PLD first strike. Am I Pld'ing wrong?

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Originally Posted by Soulburn32

i think too many of your are overly concerned with min/maxing in a game that does not require min/maxing to any high degree

my only concern is to have a strong enough opening combo that dps and heals can do pretty much whatever they want. If I have done that then I have done my job. Bunch of needless math on something that is really that simple.

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That's the fun in it though. PLD is a class with not much variety stock without cross clashing. And with the cross classes I have available I like to add variety and make sure the variety is actually useful (regardless if how small)

Yeah, I'm about two pieces away but as a crit tank that regularly switches Oaths unless against a heavy spike damage boss, I'm happy with my dps output and threat management. Screw BiS

You should time fights with and without maximizing tank dps to make sure you're not min/maxing dps over tanking. My intuition is that tank dps is not significant compared to real dps, so the fights don't really end faster if you bother to work in fracture or shield swipe. As such, tanks are better if they focus less on dps and more on tanking: position, hold aggro, and interrupt attacks that force other party members to move.

For example, a little extra tank dps might not save any time compared to simply being a better tank, like pulling the next trash mobs a little faster with shield lob/provoke instead of running up to them to use damaging but low threat skills. Getting flash up sooner in your rotation lets dps hit them with aoe, instead of maximizing your tank dps.

To kind of mirror IndigoHawk, especially with bosses, time each attack with the mob your fighting, so you're guaranteed to have stun/silence when a big move pops up unless you know they're flat out immune, then just unload and control the flow of the fight

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Originally Posted by Soulburn32

i think too many of your are overly concerned with min/maxing in a game that does not require min/maxing to any high degree

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That's exactly what they do, I hate min/maxers in this game. It's not uncommon for me to hear DPS complain about each other for some stupid reason or another, and some idiot talks about how much DPS he was doing and so that somehow exempts him from his mistakes.

Obviously, maximizing DPS for a DPS is important, but the amount of people that fall back on their DPS for their mistakes to try and prove themselves is just ridiculous.

And for tanking, I don't see it as a top priority, if you were to maximize DPS as a tank, you won't be shaving enough time off for it to be worth saying it's something tanks should actually be doing.

Firstly, there is no "wrong" way to tank if you're doing your job and holding aggro. There are more "efficient" ways, but you should play the game how you enjoy it. Unless you're losing aggro all the time and making your run difficult, then tank how you want.

This is how I do it:

2-3 targets:

Bloodbath + FoF
Shield lob
Flash
Fast blade -> Circle -> Savage blade -> Spirits -> RoH
Rotate RoH combo.
Cycle CDs if required.
Shield bash any troublesome AoE.
Flash a few times if my rotation gets sloppy.
To end.


Large pulls:
Shield Lob
Flash till MP depleted, then:

Fast blade
Riot blade
Flash
Repeat

While group AoEs down. At this point, with 6-9 enemies on you, you simply won't cycle your RoH combo fast enough to hold all hate. Once enemy group dwindles enough, I return to RoH combo and add some damage.

2 - 3 targets: shield lob, CoS, Flash, Fast Blade, Savage Blade, RoH different target, SW, Flash, repeat from Fast, move to next mob once last target down to 20%.

Large Mobs: same as above, except 2 flashes, then cycle through while inching back, maybe stoneskin

I'm admittedly bad about using FoF against trash pulls. It never seems to matter and I prefer to use while in Sword Oath, so unless I'm taking a ton of damage I'll Sword up, pop FoF then rage out for 30 sex, before going back into Shield and continuing as normal.

On bosses (unless they hit like a truck): Sword Oath, Rampart, shield lob, fast blade, Savage Blade, FoF, CoS, RoH, SW, (Shield Swipe if available and boss not immune), rinse and repeat, then switch back to Shield and Stoneskin up... reason I do that is maximum dps and I get two CoS's while FoF is still on. Otherwise, do everything the same, just never go into Sword.

As OT: Sword Oath all day everyday. Switch if MT is about to die or it's my turn to swap

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Originally Posted by Menae

It's not useless, but it sure as hell isn't going on an easy-to-hit button combination, either. It's such a marginal dps increase (it's like an extra fast blade every 3:45) that I really don't care for the extra mental overhead, not to mention it's a HUGE enmity hit. On a ten minute encounter, it would literally be a larger dps increase to convince your WHM to stand in melee for the first minute of the fight so they can Fluid Aura three times than it would be to work in Fracture for the ENTIRE fight. And that's WITHOUT Cleric Stance.

But it's not worthless. Just ALMOST worthless.

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You didn't read I guess, it's useful when you will be moving away from the enemy, you know not in range to use combos, so you are loosing dps and enmity by not using it as you run away from the enemy, and as far as mental overhead for hitting one button, well that's on you.