Most difficult DPS class to play?

[DeathFiend]

Funny how mostly rate based on inexperience and opinion.

As all 50's i90 +,
1) Monks have the hardest rotation as it is extremely customizable which can cause a simple screw up for bad dps. Lost of GL mean 30 sec trying to get it back. And if you get GL 2 then need that last positional skill to hit but the boss moves or disappears for X amount of time... you lose it all. And dont forget the dots.. building GL 3 and working about dots.. come on...

2) Summoner, my raid job, is not as difficult as monk as getting DOTS up is easy. However, micromanaging Garuda or Ifrit is a task in itself. In between dots, I have to make sure pet is in proper position, either in obey or sic depending on the phase, and getting their buffs up as much as possible.. that only within 18 secs.

3) Dragoon, not complicated at all as you only have a 3 chain attack compare to Monks 9. You screw up, oh well. that only 6-9 sec recovery. However, its also a dot class, so you have to make sure dots up and getting max dps with positioning. I still think the jump animations are a hinder to DPS, even after the fix.

4) Black Mage, the rotation is 1,2,3,1,2,3... nothing special about it. No mana consideration other than how you convert from Astral to Umbral (Convert, Transpose, Blizzard 3). The only thing that make this job hard.. you cant move. While, Monk and Dragoon constantly having to dodge AoEs either from boss or raid, the Black Mage have to only worry about raid AoE. Deal with it really.. Scathe, swiftcast, surecast, manawall, manaward, Aetherial Manipulation, even thunder and fire 3 procs...

5) Bard, my actual main, why... cause it easy. Why learn new content while struggling to keep up DPS? Anyways, seriously Heavy Shot all day. Dots are easy to keep up.

[Pyreflye]

Funny how mostly rate based on opinion.

Of course it's going to be based on opinion...

One player might find MNK easy (my friend, for example), while another might find BLM to be very difficult.

DPS difficulty is not objective, it is subjective.
I have played MNK and DRG, and I find DRG more complex, while others see differently.

Just like how you say DRG is "not difficult at all", while it definitely has the most complex rotation, this is a subjective opinion, so don't dismiss others' comments with nonsense like "Funny how most people based it on opinion".

[echoica]

Monk for melee and summoner for range in terms of most complex. Next bard and easiest black Mage and dragoon. I have played all jobs to 50 in the game so far and this is what I found personally for dps.

[DeathFiend]

I did forget to mention those and I do try to use them. I just have to be careful not to run out of MP on something like Foes Requiem and then not be able cast Mages Baalad when we really need it. And yes I try to get Army\\'s Paeon out there but it is hard to judge and again don\\'t want to waste MP. Like I said in first post DPSing as a Bard is easy, and using the songs isn\\'t that difficult as well. some people just forget about that part. I\\'m in no way trying to argue that Bard is difficult. We all know it isn\\'t. It just isn\\'t always a complete snore feast either.

If you play a content long enough you can time when mages need ballad. In most cases, you will need to play it 1to 2 times in the entire fight. This means that you just need to know which phase to play song. Otherwise, keep foe requiem up as much possible. If a mage runs out of mp prior to said phase, inform them there is such a thing as overhealing. In regards to tp, you should never play it for personal gain. If warrior or monk request it, then it should be played or during heavy aoe fights. Otherwise, Invigorate has a decent cool down, works better than peaon.

Tl;dr: time your mage ballad, use for requiem as much as possible, army paeon only on request.

[ERob3000]

Every DPS class will tell you that their class is the most difficult to master and to a degree they're all right. Every DPS/tank/Healer job requires a certain level of understanding the nuances of the that specific job to be at maximum effectiveness. Not only that, you have to understand how to fight alongside other DPS jobs to stay effective. As a DRG my tactics to how I approach fight can change depending what other DPS alongside of me. My rotation focus changes when paired with a BRD, compared to a BLM.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

I'm gonna start a little riot with this one, but:

1) Summoner
2) Black Mage
3) Monk, Bard and Dragoon tied

Simply for the fact that anyone can DPS, but not everyone can master said class. Monk and dragoon rotations become muscle memory with enough practice. Bards have a certain buffing order.

Black mage needs to plan ahead to optimise DPS. They may waste a thundercloud or firestarter proc while they're saving it to use while moving. Ideally you'd want that last MP tick to happen right before you switch from Umbral ice back to Astral fire.

As for summoner. Anyone can slap some DoTs on the target and deal decent damage. But it's possibly the hardest class to deal as much damage as possible. It's not simply DoTing up when they're about to run out. They don't have a specific rotation either, unlike the other classes. You add your dots and everything afterwards is pretty much on the fly. Muscle memory simply doesn't apply for Summoner.

[Misake]

Black mage needs to plan ahead to optimise DPS.

Well same as monk. only difference is with monk, you have alot less time to decide and you have to move to maximize your dps.

But the thing is, monk does soo much dps even when slacking that people think it's easy to be monk. But the truth is compared to a good monk, he'd do 50-150+ more dps, and that is something a few can only achieve.

[KingOfAbyss]

Most difficult class to play

Most difficult one as of today - Ninja.

Now try to use his skills - he's just invisible, must be nerfed already..

Else

Monk if you like different combos as you stated.

[Velox]

Although I find all DPS classes "easy" to play, I will agree with others here that some are harder to "master" than others. It depends on the fight however.

Assuming a target that moves around a lot, or requires you to change targets at a moment's notice.
1. Dragoon
2. Monk
3. Black Mage
4. Summoner
5. Bard

Assuming a primarily tank-n-spank target
1. Dragoon
2. Summoner
3. Monk
4. Black Mage
5. Bard

[Synestr]

Two runs of ST last night, both as BLM. First run was flippin though. Everything wanted to either target me, be directed at me or pop on me. Soo much movement in that run. Then next run was a dream. NO movement at all. I was a turret and a damn good one lol. For BLM it is soo random. THe numbers we produce are random, our procs are random...so it's nice when you can reliably cast without unnecessary movement.

Syn