BLM macros

[scarebearz]

What is the best to do? After I spam Fire I, of course my MP will run out. However, I press the Fire III button after the last Fire I to get the full damage. After that I cast my Blizzard and you know the drill.
I have seen people cast their last fire, get a Fire III proc and do the following: Fire I - Blizzard III - Thunder 2 (Blizzard I or scathe in case of slow mana regen) - Transpose - Fire III proc. Which one is the most effective to you think?
On one hand if you don't have a fire proc in what I do, you lose a little time and that can add up. On the other hand, the second method gives you a less powerful Fire III (850 DMG instead of 1100), but it does seem faster. Although after using your fire proc the global cooldown is triggered ...

I do the latter, the GCD after the proc is an ideal time to use something that is off the GCD anyway and it is a lot more fluid overall. Feels like more dps to me, but I have no real figures to prove this.

@Vivi Odin ftw ;D

[Zencurse]

I do the latter, the GCD after the proc is an ideal time to use something that is off the GCD anyway and it is a lot more fluid overall. Feels like more dps to me, but I have no real figures to prove this.

@Vivi Odin ftw ;D

It increases DPS to weave off GCD consumables and abilities during Firestarter/thundercloud procs or the small extra time you get casting a hastened fire III or bliz III when changing stances. It's not much, almost not even enough to notice, but for the number crunches, its correct to do it that way. The only exception is popping a int potion to increase the damage of all your next fires. So yea, you're correct.

[ViviAnimus]

I have tried both methods for quite a long time (3x 11 minute casts for each method) and preemtively casting fire III after your last fire I resulted in the most DPS. It's not that surprising to be honest.
If I'm not mistaken, this is why:

My fire III hits for 1100 instead of 850
In my method it's basically: Fire I (750 damage) - Fire III (1100 damage) - Blizzard III (450 damage) - Thunder II 160 damage - Here the GCD is triggered after the Fire III (which always happens after you cast Fire III after Fire I)
In the second method you go: Fire I (750 damage) - Blizzard III (450 damage) - Thunder II (160 damage) - Transpose - Fire III - 850 damage (this is where your GCD kicks in)
___________

2460 damage my method
2210 damage the second method

__________

Basically, in both rotations there is a GCD where you can weave something in between. Am I missing something here?

[scarebearz]

Snip

The total damage for those few spells may be higher doing it that way, but it's the "Damage Per Second" overall that is important.

There is a GCD to weave something in for both, but a GCD in Astral Fire III with full MP is generally much more useful than a GCD when you are just going into Astral Ice MP regain phase.

Overall dps wise I doubt there is much difference between the 2 methods, but I'd go with the much more fluid method.

[YanderePrincess]

The total damage for those few spells may be higher doing it that way, but it's the "Damage Per Second" overall that is important.

There is a GCD to weave something in for both, but a GCD in Astral Fire III with full MP is generally much more useful than a GCD when you are just going into Astral Ice MP regain phase.

Overall dps wise I doubt there is much difference between the 2 methods, but I'd go with the much more fluid method.

Wouldn't another factor to consider, which would tie into the "overall dps" issue, be the fact that you have to wait a moment to cast the Firestarted Fire III rather than instantly going into Blizzard III when the Fire I finishes casting? Thus delaying the damage output by a small amount. Could that delay reduce the overall dps to make the two match up (ignoring the placement of any off-GCD skills, just comparing the direct dps of the two methods).

[scarebearz]

Wouldn't another factor to consider, which would tie into the "overall dps" issue, be the fact that you have to wait a moment to cast the Firestarted Fire III rather than instantly going into Blizzard III when the Fire I finishes casting? Thus delaying the damage output by a small amount. Could that delay reduce the overall dps to make the two match up (ignoring the placement of any off-GCD skills, just comparing the direct dps of the two methods).

Yes, this is what I mean about "Damage Per Second" overall, due to the wait time.

As for Scarebearz: The DMG is higher too. I have been parsing for a whole night and I do 20 more DPS by using the first rotation.

Are you just parsing those few spells mentioned? Or doing longer tests with both rotations?

I honestly don't see how it could give you 20 more dps, even if it is a superior method.