Why do people still single target mobs when there are 3 or more?

[RachaelMarie22]

And then you get the dragoons just spamming ring of thorns over and over without proccing it (or even using heavy thrust once at the start...)

Have to turn my volume off for that cause the sound of badness grates on me.

[SpookyGhost]

How do you even.. ?

I think what it means is once you've regenerated enough TP to use Death Blossom it's better to continue rather than using your regenerated TP for single target skills. Not sure if it's actually true, but I don't play Ninja so... :P

[StouterTaru]

That's compared to fire 1 only(before 3.0). With fire4 single target is a bit better. ^^

Sustained AoE is still more damage than sustained ST on 3 mobs, just not as much more as it was in 2.x.

ST does about 15% more damage in a single AF/UI rotation vs 3 mobs, but that rotation takes almost 50% longer.

Ley Lines/Swiftcast shorten the AoE rotation by a larger proportion than ST, due to the timing and the 3 second server side MP ticks.

[AeraLure]

There's no "freeing up" a WHM to DPS. You just do it. Three or more enemies I will always go right into DPS after my initial starter. Six or more? All the more urgent to do so imho.

[Catwho]

Bard is the only melee class where it's still efficient to AOE with only 3 mobs, thanks to Rain of Death being off cooldown and free TP when it procs. Even then, a bard has to blast at least one mob with the single target DoTs to proc RoD, and some bards strategically target two or more when Internal Release is up to spread the DoT crit love. Bards switch to single target Heavy Shots when the mob count drops to two because the damage to TP ratio is less when it's not blasting three targets.

All other classes are probably going to do a better job using less TP and whittling them down one at a time in smaller pulls.

[KeluBehemoth]

Running HT with ROT is an absolute waste.

The conal of DS has a further range to hit more targets as well. You should be positioning.

If targets are behind you or beside you you're wasting DPS losing auto attacks.

Ring of thorns should NEVER be used. I can't stress that enough.

[B0YRaNmA]

Considering the refresh rate of Elixir Field, Blood for Blood and Internal Release, I don't mind AoEing whenever available, even on three mobs. Two full AoE rotations then back to single targeting and the mobs should be pretty close to gone even before popping Invigorate. The only time I don't bother is if its a mob before a boss fight, otherwise there's no real benefit to not using it, as the time between mobs is usually long enough for the TP to regenerate and most cooldowns.

Can also use Purification to help speed up TP regen too in between packs, if you find the party is moving between packs faster than your TP can regen.

[Preypacer]

I'd be interested if this is actually more efficient or not. AOE attacks by a DPS I'd imagine would outweigh a healer in cleric stance considering the potential need for switch backs/ negative trait removals.

Speaking for my own experience, if there are low HP mobs in the group, I'll hit my better AOEs (as Monk) to help clear them out. However, for higher HP mobs, I'll tend to focus-target, starting with the most annoying/dangerous ones, and working down. I do it that way because I can kill a single target far faster with direct attacks, than I can help take out several with weaker AOEs.

That said, I *do* throw in Elixir Field and Rockbreaker when they're up. I also refresh DOTs when possible. More damage is more damage, after all. I have the attacks, so why wouldn't I use them?

I just find the pulls go faster/smoother if the herd's being thinned through more powerful direct attacks, than they do with more mobs being whittled down solely by spamming AOEs.

[Ilitsa]

for classes like Nin and Drg, in my opinion, it's faster to burn down 1 at a time when it's only 3 mobs. It's simply not worth the TP cost

[Kallera]

How do you even.. ?

Ninja magic, also sheer NIN awesomeness defies petty things like "not enough TP".