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

[pyradius]

This is a pretty huge issue for PvPers. As a former WoW player I wholeheartedly agree with the OP. Trying to do things like interrupt a cast at the last moment become essentially impossible. As a healer who has to do everything to try and stay alive or keep someone else alive, it can be extremely difficult with this sluggish response.

[Jagerinho]

So basically either; Speed up the animation so it beats the GCD or let the GCD take precedence over the animations (meaning animations cut off)

[Xcore]

I've made about 30 to 40 posts in this thread since round 1...I know whats going on and I have certain problems myself and I completely support the OP...

 

What I'm tellin you is there is multiple factors here...How can me and another get off interrupts with no problems but no one else can???

 

So let me say this again...I know the ability delay IS A REAL PROBLEM BUT, there has to be more then just that effecting some of you since some peoples problems seem to be way worse then others....geez

 

Fallen is one of the best contributers to understanding this issue... just need to point that out, whether agreeing with him or not, he is genuine and brings up serious points

 

I would like to add that "interrupt" for one person means something else for amother. I mean when a Pro Gamer says "interrupt" he means "instant", without the Interrupted spell getting one tick off etc. When a more casual person says interrupt they mean, "yea, I can get it" ... even if It gets halfway...

 

From my perspective, I can interrupt... but nowhere nearly as "twitch" and "clutch" or reliable as in WoW.

[Putok]

Sadly it was beacuse of the game engine, that is not something u cant just tinker with and make things "run smoothly", even more sad thing is this is probablt also the case with SWTOR. We can only trust BW can come up with some sort of solution

 

If Blizzard could come up with an engine a decade ago that could perform so well, it'd astonish me of Bioware (likely with a larger budget, and more developers) couldn't do the same now. I tend to think there's something else going on.

[Jagerinho]

I really doubt its an engine limitation (proof anyone?).

 

From what I remember Bioware did put a lot of work into making things like saber clashes possible, which in turn could affect timings and stuff. that's possibly why theres a delay in melee actions.

[Nemmar]

Still nothing back from BW other then "looking into it".

 

I'm getting worried for this game. The pots are getting ugly and this problem is being mentioned a lot.

 

I want ths game to succeed.

 

Please understand that changing code isnt as simple as flipping a swtch and contrary to the exagerations some people make here, the game is not unplayable.

 

A complete patch for this issue is gonna take at least 2-3 weeks, so be patient and realistic.

[devices]

In wow: Summon mount, 0.1 second before cast is done start walking (latency) with speed of mount, mount appears underneath you 0.1 sec later

 

In swtor: Summon mount, finish whole cast, start walking (with mount already under me), dismount

[samdbtto]

Please understand that changing code isnt as simple as flipping a swtch and contrary to the exagerations some people make here, the game is not unplayable.

 

A complete patch for this issue is gonna take at least 2-3 weeks, so be patient and realistic.

 

Yeah figure that will give me time to hit 50, since i'm doing it slowly, then i'll make decision on to keep playing.

[Jedi_Wannabe]

In wow: Summon mount, 0.1 second before cast is done start walking (latency) with speed of mount, mount appears underneath you 0.1 sec later

 

In swtor: Summon mount, finish whole cast, start walking (with mount already under me), dismount

 

I know, right.

 

I'M ALREADY ON THE MOUNT!!!!

[Mackuss]

The thing you don't understand is that

 

1) All the examples like "Riposte issue", "Mount Issue", "Bolts -> Granade Issue", "Trinket -> Cover -> Knockback Issue" all are the same problem or derived from the same problem. There is a reason WoW has "NONE" of these and SW:TOR has "ALL" of these. The reason being that these are multiple issues coming from the core combat design/coding w/e.

 

2) Just because "YOU" cannot experience/see/recreate/understand what people are going on about here, that DOES NOT mean in any way, shape or form that the discussed issues are incorrect or non-existant. You need to get this out of your head that you are "right", I am sorry to say it so simply and bluntly.

 

There may be a number of factors as to why you cannot see/experience/recreate the discussed issues. Possibly you're slower, your reaction time is slower, you're a contrarian, you're blinded by the love or hatred for one company/game/type of player etc. These are all valid possibilities.

