Talk:Fast Casting

Reverted because the image is not a copyright violation. See Image talk:Fast casting chart.png. --Ellisthion/talk 09:16, 10 May 2007 (EDT)

Signet table is wrong

I've been curious about the effect of FC on signets, so I went out and did some testing today with Signet of Illusions(0/2/5) and Images of Remorse (5/2/5). At 7 spec, the table claims an activation time of 81%, which would translate to a 1.62 s SoI cast. The "Skill Warmup" bar stops displaying when activation time goes below 1.5 s, and at 7 spec and above the bar is gone for Spells as well as signets. If we assume a linear 3% per level reduction per rank in FC, you would need 9 FC to get rid of the activation bar. Both the table and the ingame description are thus incorrect. I'm sure the Spells table is correct as that formula has been known for some time, but the signets one is definitely incorrect and needs attention by ArenaNet. ~Seef II <☎|→> 00:37, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Gordon changed my table based on GuildWiki research according to his edit. I myself had a linear effect for signets in my original addition to the progression table. I guess we'll have to do with what we have at the moment and have some results that can match the warm-up bar animation. I would suggest taking Signet of Humility, since that is the Signet with the longest activation time. Somewhere around the 15~16 attribute mark in FC should be the moment then where the warm-up of the signet is left out of the animation for a linear effect. --  (CoRrRan / talk) 11:03, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Signet of Return. Needs a dead party member tho' Backsword 11:47, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Which makes it quite unsuitable for testing purposes Backsword. It was the reason I didn't go for that one and suggest SoH. --  (CoRrRan / talk) 14:14, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

You can 105 a hero on a PvP character, sit him on the Burning thing in Isle of the Nameless, and use Sig of Return there. Not too bad but then you're recharge-limited. For obvious reasons, I wouldn't suggest Death Pact Signet to pick up your guinea pig quicker. ;D ~Seef II <☎|→> 08:07, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Can anyone name a free avi player which displays frame number and supports single-frame advance? I can make recordings with fraps, but Windows Media Player doesn't show any time increments below 1 second. -- Gordon Ecker 00:06, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

I think the old (freeware) version of BSPlayer might be able to do just that. You'll have to look for it at FileHippo here. (Don't go downloading the newest version from the BSPlayer website though, that one has adware/malware.) --  (CoRrRan / talk) 08:22, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Still incorrect.

Scaling between signets and spells is identical as of today. Hmm... ~Seef II <ℹ|۞> 05:06, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Few Skills

Why are there so few skills in the Fast Casting section? There is no use for it then. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:216.161.219.12 (talk).

Because there aren't that many Fast Casting skills. The section shows a complete summary of every single Fast Casting skill. -- Gordon Ecker 00:07, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Weak Attribute for Me

Imo this is reaaaally worthless for primary Mesmer's in most situations.. can someone prove that I'm wrong? (Don't come with things like FC nuker, with primary mesmer I mean a build based around mesmer skills...) Koen 15:36, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

Pretty much every Interupting Mesmer build has high fast casting, except Migraine builds which dont need it as much. But also, alot of Mesmer skills have a high activiation time had you not spent points in fast casting.--Media Control 06:07, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Totally disagree with Koen's comment. FC is a superb attribute for mesmer-oriented builds as it gives you the chance to interrupt with lower reflexes, or else accurately interrupt a 5 sec MS cast at the very end of the cast PLUS making you harder to be interrupted at the same time! OK you don’t want FC nuke to be mentioned... what about FC heal rit? Virtually uninterruptable healer with fast response heals... --|pixy| 16:25, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

I primarily cause over-max degen with my Mesmer, and greatly enjoy being able to get all my hexes and spells off in under a second and then move on to torment the next foe while the rest of the party sees to finishing him off. Though, I suppose that could just be a personal flavor use of FC.

