Quote Originally Posted by Liam_Harper View Post
We're at the stage where on some bosses the gap is so large that a 25-30th caster/melee dps will beat a 75th percentile phys ranged. It's actually much easier to play a melee at 25th than push a bard to 75th. Dancer is also in a rough spot where they only crawl out of the worst rdps slot at near max percentile with groups that are among the best in the world. The issue with the tax is that it doesn't account for skill at all. There is no reward for playing well. You could play really well and you'll still contribute less, you're just there for your 1% party buff.

Does that mean it's a role designed for people who aren't great at the game then? Not really. The gap shortens marginally, but the phys ranged are still down at the bottom even at the lowest ranks. For players at lower skill levels, the problem is often uptime, reaction speed and raid awareness which are far larger losses than interrupting a cast or two or breaking melee range for a few GCD's. Those same problems apply to phys ranged, even DNC is high apm and easy to drift cd's and Bard has high apm, 2 Dots, songs and a gauge to juggle. If you aren't great at the game sadly a phys ranged won't fix that issue and magically boost your group contribution. The advantage of mobility at a range and no positions exists but it's a very small one when you get any experience at playing.
The issue is you're comparing to a melee. You should only be comparing your performance and effort among your fellow ranged. If a healer is busting their butt keeping the party alive and do damage, do you see them complaining that they aren't doing BLM damage because their BLM was drooling? No. Similarly, as a ranged, you should only look at your fellow ranged because while melee/ranged/caster are all DPS, they are different roles. The only reason they aren't separated further in the UI is for convenience lol.