Zwoodco Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 So I was reading up on what rotation(s) to use for my class, and I noticed one of the phrases that was repeated a lot was "use 'x' on cooldown." Now, I know what a cooldown is, but what does it mean to use an ability on cooldown? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slafko Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) It means you use it as soon as it becomes available again. Edited November 5, 2013 by slafko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zwoodco Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 Gotcha. I kinda feel... stupid... now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whojoo Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Don't feel stupid Everyone has these moments that they don't understand something and when someone tells, they think it was soooo obvious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELRunninW Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 (edited) I was always wondering if there is something wrong with the name. It is off cooldown if you mean to use it as soon as it becomes available. Or use it when everything else is on cooldown. In case of abilities that are not limited by global cooldown use it when global cooldown is blocking other abilities. I am not sure there is one single explanation. It seems as if people just use it without actually thinking what it really means, am I wrong? P.S.Cooldown is the period time you need to wait for an ability to become available, which means you can not use it while it is on cooldown.It is possible that people are confused by defensive cooldowns, which again are cooldowns only because they have long cooldown periods, go figure. Edited November 6, 2013 by ELRunninW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slafko Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 I'm not a fan of the "cooldown" usage but one has to adapt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cxten Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) Cooldown is the period time you need to wait for an ability to become available, which means you can not use it while it is on cooldown. You have a linguistic misunderstanding of the situation. The phrase is not "use it when it's on cooldown" which wouldn't make any sense, as you point out. Instead it's "use it on cooldown." Here cooldown is a stand in for the time period (or possibly the event of the end of the cooldown timer). The phrase is similar to "use it on the stroke of midnight" and "use it on arrival." See senses 8d and 9 in the OED. Still, the phrase is a bit enigmatic, and probably came into use as a parallel to "keep it on cooldown." We have no short name for the event of the end of the cooldown timer. What the phrase really wants is this word in place of cooldown, and cooldown is what is used as it's the closest we have. Edited November 7, 2013 by cxten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELRunninW Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Thank you for clarification, the link does not work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cxten Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) Thank you for clarification, the link does not work. Possibly fixed. Try it again? You can also get there yourself by going to oed.com and searching for the word "on" and clicking on the entry that's listed as a preposition. Anyway, it's nothing mmo-related, just a link to a nice dictionary definition of the word on! Edited November 7, 2013 by cxten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerba Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 Possibly fixed. Try it again? You can also get there yourself by going to oed.com and searching for the word "on" and clicking on the entry that's listed as a preposition. Anyway, it's nothing mmo-related, just a link to a nice dictionary definition of the word on! No, unfortunately it does not work. Are you browsing from a university network or something? It says you have to login to access that page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cxten Posted November 7, 2013 Share Posted November 7, 2013 (edited) No, unfortunately it does not work. Are you browsing from a university network or something? It says you have to login to access that page. You're right, you would need a login. Sorry about that. Not that it adds much (I just included the link to be complete), and I'm embarrassed to have made three posts about the word on, but here you go: on, prep. [...] 8d. Exactly at or just coming up to (a scheduled or other specified time); just before or after in time. Also: having just or almost attained (a specified age). [...] 9. On the occasion of (an action); immediately after (and because of or in reaction to); as a result of; = upon prep. 7. Edited November 7, 2013 by cxten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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