New GCD Changes

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Update from Blizzard on the GCD issues:

We’re continuing to read reports and feedback, and we’ve recently applied a hotfix that should make it easier to chain cast spells without seeing the “Another action is in progress” or “Spell is not ready yet” messages at the end of casting.

That was just part of the fix; the other part has to be addressed client-side and requires a patch.

The fix that's in the patch is to address players getting the “Spell is not ready yet” when spamming at the beginning of a cast. This message happens instead of just seeing a quick ‘click’ of the spell, which doesn’t affect DPS, but certainly changes the feel of playing as if something has gone wrong. The patch with this other part of the fix will be available on the PTRs within the next week.

We really want everyone to get on the PTR when it does go live, test the changes, and report their findings on the Test Realm forum. We’re continuing to read reports, test the issue internally, and want to reach a resolution that addresses the concerns.

[Djarid]

I must admit, that I have not seen any adverse effects..

and trying to cast lightning bolt in the middle of casting does not trigger a GCD... at least not noticeably so... the GCD on the client is reset if the spell is unable to be cast due to it being triggered too early.

All that is being penalised for an early press is the round trip time to the server... so you lose 200ms... lets face it as boxers we aren't shaving it that fine due to sync issues etc.

[kayb]

It's currently in a bugged state from what I can tell. I didn't know about this until a guildie told me, but you can basically spam any casttime spell and get optimal casting going. There's no timing involved.

What? Multiboxers don't use stopcasting? =)

I use stopcasting on most of my spells with the exception of the healer. Stopcasting to resheep, stopcasting to decurse etc etc. Kicks ass. (Don't worry, I get what yer saying Remote =)

I don't think it will stay like this. Blizzards original intention was that if you recast a spell before the cast had gone off, you'd start a new spell. Also there seems to be some issues with instacast spells like warlock dots (Ability not ready, unverified by me personally).