Ability Queue?

[Punchdrunk]

I hear/read some talk about the Ability Que, but I am not sure I understand what is happening.

I am apparently a spammer, as in a start pressing a button before the GCD is up so that the ability goes off as soon as its available, but when something procs, I stop the original spam and hit something different. Since 4.0 something feels a little wonky, and my character isn't responding like I am used to. I am wondering if its this Ability Que thing, and that I need to change how I play.

Can anyone explain it?

[suadero]

yeah, i hate it!

[ironsides]

It's absolutely terrible, you need to stop spamming keys until they either fix it, or well just stop forever. I am hoping they make it an optional thing.

[Bashal]

I haven't noticed it myself, but yes, many people are having a lot of trouble with it. Try to be less spammy and have your key presses sync up better with the GCD, and the issue should diminish significantly.

I know, easier said than done.

[Andenthal]

The "spell queue" idea is to make higher latencies more forgiving.

With the old system we've been used to using for years, players would adapt based on their individual latencies.
If you had a 300ms latency, you could "queue" up your spell by pressing the button .3 secs before your spell finished (or .3 secs before the GCD ended) and send the request to the server. In this way, by the time your spell finished casting, the server would recieve your request for the new spell almost immediately - and you wouldn't waste .3 secs due to lag.

Now spells are queued up - you can queue the next ability cooldown but no further. If you're used to spamming as I was, it's kind of a pain to adjust. As far as I know, you can change which ability is "in the queue" by pressing another button before the spell does off. You still need to be aware of latency in this new system though, as it will affect how you can queue abilities.

If you are running the same 300ms latency as above, you have a shorter time to adjust to a new spell within the same GCD. When you press a button, you are requesting the server to perform an ability. How high your latency is, affects how quickly the server receives your request and also how quickly it will respond back to you. That's why sometimes you'll get a "target not in range" or other errors when dealing with moving targets. On your screen it appears that you are within range, but according to the server, you are not. The difference is the time it takes you to communicate with the server

I think the best way I can explain it is with a psuedo chart and numbers - harder to explain it in words.

This is how the new ability queue sytems works with 300 ms latency (best I can tell)
(secs)
00.00 - you request to cast spell1 (you will see your character begin to cast the spell or you will see your GCD activate if it's instant)
00.30 - server receives the request and processes the ability
00.50 - you request the server to queue up spell2
00.80 - spell2 request received by server
01.50 - spell2 is cast (both at the server, and locally, as your GCD or cast bar will show)
02.00 - you request to queue spell3
02.30 - spell3 request received
03.00 - spell3 is cast
03.50 - you request to queue spell4
03.80 - spell4 request received
04.80 - you realize that an ability proc'd and you want to use that ability instead of spell4 - you send request for spell5
05.00 - spell4 is cast
05.10 - spell5 is recieved by the server, but since a spell was cast .1 secs ago, you now receive a "Spell not ready yet" error.

You'd have to requeue your ability within the timeframe of your latency. So if you have a 50ms latency, you can wait until .05 secs before the spell cast (or GCD is available) and still requeue the ability you want. With longer latencies, the window to re-pick the spell you want is shorter.

I hope this makes sense.

[Punchdrunk]

It makes sense in general but i am still not sure how I need to adapt.

I have this worry: One if the reasons I spam is because I dont have to watch my bar so closely. With this ability que is seems I will need to watch the bar more closely in order to get abilities off, which of course takes my eyes of the action on the screen. So far it feels a bit like I am being handcuffed.

[Andenthal]

If you have a relatively low latency - it may be better to wait for the next GCD to become available rather than trying to plan the next GCD ahead of time. Depending on your spec it may be more of a DPS/threat loss to queue up a lesser ability than wait for the GCD for a stronger ability.

[Bodasafa]

I fail to understand why they did this. Not long ago in a blue they mentioned they wanted to slow the boss encounters down slightly so people could actually have time to make choices and get their head outta their action bars.

This system basically forces you to be glued to your action bars.