 

 

We've had a Professional Gamer analyze it and identify it, we've had casual gamers analyze it and identify it, we've had people who didn't know it existed see this thread and understand it. I urge you to reconsider your position for the sake of this game. Currently what you and others who are "still" somehow arguing against these facts are doing is confusing those who don't fully understand this subject.

 

After the staggering amount of support this has garnered over three threads, there is a problem and realizing that this is an over-arching problem that ALL players share (only some perceive better than others) and ALL abilities are affected by (only some showcase and others are fine) is the first step to solving it.

 

 

Once again, I point out -- you can only list "specific" examples and "videos" to prove there "is" an issue. However, the issue is not persistent to those abilities only -- Its a Core Combat Design issue, every ability (even the ones that work perfectly) share the same problem, its just "masked" naturally due to the animation/effect w/e etc.

 

Brilliant post.

[devices]

I know, right.

 

I'M ALREADY ON THE MOUNT!!!!

You have no idea how much it annoys me

[Killakella]

Fully agree with the OP. The game is truly awesome, however it needs some refining. Please make combat more responsive...gamers want when they click a button something to happen immediately....thank you

[Astronium]

"So anyway, here I am playing a WoW clone, stunned by the door. I trinket(I am not going to call it Tenacity because it is a blatant rip off of World of Warcraft and it hasn't established a real name for itself.) Nothing happens. Nothing happens for almost an entire global. I am spamming Concussion Charge. At this point I have only casted Tenacity, which does not use my global and I have waited for 1.5 seconds. Finally, the game registers that I have casted my PvP trinket, takes the cooldown 2 seconds late, frees me from my CC and allows my Concussion Charge spam to activate the ability except I get knocked back, the UI tells me my instant cast ability was interrupted and my Resolve bar has already decayed to 75%."

 

 

And yet my CC breaker triggers instantly?... The only ability I got any kind of delay on are mortar volley, full auto(dont use this btw) and ion pulse, but thats cus the animations are misplaced to the activation time, this should be fixed asap because its not like the others.

 

Ion pulse needs to activate like project or shock does, not 0.5 seconds after you click cus your trooper needs to take a wierd stance before the dmg is done, dmg needs to be instantly started after clicking, skip the animation requirements, make the dmg pop before the animation for all I care, but it needs to be instant, not following a long and un-needed animation, I cant play jediknight because there is no smoothness between their strikes, and if the dmg atleast was registered I wouldnt care, but it isnt.

[Zeetofox]

With combat in its current state i think it's impractical for any competitive PvP to take place. I came to this game from WoW being a 2800 player wanting a change of scenery. The slow responsiveness in combat is going to drive away a lot of people who came to the game for PvP. Of course it wont just run PvP players away it will run off the raiders. Which really leaves the game with a bunch of casual players who like to quest and make alts. Please fix this.

[Astronium]

With combat in its current state i think it's impractical for any competitive PvP to take place. I came to this game from WoW being a 2800 player wanting a change of scenery. The slow responsiveness in combat is going to drive away a lot of people who came to the game for PvP. Of course it wont just run PvP players away it will run off the raiders. Which really leaves the game with a bunch of casual players who like to quest and make alts. Please fix this.

 

You cant expect a good competative pvp scene barely 2 weeks into offical release... just saying.

[Zeetofox]

You cant expect a good competative pvp scene barely 2 weeks into offical release... just saying.

 

I suppose the word competitive is relative, to me any PvP world, warzone, arena, etc. is competitive because PvP is all i play MMORPG's for. With that said it's the only thing about this game that i truly dislike. Other then this single yet important problem this game is great.

Edited January 1, 2012 by Zeetofox

[samdbtto]

I suppose the word competitive is relative, to me any PvP world, warzone, arena, etc. is competitive. With that said it's the only thing about this game that i truly dislike. Other then this single yet important problem this game is great.

 

No but you need to show you have the foundation to do so.

[Rathimis]

I reported this repeatedly in early beta. I quit playing beta due to this. I'm really sorry to see that it wasn't fixed.

 

If gameplay really was number one, it would have been fixed by now.

 

I really hope I can get to lvl 50 by Jan 20th

[Zeetofox]

No but you need to show you have the foundation to do so.

Exactly my point, if they cant show they have the ability to build a good PvP foundation i see no reason for myself to play this game. I of course am willing to give them a chance and give them time to fix this before i jump the gun and rage quit the game. Although with all the years they spent developing the game and the beta testing you'd think this would be priority number one...if only a cut scene would fix this it'd be done.

