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

[Jira]

i can tell you this, when im playing my marauder i got like 0 lag on any ability works perfect. while playing my sith inq. i cant say that im rly happy just becouse it goes like this for example i have my shock bound to E, if i press E twice sometimes my spell wont work but the it will use a GCD.

Never had that. My Sorc is at 50 and I've never seen what you've described with shock.

OT: I'm well inclined to believe that people have issues, but I really can't see it. Neither ingame nor in the posted Videos - some animations start late, but damage/gcd/cd wise it all seems pretty much correct on my Sorc and my BH.

[Mynta]

I agree, there have been several situations where my interupt has failed to go off even when the cast bar was still up because my character had not 'finished' a previous ability animation.

This needs to be fixed for the raiding to come, not only that but I think this is a huge issue for PvP scenarios as well...

[Dammagia]

Play a Jedi Knight and use master strike. This ability more than any other highlights this problem massively.

It is there and I don't know why people are denying it. People want the game to do well and succeed, so I don't understand why people are so opposed to criticism. It certainly is a major problem with the game and will become more apparent as people get into PvP or raid encounters become more complicated.

Ack master strike is so annoying, you either chop it short by hitting your next command, or sit the waiting for the animation to end before you can hit the next command, it is almost agonising, I 100% agree with what you are saying.

[Smitzelplix]

Never had that. My Sorc is at 50 and I've never seen what you've described with shock.

OT: I'm well inclined to believe that people have issues, but I really can't see it. Neither ingame nor in the posted Videos - some animations start late, but damage/gcd/cd wise it all seems pretty much correct on my Sorc and my BH.

I agree there might be an issue but I don't think everyone is actually noticing it. With that being said it might be really hard for Bioware to fix this issue since not everyone is experiencing the same issues. If there is something that does indeed need to be fixed for these people that are noticing these supposed ability delays (which I'm still not seeing), then hopefully Bioware can fix it or at least make it better.

[Dundebuns]

I've felt this several times on both my assassin and bounty hunter. It's a really odd thing to leave in, and I really hope they take it out. The last thing I want is to feel like my character is not doing what I am telling him to.

[Surge]

I've commented on this before, and I agree with the OP that this ability delay is a problem, and it makes the game feel very unpolished. It does seem to affect commandos a great deal, but I hardly notice it until I get into a warzone. Then, it becomes terribly apparent.

Another way to experience this is to start "casting" your mount. If you move after your cast bar has completed, right as your mount animation begins, you will dismount. It takes about 0.5 seconds after your mount cast time has completed before you can move without being dismounted.

To those who deny this type of ability delay exists, I think probably 1) you have not played many warzones, 2) perhaps your play a class or use mostly abilities that aren't affected as much or 3) you really don't know what tight controls and responsiveness should feel like.

OP has a point in bringing up the issue, I just don't think it's as apocalyptic as he makes it out to be. Nonetheless, either make the abilities perform more smoothly in relation to their cast times and graphics or add the delay into their cast time so that the abilities are more accurately represented. A grav round in a warzone is NOT a 1.5 second cast. It's a 1.5 second cast followed by a 0.3 second delay before another grav round can be started.

[kynthrus]

It's fps or lag.

[ChrisKoe]

There are a couple of related bugs.
On my Merc, I sometimes use Unload and it even shows the castbar, but the skill itself isn't triggered (i.e. doesn't do any damage), neither is its cooldown.
Pretty annoying...

[Hellfury]

This is more annoying in Warzones for some reason, in Flashpoints and world questing I dont have that much probs

[Devolution]

It's fps or lag.

It's really not, nice try though.

On a more serious note, I'm gonna be playing with video recording when I get the chance tonight. I'll try to pinpoint a good example of the abilities not activating. Of course, now it's going to run perfectly since it knows I'm watching it.

[Deleted]

I think that there may be two separate issues. There is the way animations, abilities and the GCD interact with each other that is different from games like WoW. I can understand disliking that. The other issue, and the one I have problems with, is the total lagfest that can occur in warzones. I don't know how else to describe it. Perhaps it IS the first issue put into a competitive, fast-paced scene but it is certainly not good. Playing a Gunslinger, Cover is very important. There are times where I press cover but don't do it until a second afterwards. It is very frustrating.

