DPS Rankings

[EasymodeX]

So they just sit wherever they'd like until forced to move.

Similar to how Monks kind of sit in one spot for 86% of their attacks.

[Zigkid3]

Except ranged doesn't need to worry about back/flank or being directly on the boss, they can stand literally where ever they want until forced to move unlike melee.

[pandabearcat]

Except ranged doesn't need to worry about back/flank or being directly on the boss, they can stand literally where ever they want until forced to move unlike melee.

When is melee forced to move?

When AoEs happen.

When is ranged forced to move?

When AoEs happen.

Of course, the only real difference here is melee go back to where they were, and ranged for the most part can stop where they stop.

But really, the only reason moving for melee is a problem is buffs dropping.

Aside from that, they are not penalized for movement as much as a BLM is.

[EasymodeX]

Except ranged doesn't need to worry about back/flank or being directly on the boss, they can stand literally where ever they want until forced to move unlike melee.

They can stand literally wherever they want if they want to reduce their DPS.

Monks can stand literally wherever they want if they want to reduce their DPS as well.

[Zigkid3]

They can stand literally wherever they want if they want to reduce their DPS.

Monks can stand literally wherever they want if they want to reduce their DPS as well.

Is there a specific location they should be standing at? at 20 yalms, 25 yalms? at a 45 degree angle from the boss? or just as long as they're within targeting range?

[Techro]

Some people have been posting spreadsheets parsing dps in fights and it appears that all classes have a very similar dps rating.. in bcoil. I believe that BRD and BLM serve a great purpose in raid, even though bard will get nerfed, the reason people take bards is also for their support role. < This will not change if they do less damage, because their song keeps other classes DPS at high rate. BLM has great AOE utility and burst damage in tight situations, where an add needs to absolutely die, one can combo a few procs. SMN has battle rez and a great sustained damage output which is very good in fights without phases, someone else mentioned this, though many say that melee dps is lacking, they both do the same amount of damage and they also have debuffs which increase overall raid damage. There is no true best dps IMHO. Though i will say that SMN, BLM and BRD bring more to the table as far as raid utility.

[Techro]

Except ranged doesn't need to worry about back/flank or..

I am not trying to argue with you, i agree you lose a lot of DPS having to move but, you under estimate the amount of dps a BLM loses when they have to move as well. If i move on the off chance that i do not have fire or thunder proc up, i am forced to scathe, which is terrible. You can use abilities while moving around the boss, that still goes off while running. On the off chance that you need to move back away from boss you lose dps. Also please understand a BLM will need to move scathe, then recast, hopefully not re-apply astral fire but, sometimes timing is bad and if we do have to re apply astral now you are talking about a 2 seconds to move 3.5sec hard cast fire 3. I believe this is equivalent to you losing GL stacks. IMHO. These fights are all built this way on purpose, if you could just stand there with 100% GL all of the time, the game wouldn't be challenging or fun.

[EasymodeX]

Is there a specific location they should be standing at? at 20 yalms, 25 yalms? at a 45 degree angle from the boss? or just as long as they're within targeting range?

Yes. They need to stand not in line with the other range players in the group, outside of PBAOE mechanics where possible. Depending on the position of the other players in the fight, this creates specific zones of position where it is optimal for BLM/SMNs to stand because they will have to move less as a result.

The simplest example of this is "do not stand near other range so you have a lower chance to have to move from plumes".

Another rather simple example of this is T2 rot.

For T4 there are several specific positions the caster needs to be in so they move less as a result. These are primarily related to PBAE positioning, but changes per phase.

Different fights feature these constraints to different degrees and in different ways.

Melee DPS generally spend life reacting to positioning constraints. Oh no, the boss is casting! Move! Range DPS with castbars tend to have to predict positioning constraints before they happen -- or else lose more DPS.

[Zigkid3]

AoE's effect everyone. If an AoE goes out, melee needs to move out, then when it's done move back in or if it's a lasting AoE have to find a way around or have the tank move the boss. If an AoE goes out on range, they just simply move out.

It's also interesting that BLM was originally listed as high positional demand (before being dropped to moderate by easymodex) while BRD was listed at none. I can see the difference between the two is that BLM has cast times while BRD doesn't, so BLM is obviously harder on bosses that throw AoE's out often that require you to move out. but that gap still seems much larger than it should be between BRD and BLM. BRD is none, but BLM should be low comparitevly. aside from cast times, are there any other positional requirements for the huge ranking difference strictly between BRD and BLM?

[EasymodeX]

AoE's effect everyone. If an AoE goes out, melee needs to move out, then when it's done move back in

Melee tend to keep attacking.

If an AoE goes out on range, they just simply move out.

And automatically lose DPS because they have to move at all. Melee have to meet additional conditions before they actually start to lose DPS from moving.

It's also interesting that BLM was originally listed as high positional demand (before being dropped to moderate by easymodex)

Yes, because I want to press my spacebar all the time and I can't do that on a BLM, so I rated BLM as higher than, in retrospect, it objectively deserved.

I can see the difference between the two is that BLM has cast times while BRD doesn't, so BLM is obviously harder on bosses that throw AoE's out often that require you to move out.

Do you play a BLM? The cast time is basically ... a big deal?

aside from cast times, are there any other positional requirements for the huge ranking difference between BRD and BLM?

Aside from never being able to move a single pixel without losing DPS unless other conditions (generally RNG procs) are met?