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

[Izorii]

I agree witht he OP (if I understand it). When I click an attack I need the attack to happen not to have my JC get a sack of rocks from his robes, put them on the floor then slowly summon up the power to throw thoese rocks at a droid. The biggest one I have noticed was with healing. Even after the insnaly long 3 second casting time he then creates the green healing orb and it moves over to the person needing healing, by which point they are dead.

I don't mind the .5 second global cool down just adds a bit of tatics into the game but the fact that even when I trigger and attack (or any ability) there is a delay of it working is the killer.

[jtype_sw]

Agreed 100%.

 

If this isn't fixed by the end of the free 30 days, I am not going to come back.

[lethal_ghost]

Agreed 100%.

 

If this isn't fixed by the end of the free 30 days, I am not going to come back.

 

i think im i the same boat ill get to 50 by the end of the 30 days and if BW have not said they are on it im gone

[Kakarris]

Don't really have anything to add. I support this thread.

[ShadowMasterRP]

I noticed right away that instant abilities were not instant at all.

 

And that's only compounded by various ability animation problems.

I've already had several cases where I performed a 3.0 second channeled ability animation only to end up not having actually performed the ability itself (didn't go on cooldown and I was able to use it right away afterwards).

 

They really overdid it with the various fancy animations for buffs and whatnot too. I like the way the animations look, but 99% of the time I don't have the time to see them: I use the ability and instantly start moving or attacking with some other abilities so the animation is lost anyway since it's so slow.

 

But aye, the delay itself is the biggest issue.

[Feskitt]

Would someone answer/confirm my post? Cause I'm not sure I'm getting many points raised in this thread.

 

I'm personally having no problem; not sure what I'm missing?

 

 

 

 

Hmmm... I'm a lvl 47 BH Merc.

 

 

So folks are saying that the animation is taking too long, that when you hit a key, it should instantly fire off (or start charging) whatever attack that key is bound to?

 

 

How would you have realistic animations under that scenario? People in the SW universe aren't that spastic. 'Cept maybe Han, shooting Greedo!

 

(also, if it effects all classes, isn't it 'balanced' in that regard?)

 

 

 

 

[anasa]

This is the only thread in the general forum trash that is actually valuable.

 

Combat clumsiness should be the #1 issue right now It must be fixed since it represents the skeleton for the rest of the game.

[Leilei]

I noticed right away that instant abilities were not instant at all.

 

And that's only compounded by various ability animation problems.

I've already had several cases where I performed a 3.0 second channeled ability animation only to end up not having actually performed the ability itself (didn't go on cooldown and I was able to use it right away afterwards).

 

They really overdid it with the various fancy animations for buffs and whatnot too. I like the way the animations look, but 99% of the time I don't have the time to see them: I use the ability and instantly start moving or attacking with some other abilities so the animation is lost anyway since it's so slow.

 

But aye, the delay itself is the biggest issue.

 

 

At least they didnt make it so you are rooted when an animation is taking place o.o

 

Edit : fes theres nothig wrong with your post just like theres nothing wrong withtheirs.

 

Youre like me and want to watch the animations in a realistic manner while they want theirs speedy like fps style games.

 

The main problem with your post is when people get tense and or rushy. When the calm is taken out and they really want that heal to go off now because teres a rancor running after him n stuff. At those kinds of points there starts to be a disconnect with the player and the animations. And the general timing.

 

If you were calm and ahead of the system youre fine. If you rush and pace yourself too quickly, 0.5 secs feels like an eternity. Base that on the fact that they liked wows fps like responses make it even harder toget used to.

 

On tje other hand if you bring in someone who plays monster hunter or other slower paced games, theyre right at home.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Leilei

[Eboo-Kauri]

was a big pvper in wow....absolutely hate what has become of wow and hate fan bois in general...however...wow got this aspect right.i love this game but i've had times as a healer where im spamming my next ability while im casting and it never triggers and uses my cd!!!!as a healer i cant just tunnel vision one person i have to be able to interact with the ui as seamlessly as possible...any button lag means an extra opportunity for someone to die in pvp. this is prolly my biggest issue right now because it affects everything in the game say maybe space combat

[Jebazel]

/signed

 

It seems to happen at certain times on all the servers I've played.

 

Volume must be playing a part.

 

HATE dying to the lag beast of no control...

 

[Leilei]

/signed

 

It seems to happen at certain times on all the servers I've played.

 

Volume must be playing a part.

 

HATE dying to the lag beast of no control...

 

 

Erm... Theyre not complaining about anything related to lag. Theyre complaining about how the effects are activated midway or at the end o the animations which mKes the game feel like it has a weird pace. O.o

 

And fes theres nothing wrong with that. Its merely a preference thing.

