BLM Fire II incredibly lack luster

[Ferth]

After doing some parses this afternoon on the cluster of three dummies at Whiterim in Coerthas I came to the realization that there is never a reason to use Fire II over Blizzard II.

To give some background on the processes that I tested, I did four different rotations;

The first rotation was just pure Blizzard II. And it had a stable dps of 320.

The second rotation was Fire III> Fire II> Fire II> Fire II> Fire II> Blizzard III> Blizzard II. Which had a stable dps of 260

The third rotation was Fire III> Fire II> Fire II> Fire II> Fire II> Blizzard II> Blizzard II> Blizzard II. Which had a stable dps of 250

The fourth rotation was Fire II> Fire II> Fire II> Fire II> Fire II> Fire II> Blizzard II> Blizzard II> Blizzard II. Which had a stable dps of 250.

There is very little reason anyone should ever be using Fire II.

(Disclaimer; I am aware of the Blizzard II> Blizzard II> Fire III> Flare combo. This test was purely to gauge the efficacy of Fire II.)

[Starkbeaumont]

if it would be even stronger I would have died a lot of times...

[Kevee]

DPS isn't everything.

Edit: And Fire II offers more offensive utility, what with being ranged and during AF.

[CHunterX]

The only time Fire II will put out better DPS than Blizzard II is when you have to be at a range, and/or you use Flare at the end of the Fire II spam, and even then I'm not sure if it's sustainability better than simply spamming Blizzard II. I agree its a bit of a joke currently.

[Sleigh]

My parser test over about five minutes of Fire III > Fire II X N > Blizzard III > Blizzard II if enough MP, if not, wait until about .5 seconds after MP regen > repeat whole string:

DPS: 335.60

My parser test of Blizzard II spam over the course of about five minutes:

DPS: 321.15

Note: I have a bit of Piety in my gear, which affects my ability to use Blizzard II after a rotation. In a party with a SCH, the first method would be even more effective. YMMV depending on gear.

Even if Blizzard II spam did more DPS (which would need more testing to convince me, since I did two smaller tests and both Fire III tests were higher than the stronger Blizzard II test of two), there are lots of situations you need Fire II due to cleaves and enemy AoEs. You've also got to consider occasionally pulling aggro on a couple of mobs every so often, which can realistically happen with BLM - with Blizzard II, you'd (potentially fatally) eat a few attacks before the tank could re-establish threat, whereas Fire II will give you time to kite since you can be further way, or use Mana Wall, or whatever. To anyone saying it's useless or underpowered, please ... it's fine.

[Dips]

i doesnt even have fire II bound, this skill is worthless oO

[Taemek]

I am starting to wonder wtf are people smoking these days?

Maximizing your DPS is all about managing your resource, sure I can burst my pants off, then what? OOM!!!!

Also, do people not understand the difference between AoE and Single target DPS?

Try getting 320+ DPS on single target with Blizzard II.....

Let us use the OP's numbers.

320 divide by 3 = 106.6 DPS per mob for Blizzard II.
260 divide by 1 = 260 DPS per mob for Fire/Blizz rotation combo rotation.

Over a period of 10 seconds:

1066 DPS for Blizzard II spam on 3 mobs
2600 DPS for Fire/Blizz combo on single target, hence the only time AoE becomes efficient is when there is more then 5 mobs as smashing down 3 mobs with single target DPS is more efficient and faster then AoEing.

This is not factoring in Thunder ticks or procs and yes while I realize that this is about Fire II being lack luster, the point is, Fire II was never ever anything more then a filler skill until you got Fire III & Firestarter trait at level 44.

[Kevee]

320 divide by 3 = 106.6 DPS per mob for Blizzard II.
260 divide by 1 = 260 DPS per mob for Fire/Blizz rotation combo rotation.

Over a period of 10 seconds:

1066 DPS for Blizzard II spam on 3 mobs
2600 DPS for Fire/Blizz combo on single target, hence the only time AoE becomes efficient is when there is more then 5 mobs as smashing down 3 mobs with single target DPS is more efficient and faster then AoEing.

DPS/Mob doesn't mean anything when you're AoEing, as long as the DPS total is more than your single target DPS. You should be comparing 3200 to 2600, with at least 3 mobs. You're not doing 106 DPS with 3 mobs, you're doing 320. You're doing 106 to each individual mob, but no one cares about that when you're AoEing.

[Taemek]

DPS/Mob doesn't mean anything when you're AoEing, as long as the DPS total is more than your single target DPS. You should be comparing 3200 to 2600, with at least 3 mobs. You're not doing 106 DPS with 3 mobs, you're doing 320. You're doing 106 to each individual mob, but no one cares about that when you're AoEing.

Then they are idiots and just show ponies, because as I said, unless there is 5 or more mobs in the pack, you're wasting time when 2600 DPS applied to each mob individually is faster.

And no, 320 DPS AoE is still = 1066 dps over 10 seconds per mob assuming 3 mobs. No one in their right mind who is mathematically sound looks at it any other way.

Let us remove the 10 seconds out of it. You need to factor in HP pools to these equations also, so:

AoE - 10'000hp divide 106.6 dps per mob = 93.8 seconds.


ST - **I must stress here these values in this thread is a very vague rotation used to accomplish this DPS value. ST would be more like in the 320+ range as per this post here**

10'000hp divide 350 dps per mob = 28.5 seconds.
x 2 mobs = 57
x 3 mobs = 85.5
x 4 = 114 = Break point

5 mobs minimum per AoE is efficient and effective, any less is a waste of time when factoring in the eDPS incoming on a Tank is more effectively mitigated with less mobs in a pack. It then becomes about how well geared the tank is or how well they play.

Honestly, any content worth a damn is single target based anyway, unless people claim WP speed runs as content that matters, then Summoners rule that roost anyway for AoE damage.

[Kevee]

Then they are idiots and just show ponies, because as I said, unless there is 5 or more mobs in the pack, you're wasting time when 2600 DPS applied to each mob individually is faster.

And no, 320 DPS AoE is still = 1066 dps over 10 seconds per mob assuming 3 mobs. No one in their right mind who is mathematically sound looks at it any other way.

You just said it, per mob. 320 DPS total > 260 DPS total. It's better to AoE, at 3 targets or higher, until at least one of them dies. No one cares about the DPS to a single target if the pack dies faster, and it will if you're doing a consistent 320 DPS over 260 DPS. Who cares if each individual mob lives longer? No one.

Again, the "106 dps" per mob is irrelevant. An AoE doesn't attack a single mob. We're looking at 320 vs 260.

320 wins.