A fast casting mesmer can be a better curses or blood necro than a regular necro. Yeah you don't get the 16 attribute, but the 2 second casting times become practically nothing. They had to buff water magic because the mesmers were better water ele's than ele's.--The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:38.96.74.21 (talk).

They still are.

Mesmer skills are balanced around fast casting. Diversion, sig hum, shame - those skills are meant to be used with a healthy spec (7-9) in fast casting.

Anet's big failure is they allow secondary skills to be used with fast casting when those skills are simply not balanced for it. The water and curses skills mostly have 1 second cast time (blurred, suffering, lingering, steam) so when a mesmer gets ahold of them, they become literally impossible to interrupt (and, for the most part, that makes the build completely uncounterable). That's just another one of Anet's terrible mechanics decisions. They need to pull an Expertise and make fastcast only apply to mesmer skills and signets. -Auron 06:45, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

maybe...but i think it would be better to lower mes skill cast time so it would be more balanced w/o destroying secondary professions for mes..same with expertise rly, we dont want friggin 10 energy lame bow attacks.. - wuhy 86.101.134.142 22:34, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Well, just a thought. Aaxtes and graspings in the UW tend to be quite annoying when it comes to interrupting much needed casts. A bit of FC can make farming with, let's say, a 55 much less annoying. I havn't used a 55 build in a while, but when I did, it was with my mesmer. I was able to be much more relaxed and had no doubt that my skills would go through. Interrupts are not much of an issue with 2-3 enemies at a time. They are however deadly when dealing with 5+. One might argue that a skill such as mantra of resolve can replace FC when being interupted is a problem. However, MoR takes up a skill slot and the possibility of using another stance. Obviously the UW isn't the only place in which interrupts are a problem. In any case, when I farm solo or with bonders, I am obviously the center of attention for interrupts, and I feel much better about farming mesmers, rangers, and warriors( Such as aaxtes and graspings in the UW) with a few FC points on my side. Bah, what am I saying? Rock candy FTW!! 04:32, 5 May 2009

PvP, I love using expertise to lower my energy usage with high energy usage spells! point being, that interrupting 1/4 second cast is impossible for the human brain to pull off. I'm not saying eitherway, if they added more milli seconds to general spell casting - think how SLOW the game would become? Clearly there are certain spells Anet insist should not have the ability to BE BLOCKED. If they want to allow a primary mesmer to take advantage of a 1 second (prior to FC modification) necro curse to be cast in 1/2 or 1/4 second- they clearly intend that they DO NOT want that to be blocked. The lower the casting time, the more ANET wants to insure that the player gets the spell off. That is funny though about the mesmer water magic build being BETTER than an energy storage based primary elementalist water magic caster! That made my day! :) Remoteluxuries 10:40, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Of course just getting a spell of quickly doesn't mean you have enough energy to dish out a lot more spells back to back. Tenai's spammed on me 4 times and I'm mesmer toast. That would leave room to spare for that elementalist to engage a second target or multiple in AOE attack because my mesmer energy pool is 5 to 10 points less than half of a typical energy storage elementalist. In fact, I have to interupt someone just to get my energy pool filled up (or wait for the pip mechanic to charge my energy reserves, and not including glyphs or signets that allow so many points of guaranteed energy, if certain conditions are met: usually "if you are pretty much completely out of energy, press this signet, and gain 12 energy."Remoteluxuries 10:40, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

How Fast is Fast Casting?

This page says that the game's engine uses full precision when calculating the new casting time and then uses the time in milliseconds. If I had 15 Fast Casting (50% faster) and I used it on a spell that only needed 1/4 of a second, would it really be reduced to 1/8 of a second? Arachanox 18:22, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

I Belive so but the average 0.4sec lag and aftercast would come into play 121.45.245.121 05:48, 8 Jly 2008 (UTC)puney