[Nightrode]

Erm... Theyre not complaining about anything related to lag. Theyre complaining about how the effects are activated midway or at the end o the animations which mKes the game feel like it has a weird pace. O.o

 

And fes theres nothing wrong with that. Its merely a preference thing.

 

You're only getting half the picture. That's only like 1/3 of the problem. Sometimes casted abilities will function without the cast bar appearing and vice-versa along with some abilities going on CD without the animations even happening. It's retarded.

[Putok]

Good post. This seems to primarily be an issue with abilities with cast times, or long animations. It almost seems like the engine times when abilities fire based on when the animation ends, rather than your inputs or the casting bar. It doesn't seem to be nearly as much of an issue with most melee abilities, and I can only assume that's why.

[Xcore]

Would someone answer/confirm my post? Cause I'm not sure I'm getting many points raised in this thread.

 

I'm personally having no problem; not sure what I'm missing?

 

I guess one of the simplest ways for me to explain it is, when you try to have a super tight rotation of abilities which include cast time followed instantly by instant ability then into casted ability etc...

 

at some point you'll have the bug happen, it'll just mess up, as in one of the abilities will trigger its CD but not the animation (or happen at all) or the ability will happen .5-1 second after its supposed to due to animation lag etc.

 

Its a bit hard to define but the point is that its not as "responsive", its not fast enough, when contrasted to WoW a solid quick and crisp rotation of abilities is just not smooth and in fact "stumbles" upon itself seemingly.

[Xcore]

Good post. This seems to primarily be an issue with abilities with cast times, or long animations. It almost seems like the engine times when abilities fire based on when the animation ends, rather than your inputs or the casting bar. It doesn't seem to be nearly as much of an issue with most melee abilities, and I can only assume that's why.

 

I noticed it on my Jedi Knight as well, especially with Riposte (Warrior's Revenge Ability) but I agree, casted abilities make it much more obvious.

 

I think it is most prevalent when you chain multiple abilities as efficiently as possible, as if you're basically going through a DPS rotation. Basically it seems like the engine or mechanics don't support "quick" playing and "spamming" of abilities... it appears to bug out.

[StormDragonlord]

Bioware, out with it already. I love this game and I will most likely hit 50 before the 30 free days are up. If they don't even acknowledge this exists then I'm gonna have to cancel and go back to Skyrim -.- please let this be a fixable bug..

[Nightrode]

Bioware, out with it already. I love this game and I will most likely hit 50 before the 30 free days are up. If they don't even acknowledge this exists then I'm gonna have to cancel and go back to Skyrim -.- please let this be a fixable bug..

 

I don't know which one is more bug-ridden?

[Leilei]

I guess one of the simplest ways for me to explain it is, when you try to have a super tight rotation of abilities which include cast time followed instantly by instant ability then into casted ability etc...

 

at some point you'll have the bug happen, it'll just mess up, as in one of the abilities will trigger its CD but not the animation (or happen at all) or the ability will happen .5-1 second after its supposed to due to animation lag etc.

 

Its a bit hard to define but the point is that its not as "responsive", its not fast enough, when contrasted to WoW a solid quick and crisp rotation of abilities is just not smooth and in fact "stumbles" upon itself seemingly.

 

If thats te problem then its a bug and will be ironed out soon. But from low level to aroubd 11 my rotation was charged shot + flurry of bolts and i ha no problems like youre describing.

 

Im at 4% bat but i will test it out more tomorrow to see if i can reproduce that myself.

I play a scrapper now though and my rotation is tight and never messes up

 

Edit: which class should i use to test out? Someone said its not so prevalent with melee so should i use a ranged jedi or gunslinger or somefing?

Edited December 26, 2011 by Leilei

[NonNom]

Agree with OP. So far love the game but combat responsiveness is going to be important for any type of end game group play.

 

+1

Edited December 26, 2011 by NonNom

[Seismax]

Youre like me and want to watch the animations in a realistic manner while they want theirs speedy like fps style games.

 

....

 

On tje other hand if you bring in someone who plays monster hunter or other slower paced games, theyre right at home.

 

I really don't worry myself over the animations one way or the other, the problem is that the GCD is actually tied to them for some inscrutable reason.

 

What I mean by this is that the GCD literally finishes and lights up your bar... but because of the current system will not always allow you to use your abilities.

 

Yes, if you're from monster hunter or w/e else and aren't caring about the cooldown, you just hit buttons when it's convenient then you most likely won't see a problem at all. That being said, they should have just thrown out the whole mechanic for GCDs if their intention was to design gameplay like that.

[iskxvx]

It is one of the most, if not the most important thing to have in any game. A smooth, responsive feeling engine. Sadly swtor lacks that and then some. Such a glaring oversight.

