Global Cool Down

Well this post will be short and sweet. The lower the gcd the more fast paced the game will be and the longer the gcd the more fluid it will. One of the problems with the one second GCD is all your animations have to be in one second. But for like Ultimate abilities well animation most likely will be longer than one second.

Well I just want to point out is hat you do not have to choose. Some abilities could cause a one second GCD and a more powerful abiltiy with longer animation could have a 1.5 to 2 GCD. Globa Cycle would have to be regulated. For example not point in casting a long gcd ability cause takes to long and is actaully less dps.

But in all actuallity Even differtent classes could have different GCD as part of their class. For example a rogue that uses daggers could have a GCD of one second denoting thier speed. While other classes may differ. So the point is you have a choice and not tied down to a certain number as far as Global Cooldowns.

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Noaani

atama wrote: »

noaani wrote: »

atama wrote: »

Well, City of Heroes is a game I’ve been playing lately without a GCD. It’s not new.

Neverwinter Online seems to not have one.

Star Wars Galaxies didn’t have one. (But SWTOR does.)

I thought Secret World Legends didn’t, but it does.

I’m just looking up random MMOs and it seems 50/50. GCDs are definitely not universal, or needed.

Neverwinter Online had one last I played it, though I believe it wasn't actually displayed on screen in any manner.

While there are some games out there that don't have what players call a GCD, they ALL (in my experience) have a mechanic that performs the same function.

That function is - specifically - having a server -side buffer that is enforced after the completion of one skill and the initiating of the next to account for differences in latency between the server and multitude of clients. A game simply can't function in a balanced manner without it.

I might look at CoH at some stage, as I've never played it. That said, even with a somewhat different combat system to most MMO's, I would be shocked if it didn't have a mechanic in place to fulfill the same role as a GCD, as it is an essential component of MMO combat. My assumption is there would be a hidden server-side ability queue allowing players to activate one ability before the previous one has finished, and the server simply holds on to that command until it is needed. This wouldn't be a GCD by name, but even though players don't see it, it is a GCD by function.

Well, duh.

You are just repeating what I said earlier. You don’t need a GCD, which is a GLOBAL COOL DOWN. (That’s what the letters stand for.) A global cool down is a set, static wait time between abilities. If you have other mechanics forcing a wait time, you neither have nor need a GCD. Sheesh.

And yes, in CoH you have an explicit (not hidden) ability queue. Your next ability won’t execute until the current one completes. It’s almost like I already wrote all of this.

...I feel like I’m in a discussion talking about cars, and everyone acts like all cars have manual transmissions, and when I mention the existence of automatic transmissions people argue with me that I’m wrong because a car can’t change gears without a transmission.

Using your analogy of cars, it's more like we are all saying that all internal combustion based cars have different gears, and you are trying to argue that some cars are automatic and so don't have gears at all...

In both cases (games that don't appear to have a GCD, and automatic cars) there are systems in place to simplify things for the user - but when you look under the hood of both, the thing that you are saying isn't there really is, because they are crucial elements of a larger system.

What you are really doing is arguing semantics. Every MMO in existence has a system by which there is a delay after one skill is used before the next ability can be used. This delay is handled on the server, rather than on the client, and is generally called a GCD (to everyone but yourself, it would seem).

There are a small number of different ways this system can be implemented, but if a game were to not implement it, it would limit the effectiveness of every player to purely that of their latency to the games server.

A GCD is handled on the server, because it's purpose is to allow for variances in latency between the server and a multitude of clients. As such, it needs to be a buffer at the end of that specific chain.

A skill queue is handled on the client, as it is designed to allow for variances in latency between the client and the player. As such, it needs to be a buffer at the end of that specific chain.

Because of this, a GCD and a skill queue are kind of the same thing, but for different positions in the chain between the player and the server. While it would be possible to have a game combine these two systems in to one, that would increase the work the servers need to do in combat, and so if a developer is able to offload some of that workload to the client, it is in their best interests to do so. While it doesn't seem like it would be a lot of extra work, it adds up very quickly over a large number of characters.

The little shading of your ability icons that is supposed to give you a visual depiction of your GCD is not actually the GCD. That is just dummy animation, your client knows how long the GCD should be, and so displays that animation for that long.

Most games don't even have the server send any information back to the client about the GCD.

The client essentially say "ok, just used ability X, now I need to tell the server that ability Y is next, play the GCD animation and wait to see what gets put in my ability queue next so that when ability Y has finished it's cast time and ready to start the next GCD, I can tell the server what to use next".

While all this is happening, the server is sitting there going "cool, received instruction to use ability X, now I'm waiting for it to cast... right, it has finished so now so I will start the GCD timer while I am waiting for the next ability signal from the client, cool, got ability Y next, wait for the GCD to finish then use ability Y".

So sure, not every game has that little icon animation. I'm more than happy to concede that point if you want. However, every MMO has a system client side to standardize the timing of abilities, a system that is universally referred to as a GCD.

ReluctantRaven

No GCDs = people with Macros casting 10 skills before a player can cast 5 skills. With most gaming keyboard and mice manufacturers including their own macro software IE Razer/Corsair etc combat would be ridiculous.

consultant

Well some cool animations like for warriors jumping in the air then hitting the ground with thier hammer causing a shockwave plus knock back. It can all be squeezed into one second gcd but would look kind of choppy having all that happened in one second. But if you just gave it a 1.5 second gcd then it would look a lot bettter and more fluid and more beleivable.

Some MMOs just have one global cool down for every ability. Not best for fluid animations in my opinion.
Basically the whole jist of the post.

unknownsystemerror

They have said that animation cancelling won't be a thing in their game, so we will just have to wait and see.

Sarevok

unknownsystemerror wrote: »

They have said that animation cancelling won't be a thing in their game, so we will just have to wait and see.

No animation cancelling? Have they spoken to how they plan to raise the skill ceiling for combat?

Wandering Mist

sarevok wrote: »

unknownsystemerror wrote: »

They have said that animation cancelling won't be a thing in their game, so we will just have to wait and see.

No animation cancelling? Have they spoken to how they plan to raise the skill ceiling for combat?

I believe their plan is for the skill to come from aiming and dodging skillshots. However, I've said this before and I'll say it again, I don't know a single game that has been coded to make it impossible to do animation cancelling. There will always be a way and the players will find it given enough time.

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