Positional Requirements for Melee DPS

It's like saying I'm a vegetarian but I don't like leafy veges and tomatoes.

If you truly want to play melee dps and are looking for the class that has the least amount of positioning requirements, then play DRG. They do have 2 abilities that require positions, but they are BOTH either standalone abilites (heavy thrust) or at the beginning of a combo string (Impulse Drive), making it more forgiving if you miss the positioning.

Many people miss it, but the disembowel and chaos thrust abilities can be used from anywhere, but in order to get their bonuses, impulse drive must hit from behind. So that's it, just 2 positional requirements.

Compare this to the 5+ abilities for monk and the 3 for rogue/ninja. What makes rogue/ninja harder is that the positioning ability is at the end of a 3 hit combo so missing it sucks. It is worth noting that having a warrior tank removes the need to ever even perform this combo so there are ways around it.

Point is, there is an easier option if you do not like the positioning requirements for melee dps. Take DRG

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Originally Posted by Tex_Mex

If you truly want to play melee dps and are looking for the class that has the least amount of positioning requirements, then play DRG. They do have 2 abilities that require positions, but they are BOTH either standalone abilites (heavy thrust) or at the beginning of a combo string (Impulse Drive), making it more forgiving if you miss the positioning.

Many people miss it, but the disembowel and chaos thrust abilities can be used from anywhere, but in order to get their bonuses, impulse drive must hit from behind. So that's it, just 2 positional requirements.

Compare this to the 5+ abilities for monk and the 3 for rogue/ninja. What makes rogue/ninja harder is that the positioning ability is at the end of a 3 hit combo so missing it sucks. It is worth noting that having a warrior tank removes the need to ever even perform this combo so there are ways around it.

Point is, there is an easier option if you do not like the positioning requirements for melee dps. Take DRG

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But you do realize that missing the position on a Monk still progresses the stance, so all you lose is some potency, while missing the positional on a DRG means you'll have to re-apply the very same move over and over until you land it from the required position. This totally screws your rotation. While a DRG may have less positional requirements (speaking of the number of skills with pos req), those requirements are actually less forgiving compared to a Monk.

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Originally Posted by Vodomir

But you do realize that missing the position on a Monk still progresses the stance, so all you lose is some potency, while missing the positional on a DRG means you'll have to re-apply the very same move over and over until you land it from the required position. This totally screws your rotation. While a DRG may have less positional requirements (speaking of the number of skills with pos req), those requirements are actually less forgiving compared to a Monk.

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I will add to this, that IMO, having a positional at the start of combo is more difficult than one at the end. This is because it is typically the opener (in our case, HT), which means the mob is not yet "set". There's always an instance where I attack thinking that the tank has already moved the mob to a position, only to see it turn and I end up missing the side. On the other hand, i rarely miss Impulse Drive. I typically go with HT-> Phlebotomize as a starter before I go with my ID->CT combo. This means that, after positioning for HT, hitting it with Phle (and possibly using Off GCD moves in between), by the time I need to start ID-> CT combo...I am 99% sure that this mob is facing the correct way.

Since ID is also a rear positional attack (where a DRG spends majority of the time anyway), it makes the odds of missing it even lower.

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Originally Posted by Tex_Mex

Point is, there is an easier option if you do not like the positioning requirements for melee dps. Take DRG

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Genuinely have to disagree with this. NIN has the least amount of positioning.
TA and SA are mutually exclusive, you pick either SA or TA and in groups this will always be TA. Secondly, its oGCD and sits on a long 60 sec CD, so you use it once and then forget about it for a minute.

Leaving pretty much only one single positional in NINs main rotation, Dancing Edge, duration 20 secs, which you might not even have to use if a warrior (or another NIN) does it for you.
DRG on the other hand does HT every 20 sec and ID every 30 secs, even ignoring that missing ID makes you lose access to Dis and CT as well, while missing DE on NIN only makes you lose DE itself.

Now to compare, NIN 1 rear every 60 sec and 1 (semi optional) flank every 20 sec vs DRG 1 rear every 30 sec and 1 (non optional) flank every 20 sec.

So NIN definitely has less/easier positioning.

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Originally Posted by Duelle

Well, there was a distinction in MMOs that classes with positional requirements required more skill to play. You'd have people that liked that sort of thing play those classes while people who didn't like positional requirements had the option to play melee DPS that didn't have positional requirements, offering a little bit more utility in exchange for not having that edge in DPS.

In FFXIV no such thing exists because all melee DPS classes have positional requirements. I'm not too keen on them half because none of the weapons insterest me (fists, spears and daggers don't do anything for me) and half because I know I would have trouble in serious content between keeping a rotation going AND watching out for stuff. I didn't realize how easy DPS can tunnel vision in this game to the point they miss mechanics until I leveled MNK and DRG to 50.

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Ideally there would be a melee DPS without positional requirements that trades DPS for utility and ease of use like a melee version of the BRD.

*cough* RDM *cough*


On topic, I feel the positional requirements are a little too strict and wish the game gave you a little more leeway when determining a side/back hit, especially on targets in motion.

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Originally Posted by Giantbane

Ideally there would be a melee DPS without positional requirements that trades DPS for utility and ease of use like a melee version of the BRD.

*cough* RDM *cough*


On topic, I feel the positional requirements are a little too strict and wish the game gave you a little more leeway when determining a side/back hit, especially on targets in motion.

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Part of a good tank is how to hold aggro without moving around too much or "flinching" aka moving left and right just for that additional (and illusional) 1 second more delay on boss autoattacks just for the ZOMG heals to come in.

Only exception is the spinning tank tactic in Hydra ages ago... God that's a nightmare for melee

The reason nin doest have that many positionals is because it would be dumb to have as many as mnk while having to do mudras every 20 seconds and being able to mess those up as well.

Also, drg missing positionals is a harsher penalty than mnk.

Mnk only looses ppotency/damage. Drg has to redo combo which is a bigger dps loss and waste of tp.

Both are difficult/easy in their respects.

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Originally Posted by Spartan117

Only exception is the spinning tank tactic in Hydra ages ago... God that's a nightmare for melee

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What...what was this "spinning tank" tactic in hydra? It sounds pretty funny lol.

hey those tomatoes make my fingers all sticky.