Animation Canceling - My point of view and reflection on the subject

Betahkiin

Xerton wrote: »

Betahkiin wrote: »

not how to alter them or modify them for their benefit over others.

But isn't THAT skill? It's not like every skill in this game can be canceled the same way. You have to wait for a certain point in it's animation or you WILL actually completely deny its effect.
And some skills can't be canceled at all. One has to know and have the skill to use these things to his/her advandtage. Otherwise we just all press buttons every 1-4 seconds and hope the other one forgets to do so.
This way you have to think and react fast

From the point of view of its execution if, I agree, it requires mental ability and an outstanding synchronization to be 100% effective, but I do not consider that modifying the way in which the skills of a game are executed is a skill as a player, For me the real skill is born from the moment that a player can stand out over others through an efficient use of basic skills without being altered.

The correct execution of a standardized system that offers the same advantages in each one of its individual uses.

A skill generates x% damage and its execution takes xseconds for all players, now let's see who makes the most efficient and intelligent use, that is for me the perfect scenario to define the real skill of a player.

Johngo0036

Derra thanks for clarification,

Maybe it is that more people are using it now,

I don't want AC removed from the game,

Ermiq

Xerton wrote: »

Betahkiin wrote: »

not how to alter them or modify them for their benefit over others.

But isn't THAT skill? It's not like every skill in this game can be canceled the same way. You have to wait for a certain point in it's animation or you WILL actually completely deny its effect.
And some skills can't be canceled at all. One has to know and have the skill to use these things to his/her advandtage. Otherwise we just all press buttons every 1-4 seconds and hope the other one forgets to do so.
This way you have to think and react fast

No doubt, THAT is skill. That is not a game skill, but it is an exploiting skill. And MMO game with officially allowed exploiting is very frustrating to me. ZoS admitted their impotence when they let AC stay as it is.

Xerton

Eremith wrote: »

Xerton wrote: »

Betahkiin wrote: »

not how to alter them or modify them for their benefit over others.

But isn't THAT skill? It's not like every skill in this game can be canceled the same way. You have to wait for a certain point in it's animation or you WILL actually completely deny its effect.
And some skills can't be canceled at all. One has to know and have the skill to use these things to his/her advandtage. Otherwise we just all press buttons every 1-4 seconds and hope the other one forgets to do so.
This way you have to think and react fast

No doubt, THAT is skill. That is not a game skill, but it is an exploiting skill. And MMO game with officially allowed exploiting is very frustrating to me. ZoS admitted their impotence when they let AC stay as it is.

Go home. You are drunk

Betahkiin

xblackroxe wrote: »

Betahkiin wrote: »

Derra wrote: »

Please not this again.

If you´re unable to press two buttons every second to execute light attack + skill this game just isn´t for you.

I do however agree that animations should be sped up to make animation canceling no longer a necessity. Just let us *** use lightattack + skill without canceling it.

There is no need to disqualify to prove a point of view.

On the other hand and by way of example, I am going to present a situation that reflects what is happening.

If I have a sweet roll and a pitcher of ice cold beer, I usually try one, then the other, and so on. Of course, I can get in my mouth all together and gain time doing it, but it is something unpleasant and unsatisfactory.

Someone can sit next to me and do it telling me that I do not have the capacity to do it, but the truth is that it is not that I can not but that it is unpleasant to have to do it, does not feel normal, it takes away all the grace and force me to focus only on the final result, to have a full stomach in less time.

Ok and bc you don't like it it should be removed?

And because you like it then you should be stay?

Different tastes, different opinions.

I respect your position and although I do not share it I understand it and not because I think differently I have the authority to say that you are wrong.

You express what is the way you like to play the game, I express mine.

We both have the right to do it because we are part of the same community and we use the same game.

I prefer a game where each skill is respected in its integrity and not one that forces me to push them one on top of the other by canceling and cutting them for personal gain.

