I hear a lot of people complaining about the GCD in BFA. As a newish player (started late May), I assumed that the GCD simply did not exist before BFA
Then I started playing Classic and holy-clunky-heck man, that GCD is punishing, moreso because practically nothing is immune to it. Combat is pretty UNsmooth in and of itself, but not being able to instantly cast counterspell or blink on my mage is really beyond the pale.
So was there a time when the GCD either did not exist? Or a time when it was at a “sweet spot”?
(This is not a bash classic post, I’m actually enjoying many aspects of it, I’d just love to hear player experiences from expansions over the years regarding the GCD. thanks!)
I can only give what I remember recently but, in legion most cooldown abilities like warriors recklessness, shamans fire elemental, ect weren’t on a global cooldown, allowing you to basically just mash as many buttons as you had cds at once and start your rotation immediately. I recall it feeling a little clunky at first but, really nothing to get up in arms about myself. Its not like the cooldowns weren’t redesigned with it in mind or anything.
The gist of it is a lot of buff abilities being on the GCD feels awful.
A lot of classes you use to be able to activate all your buffs at once and go to town.
But now its. buff … buff … buff … and by time you got all your buffs, the first one has ran half its course. Feels especially bad on Arcane mage.
By the time I’m done casting Arcane Power, which is supposed to last ten seconds, I have only 8.5 seconds left in which to do damage. Like… who tested that and thought it made sense?!?
I suspect the GCD changes were supposed to tone one or two specific circumstance that may have been overpowered. Then they just sort of… well… didn’t really think it through or test it.
The GCD has always existed in WoW, but certain things weren’t on it. Burst CD’s, defensive CD’s, throughput CD’s that fall in the middle, and trinkets used to not be on the GCD. Interrupts used to be on the GCD in classic and TBC, but were and have remained off.
In Legion, the gameplay was very fast paced with all interrupts, burst, defense and pretty much every CD in the game not being on the GCD. With burst CD’s on the GCD, the gameplay has slowed significantly.
Speaking personally - I much prefer how things were in Legion. Fast paced, balanced combat is much more enjoyable for me. But the GCD must / will forever exist as a means of determining the pacing of filler combat outside of CD’s, and during their duration.
As a little bit of bonus history trivia, when people discovered on the BFA beta that CD’s wound back up on the GCD, it wasn’t communicated by Blizzard, and people took to the forums. Watcher (Ion Hazzikostas) took to the forums himself and explained the changes and the methods behind the change with one hell of a brick of a forum thread spanning paragraphs and paragraphs. People still weren’t happy, and I tend to agree with them on that one.
BC and beyond the GCD was smooth. Not EVERY ability was off the GCD, just the defensive and offensive cooldowns. As a warrior it’s not fun to press recklessness, wait a second, and then be able to start my rotation.
I know it’s even worse for healers, who have to press their cooldown, wait, and THEN they can heal. It’s less forgiving to healers and it doesn’t feel good, because that 1 second could be the difference between life or death.
This is particularly infuriating with Rapture, to be honest. Rapture’s GCD is so long that I pop it, and then get instantly stunned because the graphic is so ridiculously telegraphed and I am forced to stand there doing nothing while glowing as Azeroth’s most bland disco ball waiting to be able to save my team mates.
It always felt to me that some classes/specs were affected more than others. I didn’t feel it quite as bad as others did, so it wasn’t a huge point of contention for me, but for my friends who play warriors? Hoooooo boy. I don’t think I know a single one that didn’t feel slowed down from the change.
