Such a game needs to have the 'periods where you cannot move' in order to make the 'periods where you can move' a meaningful part/choice in combat, so to me (and in this case I can extend beyond my group and say to a LOT of other people) TL is not static, Ashes is, because you CAN move in Ashes, but it doesn't matter too much if you do.
Then I guess I'll need to watch more TL gameplay or I'm just blind to the intricacies of the differences between the two games, cause I mainly saw people just standing in TL and pumping healing potions. And boss battles seemed like L2, where you just stand in one place unloading onto the boss.
Yes, there were a few backdashes from the ranged characters, but that's literally the same as moving to the side against those storm mobs in the tank showcase that did a 5-directional (I think it was 5) lightning strike.
I'm just way too skeptic when it comes to TL right now. We've barely seen anything on the game, while we've seen a ton of stuff on Ashes and some have even played a version of it. And my distrust towards NCsoft is just not letting me believe that they can make a truly good game. As much as I loved L2, it had an insane amount of flaws.
Then allow me to clarify further given the topic of the thread and it is not a derail.
If I can stand still for 3-4 second hitting a boss, but I also know that if I stand still even ONE second longer, I am in considerably more danger than I would have been if I disengaged at the right time (whether that danger actually happens or not), I am actively planning, thinking, my mind is calculating 'what to do if I see the startup of a move I need to dodge away from' and the next steps, and at the same time 'what to do if I see a different move, how greedy I can be', etc.
Movement is easy. Constantly moving is almost effortless, moving with intent is difficult. MOBA players live or die based on exactly this concept.
So let's ignore TL and think in terms of Ashes and how it 'could be'. The bigger lightning ability from the bosses we saw. This move was unreactable from my perspective, but it also didn't hurt a lot. This means that I am not planning around it. It isn't 'something to CC' except randomly when I happen to be doing that anyway. It isn't something to avoid, because it's too fast to be
allowed
to be strong enough that I have to care.
Therefore the 'correct action' for this AoE lightning blast is to 'keep hitting the mob and stand in it and expect the healer to solve the problem' or 'pop a defensive ability when your health starts to dip from it'.
Also, I think you should absolutely not fault yourself for not having faith in TL's combat. The only reason I have any is because I do deep analysis on it, and I know that NCSoft would be utterly insane to have both BNS (from their side) and BDO (as competition) and build anything meaningfully less than those.
I'm the one making the 'unfounded' guess here based on my instincts, and in a few months I will lament and admit my error if things fall as you see them.
But another way you can view it is this. Ignore TL too. Just imagine what I would make. You know what I care about, I've explained enough stuff, sometimes directly to you. Just assume I could snap my fingers and Cardinal be a playable MMO.
It would have rooted motion, you would stand there trying to deal with stuff until the key moments, and the people I'm talking about would definitely not call it 'static'. Whereas they would call Ashes 'static' because you 'might as well' not dodge the lightning.
If that Lightning could really hurt seriously, then Fighter doing their Pirouette Slash would be in real danger, even considering their likely higher HP. But unlike TL where you could explicitly counter that by movement, CC, or defensive mechanic, after seeing it start up, and you would take big damage only if you 'committed to something without accounting for that move', in Ashes, Pirouette Slash would just make you get seriously hurt.