Most difficult DPS class to play?

[Numenor1379]

The BLM rotation IS set in stone as far as the most efficient way for the class to do damage. T3 - F3 - F1 (4x or 5x depending on MP) - B3 - T2 - F3 - repeat. 5 skills rotated at a regular rate. That's it. Far unlike MNK or DRG with their 20+ skill long rotations that also require the player to be moving to the correct spots.

Where BLM gets complicated, and very hard to master, is mitigating the movement penalty we suffer while maintaining the above rotation. Other jobs can switch things up a bit if needed, BLMs cannot. Other skills like our shields, teleport or buffs are not part of the damage rotation, which is what this topic was addressing.

[scarebearz]

The BLM rotation IS set in stone as far as the most efficient way for the class to do damage. T3 - F3 - F1 (4x or 5x depending on MP) - B3 - T2 - F3 - repeat. 5 skills rotated at a regular rate. That's it. Far unlike MNK or DRG with their 20+ skill long rotations that also require the player to be moving to the correct spots.

Where BLM gets complicated, and very hard to master, is mitigating the movement penalty we suffer while maintaining the above rotation. Other jobs can switch things up a bit if needed, BLMs cannot. Other skills like our shields, teleport or buffs are not part of the damage rotation, which is what this topic was addressing.

If your using a "set in stone" rotation for bosses as a BLM you will be doing less dps than if you constantly change your rotation slightly based on the current situation.

[Numenor1379]

If your using a "set in stone" rotation for bosses as a BLM you will be doing less dps than if you constantly change your rotation slightly based on the current situation.

Very true, but note that my post was regarding the most efficient rotation possible. It is what you WANT to do as much as possible, circumstances however require the player to adopt rotations that while may not equal the Fire spam one in pure numbers, out class it due to circumstances.

[scarebearz]

Very true, but note that my post was regarding the most efficient rotation possible. It is what you WANT to do as much as possible, circumstances however require the player to adopt rotations that while may not equal the Fire spam one in pure numbers, out class it due to circumstances.

The adapting to maintain dps, while moving is the bit that makes BLM one of the tougher DPS classes to do well with, imo.

[RachaelMarie22]

It depends.. I find drg really easy cause I like having a set rotation that you can just dish out and know where you are in it from looking at the buff timers..though I do understand why people think dragoon is hard..the lower magic def making us more vulnerable and dat jump..many a time I've had to say "just jumped ..gonna eat that aoe..I'll heal myself.." thank God for second wind and bloodbath ^.^

[Synestr]

This is my personal preference based on what I have leveled up.

1. BLM
2. DRG
3. BRD

It is the way I leveled them, it is the order in which I love them. BRD is my red headed step child ATM, I have, Oddly enough, started liking WHM....

Syn

[AniCelestine]

Rated purely by rotations:
Mnk
Drg
Smn
Blm
Brd.

Rated by the effort to maximize dps:
Blm
Smn
Mnk/drg/brd

Note that these are my personal opnions from experience and from looking at rotations/priority systems of how to dps to the max.

Also, with 1 macro* and thinking that Contagion is not garuda's skill but yours** makes smn's "micromanaging" alot easier, but it still needs effort to get the max out of it.

*/micon "TheSkillOfYourChoise"
/ac "TheAboveSkill" <t>
/ac "Obey" <t>

I myself chose Ruin II

But that makes garuda hit the target you had targetted and used this macro, if you press during GCD ruin II won't be queued, cause it's macro, and garuda will still start targetting the target. Essentially you don't have to have obey on your already stuffed hotbars.

**in 2.3 though you really want to switch garuda to Steady before trying to cast contagion(garuda doesn't queue our commands to be cast after the current cast), which doesn't feel like your skill anymore, but this has been accepted as a bug, so I'm hoping that it will br fixed.

[ViviAnimus]

They're all easy if you get used to them. But Black Mage is by far the hardest to get a higher DPS on

[Sygmaelle]

Hardest to play heh

Well overall, including maximising dmg and positionning in fight

1) Blm

Long cast times, have to know every fight by heart to know when to pop stuff in order to not have to move a lot. Otherwise, its the easiest class in term of rotation

2) Dragoon

Havin Debuff + 2 dots while heavy thrust is up on two targets at the same time when needed and come back to your first target in a perfect timing so you just have to redo the whole debuff sequence + phlebotomise before they drop IS quite the challenge. Out of all the classes its the class that is the most demanding on a pure timing point of view and you gotta rock these off gcds abilities straight when they are available too, meanwhile

3) Monk

Its all about not wastin tp by not refreshin stuff that doesnt have to too soon. Very particular playstyle but not really hard in any way when you figured it out, the only tricky thing is the positionning

4) Bards

Not a lot of things to use and its pretty straightforward. Problem with the bard mainly is how often you gotta rock these songs that lower your dps in your group.

Can do their things while they move

5) Summoner

Most stupid class ever.

Just remember one precise opening rotation and then spam the same ability one bazilion of time while movin if needed. Depending of your group you have to know if you can use fester as much as you want or if its better to keep your aetherflow in order to bane but thats about it. Refresh dots a bit before they run out, win.

On top your pet that you re not even directly controllin is kinda doin almost one third or almost half of your own dps, do I need to say more ?

[Machetazzo]

I don't have experience in all classes, so cannot speak about all dps choices from my own experience.
Each class has its own fights where they have their own difficulties due to boss mechanics. At the end of the day it is all about knowing the fight so you know when and where to or not to use particular abilities.

As I have only Monk and Summoner from dps classes at 50, I will speak mainly about those two.

Regarding diffuclty of Summoner.
It was a diffcult road at the beginning especially on gamepad for micromanaging pet+using all skills, but after few months of playing I would say it is fairly easy class to play once you get your brain used to particular bars, situations and pets idiotic behaviour
What is fun, but at the same time might be difficult at the beginning, is the fact that other than opening rotation you do not have set skill order. Keeping dots up, managing your aether stacks and CDs is priority for optimizing DPS.
Class is very capable of dealing damage even in move.
The main area I find problematic and believe I have most room for improvement is burning adds for dps checks. In my opinion that's the weakest spot of summoner as you need few GCD to build your aoe damage.

Regarding Monk.
Some encounters are a nightmare for monk due to forced stops in fight which can result in loosing GL buff. I am not feeling as comfortable on monk as on summoner yet as I hit 50 few weeks ago, so perhaps I will not find it as problematic in future as I do now,. Nonetheless managing your GL is a priority, hence proper usage of PB seems vital for problematic encounters.
Monk seems to me to have pretty set rotation, although positionals+GLmanagement+keeping up dots and buffs seems to be more problematic for me than summoner to keep the dps high.

Since announcement of BLM increase in single target potency I have noticed some sort of trend that suddenly BLM started to be considered as a difficult class. Now, I don't have this class at 50 so don't want to throw empty words without any background, but from what I saw in game and read, BLMs issue is being unable to deal damage while moving. Well it is the feature of a class and some fights might be hell unless you know the fight well. Although, it is a case for all classes that in order to utilize your abilities, you need to know the fight, so I wouldn't make BLMs martyrs
Have quite set skill rotation, rocks in AOE burning and is quite fine now I believe in single target.

Dragon no clue from my side, Bard seems fairly simple with its mobility.

Hope this helps a bit