[Kerbs]

This issue will only become more pronounced as more guilds start ops, there is a definitely a correlation between these ability delays and when there's more action around the player.

 

I still notice it when soloing but FP's show the issue more. It is so infuriating when you try and ability and it just sticks or takes eternity to do what it should have done when pressed.

 

If these issues get resolved I think this sis a great platform for the game to flourish.

[Light_Valkyrie]

I reported this repeatedly in early beta. I quit playing beta due to this. I'm really sorry to see that it wasn't fixed.

 

If gameplay really was number one, it would have been fixed by now.

 

I really hope I can get to lvl 50 by Jan 20th

 

I'm 49 and let me say that playing a caster is godawful painful, but my melee character is like a steaming pile. Coming from playing Melee dps from the last mmo (WoW)...I can't even dps correctly with this crap, abilities not firing, mindlessly spamming the hotkey for it to go off. Just awful.

[spamthachb]

Unlike a lot of the other whining, non-issue complaint threads out there, this is an actual and definite problem in the game and I just thought I'd post in this thread too in hopes of a timely response from the devs.

 

I have played WoW for a number of years (spaced apart) in vanilla, TBC, and WotLK with some raiding experience but I definitely am not a hardcore player. When it comes to PVP, I'd say that I'm more on the side of awful than casual with my incredibly slow reaction times. That being said, the ability delay is undeniably there and truly mucks up the combat experience.

 

For a long time, I didn't even know exactly what was wrong and had no way to label what I noticed was occurring. I read somewhere that Riposte is a key ability for Jedi Guardian tanks and that I should use it every chance I get. But when I tried putting this advice into use, I kept noticing that despite pressing the keybind for the ability, nothing happened. At first, I placed the blame on myself and assumed that I never had the proper amount of Focus in the first place to use it. But as I continued to use it while purposely taking extra steps to ensure that I had extra Focus, there would still be so many times where I would need to button mash the key before the actual ability went off.

 

While Riposte is the ability that I noticed this delay the most, I can say for certain that other abilities (not exactly sure which) still feel sluggish. As a Jedi Guardian tank I know that my DPS is going to be lacking, but it's to the point where I feel like my companion is crucial to clearing these groups of mobs. That issue with targeting certainly does not help with that sluggish combat feeling... but I guess that's an issue for another thread.

 

While PVPers will certainly feel this delay keenly, I can see it as a PVE problem too. Since I haven't gotten that far in the game I can't say this from experience, but I can see this being a problem for my threat generation. Unless abilities go off when they're supposed to, it's not hard to imagine how that will cause a wipe when I can't keep aggro. While I am most likely a bad tank (this is my first time playing one), I'd rather not get extra hate for a wipe that isn't entirely my fault...

 

Is this a game breaking issue? I'm not sure. I certainly will keep on playing for the moment since I am enjoying many aspects of the game (while acknowledging it's far from perfect). I certainly hope that this issue as well as other valid concerns about the game are addressed ASAP. I guess I'm on the forgiving and optimistic side but I'm not so sure how long my PVP loving friends will endure the problems... and if they leave it makes it that much harder and less likely for me to stay...

[Zeetofox]

This is a game breaking issue due to the fact that a large amount of skilled competitive PvP players came from WoW and possibly other mmo's to play SWTOR. I came to this game from WoW because i was getting bored of it (I had played WoW on and off for 6 years) but if this issue doesn't get fixed or even taken seriously for that matter, ill go back to WoW.

[Arkimor]

Please understand that changing code isnt as simple as flipping a swtch and contrary to the exagerations some people make here, the game is not unplayable.

 

A complete patch for this issue is gonna take at least 2-3 weeks, so be patient and realistic.

 

If all you want to do is level, yes, you're right it's not unplayable.

 

If you want to PvP and have any desire to win or put up a fight....no, it's not playable.

[Zeetofox]

If all you want to do is level, yes, you're right it's not unplayable.

 

If you want to PvP and have any desire to win or put up a fight....no, it's not playable.

 

Well...the way you're making it sound is that you're at a huge disadvantage in PvP. I couldn't go as far to say that PvP is not playable. Keep in mind that the other player isn't avoiding the problem either, but yeah it is very annoying in PvP no matter who you are and needs fixed.