Ranged DPS, what's gonna be the highest after 2.1?

[Viridiana]

Why would a phase change matter?

Not playing either class, I'm guessing a BLM could use any invuln phases to switch to Umbral and regen MP, allowing them to minimize their down time.

[WiseWolfHolo]

Heavy movement = bard
AoE = Blm
Multitarget/single target with high uptime = Smn

Pretty much this, but once spell speed can get racked up enough to which spells can have casts times about 1.8, so after the first sec you can move and itll still go off due to server lag, then smn will take over the movement aspect and maybe blm for that matter.

[Nuffy]

It's really close at the moment tbh between SMN and BLM. Due to the fact that certain fights benefit certain classes, it really doesn't matter as long as your players have a complete understanding of their class and are doing the best dps that they can in that encounter despite any shortcomings due to mechanics. On a patchwerk style fight with 1 mob or a heavy AOE fight, I would probably say BLM. Where, on a fight like T1, I would probably say SMN. And finally, if mana song wasn't necessary, a bard may take top dps on a fight where mobility is high, but even then a good blm may still take top.

It's hard to give a concrete answer on threads like this because to be honest dps on a target dummy doesn't matter, it matters in actual encounters where mechanics may hinder or benefit certain classes.

So "it depends."

[Devaking55]

If there is any real AoE...BLM by far.

Single-target...BLM or SMN, depending on the skill of the players and how many Firestarters the BLM get.

BRD...is not even close to either of them, really...

you do know that thundercloud is the BLM dps increase not firestarter.....

[Klive]

you do know that thundercloud is the BLM dps increase not firestarter.....

http://xivdb.com/?skill/90076/Firestarter

So an insta-cast Fire III doesn't increase you damage at all? Interesting...

[pandabearcat]

I don't think you all realize how summoners work.

On any fight where targets last longer than 20-30 seconds, summoners are at optimal dps.

So "phase changes" unless they are extremely rapid, or happen at terrible times (such as right after DoT application) don't really mean anything.

BLM actually wins on extended (read: like 6 minutes nonstop) fights hands down, because again infinite resource you stupid developers >.>

And SMN wins cleave.

I don't think we have enough data to say whether one is better than the other on single target standstill fights though.

[Devaking55]

http://xivdb.com/?skill/90076/Firestarter

So an insta-cast Fire III doesn\\'t increase you damage at all? Interesting...

It doesn't as it's on a gcd like everything else >.> makes you mobile that's for sure

[Devaking55]

It doesn't as it's on a gcd like everything else >.> makes you mobile that's for sure

Also worth mentioning that it's really hard to miss thundercloud procs they have double the potency of fire3 can proc themselves and puts you back into astral fire faster as you don't have to cast a thunder 2

[Exstal]

It doesn't as it's on a gcd like everything else >.> makes you mobile that's for sure

That doesn't matter since you're not hard casting Fire III at any point except for phase changes. So it'll always be a DPS increase.

[Lecreuset]

Movement isn't much of a problem for summoners already compared to black mages.