Block or interrupt an enemy as a form of strategy with its consequences in my rotation, perfect.

Block or interrupt the air in a crazed way to achieve performance?

No, it is not something that I can find a logic more than that of focusing on numbers and I do not want to do it, I want to achieve a good performance without detracting from the rest of the content.

Zyrudin

Betahkiin wrote: »

From the point of view of its execution if, I agree, it requires mental ability and an outstanding synchronization to be 100% effective, but I do not consider that modifying the way in which the skills of a game are executed is a skill as a player, For me the real skill is born from the moment that a player can stand out over others through an efficient use of basic skills without being altered.

The correct execution of a standardized system that offers the same advantages in each one of its individual uses.

A skill generates x% damage and its execution takes xseconds for all players, now let's see who makes the most efficient and intelligent use, that is for me the perfect scenario to define the real skill of a player.

Pretending to be fouled in a football (soccer) match also takes skill. It is, nevertheless, still an exploit as it tries to fool the referee into giving an unfair advantage.

Xerton

Zyrudin wrote: »

Betahkiin wrote: »

From the point of view of its execution if, I agree, it requires mental ability and an outstanding synchronization to be 100% effective, but I do not consider that modifying the way in which the skills of a game are executed is a skill as a player, For me the real skill is born from the moment that a player can stand out over others through an efficient use of basic skills without being altered.

The correct execution of a standardized system that offers the same advantages in each one of its individual uses.

A skill generates x% damage and its execution takes xseconds for all players, now let's see who makes the most efficient and intelligent use, that is for me the perfect scenario to define the real skill of a player.

Pretending to be fouled in a football (soccer) match also takes skill. It is, nevertheless, still an exploit as it tries to fool the referee into giving an unfair advantage.

With the big difference that, while FIFA did not intend this would be possible, they don't allow it and don't want us to use it.

Hammy01

In my opinion AC is fine if used for defensive purposes. However AC should never be allowed to completely hide outgoing damage. If someone needs to animation cancel a skill then they should not receive the benefits of the skill they animation canceled.

Try to imagine NPC's (especially Bosses) AC'ing all outgoing damage. How many players do you think would complain about being instantly killed over and over again because there are no visual cues indicating outgoing damage is coming their way?

Anyways the way I look at it.. any game that relies on visual cues to avoid incoming damage should not have mechanics in place (IE animation canceling) to completely hide said visual cues. Some players are so skilled at this that the only thing you might see is a slight twitch in their character before you are dead on the ground.

PS. This is just my opinion on the subject, some may agree with me and others may disagree!

Betahkiin

Xerton wrote: »

Zyrudin wrote: »

Betahkiin wrote: »

From the point of view of its execution if, I agree, it requires mental ability and an outstanding synchronization to be 100% effective, but I do not consider that modifying the way in which the skills of a game are executed is a skill as a player, For me the real skill is born from the moment that a player can stand out over others through an efficient use of basic skills without being altered.

The correct execution of a standardized system that offers the same advantages in each one of its individual uses.

A skill generates x% damage and its execution takes xseconds for all players, now let's see who makes the most efficient and intelligent use, that is for me the perfect scenario to define the real skill of a player.

Pretending to be fouled in a football (soccer) match also takes skill. It is, nevertheless, still an exploit as it tries to fool the referee into giving an unfair advantage.

With the big difference that, while FIFA did not intend this would be possible, they don't allow it and don't want us to use it.

I am sure that if FIFA had to invest a lot of time and money in making this avoidable they would have given an official announcement saying that it is correct to do it, that it requires skill and that it gives another layer of difficulty to the game making it more interesting ... .

Betahkiin

Hammy01 wrote: »

In my opinion AC is fine if used for defensive purposes. However AC should never be allowed to completely hide outgoing damage. If someone needs to animation cancel a skill then they should not receive the benefits of the skill they animation canceled.

