BRD macro

[EasymodeX]

... I don't even know where to start why this is wrong. This style of play will only produce sub-optimum results and perpetuates the notion that BRDs employ zero thought into maximizing their damage output.

Well that's in general; the only other optimization is to refresh DOTs before IR expires.

Beyond that, that's exactly what a Bard does to DPS. Straighter Shot usage is an interesting question though that would take more advanced statistical analysis to determine if it's really a benefit versus using it with static timing (e.g. when you need to refresh, only).

The only time a Bard does anything else from a DPS optimization standpoint is when they save cooldowns for specific fight mechanics -- which occurs often enough, but that's applicable to all classes (edit: which results in the Bard making 2 oGCD macros -- one with cooldowns, one with only the BL/ME so they can throttle their CD usage / saving). The other consideration is their utility which interrupts the above 5-button spam.

But that's just a variation of pewpewpew.

[Maxu]

Straighter Shot usage is an interesting question though that would take more advanced statistical analysis to determine if it's really a benefit versus using it with static timing (e.g. when you need to refresh, only).

I don't understand what you mean by this. You should only be using it when you need to refresh the buff anyways or did you mean only using it when you get the Straighter Shot buff?

[EasymodeX]

I don't understand what you mean by this. You should only be using it when you need to refresh the buff anyways or did you mean only using it when you get the Straighter Shot buff?

The default player behavior is to use Straight Shot: (a) immediately when you get the proc in place of your next Heavy Shot, and (b) when you are about to run out of the buff. Edit: ignoring DoT priorities for a moment, because they won't occur with the first event, only subsequent cycles if you use condition (a).

However, there is a cost associated with this that is more than just the "TP" and a benefit that is less than "autocrit dps!11":

If you use SS every 8th (e.g. only when you are about to run out), then you will still consume the straighter shot buff if it's still up. Therefore, the gain of using SS immediately following a proc only occurs when the proc happens outside of the duration (which I actually don't recall atm -- was it 10s?).

In addition, the gain of using SS immediately also occurs when you get more than 1 heavier shot proc during the "HS spam within range of the 8th gcd SS" phase (because the first heavier proc will be consumed by the 8th gcd SS anyways).

However, this is not a direct # of HSs because 1 is consumed early. The GCD used to consume the heavier shot proc reduces the chance for getting consecutive procs by the 8th GCD.

In addition, you incur a TP cost of basically (70-60) * some factor of how much "wasted" overlap Straight Shot buff time happens.

Lastly, there may be an additional fringe DPS penalty for accelerating your SS cycle (by using SS immediately) if you don't get additional heavier shot procs, because it does less base potency than HS.

So there are a few things at play here. Immediate Straight Shots will certainly be a DPS gain -- but a smaller DPS gain than I think people expect, or that can be estimated at face value.

This is the type of question that is harder to model due to the interdependencies and raw RNG involved. A simulation could solve that pretty quickly though. I summon pandabearcat to solve this riddle.


Edit: TLDR: Due to (a) the reasonable chance that many heavier shot procs will be consumed anyways if you use SS every 8th, (b) the additional TP cost of using SS on proc, and (c) the high base crit% rates Bards achieve, it may be more effective to simply use SS every 8th, instead of every proc.

[Drakkur]

Beyond that, that's exactly what a Bard does to DPS. Straighter Shot usage is an interesting question though that would take more advanced statistical analysis to determine if it's really a benefit versus using it with static timing (e.g. when you need to refresh, only).

This is also in reference to the poster above me.

I think he is trying to get at the priority we put on the Straighter Shot proc.

For me I consider a few things when I get an SS proc:
1) are my dots expiring in the next GCD?
2) If so, can I reapply both dots before and still make use of the SS proc?
3) If all of this is good then I will prioritize dots over SS proc
If it does not satisfy all of these conditions then I will SS before applying my DOTs again.

Also as your crit scales into late game (with full BiS gear and acc cap (plus food) your crit % will be over 40 through an entire fight). As you get more crit, the priority on SS goes down.

[Bardo]

Also as your crit scales into late game (with full BiS gear and acc cap (plus food) your crit % will be over 40 through an entire fight). As you get more crit, the priority on SS goes down.

Wait, what?
over 40%?

Crit Chance % = 0.0693 x CRT – 18.486
10% if you keep Straight Shot buff up 100% of the time.
Max uptime on Internal Release will average 5% additional crit.
So your crit rate would have to be ~628 for you to average over 40% crit rate through an entire fight.

BiS plus max crit food leaves you around 530, doesn't it?

[Rapiso]

Wait, what?
over 40%?

Crit Chance % = 0.0693 x CRT – 18.486
10% if you keep Straight Shot buff up 100% of the time.
Max uptime on Internal Release will average 5% additional crit.
So your crit rate would have to be ~628 for you to average over 40% crit rate through an entire fight.

BiS plus max crit food leaves you around 530, doesn't it?

With IR and Straight Shot, 40 is far from overestimated

[Bardo]

With IR and Straight Shot, 40 is far from overestimated

I specifically talked about both IR AND Straight shot...

He said 40% throughout the entire fight, not 40% for 15 seconds every minute.
Therefore IR is a 5% buff, not a 20% buff.

Again, 40% sustained is NOT possible with current BiS.
Maybe you could reach 40% sustained if you ignored accuracy and dex and stacked crit on every single piece, but that would be FAR from optimal.

26* because you can have only 4 cross-class (You had 27 abilities listed and 5 of them were cross-class)

Every job gets 5 cross class skills...
Classes get 10.

[AniCelestine]

Every job gets 5 cross class skills...
Classes get 10.

Either I'm blind or somethings f*ked up with my game, but I've always been able to get 4 for jobs and 8 for classes on 50. Thats the reason why I haven't botheres lvling up lancer to get BfB, cause I dislike the gameplay of lancer.

[viion]

With IR and Straight Shot, 40 is far from overestimated

The guy said "will be over 40 through an entire fight", there is NO WAY you can get over 40 throughout an entire fight, you would need over 600+ Crit Hit Rate.

[Rapiso]

Therefore IR is a 5% buff, not a 20% buff.

No, if you Combine Barrage and Flaming Arrow with IR, it's more than 5%

The guy said "will be over 40 through an entire fight", there is NO WAY you can get over 40 throughout an entire fight, you would need over 600+ Crit Hit Rate.

I still think 40% is a right end game number. If you miss your procc and have a bad CD management, it can be harder to reach it.