OP

This primary attribute is too overpowered. At least when in conjunction with other professions. Kinda like Soul Reaping in PvP. Mes skills are ok with Fast Casting and it works, but Ele and Necro skills shouldn't somehow become better when added. Shouldn't a profession's primary boost their own skills and not their secondary's more? Expertise, Spawning Power, Divine Favor and Leadership are balanced because mostly their respective professions benefit from it, but not much of their secondary professions. Yet FC Eles dominate Primary Eles. Changing skills to work with their primary is stupid, ie. Glowing Gaze, Mirror of Ice and such. Just change Fast Casting! 72.222.217.198 01:50, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Fast casting should increase recharge by the same factor it decreases activation for non-mesmer skills lol -- euphoracle | talk 19:50, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

In response to the original poster, is this problem in PvE or PvP? I searched through PvX wiki's top tier Me/E and Me/N builds and only found two builds which combine high Fast Casting with several secondary skills a PvP water build and a PvE raptor farming build. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 03:43, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

PvP. ANet has been nerfing around the problem by hitting hexes and skills like steam instead of making FC only apply to mesmer skills. Me/N hexers were popular for a very long time (they started in TA tbh, with sig midnight + plague sending dominating the game for months on end), with hexes like faint and suffering being basically instant casts. People ran Me/E's in spike builds with mirror of ice, then people got the idea to run them in balanced using glyph immo + steam to spike assist and perma blind. Huge damage, huge utility and shutdown (via blind and all kinds of snares), and spells too fast to interrupt made water mesmers a very boring, but very necessary, part of the meta for the past 8 or so months. -Auron 03:48, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Expertise has a very positive effect on 7 professions: Warrior, Ranger, Necromancer, Assassin, Ritualist, Dervish, and Paragon, making Attack Skills, Touch Skills, and Binding Rituals all easily spammed, at very little energy cost. Critical Strikes has a very positive effect on 5 Professions: Warrior, Ranger, Assassin, Dervish, and Paragon, by giving great energy management and increased damage output from Swords, Hammers, Axes, Bows, Daggers, Scythes and Spears. Fast Casting has benefits that come at the cost of energy drain, making it viable in short PvP skirmishes but absolutely horrible compared to steady damage or healing output from primary casters in PvE. The original poster is wrong.75.121.83.113 19:24, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

watching the opponents casting bar/how does FC effect what I see on my interface?

I am new to mesmer, and wondering if when I see my pvp opponent casting a spell, if it "appears" to be casting SLOWER when I have spent higher points in my FC attribute? So to clarify - when I look at my computer screen, and see a pvp opponent and it's pre-casting duration begins moving horizontally : does it appear (on my screen) as moving slower than say someone else that doesn't have FC or has lower points in fast casting?Remoteluxuries 09:59, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

It's either a spell with a longer cast time, your opponent has daze or a hex that increases spell or skill activation time, or just in your head. It could be lag too, which in that case you need a better internet connection or change your computer. Pika Fan 10:11, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

No the casting and execution times of the target's skill isn't slowed down for you (that would require a warp in real time experience differential between you and the rest of the world). It always is a reflection of how long it takes that target to cast or execute whatever skill they're doing at that moment, in real time. There is, however a latency factor, meaning that the connection to the server and the delays involved between it and your machine come into play. Thus you may think you interrupted someone but really haven't because the game didn't get the signal in time. Fast Casting is the only Prime attribute that is subject to internet mechanics and has points of failure because of it.--Apoptosine 23:33, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

if FC is exponential, what is the "sweet spot" in terms of attribute points to alot?

I see the chart on the main page, and it shows percentages as they relate to points spent in Fast Casting. My question, is their a chart somewhere that shows where the "sweet spot" (number of allocated FC points) for a rank 5 spell, a rank 10 spell, 15, and 25? Maybe it's so fast it just doesn't matter, but I was curious when I saw that it is not calculated linearly, but rather exponentially. Why spend unnecessary points in FC if my spells are mainly level 10 spells, or level 5 spells, and so on. I could find just the right amount of points to put into FC for my builds.

