Good Beginner Archer Rotation?

[CodeCass]

So after playing a SMN for almost 5 months now and being iLevel 87 (I'm waiting on some friends to catch up before going any farther), I'm wanting to branch out a little and try an Archer, whom I'd like to try and make a Bard someday. Anywho, my Archer is only level 8 at this point and obviously hasn't been to any dungeons yet or anything. I've mostly just been grinding out Leves, Fates, Hunting Log, and Class missions just to test the waters.

I know as a SMN I had a good rotation down, and I'm curious if Archer has something similar, or if it's all situational.

Obviously I'm not looking for any far shot (not pun intended) suggestions, but just some simple rotation(s) that I can focus on using in the early levels from 8-20 or so, just to get me started until I find my groove lol.

As always, thanks for any and all help folks! I appreciate it!

[Urthdigger]

It basically comes down to making sure your DoTs and straight shot are up, then spamming heavy shot and nabbing anything that procs.

[Nutz]

I only have ARC at 15 so I could get BLM unlocked (really need to go back and get quelling strikes... >_>), but from what I understand ARC/BRD has no 'rotation' really, just a series of priorities like urth said -- keeping DoTs active and taking advantage of procs as they happen. Early on this probably doesn't amount to much, just like with other DPS jobs your rotation at level 8 is 2-3 abilites over and over.

[RiceisNice]

As other people have said, ARC/BRD really don't have any "rotations". It's sort of a bad word to describe it; a better one would be "priority". Always maintain your DoTs and straight shot, keep bloodletter and misery's end off cooldown at all times, heavy shot when you have nothing else to use.

[Black91CRX]

Yep, dots and procs. Once you hit Bard, it's about proper use of songs as well.

[MikoMiy]

ok so you always start with
stright shot --> bloodletter --> pos. bite --> wind bite
spam heavy shot till bloodletter comes back up the repeat
also use misory end every time that comes up.. hope this helps

[Anova]

Archer/Bard is an interesting mix of dps rotation, skill procs, and healer improvisation.

A lot of your abilities proc a cooldown reset or a damage buff on critical hits. You will find Archer DPS leans heavily on crit-fishing. Bard gives you abilities that you will toggle depending on what the other partymembers are doing.

To maximize DPS, you will want to boost your crit rate as much as possible. Straight Shot boosts crit easily and at little cost, but your other crit-buff cds should be used at your discretion.
You will use a rotation to maintain your DoTs, as they will proc a reset on bloodletter on crits (you acquire these traits later). Maintaining DoTs is crucial to using your main damage ability, bloodletter. Misery's End helps you finish enemies off.
Heavy Shot crits proc a damage and crit bonus on Straight Shot, while Straight Shot increases your crit rate. Pair these with other crit buffs to increase your damage as an archer.

Bard changes things considerably with bardsong. Song is entirely contextual. The MP and TP song are obvious enough, but they come with a damage debuff to you. Foe's Requiem is a great song any time you have a caster in the party (doubly so in raids where only 1 bard has to sing for all 24 members to get the benefit because it is a debuff and not a party buff). It increases magic damage dealt to targets and does NOT reduce your own damage. You'll use it more often than MP or TP songs, especially if your party uses aoe in a fight.

At low level, open with bloodletter. It's good to get in the habit of bloodletter first since you will later receive reset procs to it, and it may happen 2 seconds in to the fight so this prevents you from wasting the proc. Follow this with straight shot (bloodletter is off gcd, so this will be 2 consecutive hits within 1 second), and then use your dots (first wind and then poison). Be aware wind has approx. 6 more sec on its duration than poison when timing your dots. After that, use heavy shot/straighter shot procs and try to time it so you reset your dots every 12 or 18 seconds.

[CodeCass]

Would there ever be a reason for me NOT to use Misery's End when it's available?

Also, thanks to EVERYONE for the fantastic answers! These have helped a lot!

[Urthdigger]

Nope, always use it.