Typical biased crap from an AC lover.

Not sure that it "can only be done with the help of macros" but I think that it presents a silly complication. If ZOS wants animations to be cut short, they should just make them shorter.

I dont think its an exploit, and it obviously can be done without macros (most people do it without even realizing what they do is animation cancelling), however it still should not be part of the game. If you commit to an animation, it should always fully complete before you are allowed to do something else. That would slow the combat down and make people think before hitting that button, because once your swing starts, and you timed it wrong, there is no activating block while your hammer is already in motion.

I don't like animation cancelling because if you do it and strive to be better at it, your gaming experience becomes a whole lot of button smashing and that's exhausting.

Depends what we understand as animation cancelling.

Light attack weaving - yes, should be part of the game. It adds another layer of skill.

Block/Bash cancelling - not sure about this one. The only ones I've seen doing this are gankers.

Lol. This again? Macros doing even do anything in ESO

Mintaka5 wrote: »

Most useless overrated thing I've ever heard of. Why even bother with cool-downs or cast times? I don't see better results from doing it.

More bad arguments from mediocre players. What people who parrot this line about cast times and animations don’t understand is that you can only cancel instant abilities. Look up the definition of instant in a dictionary.

The ability to cancel and weave makes the game more fast paced and engaging. Can’t believe people hold this archaic agenda against ani cancelling and weaving in 2019.

L2p

I voted no, even though I know ZOS doesn't consider it cheating, and it can be done without macros. But I do believe it causes more problems than the benefits it brings, and should absolutely be removed.


On the most basic level, animation canceling and LA weaving is what I consider to be "busy work". Actions that are not particularly difficult, but mandatory for performance, yet they are not a test of knowledge, or skill. They are not fun, or entertaining. They just are there for you to do, and if you want to perform well, you must do them. Also, this puts utterly unnecessary stress on the mouse and fingers, AND precludes people with any kind of manual disability from performing well. If LAs were automated, or removed entirely in favour of situational heavy attack weaves, I believe the game would be in a better place. It's not that it CAN'T be done, it's that it SHOULDN'T be done. Vast majority of MMOs do not do this kind of nonsense, and with good reason.

Animation canceling is also logically flawed as a concept, for me at least. If developers spend time creating animations, I'm assuming it's with the intent that these animations be seen. With animation canceling, they are not. Which is counter-intuitive. Developers either need to stop wasting time on creating these, or make animation canceling not a thing (as part of the basic rotation). I cannot wait for official Necromancer preview, where they show us all the gorgeous animations that we are not going to be seeing, because we're animation canceling them. This is asinine and illogical. Change my mind.

The issues this causes are entry level PvP woes, and PvE balancing. When PvE is balanced for animation cancelers in mind, average players will and do suffer. Similarly, when beginner PvPers are faced with macroers and/or good players using perfect weaves and animation cancels, it looks like cheating to them. And they get discouraged and leave PvP, which is not good for the game's longevity. I seldom see so many accusations of cheating in MMOs as I see in ESO. BECAUSE of animation canceling. It *looks* like cheating, even when it's not.

My final point is that animations are tied to skills. And, logically, cancelling the animation should cancel the skill also. That's how it works in most other games. You press a button. Resource cost (if any) is subtracted from your pool (if any). Animation plays. You CAN cancel the animation at any time, if you need to block or dodge. BUT, if you cancel the animation, you also cancel the effect, which would only occur on animation completion! THIS right there is the key. And resource cost that was subtracted (if any) is not refunded if animation and ability are interrupted. Which makes you use abilities thoughtfully and tactically, not mashing buttons like a spastic monkey having a conniption fit.

TL:DR - To me, animation canceling and LA weaving are BY FAR the game's combat's greatest weakness. Bar none. It causes so many problems (balancing, etc), it looks stupid, and is logically unsound (spend time making animations but intending them to be canceled and not seen?).

Kulvar wrote: »

Animation/Ability cancellation is necessary for defense (block, dodge roll).

Distinction needs to be made about *emergency* animation canceling, and *routine* animation canceling which is part of the rotation.

You are right in that emergency animation canceling should always be in the game. But the way it should work is thusly: you decide to fire off a skill, resource cost is subtracted (stamina, magicka, whatever) and animation begins playing. You then realize you must block, dodge, or bash, which would interrupt the animation. This means you misplayed, you fired off a skill, when you should have waited to block and then fire the skill. As a punishment, when you block, dodge or bash, animation is interrupted, BUT SO IS THE SKILL'S effect! And the resource cost is not refunded. So, for example, if you start casting a fireball, which costs 4k magicka, and you have to block, you can! But if you do, you do NOT get a fireball, and you lose 4k magicka in the process. That's how it should be done.


What we have now is nonsensical *routine* animation canceling. Where animation, and effect, are not connected. You can interrupt animation, and still get the effect. This is illogical. If you interrupt, then you don't get the effect. If I'm pouring a glass of water, and someone interrupts me, I don't magically end up holding a full glass of water. But that's how it works in ESO. And that's how it should not be done.

This is a critical distinction that ESO devs, and vast majority of players, seem to be missing. When people ask for animation canceling to go away, we don't mean completely 100% all animations play to completion no matter what. No. All we ask is that animation canceling be reserved for emergency situations, NOT as part of the rotation. WoW, for example, has this. You start casting a spell which has 2 sec cast time, but you can still move if you have to. But if you do, yo udon't get the effect, but the cost is already spent. Which forces you to think about what to cast and when. Whereas in ESO it's all about physically abusing your keyboard and mouse on muscle memory.

Its easier than ever to ani cancel