Am I on track, or am I missing the concept? (Or overlook something: I've been known to do that frequently) thank you, Remoteluxuries 10:18, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

7-9, depending on how many spare points you have left over. Always put a minor rune into it. Speccing too many points into FC is silly, as it makes the spells you actually cast weaker, with only a small benefit (a % faster). You basically want to have 12+1+1 dom (or illusion), 10+1 inspiration, 8+1 FC on a standard mes bar. Filler skills also make a huge impact - if you have stuff like glyph lesser on a fast cast water bar, you won't need nearly as much inspiration, so you have a few points to play around with in fast casting. For the most part, however, you don't go past 9. -Auron 10:30, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Also, I don't think fast casting rounds up or down, so a chart would be pretty pointless outside of just showing percentages. Multiply original casting time by the new % and you'll have how fast it goes. Most people don't bother trying to figure the math on it anymore, they just put spare points into it much the way rits and eles put points into spawning and energy storage. -Auron 10:34, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

It has to be rounded, since Guild Wars, like most real time video games, probably uses some form of standard time increment. I don't think there's any publicly available information on the exact length of that time increment, however IIRC testing indicates that it cannot be longer than 1/16 of a second. -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 08:49, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

To answer your question, the "sweet spot" is where the tangent to to graph has the greatest slope (negative ofc: we are decreasing cast time). This is at FC=0. Because the function decreases exponentially you get less "bang for the buck" if you add attributepoints to FC. 212.10.157.136 10:16, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Fast Casting is Underpowered

Compared to the utility of the other primary attributes, FC is extremely lacking. Compare any other primary's utility and you'll find this to be true. Where shall we start? Strength: adds armor penetration and damage to anything a warrior weilds, and it has one of the largest array of skills associated with it, it's effects are universal to any situation where a weapon is involved HUGE effect. Divine Favor heals any target you cast a spell on (I don't know if it works with signets though) for more healing, regardless of the type of spell, It has perhaps the largest set of skills associated to it, including a huge array of elites and boosts an already very potent healing concept class. Monks dominate the game anywhere, PvX. Expertise makes skill energy costs nearly a non factor, a ranger's energy pool and regeneration are complimented by a skill that negotiates a prime game mechanic to such an extent as to make energy issues a mere nuisance to a primary ranger-toucher anyone? Also it has a large skill set associated with it. Soul Reaping begins to show how one primary attribute an be lopsided in the many situations in the game, in PvE it's an abundance of energy nearly, but can be a dearth in low casualty environments like RA, and haphazard in places like AB for energy. It has a near neglected array of skills associated with it however, but after Factions was granted some real (non elite!) shiners. Mysticism is what keeps a Dervish ticking and has the odd side effect of keeping a lot of Dervish skills usable only to a primary Dervish, it's universally needed for a Dervish to operate and has a HUGE skill pool that includes the God Avatars. It yields both energy and healing. Spawning Power: Huge skill pool with plenty of useful skills and elites: Nobody's summoned spirits are as tough as a primary Rits because of it. Critical strikes: Large skill pool with plenty of useful regular and elite skills included, and affects an assassin anytime they attack with any sort of weapon, and includes a good amount of energy and healing skills: Near universal applicability. Energy Storage: good sized associated skill set, with plenty of bread and butter skills inside, creating a manna pool unrivaled by any class, again it yields energy and healing to the primary ele, it even has skills usable at 0 skill to other classes! Glyph of energy anyone? With Energy Storage, you have a primary skill set which strengths are only offset by the high cost spells usually employed by eles! Ele healer anyone? Again, it's usefulness is on the universal scale. Next to mesmers Leadership comes close to the least universally useful skill in the game. It only really shines in large groups of allies (and even then some shouts and chants only affect the character or party members) who are within range in order to scrape together the energy to keep the paragon going. In RA and the modest skirmishes that make up the bulk of the PvP game (excepting of some very situational AB instances) it's energy virtue is non existent, especially when you make their elites 10 energy in PvP to cast(C'MON!) Now lets examine fast casting: Pitifully small skill set associated with it, with nearly no useful skills in it. It's mechanic relies on only one aspect of what happens in the game: Spell casting and "Long skill activation" it has nothing to do with healing, energy or damage like nearly any of the other primaries. It depends on one target somewhere activating a skill or spell as you actively monitor them doing it and then and ONLY then does it come into play! So now that everyone else is getting healed, healing others or gaining vast energy resources and dealing more damage from their primary attributes you have the mesmer...The mesmer who can--IF (s)he's lucky enough or smart enough to have you in his sights at the right and proper moment in time--attempt to interrupt you. But that's not all the requirements that must be met. First one must equip an interrupt to interrupt you with! granted that A) (s)he equipped something handy B) It's the appropriate interrupt for the appropriate situation (Skill interrupts are less common, cost more energy and more situational than spell interrupts) C) (s)he has the enegy to activate and deems it necessary. FAST CASTING is extremely situational, and held back by recharge times, energy costs etc. Don't try to convince me FC is overpowered, I won't buy it. Oh, and for the record, in HM PvE every creature you face will have fast casting, no matter what class or skill sets used. HM pretty much nullifies any utility FC yields to the player playing a mesmer in HM. If you got owned in PvP and you attribute it to Fast casting then that stands as a rare and situational exception to the basic reality I just stated, good for that mesmer, and the rare easily countered chain casting build where FC can make a difference in PvP! --The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:Apoptosine (talk).