[Quenchiest]

I fail to understand why they did this. Not long ago in a blue they mentioned they wanted to slow the boss encounters down slightly so people could actually have time to make choices and get their head outta their action bars.

This system basically forces you to be glued to your action bars.

They did this because the GCD was being exploited. As Blizzard put it themselves "this is a case of a few bad apples ruining it for the bunch."

Once the latency slider is actually added maybe we'll be able to get it to a happy level, but until then we're stuck with it as it is.

[Bodasafa]

I think removing (banning) the bad apples would have been a better route, unless the people were unaware (unlikely?).

[Airowird]

Well they should atleast allow you to overwrite the queue'd spell (like HS/Cleave before the patch). Right now it is annoying to see a the wrong button lit up for 1.4s because you pressed it twice and it procced that awesome spell you wish to use instead >_<

[ironsides]

I tried to open a ticket to complain the gm insisted there is no queue and it is just lag that will pass in a few days after patch... rofl? I am slowly getting used to it but I will never be happy until I can tank like I did before.

[Maèl]

The queue is there and it is terribad.

Today I suffered from it while healing. Heal, heal, he...oh sh!t Pain Suppression...al, heal, Pain Suppression.

Now call me nitpicky but it somehow is important when my spells go off or when I switch targets. They have created an environemt where stuff like this matters and they decreased our precision.

If it was something people exploited, ban them. If it was an exploit in PvP, I don't care. Such a drastic change in such an old game should really, really be well considered. They tried it, it's horrible, time for a new idea. BUT GET RID OF IT!

Could also some kind mod change the thread name? It's a bit sore on the eyes...

[Bowen]

It gets on my nerves, I'm hoping there is an option to turn it off completely soon.

[Rennadrel]

I don't particularly like it since I don't have latency issues when I raid. I find if frustrating, especially when you think you have procced something that gives you an instant cast spell for instance, and it's very frustrating with Holy Power especially as a Paladin.

[Maèl]

Well, the only remedy I have found so far is renting out my body.

That's right, I'm pugging heroics in order to teach me how not to spam the living daylights out of my key binds.
What Blizz did was plain immoral.

[Slobash]

Hating it. Revenge lights up and I hit it, as i've always done. But now the server says "no no, you said devestate". So I devestate, thunderclap realise i've missed my revenge, hit it but by then it's gone again and I lose a GCD. Then a DPS pulls aggro and i'm chasing mobs and my temperature's rising.......heroic strike felt spammy yes but the other abilities felt fluid, warrior tanking felt like a flow. Now it feels stunted and clunky.

[Maèl]

It hits proc based classes twice as hard as others. Since two of our bread and butter tanking skills are more or less procs...
I've had the same Revenge/SnB proc situation you described. Now I'm trying to wait for the GCD to finish before hitting a button even if that means I don't get as many actions/minute as I should. Which can't be Blizz' intention.

I had this situation(been teaching DPS to hold out on damage):
Charge, Rend(I know, I know), TClap. After my charge or my Rend(can't tell which) Revenge lights up. Too late, TClap is already out.

Conclusion: Rend/TClap sucks, ability queue sucks and also propably I suck for even trying this retarded thing. At least the educational effect on my DPS was to wait 3GCDs before unloading which propably is a good thing.

[Brage]

Well, the only remedy I have found so far is renting out my body.
That's right, I'm pugging heroics in order to teach me how not to spam the living daylights out of my key binds.
What Blizz did was plain immoral.

Yeah, i've been doing the same thing.
I'm still far from 100% comfortable with the queue, but i must admit i tank just fine with it, and tanking seems more relaxed.

But damn i tend to miss alot of SnB procs

[Kupplervati]

Been tanking since classic, stopped playing just before ICC release... come back to get ready for cata, now not sure if i want to exist in this game anymore, tanking has gone from a fun high speed activity, where id be mobile and able to run from one side of the battle to the other while maintaining threat and talking to people in chat... To, FOCUS ON YOUR SPELLBAR AT ALL TIMES!!!

I cant even comprehend being highly mobile while hitting abilitys anymore, my brain hurts... Please blizzard, make it optional or turn it off