I used to have that problem, then I bought a new graphic card and everything is a-ok

[Rooflesstoofless]

It's fps or lag.

Exactly this. I don't have any of the issues you are talking about unless I am seeing 100ms+ latency. By 150 its choppy and weird and the few times its gone above 190 it makes me rage a little inside.

[ChrisKoe]

Exactly this.

No, it's exactly not this.

I'm experiencing similar issues with stable ~30ms latency.

[DaGhostDS]

Set ability queue to 0.0
problem fixed!

Had the issues you described when i started playing than i set it to 0.0 everything was fine after.

[aekya]

I see what you mean but you are wrong man, the game is fluid, as much as wow, arguably more so since you can adjust the time before cast ends that you can queue your next spell.

The thing you are referring to is ability travel time NOT sluggishness or lack of fluidity, i noticed that when i switched from sith inquisitor to jedi counselor (this does make a difference though since it might allow for a heal to land before a killing blow but then again stop whinning and adapt to the game, but back on topic)

I will use WoW spell names and use mirror classes as to make it less confusing as possible, they represent the class of spells, instant cast, cast time spell etc. using the same spell names as the first video you linked:

On a sith sorcerer (mage): cast frostbolt while switching target and spam icelance, both land at same time, the inquisitor icelance is a lightning spell, instant travel.

On a jedi sage (mage): Cast frostboolt while switching target and spam icelance, icelance will land after roughly half a second or a second, it is NOT a instant travel spell (though it is instant cast). the spell consists of the jedi lifting a piece of rock and throwing it at the target, this animation is a tiny tad shorter than global cooldown so it doesnt affect gameplay.


The game is very fluid, this kind of complain shows someone who looks at the game but compares it to others and assuming that an instant cast has to land instantly.
Should the instant cast have instant travel? maybe... i dont mind it at all as it is, had to learn to use it.

Skills land just fine, queue just fine and are fluid, even with lag (again, since you can queue skills and also adjust when you can queue them)

Edit: and i just realized i missed the point, was more of a responce to the video than your thread

[-aiko-]

I used to have that problem, then I bought a new graphic card and everything is a-ok

I play with a GTX 580, and the game runs smoothly in everything but warzones. I doubt it's a hardware issue.

[Gothicshark]

The difference is when the ability is calculated. in WOW it calculates at the end of the Animation. In SWTOR it calculates before the Animation.
The advantage for precalculation is if there is any lag or latency issues the ability will still go off, with WOW you get loot lag often because it calculates after the animation so if something goes wrong the ability doesn't happen, and you get stuck in the animation. think of it like this.

WOW
Keystroke (show damage, loot, stealth ect..)-> Start Animation Send instruction to Server. Server calculates event sends command to client to run. End animation.

SWTOR
Keystrock (show damage, loot, stealth ect..)->Send to server, server calculates event sends command to client to run, Start animation and end Animation.

I may seem in some cases a bit odd if you are use to how WOW does this, but the advantage avoids some major issues WOW had. Remember the gold farmers using level ones to spell out web sites? This was because they had custom clients which sent impossible location data to the server, and the server was forced to agree. Because the client does not tell the server where you are you can not force the server to do improper events ie Spell WWW .Lame-ass-goldfarmer. com with level one Orcs. The reason however why you are not crying about Rubber banding which is the down side of this system is simple the server checks with you client to see where you tried to go before forcing you into a location, and if the Client losses connection to the Server you just stop going forward.

[Ausr]

It constantly reminded me of Warhammer's ability lag. Course, this game did have the Mythic team working on it.

[yazu777]

makes the game totally unplayable i heard.

[Crusch]

Noticing this mainly on my Inquisitor, mostly when ''spamming'' a spell with casting time. For example, when a tank is at low health and I'm using Dark Heal/Dark Infusion in rapid succession it seems like it sometimes either doesn't cast or the gcd goes off without any effect.

Checked my ability queue and it was set to 0.5, going to test it now with it turned off.