Tl;dr tbh. personn5 23:45, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

I feel I must make a statement... "Next to mesmers Leadership comes close to the least universally useful skill in the game" Up till this quote, I may have agreed with the utilization of other classes and their primary attributes; however, almost everything after this quote I disagree with. For one, I played the paragon for a very, very long time. Their primary is by far the most useful in energy management for pve. there is NO disputing this point. The whole reason for playing a paragon is for its shouts (spear chuckers belong in the ranger profession not the paragon), thus--as long as you don't try to solo (which completely goes against all philosophy of the paragon)--leadership is not only viable, but useful enough that you should not run out of energy. As for PvP, I must agree, it tends to be difficult for a Paragon to make his way through PvP, but it IS possible, and Leadership (though not maxed out) still plays a great role.

Now, as for Fast Casting. There is a reason for its "pitifully small skill set." It is, in effect, the most useful primary attribute. Now, I realize that at this point you will stop reading simply out of selective viewing, but, If you are still reading, I urge you to hear me out. All other Primary attributes--save the monk and warrior--are excellent for energy management, as a matter in fact, the other primaries are often the main source of energy management; however, the mesmer already had this talent down through inspiration magic (an attribute which, in my opinion, is only viable for the mesmer due to casting time). Now, you made the claim that "HM pretty much nullifies any utility FC yields to the player playing a mesmer in HM" due to the fact that all monsters already have fast casting... however, I see this the other way around. Mesmers are naturally ready for HM because they are not at a disadvantage like the other classes.

Yet another comment I'd like to make is the fact that APPARENTLY the only option for a mesmer in PvP is an interrupt, which very well may be true; however, Fast Casting is the only Attribute that can make spell interruptions possible. In my opinion, there are many other builds available to the Mesmer other than the standard interrupt.

Why I believe Fast Casting to be useful: It allows for Easy spamming of spells. Now, It may be difficult to be an effective healer or nuker, but, if a mesmer has a high fast casting attribute and a small investment in inspiration magic, he can easily cast a few spells, drain some energy, cast a few more spells, drain more energy, ect. Overall, the mesmer's Primary attribute allows easy--though not apparent--energy management, while still giving aid to other spells in ways not related to energy.

