The Ultimate Black Mage Resources with Damage Calculator

[Kenji1134]

Hmm, IIRC, to do the double Flare trick, much like the double F3 trick, one is affected by UI3 and one by AF3.
Under UI, Flare has 260*.7 = 182 potency. Under AF3, Fire 2 has 180 potency, but generally has a lower cost.

In effect from a full-ish mana bar, you can do 3 F2s and a Flare, which puts you at 0 mana and you need to transpose. This is a total of 1008 potency for your mana bar, and transpose is always up after Flare.
Going from UI3 into Flare for 182 potency, then a 2nd flare to 468 potency is a total of 650 potency, but even without doing any math, my gut feeling is that transpose wont be up in time.
Transpose takes ~5 gcd's to refresh.
So trans - tick (1) - B3 (1.4) - Flare (1) - Flare (1) = 4.4 gcd's. So transpose would not be up.
Also 468/4.4 = 106 pot/gcd, barely above B2 spam, and below the 3 F2 - Flare rotation.

Hmm, Ill get back to this idea later.

Edit: Returning to the idea.

I got ACT running for FFXIV this week... makes quicker testing a whole lot easier.

Baseline B2 spam: 98 dps on 1 dummy... 98 dps aoe... All tests are done on a lvl 1 dummy in the Bannock, that doesnt clip the other one with 5m range aoes... so its all effectively ST and AoE's that just hit 1 target.
Ranged Double Flare: *0 mana - Transpose - tick - B3 - *wait for tick, hit Flare a bit before the blue bar fills up - Flare - *back at 0 mana = 125 dps on 1 dummy, 91.25 aoe.
Melee Double Flare: *0 mana - Transpose - tick - B2 - B2 - *wait for tick, hit Flare a bit before the blue bar fills up - Flare - *back at 0 mana = 120 dps on 1 dummy, 120 aoe.
Ranged F2-Flare: B3 - F3 - F2x3 - Flare - Transpose - tick - *back to B3 = 151 dps on 1 dummy, 110 aoe.
Melee F2-Flare: B2 - B2 - F3 - F2x3 - Flare - Transpose - tick - *back to B2's = 132 dps on 1 dummy, 115.4 aoe.

Comparisons

If you can be in melee range:
Melee Double Flare is best, if you watch your mana bar like a hawk. If you get the timing wrong, then you lose the AF3 Flare and that just sucks.
2nd best is the ol melee version of the 3F2-Flare rotation, trading B3 for 2 B2's in melee range. ~96% as effective as the "New King" Melee Double Flare... but SOOO much easier to do.
And 3rd place in the melee category goes to the the old standby "mash Blizzard 2 until everything dies"... coming in at 82% of #1's dps... Also mindlessly easy and you never miss cause your target died...

From a distance:
Your best bet is the standard 3F2-Flare rotation using B3.
The ranged Double Flare rotation sadly falls flat in this category, coming in at 83% of the above rotation's dps, and for more work.

Conclusion

If you get the timing down, and can safely stay in melee range, this "new" Double-Flare rotation does seem to be our best option for AoE.
That said, the non-double Flare melee rotation is a close second, and likely easier to use in the long run.

And one last comment. Since I separated the damage into "total" and "aoe", I could do a quick analysis on the break-even point between [AoE * N] vs [ST + AoE * (N-1)]... and simply put, the magic number seems to be 4. On 4 mobs, a purely or predominantly aoe rotation is better than a slightly less aoe rotation...
So... the answer is 4... when you must choose whether to AoE... or AAAAYEEEOOOOHHHWWWWWWHHEEEEEEEE!!!!!

[Sleigh]

Hmm, IIRC, to do the double Flare trick, much like the double F3 trick, one is affected by UI3 and one by AF3.
Under UI, Flare has 260*.7 = 182 potency. Under AF3, Fire 2 has 180 potency, but generally has a lower cost.

In effect from a full-ish mana bar, you can do 3 F2s and a Flare, which puts you at 0 mana and you need to transpose. This is a total of 1008 potency for your mana bar, and transpose is always up after Flare.
Going from UI3 into Flare for 182 potency, then a 2nd flare to 468 potency is a total of 650 potency, but even without doing any math, my gut feeling is that transpose wont be up in time.
Transpose takes ~5 gcd's to refresh.
So trans - tick (1) - B3 (1.4) - Flare (1) - Flare (1) = 4.4 gcd's. So transpose would not be up.
Also 468/4.4 = 106 pot/gcd, barely above B2 spam, and below the 3 F2 - Flare rotation.

Hmm, Ill get back to this idea later.

Edit: Returning to the idea.

I got ACT running for FFXIV this week... makes quicker testing a whole lot easier.

Baseline B2 spam: 98 dps on 1 dummy... 98 dps aoe... All tests are done on a lvl 1 dummy in the Bannock, that doesnt clip the other one with 5m range aoes... so its all effectively ST and AoE's that just hit 1 target.
Ranged Double Flare: *0 mana - Transpose - tick - B3 - *wait for tick, hit Flare a bit before the blue bar fills up - Flare - *back at 0 mana = 125 dps on 1 dummy, 91.25 aoe.
Melee Double Flare: *0 mana - Transpose - tick - B2 - B2 - *wait for tick, hit Flare a bit before the blue bar fills up - Flare - *back at 0 mana = 120 dps on 1 dummy, 120 aoe.
Ranged F2-Flare: B3 - F3 - F2x3 - Flare - Transpose - tick - *back to B3 = 151 dps on 1 dummy, 110 aoe.
Melee F2-Flare: B2 - B2 - F3 - F2x3 - Flare - Transpose - tick - *back to B2's = 132 dps on 1 dummy, 115.4 aoe.

Comparisons

If you can be in melee range:
Melee Double Flare is best, if you watch your mana bar like a hawk. If you get the timing wrong, then you lose the AF3 Flare and that just sucks.
2nd best is the ol melee version of the 3F2-Flare rotation, trading B3 for 2 B2's in melee range. ~96% as effective as the "New King" Melee Double Flare... but SOOO much easier to do.
And 3rd place in the melee category goes to the the old standby "mash Blizzard 2 until everything dies"... coming in at 82% of #1's dps... Also mindlessly easy and you never miss cause your target died...

From a distance:
Your best bet is the standard 3F2-Flare rotation using B3.
The ranged Double Flare rotation sadly falls flat in this category, coming in at 83% of the above rotation's dps, and for more work.

Conclusion

If you get the timing down, and can safely stay in melee range, this "new" Double-Flare rotation does seem to be our best option for AoE.
That said, the non-double Flare melee rotation is a close second, and likely easier to use in the long run.

And one last comment. Since I separated the damage into "total" and "aoe", I could do a quick analysis on the break-even point between [AoE * N] vs [ST + AoE * (N-1)]... and simply put, the magic number seems to be 4. On 4 mobs, a purely or predominantly aoe rotation is better than a slightly less aoe rotation...
So... the answer is 4... when you must choose whether to AoE... or AAAAYEEEOOOOHHHWWWWWWHHEEEEEEEE!!!!!

More AoE DPS is nice, gonna have to try to get the timing down for some of these. The only problem is, for me, I usually come close to pulling threat with the old Fire III > Fire II spam > Blizzard III > Blizzard II > repeat string, and adding in more damage, while definitely useful in some situations if the tank is going all out or is established, would force aggro on me. I think PLD AoE aggro is balanced around the intent of Fire II or Blizzard II less than Flares.

I'll give some of these a whirl during my weekly WP speed runs tomorrow, see if I have aggro issues with tanks who are geared a little better than me (iLVL80ish).