Another Discussion on Animation Canceling

RinaldoGandolphi · May 2016

@Wrobel @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_RichLambert

I DO NOT want Animation Canceling removed from the game, I want to make that clear from the get go

The issue is right now in PVP certain skills and attacks can be 100% hidden/obfuscated via canceling of animations.

Best example:

The last few nights, with Windows Resource Monitor open to monitor my ping with ESO in real time(which was between 95-97at the time) i am fighting a player and i hear ("Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang") against my Shield while blocking, but all i see from the player in question is a partial Light Attack/Surprise Attack Animation....he hit me 4 times and i saw 1 partial animation...if it wasn't for a combat log and having a block heavy build he would have hit me 4 times and it probably would have appeared on my side to be an "instant kill" This is simply broken.

The entire Combat System in ESO is centered around "Visual Cue" that tell you when to:

Attack
Block
Dodge

this is clearly evident when playing any of the PVE dungeons, VMSA, or even any of the trials or PVE content.

Imagine all the bosses in VMSA being able to cancel their animations and completely hide their attacks and no red circles or animations at all appear to tell you to move...the content would be broken....yet its fully acceptable for players to be able to completely clip out animations all together whihc in pointed fact is obfuscation of key combat cues in whats close to a real time combat style in PVP?

This is simply broken.

The Solution

The Solution is pretty simple i think. I don't want Animation Cancel removed or even changed. I want it to continue to function as it does right now.

I want visual cues in the game that can't be obfuscated so i know when to block, when to dodge, and when to attack, etc. How can i do that or know what skill they are using when over half the animations can be clipped off to the point you can't see them?

You do this by Color Coding Combat Animations that can't be hidden.

This means:

When you Light Attack your character glows Blue
When you Heavy Attack your character Glows Red
When you use a Skill your Character Glows Yellow/Orange/Green or some other defining color.

Something like this needs to be implemented. Let folks Animation Cancel to their hearts content, just give us a feedback mechanism that cues what they are doing that can't be hidden(such as color codes) so a can know when to dodge,block, or attack. I think this is a reasonable request.It changes nothing for PVe DPS, it just allows folks to clearly see what their opponents are doing in a game where visual feedback was intended for the combat system to function.

Sincerely

Rinaldo

Asmael · May 2016

Definitely not sure about colors, tracking buffs visually is already a pain (hello Dragon blood w/ Shuffle and blade cloak).

What could be done is to force a skill's animation, even if you block. Say your meet a stamblade who does the usual LA > Surprise attack > block cancel (not bash), the animation of Surprise attack would still play, but the ghost shield from blocking would also appear.

That, and also fixing the animation of all abilities with a cast time (hello C.Frag / Dark Flare / WB).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1x9XeVjzOo

Lord_Wrath · May 2016

Not sure how i feel about it either, id be more for animation cancelation to be gone so everyone has a fair chance to attack and defend. 'Clank, clank, clank' to death while seeing one move made is why i dont bother much with pvp anymore, its cheap and cowardly and i cant say these people are deemed as 'good players'.

flguy147ub17_ESO · May 2016

the other day it felt like i got one shotted so i assumed multiple players hit me, maybe a couple from range. I pulled up my log and i was hit 4 times by the same player. But again on my screen it was a "one shot". To me this is my problem with the combat. There is literally a zero chance to defend sometimes with what you actually see on the screen.

RinaldoGandolphi · May 2016

flguy147ub17_ESO wrote: »

the other day it felt like i got one shotted so i assumed multiple players hit me, maybe a couple from range. I pulled up my log and i was hit 4 times by the same player. But again on my screen it was a "one shot". To me this is my problem with the combat. There is literally a zero chance to defend sometimes with what you actually see on the screen.

Yes some skill animations can be clipped to the point you literally can't see them at all, and not having some sort of visual indicator is IMO poor for the game...i want the same combat fluidity to stay, i just want some sort of visual feedback that won't interfere with the canceling of animations they have obviously designed the game around.