My apologies for any seemingly rude comments... More than likely, they were not intended...Ζεφ 02:14, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Fast Casting is not underpowered. It is subject to the whims of the internet and latency. It does not, as one poster above me stated, "Allow easy--though not apparent--energy management" but instead only speeds up casting of spells and signets. As that poster said, you need an investment in Inspiration Magic, and spells from that attribute to manage your energy. Fast Casting only speeds up those spells. It does not give any more energy than the same spells would give without it, and is thus not providing energy management. It is not useful to any non-caster profession, and requires another attribute to provide energy management to be useful to a caster.

When compared to Critical Strikes, which increases the critical strike chance (and therefor damage output) of any non-caster profession, and provides energy on each critical strike, Fast Casting looks like a far cry from useful. When compared to Expertise, which can reduce energy cost of skills from 6 secondary professions, Fast Casting falls short, only providing a benefit to 4 secondary professions...

Now, with all the bad things about it listed, I believe it needs to be stated that even though it is not useful to a secondary profession, and requires another attribute for energy management, it is hugely useful to primary mesmers. Much like Divine Favor for monks, it is of limited use outside the skilled hands of a dedicated player. However, in the hands of a skilled Mesmer, Fast Casting becomes a tool to help them achieve perfection in manipulation, interuption, and pressuring of the enemy. It is neither overpowered, nor underpowered, but simply the perfect tool for it's job.75.121.83.113 20:05, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

FFS... Big wall 'o Text ftl... Learn to indent/paragraph break and maybe I might actually read that thing. :\ --24.98.24.92 01:31, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

It's not worth reading anyways. Every mesmer worth his salt has at least 8 FC, and many builds go mesmer primary solely for FC. You don't see that with anything but awful ranger primary gimmick builds. FC is the third most powerful primary next to expertise and Divine Favor because of it's ability to effectively let the class have a whopping 20%+ activity and it's ability to make interrupting on you that much more difficult. Greep 00:33, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Casting time; Casting Speed?

Both terms refer to the same, activation time of spells, am I right? Or is there something I'm missing?

The first one depends on the second one. Yseron - 90.28.82.64 01:48, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Casting time usually refers to the unmodified casting time of a spell. The casting time of Rodgort's Invocation is 2 seconds. Casting speed refers to the time it takes to actually cast the spell (not including after-cast delay), which will be the same as the casting time, unless modified by a Mesmer's Fast Casting attribute. Thus, a mesmer with fast casting attribute of 15 would be able to cast Rodgort's Invocation with a casting speed of 1 second, even though the casting time of that spell is 2 seconds. --Threid 02:38, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

They're both referring to the activation time. The casting time row indicates how long it takes to cast the spell compared to the base casting time (for example, the 50% value for 15 Fast Casting indicates that spells take half as long as normal to cast with 15 Fast Casting). The casting speed row indicates how quickly the spell is cast compared to the base casting time (for example, the 200% value for 15 Fast Casting indicates that spells cast twice as fast as normal with 15 fast casting). -- Gordon Ecker (talk) 04:10, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

casting time = 1/casting speed 83.20.100.143 00:17, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

NEW UPDATE

NEW MESMUR UPDATES FOR FAST CASTING SHOULD PORBLY UPDATE IT.

It's just the wording that was changed, Fast Casting itself hasn't changed. 90.217.16.133 22:23, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes it has. Non-mesmer skills with under 2 sec activation times aren't affected by FC anymore. Also, in PvE, mesmer spells recharge 3% faster for each rank in FC. Edit: Yeah, just noticed that it isn't actually working. Thought you were refering to something else ^^ - Mei Fen 22:30, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

I updated the ingame describtion for fast casting and added a note saying that it isn't corect. --174.130.231.162 23:47, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

So,has this bug been reported?--Wealedout 00:43, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

I THINK THEY FIXED IT.

