BRD DPS (And how to improve mine!)

[damofitz]

4 points is about as much as a racial bonus - not noticeable for a long time but it's there and does your bard no good at all, so you should reset it by 50 and put everything into DEX.

Thanks for the tip, oh well, not like I'm spending seals anyway

[fLaxX]

Hey there,

I just started playing FF XIV again (played some days after release and then stopped due to different reasons) and I have some unanswered questions.

The DPS of a bard seems to be pretty low, compared to other classes. This fact should be countered by the idea of the bard also being a bit of a supporter, therefore increasing the overall DPS of the group. I do not have a detailed overview of the class so what strong support skills do bards have that make them worth having in a group and are they "mandatory" to have in groups?

My other question is are there any jobs that are underrepresented in a major way or the other way around? To be more specific, if this makes the question easier to answer, are bards or dragoons underrepresented? This could also be a decider between those two classes for me, I like the playstyle of both of them.

[Chrisbox]

Hey there,

I just started playing FF XIV again (played some days after release and then stopped due to different reasons) and I have some unanswered questions.


My other question is are there any jobs that are underrepresented in a major way or the other way around? To be more specific, if this makes the question easier to answer, are bards or dragoons underrepresented? This could also be a decider between those two classes for me, I like the playstyle of both of them.

How do you play for a few days, come back with zero sources and say that their damage is pretty low? I'm lost on that one.
Also, neither are underrepresented, at all. Every group for anything 8man generally has to have atleast 1 bard and some I see even run 2. Dragoon puts out big numbers, boosts dps with their debuff, and has single target LB and are another great choice.

[fLaxX]

How do you play for a few days, come back with zero sources and say that their damage is pretty low? I'm lost on that one.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-DPS-Breakdown

This is the only DPS breakdown I have found of all classes combined and is considered pretty accurate among the players posting in this thread, what other data should I examine since you seem to have a different opinion on these numbers?

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...dgame_dps_job/

Most people over here seem to agree, too.

[Ooshima]

I really appreciate all the feedback from everyone (Though, as I can tell, I don't really know WHAT I'm doing so wrong), but, now that I'm back to the forums, I have to ask a totally off topic question.

... what coat is this? I must have it. :U

Maelstrom Elite Coat, 1000 Allied Seals.

[Commander_Arcturus]

Just finished reading all of the posts. Thanks to everyone who posted their "rotations" and strategies for maximizing their DPS and effectiveness as a Bard. I've been looking for a good post like this for a while, and it'll definitely help me improve my gameplay when I return from deployment.

[Elkya95]

Okay I'm sorry for the necromancing or w/e, but really last night we cleared t9 with me in the group for the first time and afterwards I looked at my dps and thought it was extremely low for being i105. So today I sat down with an i90 set with the elfin bow, similar to what Ooshima did earlier, and practiced for hours, went from barely breaking 250 to comfortably hitting 300 by the time I was out of tp (keep in mind it's i90, no i100/110 pieces). So I wanted to say thanks to people in this thread for talking about this so much, really did help a lot! And I think it proves that dummies actually help in improving, now I gotta finish getting comfortable with no macros and not clipping DoT's so much.

[Sessurea]

Keep up straight and all dots. Dots make up a large % of your damage, so don't leave them fall off. If you use macros, don't overwrite bloodletter procs with your gcds, again, serious harm to your damage. Weave ur buffs between gcds, never cast them consecutively and keep them on cooldown. Multi buffing to get "burst" in fact hurts dps( as in, buff-buff-gcd). The only thing you prioritise before your next heavy shot is a bloodletter or straighter shot proc. I can get 27x dps on my i90-ish bard, so I think the above advice is ok. As for openers, internal release is a good one to include as it buffs your dots with crit rate, and also include flaming arrow shortly after, in your opener. a dot with a cd should be put on cd asap after IR.

edit: lol nvm this post, I was replying to 1st post. Mistake I often make...

[LunarEmerald]

Internal release before applying dots is a must.

[Ooshima]

Okay I'm sorry for the necromancing or w/e, but really last night we cleared t9 with me in the group for the first time and afterwards I looked at my dps and thought it was extremely low for being i105. So today I sat down with an i90 set with the elfin bow, similar to what Ooshima did earlier, and practiced for hours, went from barely breaking 250 to comfortably hitting 300 by the time I was out of tp (keep in mind it's i90, no i100/110 pieces). So I wanted to say thanks to people in this thread for talking about this so much, really did help a lot! And I think it proves that dummies actually help in improving, now I gotta finish getting comfortable with no macros and not clipping DoT's so much.

Striking dummy is a tool to help people to improve, too many players underestimate the use of it. It gives you an avenue to constantly practice and check all the little little things you can tweak and improve on.

The key to not clipping your DoTs is to be aware of the time left and plan ahead. Ideally you refresh them when the timer hits around 2s left. As such at approximately 5-6s left of that DoT, you should be planning what you are going to do until it is 2s left. Heavy Shot proc'd and it is time to refresh? BL proc? Is your RS/BfB/IR up so that you can weave in before re-applying DoT? There is no hard and fast rule since every time your DoTs are expiring, any of the above may apply so it is up to you to slowly realize and think of these things while practicing with the dummy.