, as interprocess communication can cause lots of issues.

 

Obviously I'm making a wild guess here, but if the interaction lag is being caused by splitting up client functionality into two different processes, it could be a fundamental issue that is very difficult to resolve.

[Pretorian]

Sadly, THIS is the main issue with the game. Forget clogged up servers, bugs and glitches, bad UI, linear worlds and whatnot. If the combat doesn't flow well, nothing will be able to save this game, cause it's such a core part of gameplay.

 

I personally like this game. The storyline is good, the environemt is nice some things are new and intuitive and it feels like BW really put an effort in alot of things. Even the character skills are nice and interesting. Unfortunally, it seems they forgot the main thing - fluid combat and gameplay.

 

That's why WoW succeeded so well despite having a much worse launch. The combat and gameplay alone could make up for the other major flaws. This is not the case in SWTOR. All the feeling of "beeing one with your class" is instantly body slammed to the ground by klunky and unresponsive gameplay.

 

It's like having a relationship with someone you do like, but that person has one gigantic flaw that no emotion in the world can overcome. If that person doesn't change, you will see no other solution than to end the relationship.

[Demonk]

Hope that its a fake ... or i run to unsub just to be sure to dont pay another mounth for a unresponsive game ..

 

 

Nay, its a fake for sure.. They wouldn't commit a suicide like that

[Leilei]

So like...this is the 3rd thread....wonder if theyre getting their plans to fix this ready o.o

[Radagastimus]

Hope that its a fake ... or i run to unsub just to be sure to dont pay another mounth for a unresponsive game ..

 

Its not a fake nor its really an BW response but a response to ingame petition from some customer service representative clearly sending a pre.made response to try and avoid issue at hand or turn it to omething that is not really an issue but a intended game mechanics.

 

This is what one of devs has answered to this Thread in previous now full threads.

 

Thread 2 -- Page 123 -- Georg Zoeller

 

"This issue is under active investigation.

 

The complication is that there are actually a number of different issues with very different causes and potential resolutions lumped together in this thread.

 

All we can say for now is 'we are actively working on the topic of character responsiveness'."

 

Georg "Observer" Zoeller

Principal Lead Combat Designer

 

So by all means go ahead and lost all hope and dont wait patiently as this is fixed as things like this cannot be fixed on a day or few. It most likely will take weeks as there is manymanymany other issues and bugs that also needs fixing.

 

And usually they are busy DOING some WORK to repair game this early after lauch and they DO NOT have time to answer posts especially when they dont know yet how to correct things and cant really say anything yet other than that one post which should tell you that its under investigation.

[Zioff]

Under normal circumstances I would not post in a forum to echo what a thousand others seem to have noted, alas, here it is.

 

Having animations stutter and GCDs reset during combat is very frustrating. It can make the difference between success in a mission or even a simple mob fight. My concern is not with these issues themselves, but, the ability of the developer to correct them. For our sake, I hope the game engine allows for the timing of the animations and the ability toolbar to be more in sync. I also hope that this happens soon because "clunky" game play is not fun.

 

Regardless, I am rating this thread. May happier times as gamers find us soon!

[Reedful]

I've played every base class to at least level 20 and I'll honestly say I've not noticed a real problem with this. I did notice a problem on my Marauder with Retaliation - the tooltip said it wasn't tied to the GCD, and the first few times I tried to use it it didn't want to fire right away. I just dismissed it as a bug that will get fixed eventually. The last couple days I've not really noticed an issue with that or Force Scream at all.

 

I've spent the most time on my Marauder recently. Being melee I think I'd have noticed if there were real issues with responsiveness, and it just hasn't bothered me yet to any great degree. I've been playing MMOs since EQ, and I have played WoW almost continuously since release. I have over 100 days played on a Rogue in WoW, including Arena experience, so I'm definitely acquainted with the subject.

 

I'll have to pay more attention now to see if I'm having the problem too. One thing I find interesting, though: SWTOR runs as two different processes. A guildie told me that one process is for network communication, the other is for the UI. This struck me as a bit odd, as interprocess communication can cause lots of issues.

 

Obviously I'm making a wild guess here, but if the interaction lag is being caused by splitting up client functionality into two different processes, it could be a fundamental issue that is very difficult to resolve.

wow this guy has 100 days played on a rogue including arena experience and doesnt notice it

 

thread is over guys

[Egothha]

Cant really say anything that hasnt been said before, but i just wanted to give you another voice on your initiative.

 

Im a real pvp lover in wow, but i can hardly bear a bg in swtor. everything i do feels like playing in quicksand.

 

The game has for sure a lot of issues, but personally i would pinpoint this as one of the most impacting.

[Reedful]

what gets me is all these idiots that are like, "LOOK AT MY CREDENTIALS, I DON'T NOTICE A DELAY AT ALL!"

