Most difficult DPS class to play?

[skaterger]

Well everyone can call himself "top BLM" if in the fight they let do all the work to others and just stay put and fire

I call a "top BLM" the one able to deal with the fight and do his share and make that work affect the less possibile his DPS. He/She will have less DPS then scarecrow BLM? Sure but it's effectiveness in the fight and in the party is miles ahead of scarecrows BLM

Sure, why put a BLM doing the "homing missile" job or kiter in t7 job? Some jobs are just wrong for BLM but many others can be done without much problems

No you don't get my point. Even the best blm in the world will never be able to do the same dps in titan ex as say T8 because while a great blm can mitigate much of the movement problems, they will never be able to do so perfectly. So in instances where a raid can allow a blm to not move, it is in their best interests to do so if they want to maximize dps. In fact, I would go so far to say that a great blm will realize that they should not move unless they absoluitely need to and in circumstances like not stacking for plumes in titan, they should certainly do so. But in the process of doing so, it makes their job inherently easier to play.

That is what I meant when I said that top blms will recognize when they absolutely need to move and when they can cut corners. Why would you want to move to activate landmines when a summoner can do so at a much lesser cost to his dps? Sure, if you want to move to prove that you can move while dpsing, thats great, but a turret blm will always be better than a moving one, and good blms will recognize that.

[Kitkat]

When it comes to Hardest to best utilize it is always a mix between Drg and Mnk for me. I'm currently more familiar with mnk rotations than I am with drg, but with the sheer amount of "bad drg" I've run into it makes it seem like it is somehow harder as a job to me. The amount of really good drg I've seen is few...and I do mean very few. One used to be in a coil group with me and was parsing near 370-380 while most the rest of us were in the low 300's in roughly same ilvl gear. I'd imagine, if he is at 105ilvl in gear now he is probably doing far better. Drg is more dependent on when to use buffs with what attacks, where mnk isn't so that puts it higher on difficulty in my book.

[silentwindfr]

exept the blm is not by far the hardest dps at play: no ressource management, no combo, no melee, no real position outside be smart to know a bit the pattern of the boss and move at the right time.
it's actually one of the easiest class to play.

you say that monk are easy, i will say that you have never truelly play monk at the top. for get the best dps from it, you will need to know your cycle and almost be able to do it in automatic, since you must pay attention to your buff, your position, the boss position, the tank position, your tp comsuption. and the cycle of the monk is something that always changing in function of your timer on the debuff and buff. seriously, stop say stuff that are misleading.

by the way, remember me how many skill you do use as blm? your number of skill is ridiculous... it's soo easy at play actually.

[whiskeybravo]

I don't have BRD or BLM, so can't comment on those specifically. I do have a well-geared DRG, SMN and MNK, however, and really they all feel about the same difficulty to maximize, with exception of feeling a bit more comfortable on DRG since I main that one and have had it at 50 the longest comparatively.

SMN has 3 main DoTs to maintain, filler with Ruin I/II, bursting with Fester. Little intricacies such as adding Miasma II on single target when you have Contagion up, fitting in 2 Festers under Raging Strikes, and using off-GCDs after instant casts to maximize uptime, etc.

DRG has 1 main damage buff, 1 resistance down debuff, 2 DoTs, and quite a few off-GCDs. The general rotation is about 24 moves long, but fairly easy to master. Only 2 positional requirements makes it a bit more forgiving than Monk. Superior burst AoE when used properly.

MNK is my latest lv50 so not so much insight into the intricacies of this job yet. I've found it to be pretty hectic compared to DRG, once you get GL3 and are cruising through the GCD you have to be pretty well aware of your positionals and status of buffs/debuffs, thinking 2-3 moves ahead always. You buff yourself with Twin Snakes and GL3, debuff the enemy and manage 2 DoTs (3 if using Fracture, this is pro, I'm not there yet :P).

If I had to rank them in difficulty, it would probably be MNK > SMN > DRG. But this is a bit biased, as I am very confident on DRG, and still learning a bit on MNK.

Good luck!

[hamsteak]

hmmm i have every dps job to 50 (bard is on an alt) and in a fight with moderate movement i'd probably say:

1. Black Mage
2.Dragoon
3.Monk
4.Summoner
5.Bard

as other people have said, black mage has to know when to move within a certain fight/what tools to use, or their dps will drop immensely

dragoon has a long rotation that it really complicated, but annoying, especially if you get interrupted for whatever reason

maintaining greased lightning during some fights is a fight itself

i actually find summoner fairly straightforward and simple, and your damage isn't really affected by movement at all

bard is just like summoner, except you don't have to control a pet

[Ragecake]

BLM is easy to play, but difficult to master.

[Sygmaelle]

Its okay man, we all have our bad days

[charlemagne]

Dragoon is pretty difficult to play. You have to survive the embarrassment when your df group sighs in disappointment when they see they got a drg and you have to put up with the frustrating wait for a raise during fights.

[Umero]

Well... Drg, Blm, Mnk, Brd, and Smn... They are all Jobs. Not Classes

[Spartan117]

I'm going to call BS on those who say DRG is easy to play becuz of a standard 24 move rotation cause 24 moves is only considering GCD... go figure

On top of basic X-pots and Potent Poisoning pots

DRG: Life Surge, Power Surge, Jump, Spineshatter Dive, Dragonfire Dive, Leg Sweep, Life Surge, Blood for Blood, Internal Release. 9 Compulsory OGCD with varying CDs from 20s to 300s plus 6 Optional OGCD: Invigorate, Bloodbath, Foresight, Mercy Stroke/Mantra, Second Wind, Keen Flurry

MNK: Steel Peak, Howling Fist, Blood for Blood, Internal release. 4 Compulsory OGCD with relatively stable CDs (40s, 60s, 60s, 80s) and 9 Optional OGCD: Shoulder Tackle, Invigorate, Perfect Balance (cause you only cast once at the start not consistently applying it when CD is up), Bloodbath, Foresight, Mercy Stroke, Mantra, Second Wind, Featherfoot.

The difficulties for each DPS class to EXCEL is as follows:

DRG: Memorizing the Long Sequence of Attacks and to a lesser extent the positioning involved (1 X Side for HT, 1 X Back for ID) + monitoring a panel of CDs & reapplying them when optimal/up + to a lesser difficulty reapplying dots and maintaining buffs + stand ground management of jumps (WHICH sad to say there's a lot in the community who can't manage this well leading to the LOLDRG phenomenon, amen.)

MNK: Positioning (can be the difference of as much as 50% more attack) + Maintaining Grease Lightning Stacks (Another 50% more here) + to a lesser difficulty reapplying dots and maintaining buffs. Attack Sequence is still mainly A,B,C with a choice of 2 skills and 1 AOE skill per part in sequence.

BRD: Easily the one with the least downtime as most of the skills can be fired from the move. Reapplying dots to maximise bloodletter procs + Maximising use of buffs during bloodletter procs + refreshing Straight shot buff with heavy shot spam. Due to the easier nature of your DPS rotation (no stand ground required + less active skill pool), also required to take note of party's requirement for songs. Support that comes in with a big gun basically.

SMN: Pet management + reapplying dots + bane/fester management + less of a stand ground management

BLM: Stand Ground management (like someone before has said, there are things that you can do to avoid the need to constant move due to boss mechanics) + skill rotation + proc management

To Understand:
Easy >> Hard
BLM > BRD > SMN > MNK > DRG

Ease to bring out the best in every situation:
Easy >> Hard
BRD > BLM = SMN = MNK = DRG

Rationale: bard has no stand ground nor positional requirements.