Ratzkifal wrote: »

Animation cancelling is some dark sorcery as unknowable as it is evil, for it is the Elitists that use its power to prevent anyone else from forming their own groups and attempting to run a trial, thus is its power to gatekeep!

When I started the game I was not in guilds and the only person I knew was a friend who also bought the game in Christmas sales. Like me, he had no idea about the game so if I wanted info I had to google it.

Animation cancelling, especially LA-weaving was apparently very important.

It did feel like some dark sorcery and the websites made it feel like that if you don't learn it you're going to be bad at the game. I'm a middle aged family man with a beard that looks like I should spend my time in High Hrothgar rather than in dungeons and trials so how am I going to learn this young man's trick with my old man reflexes?

I started with just my spam, jabs. Just running around overland and killing mobs. Then la -> purifying light -> la -> jabs. After I got used to that I tried with bar swapping and practiced la -> purifying light -> bar swap -> la -> unstable wall of elements -> la -> blazing spear -> bar swap -> la -> jabs. When that started to work I added ritual of retribution. And before I knew it I was weaving every skill even on my main role, healer. And it has become such a reflex I do it without thinking on every role. Now I have to remind myself not to weave during prebuff (no ninja pulls!) or block casting. I still often accidentally weave during block casting and spend my stamina on bashes. And I have learned to look down during prebuff so an accidental destro staff la won't hit the boss.

I didn't understand why it was important. But as the websites made it look like it is mandatory in advanced content, I practiced it because I wanted to aim higher. Now I see that it's not really mandatory, but I am still glad I learned it.

And if an old man like me can learn it, so can anyone. (Well, except those with mobility issues.)