Forced Delay

Forced delays are the periods of time after using a spell or ability when you are unable to make another action due to a game limitation. They function differently for the different classes, but are fundamentally the same overall.

Job Ability Delay

There is a delay penalty, or animation delay, associated with using any Job Ability known as the Job Ability Delay. Though this is a somewhat new topic, it is understood as follows:

• There is a 2 second delay resulting from any Job Ability Usage that is split into two phases.
  • Phase 1: Forced total inactivity, where you are unable to take any other actions with your character. It lasts for one second.
  • Phase 2: Other job abilities can be used but you cannot auto-attack. It also lasts for one second.
    • If you use another Job Ability during Phase 2, it will reset the process to the beginning of Phase 1. So you're only necessarily subject to a full Phase 2 of your last Job Ability.

There are large implications of this delay for gameplay, to the extent that things like High Jump, Steps, and Flourishes are not actually beneficial in high haste situations, where delay per round is lower than the resulting 2 second delay.

Spell Delay

Spells appear to have a 3 second delay associated with them, so following spell completion the soonest you can cast a spell again is 3 seconds later. It is unknown if this is subdivided into different types.

Weapon Skill Delay

WS forced delay is 2 seconds of delay where you cannot do anything.

References

• JA Delay Testing (Myri, Alla)
• Spell Delay Testing (Motenten, BG)
• WS Delay Testing (Byrth, BG)