Easiest DPS to play for the lazy?

[ColdestHeaven]

I don't care about being a world first raider. I just want to be able to play semi-drunk and not have to rage if I miss a beat by 3/4 of a second.

I'd say Bard, instinctively, and before anyone agrees/disagrees: I play as a DRG and moving is vital for many reasons in many fights in 40+ dungeons, so while drunk you can go in circles like an idiot and still actually manage to hit someone. You all talked about being efficient with the class...but I think the key word here is drunk. Yup. You can fuck around more with BRD, in my opinion which comes from no tangible experience since I tried archer only in Beta3 and I didn't really like it. But that's beside the point. Although to be fair, even DRG allows room for many of mistakes - hell, even MNK doesn't destroy a party with a single mistake. BLM/ACN are different, cause they are fragile and their loss of mana makes them useless or close to.

I think that is what you call "my two cents". Hope I'm not making anyone mad.

[eSiennaSkye]

Sometimes I wonder why I love playing BRD so much...

Then I just look at this thread.

[Tenkiei]

lets look at how faceroll/easy/boring Brd is.

If 3+ Targets, you can AoE, however you do not HAVE to AoE until 4 targets (as your AoE is approx 330 pot).

For AoE:
-Keep up Straight Shot +10% Crit
-Spam Wide Volley
-if Rain of Death procs, use it.
-if Quick Knock procs, use it.

Now that you've used the GCD spell....do all this until the GCD ends:
-put up Internal Release
-put up Raging Strikes
-put up Hawk's Eye
-put up Blood for Blood
-put up Barrage
-Use Misery's End if up
-Keep Flaming Arrow down
-use Bloodletter on CD
-use Repelling shot on CD (must weave in/out)
-use Blunt Arrow on CD (if you are not required to interrupt)

Now, that ENTIRE Brd AoE rotation, can more or less be macroed into your 3 aoE skills, so lets call that the simple part why don't we?

Now lets look at single target, for these purposes I'm going to define "single target" as 1-3 targets, why 1-3? because you may not always want to AoE if a priority target must be burned down.

-----

-Keep Straight Shot up
-Keep Wind bite AND Venom Bite up on all targets, refresh each of these whenever possible with CDs up, but do not clip them after your CDs have fallen off, it is especially important to extend the duration by 15s just before Internal Release falls off whenever possible.
-Use Straight Shot 100% Crit procs
-Spam Heavy Shot

Now again as soon as you've used your GCD spells we have (Keep in mind you are weaving all of these in BETWEEN your GCDs while still doing the above on the GCD priority):
-put up Internal Release
-put up Raging Strikes
-put up Hawk's Eye
-put up Blood for Blood
-put up Barrage
-Use Misery's End if up
-Keep Flaming Arrow down
-use Bloodletter on CD
-use Repelling shot on CD (must weave in/out)
-use Blunt Arrow on CD (if you are not required to interrupt)

-----

So yes, lets all agree bard has the easiest lazy mode rotation with nothing special to manage and no attention span. GLHF!
Here are some damage potency estimates for spells:

(3-4 targets) AoE: Wide Volley 330-440, Rain of Death 300-400, Quick Knock 330-440, Flaming Arrow 1050-1400.
On the GCD Single target: Wind Bite 330, Venom Bite 310, Straight shot (crit) 210, Heavy Shot 150 (162 counting the 20% proc chance), Straight Shot 140.
Off the GCD Single tar: Burning Arrow 350, Misery's End 190, Bloodletter 150, Repelling Shot 80, Blunt Arrow 50.

[ChaozK]

Now imagine having to manage all of those mechanics with having a base rotation that is more than just this:

-Keep Straight Shot up
-Keep Wind bite AND Venom Bite up on all targets, refresh each of these whenever possible with CDs up, but do not clip them after your CDs have fallen off, it is especially important to extend the duration by 15s just before Internal Release falls off whenever possible.
-Use Straight Shot 100% Crit procs
-Spam Heavy Shot

and you will get a good idea of what other classes are doing.

[Shayuki]

Basically Bard:

Straight Shot when you don't have buff or it's about to run out(Macrod with Bloodletter and Misery's End).
Wind Bite and Venomous Bite when their cooldowns run out(Both Macrod with Bloodletter and Misery's End).
Straight Shot proc.
Heavy Shot(Macrod with Bloodletter and Misery's End).

You got 4 macros. Bloodletter is used automatically, you don't even need to watch for the procs. As Summoner I have 20+ keys actively in use. Have a macro with your cooldowns. When you need to burst, spam that macro until all your CDs are used and then go back to spamming your 4 keys.

Black Mage is similarly simple, though they still have to look for the procs. I'd recommend neither of the melee classes. Both require good positioning and have complex rotations. I also wouldn't recommend Summoner. Probably the most difficult DPS class to control currently.

