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

[pwnofarc]

I have been playing a gunslinger and what kills me is as soon as I hit the button to shot or throw grenade the mobs have already faced me and started shooting even before the shot or bomb is fired.

[Xund]

This is make/break for me and the people I play with as well. I hope it's not disregarded as a vocal minority. It really will kill the game.

 

/supported.

[hirath]

Signed. I cited the combat issue in my cancellation feedback. Hopefully this is addressed, and BW responds to these issues.

[aureliastarr]

Oh, I'd *love* to get a link to this.

 

A company that thinks like that clearly doesn't want my money.

 

Well don't go overboard. I think it was in reference to a catch 22 where either decision would lose subscribers and the basic point was that they get blinded by all the people with complaints that they don't see the really serious problems.

[fallenvirtues]

I'm playing a star wars game, I'm not in it for the realism. I want a tight combat system so that when I imput something, I get results. The GCD system in this game makes no sense if there's another cooldown happening at the same time, that being the animation sequence.

 

So because the grenade does damage upon impact rather then instantly, its not tight???

 

I do agree that animations need to finish right before or at the same time as the GCD...I dont see why its not like that but it should be fixed

[fallenvirtues]

First, can we debunk this "more realistic" ploy you're using to legitimize your claims? This is a GAME, not realistic at all.

 

Secondly, are you saying that I should be using interrupts pre-emptively? Say a full second, maybe even two before my enemy is even hitting that button himself?

 

We're not talking about the delay between when the ability was used and the damage/interrupt/ability effected, we're talking about the delay between when I press the button and my character actually takes the action.

 

You dont have a instant close range interupt?

[fallenvirtues]

To this I would say that the animation is starting too late then. If the grenade throw takes 1.5 seconds and the animation for the throw and hit is 1.5 second, then the animation should start right when I press the key. Otherwise BW should change the casting time value displayed, to equal cast time + animation completion.

 

I can agree with that...if they cut time in the front the attack animation, I think that would be better...I do agree the attack needs to start immediately and I dont see why BW cant fix that...But I dont find it game breaking with how my machine runs it..I dont get a long like *** is going on delay at all..I hit it and he starts the animation instantly

 

EDIT: It just doesnt instantly do dps until the animation carries out the impact

Edited December 28, 2011 by fallenvirtues

[Toweleeeie]

Has any devs commented on this yet?

[Talimar]

I have been playing a gunslinger and what kills me is as soon as I hit the button to shot or throw grenade the mobs have already faced me and started shooting even before the shot or bomb is fired.

 

This is annoying me too.

[tehmoose]

Has any devs commented on this yet?

 

No, and they're really not likely to.

 

Best we can really hope for is a twitter post from @Rockjaw saying that they're looking into it.

 

But that's even a longshot.

[Luewen]

People still whining about this crap?

 

First, the skill system here works exactly same way as in WoW or any other skill button smashing based MMO.

Ala next skill going off right when you click it if GCD or previous skill animation is done.

However, culprit here in swtor is the fact that instant cast skill animations are longer than animation so you have wait for it to end for next skill to work even if GCD is done.

Also there is a bug that some times channeled skill will start happening at middle of channeling bar. And yes , that is a bug not ability delay.

There are few ways to fix this.

 

1) Increase GCD so animations are done before GCD is done. This will slow down combat so bad way to fix it.

2)Cut down end of the animation so its exactly same as GCD. Damn impression breaking fix if you ask me.

3)Make all skills need cast time. Again very bad way to fix it.

4)Make animations occur faster. Will be silly looking but perhaps most realistic way to fix it.

5) Make the damage of skill occur right after clicking button. Damn silly to have damage go off before the projectile hits.

 

However, i have no problem of waiting 0.2 secs longer for animation to finish for next skill and every player has the issue so its not like it gives anyone advantage. ATM combat is very smooth and cool looking par the channeling bug happening from time to time.

 

So either get used to it or wait for some miracle fix coming at some point. Might have to wait for a bit however.

Edited December 28, 2011 by Luewen

[fallenvirtues]

This is annoying me too.

 

I can see that being annoying...They shouldnt start shooting you until they are hit first if you havent aggro'd them yet

Edited December 28, 2011 by fallenvirtues

[EasymodeX]

Off-GCD abilities tend to fail about 30% of the time. The worst case is when you try to use the ability for 4+ seconds and it still won't fire off.

