Does archer get more interesting at end-game?

[Allyrion]

Do everyone a favor and stop gloating about how much better of a DPS you are than everyone else....

Not everyone plays this game on PC..... Macro's are definitely useful for the PS3 gamers that get the core 10 abilities, 5 class abilities, and 5 cross class abilities with only 16 button spaces per page without having to use the L1 rotate skill sets to access the one global cool down that gets mixed into your rotation....

If we could set 4 full pages of skill sets on our main screen... sure, we'll do it your way.

Myself, being an end game bard.... dont see any problem putting BL and ME onto the HS macro.... as long as it is in that order with no waits in between. they fire off in priority. and saves me needed space for other buttons...... or is it not important to have Quick Nock at the ready than having to flip pages to look for it while dodging AOE's

Put the discussion in context please.

I have level 18 Archer, and to be blunt, it's incredibly boring. For the first time in my life I actually just stand there and press 1, maybe 2 on occasion and that's it.

The OP complains that there's not enough buttons to press, while using a macro that limits how many buttons you press.
Macros are good for PS3 users but even if the OP is using the PS3, it doesn't make sense to talk about how little buttons they use.
There is also a delay, so if you're a PC user then it's better not to use one. Then it's more interesting and you have more to track.

If you are going to use a macro, don't come on the forums to talk about how boring it is to press one or two buttons.

[SeraviEdalborez]

Also the amount of hyperbole about "not using macros = 10% DPS boost" is highly amusing.

[MurakumoMillennium]

Yes, it is fine if you mind doing sub optimal DPS.

3 in 1 macros can be a dps increase when made properly (heavy shot first) and used correctly (not smashing the button).

[Mhaeric]

Also the amount of hyperbole about "not using macros = 10% DPS boost" is highly amusing.

Yeah, as far as I can tell it really only affects when the mob is in the last 10% of it's health since you will be using both a Bloodletter and a Misery's End between a GCD instead of just one off GCD ability. This delays your Heavy Shot GCD by about 1 second once every 12 seconds 10% of the time. That's a net loss of a little less than 1% damage.

[Satsui]

...

Your forcing an automatic 0.2 to 0.6 delay on your GCD (depending on your latency to the server) as macro's innately cannot use the ability command queue like normal abilities can. Additionally you run the potential risk of using bloodletter right before your GCD refreshes, effectively delaying your GCD due to the animation lock of the ability. As others have pointed out in another thread, due to the way dot ticks work in this game, it's impossible to miss a bloodletter if you solely use it between GCD's (meaning there is no reason to delay a GCD to use bloodletter).

To not get off topic, there is another thread where people discuss what I am talking about at http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...D-macro/page12

I'm not saying all macros are a dps loss, only macros where you have GCD and oGCD attacks on the same macro.

Even more to the point of the OP, he is stating that Archer seems boring, which if you use 3 in 1 macros, it is. If you want to do more dps while making the class not "as boring", then do some research and some testing yourself on what I am talking about.

[SeraviEdalborez]

And if you think the delay is that significant on only a single GCD+BL+ME macro (Heavy Shot), you should be investing in Skill Speed.

[Satsui]

And if you think the delay is that significant on only a single GCD+BL+ME macro (Heavy Shot), you should be investing in Skill Speed.

Over the course of a 12 minute Turn 5 fight, you are shooting quite a few Heavy Shots.....

[Slark]

Having the 3 in 1 macro is fine, just always have Heavy Shot first so the GCD ability is always prioritised over the other 2. Forcing yourself to pay attention to Bloodletter resets and Misery's End recasts and instantly react accordingly would just be a decrease in damage for most people.

Incorrect. The game will still attempt to use Heavy Shot first, which causes around a ~.2-.7 second delay on your other skills inside the macro, due to how macros cannot use the ability queue function, which is a DPS loss. BL/ME/heavy shot macros have been proven to be a DPS loss, it is better to just monitor them on your own and weave them correctly (it's also far more fun). By using this macro, you are losing a big aspect of the class. Bloodletters play a huge role in how BRD functions. For the OP to trivialize that function, then come onto the forums complaining about ease of difficulty is rather baffling to me.

That aside, BRD has a low skill curve, but a high skill ceiling. Utilizing OGC skills correctly, in the correct priority, especially when you get multiple BL resets can be alot of buttons to press, couple that with the fact that you are the main silencer, you have 2 DoTs to keep track of, you have to keep an eye on healers mana, know how to manage mana properly, and manage your 5 CD's correctly, etc, all makes bards have a much higher skill ceiling than people actually give it credit for.

Another important aspect of BRD is that you have more responsibility and your life carries far more value than any other DPS. This means that dying is a big deal. If you die, theres no more requiem for burst phases, you have no mana to give out ballads, theres no silences going out for interruptions, etc.
Compare that to a BLM, BRD, or MNK, who, pretty much do nothing except DPS. SMN's should be the first to raise in groups/raids, so they also have some responsibility.

I'm not sure why everyone considers BRD to be the easiest class when BLM exists. BLM has no mana management, they have a single DoT that is reapplied through their monotonous and stuck-in-stone constant rotation, and they carry zero responsibility other than DPSing. Their rotation is also pretty much four buttons with a few situational skills, they don't even really manage cooldowns either, and they don't have to weave OGC abiltiies inbetween casts. Since cancelling cast for firestarter is a DPS loss, it makes everything even simpler. The only real "hard" part of BLM is that their rotation is sedentary, so they have to scathe, firestarter, or thundercloud proc when they move, so they have to make some decisions on where to stand. They also have to time stance transitions correctly.

BRD's mobility is a bad excuse for making an argument on ease of difficulty as well. Moving out of AOE is not hard, it just causes a DPS loss. The only argument you can make for lessening difficulty is that you do not have to choose where you position yourself, which is a pretty bad excuse considering other ranged classes also have instants to give them plenty of repositionment without a huge DPS loss, if any. Besides that, it's not as if its really that hard to choose where to stand. Almost always it boils down to either group coordination on things like twisters/titan pools, or common sense.

In my opinion, no class in this game is hard to play optimally. However, I do believe some of them are rather interesting/fun, end game bard being one of them.

[energeisT]

And if you think the delay is that significant on only a single GCD+BL+ME macro (Heavy Shot), you should be investing in Skill Speed.

Your latency is not changing by increasing your skill speed, so you will not really be accomplishing anything except for burning your TP slightly faster. The latency effect actually becomes larger compared to your skill recharge time as you increase skill speed.

[Sylari]

Even ignoring the potential DPS issues it still seems a tad silly to be complaining about the class not having enough buttons immediately before telling us that he's stuffing as many abilities as he can into a macro.

The two statements seem directly contradictory in their ends.