 

yeah, you do notice a delay. maybe not when you're questing all by yourself fighting a scripted monster that does the same thing 100% of the time. do something that is intensive and demanding on the game's engine and report back to me

 

there's normal stuff i was prepared to deal with playing a new mmo

 

there's abnormal stuff that i will not deal with

 

and there's a customer service rep that said, "WEL MAYBE U WER DOIN 2 MANY LIGHT SABER MOVES, TRY NOT 2 DO SO MANY LIGHTSABER MOVES"

 

all of you pretending this problem doesn't exist are the stupidest people in the entire world

[IcyFisty]

This is really cool, I came to the forums and found this topic about an issue I have been experiencing, but hadn't decided was really a problem:

 

I am a new player to this form of MMO. I haven't played a single minute of WoW, Rift or any other MMO other than EVE: Online. I have a lvl 36 Marauder and have done plenty of PvP as well as gotten through Act I of the Sith Warrior class storyline. I've adjusted pretty well, have decent gear, do 'ok' but not by any means fantastic in PvP, and have generally been having fun playing this game.

 

But this topic makes me remember many a frustrating fight. First, it took me a while to adjust from the 'stand and mash butan' style of most NPC fights to the much more hectic PvP fighting. I had to adjust my key bindings several times to get a good enough setup to use my abilities. I died... alot... before I started to average over 100k damage and 3 medals a game. Even after all this learning and adjusting everything felt clunky. And once you experience the fast paced action of characters running arounc CC'ing you or trying to make you miss even a single ability cast going back to killing NPC's feels even more weird.

 

As a Sith Warrior the most blatantly obvious problem (that I as a newer MMO player noticed) is Force Scream. I mean, Scream takes all of a tenth of a second to cast but before I can cast another ability I have to wait for the timer to expire. It wasn't until now that I realised I should knock down a GC setting I didn't understand or know about, but I can tell that even if I take the global cooldown all the way to the minimum it will still feel weird to try a combination like force scream and ravage on top of one another. Meanwhile, while your character is 'self-stunned' for however brief a moment, someone stuns you and the guy arming the bomb or running with the ball runs away and scores before you can get off an immobilize of your own. It really is frustrating.

 

Thanks to the OP for putting into words something I experienced but didn't understand. Maybe the problem will get a little better now that I know to bring the GC down. But what really irks me is that the PvP in this game, even if you hate the whole idea of warzones, could be so much more fluid, so much more dynamic and interesting both visually and practically if this problem is resolved.

[Tinkersw]

I have followed and read the numorous posts on this subject.

As for me the simple yellow post by George has not

done really anything to help me think anything will or may be done here in the near future.

 

Xcore I commend you on this and all the others that have put thier time into

helping this game breaking problem of Ability Delay.

 

I had unistalled WOW like a year ago due to the fact I was just bored after playing for 5 plus years. I have tried many other MMOs none are able to compete with the combat as WOW. So today I will spend my day reinstalling.

 

What really pushed me over the edge was ...I had named a character Abilitydelay...I was testing on here and now she is gone ...yep just disappeared. I would like to mention I live alone and NO one other than myself plays this computer.

 

I unsubed and wish all of you the best with your game....SWTOR or whatever game you play. Have a great day.

 

Again great job Xcore!

[xianpu]

Hi there, been following this thread for a while now with trepidation... I hadn't really noticed it too much in the lower levels, but as I've started to PVP more and more this is becoming a game breaking problem for me. I haven't played another MMO for other a year so I'm not fresh out of WoW and comparing it to that...

 

I'm a healer and it's driving me insane. It's not a problem on my end, my FPS is fine and my latency is in double figures. There's not much I can say that hasn't been said on this thread already, but I wanted to add my voice to those who have noticed this issue.

[Owarida]

I have followed and read the numorous posts on this subject.

As for me the simple yellow post by George has not

done really anything to help me think anything will or may be done here in the near future.

 

Xcore I commend you on this and all the others that have put thier time into

helping this game breaking problem of Ability Delay.

 

I had unistalled WOW like a year ago due to the fact I was just bored after playing for 5 plus years. I have tried many other MMOs none are able to compete with the combat as WOW. So today I will spend my day reinstalling.

 

What really pushed me over the edge was ...I had named a character Abilitydelay...I was testing on here and now she is gone ...yep just disappeared. I would like to mention I live alone and NO one other than myself plays this computer.

 

I unsubed and wish all of you the best with your game....SWTOR or whatever game you play. Have a great day.

 

Again great job Xcore!

 

You have clearly offended BW. You are not allowed to talk badly about their game or make any mention of any kind about how crap the combat system is while in-game.

 

This violates the ToS Chapter H., Section ERP, article DE, clause RP1.0.