Try to imagine NPC's (especially Bosses) AC'ing all outgoing damage. How many players do you think would complain about being instantly killed over and over again because there are no visual cues indicating outgoing damage is coming their way?

Anyways the way I look at it.. any game that relies on visual cues to avoid incoming damage should not have mechanics in place (IE animation canceling) to completely hide said visual cues. Some players are so skilled at this that the only thing you might see is a slight twitch in their character before you are dead on the ground.

PS. This is just my opinion on the subject, some may agree with me and others may disagree!

Totally agree.

A very clear example that each skill must be fully and clearly executed.

From happening as you mention with a dungeon Boss I am sure that all would run to tell the developers that the Boss is broken, that does not respect its mechanics and that goes against the integrity of the game.

Malmai

AC is lazy and promotes no punishment if there would be no AC it would be harder and players would have to invest more brains instead of just blocking while spamming 5 different skils.

xblackroxe

Betahkiin wrote: »

xblackroxe wrote: »

Betahkiin wrote: »

Derra wrote: »

Please not this again.

If you´re unable to press two buttons every second to execute light attack + skill this game just isn´t for you.

I do however agree that animations should be sped up to make animation canceling no longer a necessity. Just let us *** use lightattack + skill without canceling it.

There is no need to disqualify to prove a point of view.

On the other hand and by way of example, I am going to present a situation that reflects what is happening.

If I have a sweet roll and a pitcher of ice cold beer, I usually try one, then the other, and so on. Of course, I can get in my mouth all together and gain time doing it, but it is something unpleasant and unsatisfactory.

Someone can sit next to me and do it telling me that I do not have the capacity to do it, but the truth is that it is not that I can not but that it is unpleasant to have to do it, does not feel normal, it takes away all the grace and force me to focus only on the final result, to have a full stomach in less time.

Ok and bc you don't like it it should be removed?

And because you like it then you should be stay?

Different tastes, different opinions.

I respect your position and although I do not share it I understand it and not because I think differently I have the authority to say that you are wrong.

You express what is the way you like to play the game, I express mine.

We both have the right to do it because we are part of the same community and we use the same game.

I prefer a game where each skill is respected in its integrity and not one that forces me to push them one on top of the other by canceling and cutting them for personal gain.

Block or interrupt an enemy as a form of strategy with its consequences in my rotation, perfect.

Block or interrupt the air in a crazed way to achieve performance?

No, it is not something that I can find a logic more than that of focusing on numbers and I do not want to do it, I want to achieve a good performance without detracting from the rest of the content.

My argument never was it should stay bc i like AC. I tried to show how ridiculous your statement was. Wether you like AC or not is no argument to be made respectively.
I never even made a clear position where i stand on ACing.

Ermiq

Xerton wrote: »

Eremith wrote: »

Xerton wrote: »

Betahkiin wrote: »

not how to alter them or modify them for their benefit over others.

But isn't THAT skill? It's not like every skill in this game can be canceled the same way. You have to wait for a certain point in it's animation or you WILL actually completely deny its effect.
And some skills can't be canceled at all. One has to know and have the skill to use these things to his/her advandtage. Otherwise we just all press buttons every 1-4 seconds and hope the other one forgets to do so.
This way you have to think and react fast

No doubt, THAT is skill. That is not a game skill, but it is an exploiting skill. And MMO game with officially allowed exploiting is very frustrating to me. ZoS admitted their impotence when they let AC stay as it is.

Go home. You are drunk

I'm Russian but I'm not drinking alcohol. I don't like it at all. It's nonsence, I know, but it's true.

By the way, this discussion remindes me that holy wars in other games when one class is overpowered and other players are complaining about it. There always are people who playing that OP class and telling the others that they are just have found the best way to play their class, they know how to build their character and so on. 'It's a skill, isn't it?' - they always say.
Some people understand that AC is not good, but the majority of AC users will never admitt that.

Royaji

Faulgor wrote: »

ChildOfLight wrote: »

HatchetHaro wrote: »

There's a different angle we can look at this from, however.