[TenderLobotomy]

Since I purchased the game the night before traveling for the holidays, I didn't get a chance to play yet. If what you're saying is what I think you're saying, I'm feeling a little disheartened about starting.

 

I'll try to explain what I think you're talking about, correct me if I'm wrong:

 

You hit button "1" to cast something that takes 2 seconds to cast. However, due to this issue, the target actually receives the damage or healing 2.5 or 3.0 seconds after you started casting (due to damage/healing not applying until a certain point in the animation). During that 0.5 or 1.0 second "extra time", your buddy who was being healed could be killed by the mob, or the boss you were fighting could have killed you, even though your heal/damage would have been enough to save/kill the target if it would have applied at the 2.0 second mark instead of the 2.5 second mark.

 

Sorry if this is confusing, but I am trying to understand. If this is the case, it's a game breaker for me. Coming from raiding in WoW, things need to happen very specifically and precisely as you activate them. Actions advertised as "this effect happens after 3 seconds of cast time" should never actually mean "this effect happens after 3.5 or 4.0 seconds of cast time."

[Ichimaruu]

Yeah totally agree, just thinking about how responsive WoW is compared to this game is kind of frustrating. Especially with taunting it makes a gi-freaking-normous difference

[Leilei]

Since I purchased the game the night before traveling for the holidays, I didn't get a chance to play yet. If what you're saying is what I think you're saying, I'm feeling a little disheartened about starting.

 

I'll try to explain what I think you're talking about, correct me if I'm wrong:

 

You hit button "1" to cast something that takes 2 seconds to cast. However, due to this issue, the target actually receives the damage or healing 2.5 or 3.0 seconds after you started casting (due to damage/healing not applying until a certain point in the animation). During that 0.5 or 1.0 second "extra time", your buddy who was being healed could be killed by the mob, or the boss you were fighting could have killed you, even though your heal/damage would have been enough to save/kill the target if it would have applied at the 2.0 second mark instead of the 2.5 second mark.

 

Sorry if this is confusing, but I am trying to understand. If this is the case, it's a game breaker for me. Coming from raiding in WoW, things need to happen very specifically and precisely as you activate them. Actions advertised as "this effect happens after 3 seconds of cast time" should never actually mean "this effect happens after 3.5 or 4.0 seconds of cast time."

 

its 0.5 delay at most from what ive seen.

No bat nkw

[Xcore]

Since I purchased the game the night before traveling for the holidays, I didn't get a chance to play yet. If what you're saying is what I think you're saying, I'm feeling a little disheartened about starting.

 

I'll try to explain what I think you're talking about, correct me if I'm wrong:

 

You hit button "1" to cast something that takes 2 seconds to cast. However, due to this issue, the target actually receives the damage or healing 2.5 or 3.0 seconds after you started casting (due to damage/healing not applying until a certain point in the animation). During that 0.5 or 1.0 second "extra time", your buddy who was being healed could be killed by the mob, or the boss you were fighting could have killed you, even though your heal/damage would have been enough to save/kill the target if it would have applied at the 2.0 second mark instead of the 2.5 second mark.

 

Sorry if this is confusing, but I am trying to understand. If this is the case, it's a game breaker for me. Coming from raiding in WoW, things need to happen very specifically and precisely as you activate them. Actions advertised as "this effect happens after 3 seconds of cast time" should never actually mean "this effect happens after 3.5 or 4.0 seconds of cast time."

 

First of all yes, coming from a raiding background I know exactly what you are asking and yes... the scenario and your fear is correct in that, this is what happens. However, having said that... you need to still try the game itself as it is very good in a lot of ways (Check my Review on the OP -- there is a link).

 

Secondly though and this is an even bigger issue imo, its not just that as you describe due to animation length the time from when you "hit" the button to when the ability actually takes effect on the target is delayed BUT --

 

Here is the important BUT: The whole thing is buggy/can bug itself out VERY easily if played at a "fast" pace and "twitchy" level as you would WoW.

 

For example a Rogue.... you stand behind your target and as your energy is ticking up slowly (not enough to use sinister strike yet!) you don't just stand there (though you can, its ok) waiting for the energy to get to 35 to use Sinister Strike... no... you SPAM Sinister Strike already so that the SPLIT second that it gets to 35, it happens.

 

This you cannot do in SW:TOR, perhaps you can do it once, perhaps it'll work for two abilities in a row... but more often than not it'll completely bug it all out in the sense that the ability will happen, no animation... or the ability will trigger its CD and use its resource (as if it happened) but it didn't happen... or it'll happen .5 sec or 1 sec late... etc.

 

 

So all in all, you should still try to play and hold out on a response from Bioware, perhaps this is indeed fixable but be ready for no fix or response as that is also possible if this is a Core Coding or Engine problem.