[Tenkiei]

Now imagine having to manage all of those mechanics with having a base rotation that is more than just this:

and you will get a good idea of what other classes are doing.

a base rotation that's more than just this? I'm sorry did you somehow miss the rest of my post? or are you describing the subpar brd dps that can technically be macroed, because if so a drg has the easiest rotation EVER 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.

Basically Bard:

Straight Shot when you don't have buff or it's about to run out(Macrod with Bloodletter and Misery's End).
Wind Bite and Venomous Bite when their cooldowns run out(Both Macrod with Bloodletter and Misery's End).
Straight Shot proc.
Heavy Shot(Macrod with Bloodletter and Misery's End).

You got 4 macros. Bloodletter is used automatically, you don't even need to watch for the procs. As Summoner I have 20+ keys actively in use. Have a macro with your cooldowns. When you need to burst, spam that macro until all your CDs are used and then go back to spamming your 4 keys.

Black Mage is similarly simple, though they still have to look for the procs. I'd recommend neither of the melee classes. Both require good positioning and have complex rotations. I also wouldn't recommend Summoner. Probably the most difficult DPS class to control currently.

You might want to read my post on actual brd dps, you missed a few key aspects of the bard rotation, also using macros like that isn't really good, what's better? using bloodletter which won't be refreshed for 1s, and delaying your heavy shot by 1s or using heavy shot which technically has higher potency than bloodletter? Hint: higher potency.

[ChaozK]

a base rotation that's more than just this? I'm sorry did you somehow miss the rest of my post? or are you describing the subpar brd dps that can technically be macroed, because if so a drg has the easiest rotation EVER 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3.

Oh contraire, this is dragoons heavy shot.

This is dragoons base rotation: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...otation-Reborn

Hooray for class ignorance.

[Tenkiei]

I guess you're one of those individuals who is incapable of reading the subtle art known as sarcasm, how unfortunate. The "1-2-3" I was referring to was the True Thrust - Vorpal Thrust - Full Thrust combo, because spamming that over and over while ignoring your buffs/DoTs is essentially the same thing as doing with the brd what you outlined, and completely ignoring the weaving of all the off-the-gcd abilities. Similarly you made no allusions to the fact that bards have to manage buffs with CDs, I'd assume it's very similar with Drgs as to when you do clip your DoTs and when you do not.

My point is that if you want to oversimplify a brd rotation, then yes what you posted does make sense, however you're ignoring many off the GCD skills including one with a positional requirement and those are the ones that add complexity to the rotation. If you think about it, you can do SOME dps 1-2-3ing on your drg, it's just not as good as the full rotation, the same can be said as brd with your 9-7-2-spam 1.

[ChaozK]

I guess you're one of those individuals who is incapable of reading the subtle art known as sarcasm, how unfortunate. The "1-2-3" I was referring to was the True Thrust - Vorpal Thrust - Full Thrust combo, because spamming that over and over while ignoring your buffs/DoTs is essentially the same thing as doing with the brd what you outlined, and completely ignoring the weaving of all the off-the-gcd abilities. Similarly you made no allusions to the fact that bards have to manage buffs with CDs, I'd assume it's very similar with Drgs as to when you do clip your DoTs and when you do not.

You dont seem to understand why i was comparing drgs 1-2-3 combo to Brds heavy shot. Both base rotations do the same only that DRGs is more complex, the 1-2-3 part in DRGs rotation meets the same role as Heavy shot does in Bards rotation.

This is bards base rotation:
Straight shot = Buff

Wind Bite
Venomous Bite = DOTs

Straight Shot = Main attack

This is Dragoons base rotation in its most basic form:

Heavy thrust (flank) = Buff

Phlebotomize
Fracture
Impulse Drive (Rear)->Disembovel->Chaos Thrust = DOTs

True Thrust->Vorpal Thrust->Full Thrust = Main attack

If you say that 1-2-3 is DRGs rotation then Heavy shot is bards rotation, which is why your comment was nonsense. No matter how you slice and dice it, Bards base rotation is really the simplest in the game. I also find funny how you keep on mentioning off GCD skills because every class has to weave in oGCDs in between their attacks and its especially funny because DRG has by far the most out of all classes (mainly due to a wide array of jumps).

[Tenkiei]

Ok, let me spell it out for you.

Saying a bard's rotation is DoTs/straight/heavy shot IS LIKE SAYING THAT ALL A DRAGOON HAS TO DO IS THEIR 1-2-3 ROTATION. The fact of the matter is I never said the proper dragoon rotation is 1-2-3, or easy, I said the "Subpar bard rotation that can be macroed" hence... implying it was being oversimplified and not done correctly. Would you like a free reading lesson now?