Let's use, say, Snipe, for instance. The entire animation consists of charging up the shot, the moment of firing the shot, and after firing the shot. By your logic, if you cancel the animation right after the moment you fired the shot, the arrow should magically fly back to your hand.

Just... no. It makes no sense.

An animation should be able to be canceled after the point of action has been performed without reverting the effects of that action.

That's how weaving and animation cancelling works; you don't wait for your sword swing to stop completely before you attempt another swing from your combat stance; you chain them together in a flurry of attacks.

Quoted for reference.

Plus, every game with competitive features out there, has animation cancel. So, no.

No, they don't. But that shouldn't be a deciding factor in the matter one way or another.

Having the option to animation cancel is prefered by some people for a more fast-paced game experience, I get that. But the other option is to have a more strategic game where you have to commit to an action, which is just as valid. Many games have elements of both anyway (think fighting games).

But these games usually have a more coherent design for these things, centered around start up, active and recovery frames. ESO's animation cancelling just "happened" without any deliberate intent by the designers to allow certain attack strings, or combos. That just wasn't the focus of the combat system (in the beginning it focused on heavy attacks, blocking, exploiting stuns, and resource management, i.e. a more strategic approach).

Talking about combos and fighting games in particular, animation cancels usually only happen when you actually land a hit, which you can then extend into a combo. Defensive animation cancels are much rarer and apparently not that well-liked (thinking about focus attacks in SF4 specifically, although I liked them). So you can only cancel an animation during the active or recovery frame if you hit your opponent. Canceling startup frames is much rarer in my experience.
Translating this into ESO would mean, when your attack is blocked, you can't animation cancel it. And you can only cancel the rest of the animation after you actually applied damage during an active frame (which is the issue of the OP).

Frankly I'm not that sure how ESO handles active frames, meaning when the damage of an ability is applied. It's different for different skills, but they don't seem to correspond that well with the actual animation. I mean, looking at Dawnbreaker, you'd expect the damage to happen when the sword is slammed down, but it's actually way before that.

I think people would have less of a problem with animation canceling if it at least seemed like a deliberately designed and coherent game mechanic, and not just a sloppy side effect.

To answer your question about active frames and ESO, there are none. If tooltip says that the ability has instant cast time, the damage is applied the moment you hit the button. The whole animation of those abilities is just for visuals.

Faulgor

Royaji wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

ChildOfLight wrote: »

HatchetHaro wrote: »

There's a different angle we can look at this from, however.

Let's use, say, Snipe, for instance. The entire animation consists of charging up the shot, the moment of firing the shot, and after firing the shot. By your logic, if you cancel the animation right after the moment you fired the shot, the arrow should magically fly back to your hand.

Just... no. It makes no sense.

An animation should be able to be canceled after the point of action has been performed without reverting the effects of that action.

That's how weaving and animation cancelling works; you don't wait for your sword swing to stop completely before you attempt another swing from your combat stance; you chain them together in a flurry of attacks.

Quoted for reference.

Plus, every game with competitive features out there, has animation cancel. So, no.

No, they don't. But that shouldn't be a deciding factor in the matter one way or another.

Having the option to animation cancel is prefered by some people for a more fast-paced game experience, I get that. But the other option is to have a more strategic game where you have to commit to an action, which is just as valid. Many games have elements of both anyway (think fighting games).

But these games usually have a more coherent design for these things, centered around start up, active and recovery frames. ESO's animation cancelling just "happened" without any deliberate intent by the designers to allow certain attack strings, or combos. That just wasn't the focus of the combat system (in the beginning it focused on heavy attacks, blocking, exploiting stuns, and resource management, i.e. a more strategic approach).