[tehmoose]

ATM combat is very smooth and cool looking par the channeling bug happening from time to time.

 

I'd prefer functional and responsive to "cool looking" if I had the choice.

 

It doesn't matter how bad *** I look if I can't perform well in combat.

 

Remember Raiders of the Lost Ark?

 

That scene where sword dude steps out of the crowd and does this bad *** move with his sword being all cool looking and impressive?

 

Then Indy pulls out his gun and blows him away.

 

Sword dude looked cool. Indy is effective.

Edited December 28, 2011 by tehmoose

[Aldybaran]

Bumping for great justice

[Xcore]

People still whining about this crap?

 

Calling this very real problem with SW:TOR and MMO Development in general "whining" does not in fact make you look cool, rather it shows your complete lack of appreciation for a very real and serious issue.

[Olarid]

I doubt they will do anything honestly. Yes, I agree it's very annoying, but they have all ready mentioned that they spent a lot of time on the animations and they expect you to look at them.

[VicturusTeSaluto]

It is not Latency or FPS Lag

 

 

***?

 

lag is an issue of internet connectivity and not related to FPS.

 

Say "It is not latency or FPS"

 

"It is not latency or framerate"

 

"it is not lag or FPS" etc

[Xcore]

***?

 

lag is an issue of internet connectivity and not related to FPS.

 

Say "It is not latency or FPS"

 

"It is not latency or framerate"

 

"it is not lag or FPS" etc

 

Obviously the word and term Lag is meant in "slowing" not in the literal sense of FPS Net Connection Lag... FPS Lag = Frames per second slowdown... much like: "Hey, that fat kid is lagging behind the rest!"

 

 

Seriously man...

[LuciusLancer]

I'd prefer functional and responsive to "cool looking" if I had the choice.

 

It doesn't matter how bad *** I look if I can't perform well in combat.

 

Remember Raiders of the Lost Ark?

 

That scene where sword dude steps out of the crowd and does this bad *** move with his sword being all cool looking and impressive?

 

Then Indy pulls out his gun and blows him away.

 

Sword dude looked cool. Indy is effective.

 

 

This.

[Squirtile]

This needs fixing ASAP. I can't bring myself to PvP while it's this unresponsive (and I love PvPing in this game)

[fitterbr]

Support this thread 100%. Can't believe they put resources into combat animations... having lightsabers connect in battles yet ability responsiveness was not a priority...

 

Great my combat looks cool for the first 5 minutes of game play then after that who cares... I'd rather have proper control of my character.

[Bossalinie]

I'd prefer functional and responsive to "cool looking" if I had the choice.

 

It doesn't matter how bad *** I look if I can't perform well in combat.

 

Remember Raiders of the Lost Ark?

 

That scene where sword dude steps out of the crowd and does this bad *** move with his sword being all cool looking and impressive?

 

Then Indy pulls out his gun and blows him away.

 

Sword dude looked cool. Indy is effective.

 

Ahh, but in this game, Indy would pull the trigger multiple times with no results, only to blow when he looks at it to inspect the malfunction

[hulduet]

We're not talking about the delay between when the ability was used and the damage/interrupt/ability effected, we're talking about the delay between when I press the button and my character actually takes the action.

 

What he said. Nobody is complaining about the time it takes for the grenade to fly in the air. Like he said above, i'm concerned about the time from when you press the ability key on the keyboard until it actually performs that ability. For me it's about ~0.5 seconds delay. My character does *nothing* during those 0.5 seconds.

 

Let me put it like this, i see a monster on the road, i target it and "attack", well, before i actually engage in combat(0.5 seconds delay) someone else can come along and hit the mob before i even fire my shot! That's how bad it is. I sit and wait for my ability to actually trigger while some other guy has already engaged in combat and hit the mob. I see this all the time... Before someone goes on about latency... i have 30-50ms. Unless the latency meter is broken in the game, something is very wrong.

 

At first i thought it was my fps, but after reading this thread that does not seem to be the case. My regular "skills" such as walking around and jumping happen instantly, but that's mostly likely because they're client side. Something happens between me and the server causing a ~0.5 seconds delay. Maybe it's the server but if that was the case everyone would have this problem, right? Maybe some people are just used to it and don't even notice it. But how can you not notice it, it's so obvious that something just isn't right!

 

Imagine playing a normal game and every time you do something there is a ~0.5 seconds delay in that action. How fun would that be.

[AmundS]

This is a serious issue and should be given priority by Bioware.