LMFAO i'm preeetty sure they just removed half of the builds on the pvx wiki that started with "Fast cast _____"

How does Mantra of Recovery stack with PvE-version Fast Casting? --Falconeye 23:20, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Rather well. Erring Ryft 17:36, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Does anybody else wish they would allow FC to apply for PvE non-mesmer spells <2s cast time? Casting PI, EVAS, EVSS, etc. at slow (i.e. normal) speeds feels so...plebian.The Duke of Silence 05:23, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, another chart would be helpful

Should we have another chart anyways or until they actually implement it? I might make one (though should I stop at 30s recharge or 60? There is only one 40s skill and only 1 60s?). I'm just gonna go up Also thanks to the nice person who found me the equation to do this! R-0.03FR (R=recharge time, F=fast casting rank... or alternatively (minus)0.03RF+R) Previously Unsigned 04:12, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

With the new update, does it affect non-mesmer spells of casting time = 2secs? It says under 2s but it doesnt specify whether it means <2 or =<2. Im wondering because it will affect a new build idea im toying with. - Jimmer123

I looked into that and it appears that its <2, not =<2 (Less than, not equals or less than). This is good news for me too--Magican 06:46, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Less than..

It says less than 2. Does that mean it does affect skills with a cast time of 2? --77.160.189.74 20:56, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes, because two is not less than two. -~=Ϛρѧякγ (τѧιк) 21:12, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

The effect on this type of skills (2+ seconds casting) has its normal effect or tops at 2 seconds? For example: if a skill have an activation time of 3,and you have 12 FC, will the casting time be around 1.7 seconds or it will stop at 2 seconds?Lokheit 12:40, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

As it starts off greater than 2 in theory yes it should go to 1.7 seconds. -- Magican talk 06:19, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

The easier example is a 2s activation time skill — obviously, that will have to activate in less than two seconds with any value of FC.  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 06:52, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Does the restriction apply to signets as well? Such that Trytophan signet won't cast faster? Amberlink 15:35, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

"No effect for non-Mesmer skills with an activation time less than 2 seconds." (emphasis mine)  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 17:23, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

PVE Mesmer Skills

Does fast casting effect PVE skills like sunspear, luxon or kurzick mesmer skills?

Yes, as long as it is a spell or a signet with an activation time of 2 or more. Rumian 08:07, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Please test it before making false statements like that. Tested with Cry of Pain with 13 Fast Casting and the recharge was reduced to 8 seconds, therefore Fast Casting does treat PvE-only skills that are specific to mesmer as mesmer skills. Random Weird Guy 22:04, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

ANet can be inconsistent about implementing stuff like this (probably b/c the code to adjust is complicated), so it wouldn't surprise me if Celestial Haste isn't affected. It also wouldn't surprise me if FC worked on Elemental Lord.

Put another way, all we can really be sure about right now is that FC affects the long-casting PvE spells/signets and the recharge for Cry of Pain. (Or, more correctly, that's all I'd be willing to claim, since RWG's results above are the only testing notes I've seen.) – Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 00:54, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Tested with more PvE-only skills at 13 Fast Casting:

Elemental Lord and Radiation Field (both PvE-only skills that are not specific to a profession) kept their original recharge times. Radiation Field had reduced activation time, but the original activation time was 2 seconds.

Ether Nightmare (Mesmer specific PvE-only skill) had its recharge reduced from 25 to ~15 seconds.

Celestial Haste (a mesmer specific PvE-only skill with casting time 1 second) had its casting time reduced.

Therefore I think we can assume that all PvE-only skills that are specific to Mesmers count as Mesmer skills for the purpose of Fast Casting, whereas other PvE-only skills are not. This would make sense, seeing as skills such as Rampage as One are affected by Expertise. Adding note. Random Weird Guy 12:12, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Signets...

Does it still affect all of them, or just Mesmer attribute sigs...? Taka Ragranok 00:00, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

"...decreases the activation time of your Spells and Signets. (No effect for non-Mesmer skills with an activation time less than 2 seconds.)" — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 00:14, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Contradiction

The "Inherent effect" section states that cast times are rounded to the nearest 10th of a second, while the "Game Mechanics" section states that they are rounded to the nearest millisecond. Which is it? Cealdor (talk) 11:06, 17 July 2021 (UTC)