Talking about combos and fighting games in particular, animation cancels usually only happen when you actually land a hit, which you can then extend into a combo. Defensive animation cancels are much rarer and apparently not that well-liked (thinking about focus attacks in SF4 specifically, although I liked them). So you can only cancel an animation during the active or recovery frame if you hit your opponent. Canceling startup frames is much rarer in my experience.
Translating this into ESO would mean, when your attack is blocked, you can't animation cancel it. And you can only cancel the rest of the animation after you actually applied damage during an active frame (which is the issue of the OP).

Frankly I'm not that sure how ESO handles active frames, meaning when the damage of an ability is applied. It's different for different skills, but they don't seem to correspond that well with the actual animation. I mean, looking at Dawnbreaker, you'd expect the damage to happen when the sword is slammed down, but it's actually way before that.

I think people would have less of a problem with animation canceling if it at least seemed like a deliberately designed and coherent game mechanic, and not just a sloppy side effect.

To answer your question about active frames and ESO, there are none. If tooltip says that the ability has instant cast time, the damage is applied the moment you hit the button. The whole animation of those abilities is just for visuals.

Intersting, thanks! Well, that might be considered a problem. It certainly contributes to feeling a disconnect between your actions and their effects in the world, which is not a mark of a great combat system.

Hammy01 wrote: »

Anyways the way I look at it.. any game that relies on visual cues to avoid incoming damage should not have mechanics in place (IE animation canceling) to completely hide said visual cues. Some players are so skilled at this that the only thing you might see is a slight twitch in their character before you are dead on the ground.

I vaguely remember during one of the last updates, this was supposed to be adressed. But I think it was halted because it caused problems on the PTS. Did that ever make it to live? I honestly can't recall.

Lord_Wrath

Everythings been stated already. Skill should be your ability to act and react based off visual cues, when you insta-die with no chance that isnt fun, thats cheap.

WalkingLegacy

Zyrudin wrote: »

HatchetHaro wrote: »

There's a different angle we can look at this from, however.

Let's use, say, Snipe, for instance. The entire animation consists of charging up the shot, the moment of firing the shot, and after firing the shot. By your logic, if you cancel the animation right after the moment you fired the shot, the arrow should magically fly back to your hand.

Just... no. It makes no sense.

An animation should be able to be canceled after the point of action has been performed without reverting the effects of that action.

That's how weaving and animation cancelling works; you don't wait for your sword swing to stop completely before you attempt another swing from your combat stance; you chain them together in a flurry of attacks.

Competent AC will not even have the arrow leaving the bow and the ability will still register.

So they're canceling the "cast time" (IE animation) but the skill is still executing and doing damage?

cbaudersub17_ESO

Dead horse or not, I am glad these threads come up from time to time.

Animation canceling is a necessity of the game. I say that playing primarily a tank in PvE, with occasional enjoyment in that hot mess known as PvP.

Is clipping and stacking attacks an exploit? Absolutely, but I don't tie the negative connotations to the word that others might. Is it cheating? ZOS says 'no'; but, that seems like a de facto response since there's really no way to sheriff its use or 'break' other parts of the game if animation canceling were simply removed.

Someone already mentioned an adjustment to the effectiveness of a skill by percent if the animation were clipped . Along the same lines, add a percent bonus to effectiveness of a skill if the animation were completed. Or both.

Zyrudin

WalkingLegacy wrote: »

So they're canceling the "cast time" (IE animation) but the skill is still executing and doing damage?

Yes, that's precisely the main point about AC. Competently done, it will register the effect, but not the animation.

I will state again what I said previously: AC should be present to cancel an ability that you regret, to block or roll dodge unexpected target behaviour, but cancelling should not register the effect of the ability (whether it is a heal, a buff/debuff, or damage).

WalkingLegacy

Zyrudin wrote: »

WalkingLegacy wrote: »

So they're canceling the "cast time" (IE animation) but the skill is still executing and doing damage?

Yes, that's precisely the main point about AC. Competently done, it will register the effect, but not the animation.

I will state again what I said previously: AC should be present to cancel an ability that you regret, to block or roll dodge unexpected target behaviour, but cancelling should not register the effect of the ability (whether it is a heal, a buff/debuff, or damage).

Yes, it's been this way for a while if not from the get go. This is to appease the PvP streamers. ZOS hasn't fixed it at all, and probably never will. Their integrity on the matter is low. They want to make the game accessible, but the PvP streamers and hardcore's will cry fowl.

Cancelling a cast time should be possible, but the effect definitely should be cancelled as well. This would be a good game design though. Doesn't really belong in ESO

Zyrudin

WalkingLegacy wrote: »

Yes, it's been this way for a while if not from the get go. This is to appease the PvP streamers. ZOS hasn't fixed it at all, and probably never will. Their integrity on the matter is low. They want to make the game accessible, but the PvP streamers and hardcore's will cry fowl.

Cancelling a cast time should be possible, but the effect definitely should be cancelled as well. This would be a good game design though. Doesn't really belong in ESO

A group of people are against resolving this in the same way that they are against a complete separation of PvE content and PvP: this is the group that are proficient in AC, macros and other tricks, use them extensively and "feed" on the people who won't/don't/can't, which are forced by the game's architecture to go to Cyrodiil to obtain the only proper Stamina heal the game has to offer (at least). So you usually see suggestions of "repair walls" or "hang around with a big group and spam something" - which isn't nor should be the whole game in Cyrodiil and not what ZOS originally planned for sure.

Don't get me wrong: there will always be competent players and incompetent ones. However, tricks like AC that register effects despite no visual queue or cast time are not actually "playing the game". Otherwise, we would be playing with static little dolls that did no movement and just made abilities happen with no indication whatsoever.

I have said it in the past and will reaffirm it here: I think that this mentioned group of people would be in for a huge surprise in terms of PvP population, if PvP and PvE were separated entirely (ex: separate servers), if AC and the sort remained as it is.

Rohaus

@Liofa

That animation cancelling video you posted is very old. I mention this because there are a lot of changes that were made to prioritization of abilities in conjunction with core mechanics.

For instance, you used to be able to animation cancel wrecking blow with a heavy attack if timed properly. This is no longer the case.

One of the more popular forms of animation cancelling was Light attack + Ransack + Bash. Before the changes were made to prioritization, all you would see was the Bash if timed properly. Now, the animation for Ransack takes precedence. You won't see the light attack, if timed right, BUT you will see Ransack... it's become quite clunky but I and many others have gotten used to it.

GreenhaloX

Funny thing is.. When using a greatsword, I get much more damages output with using a heavy attack and wrecking blow combo. This is not an actual AC, because neither the heavy attack or the wrecking blow cancel one another out, but rather, the wrecking bow strike immediately right after execution of the heavy attack. Supposedly, words are that you are able to AC using heavy attack, but with a greatsword, it doesn't AC. Especially on console, to pull a heavy attack, you have to hold down the controller's trigger harder, and if you try to do a skill, like a wrecking blow, in the middle of a heavy attack, it won't cancel out. So, it is actually a successive combo, rather than an AC. This is actually better than AC, because if you tally up the damages from the two-strike combo, it is pretty much in the higher 40k and even into the 50k (per combo.) I also love to combo heavy attack and executioner. So, adding these combos within the rotation against bosses (world or dungeon/trial).. oh man, there are some brutal dps.

You can AC using light attack and a skill with the greatsword, but I don't waste my time, as the 2-strike combo mentioned is much higher in damages. However, for DW, I do AC all the time with heavy attack and blood craze. This also gives back stamina from the heavy attack. Aside when using the greatsword, I am still in favor of AC and use it all the times when using my DW build.

WalkingLegacy

@Zyrudin

Agreed. High five.

Spearblade

Agree 100% with OP. I rather like the animations. Somebody at ZOS worked hard on them. The game wasn't designed with the intent to animation cancel, and thus it is a nuisance. The fact that ZOS won't do anything about it is simply lazy.

The fact that you have to circumvent the game's intended design to "get gud" or perform at a high level, is franky, ridiculous.

Sigtric

You wanna see server performance REALLY go into the dumps? Start having the server run calculations on whether or not the animation should have an attack value or not, every 0.9 seconds after checking for a cancel, for everyone in combat around you, for all cancelable attacks.

Yeah.

AC is here, it's not likely to be changed, and the devs want us to use it.

Zyrudin

Sigtric wrote: »

You wanna see server performance REALLY go into the dumps? Start having the server run calculations on whether or not the animation should have an attack value or not, every 0.9 seconds after checking for a cancel, for everyone in combat around you, for all cancelable attacks.

Yeah.

AC is here, it's not likely to be changed, and the devs want us to use it.

Implementation of solutions is not for us to assess. If they want it solved, they have engineers and developers to think of ways of doing it.

Considering that something shouldn't be resolved because we here in forums, as users, might only think of a solution that would not be viable (such as that extra calculation), is the same as saying that a bust wheel spring shouldn't be repaired because we got used to driving the car tilted sideways and the solution might make the driver uncomfortable due to habit.

ZOS has accepted AC, perhaps due to costs or other reasons, but they did not intend it for sure. Otherwise all channeled abilities and animations have no place in the game to being with - and they've been included since launch.

They may never resolve it, but that doesn't mean that it isn't an unintended glitch whose exploitation has gone mainstream.

Ermiq

Sigtric wrote: »

You wanna see server performance REALLY go into the dumps? Start having the server run calculations on whether or not the animation should have an attack value or not, every 0.9 seconds after checking for a cancel, for everyone in combat around you, for all cancelable attacks.

Yeah.

AC is here, it's not likely to be changed, and the devs want us to use it.

If the devs really will get such issues, then the devs are incompetent.
All such calculations designed to run on the client in all MMO games, the server will not suffer at all.

RazorCaltrops

%10 of energy used to QQ about animation cancelling would improve people's gameplay %100, if they stop whining.

Animation cancelling is fine. That's what makes ESO's gameplay more dynamic.

Royaji

@Zyrudin , please, before commenting about AC and the way it works, do your research first.

@WalkingLegacy

WalkingLegacy wrote: »

Zyrudin wrote: »

HatchetHaro wrote: »

There's a different angle we can look at this from, however.

Let's use, say, Snipe, for instance. The entire animation consists of charging up the shot, the moment of firing the shot, and after firing the shot. By your logic, if you cancel the animation right after the moment you fired the shot, the arrow should magically fly back to your hand.

Just... no. It makes no sense.

An animation should be able to be canceled after the point of action has been performed without reverting the effects of that action.

That's how weaving and animation cancelling works; you don't wait for your sword swing to stop completely before you attempt another swing from your combat stance; you chain them together in a flurry of attacks.

Competent AC will not even have the arrow leaving the bow and the ability will still register.

So they're canceling the "cast time" (IE animation) but the skill is still executing and doing damage?

AC does NOT cancel the cast time. If you try canceling Snipe or Wrecking blow right in the beggining the skill won't fire. Those skills have the actual cast time and it is mentioned in the tooltip.

Animation Canceling is about canceling the animation of an INSTANT skill. Majority of skills in ESO are instant-cast. For example Force Pulse or Endless Hail. They deal damage the moment you press the button and their animation is just for looks. And the whole point of AC is to cancel this "useless" animation. Endless Hail has a very long animation with the character shooting the arrow in the air, but the damage is applied right from the beggining of this animation, so if you barswap during the animation - the skill will still be active, because it is instant and fired long before the character shot the arrow.

So AC has nothing to do with reactive gameplay. It's still impossible to react to an instant skill because animation is happening after the damage is applied. AC does not allow you to cancel the cast time or channel. And it does not allow you to bypass a 0.8 s global cooldown of all skills.

edited because of typos