Is BLM truly simple?

[ExiaQuanta]

Folks, folks. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

I'm not asking if I can top DPS charts in endgame fights without work. I'm just asking if BLM is the right DPS class for someone who gets easily overwhelmed by too many skills/too much micromanagement. I don't really want to be top DPS. I just want to not be useless.

(So far, the most helpful answer has been that BRD would be better for my needs, though I heard they have a lot of DOTs to manage at 50?)

Ill choose to answer this since the other classes have been severely discussed o3o

I would recommend BRD as a class/job cant get any more simpler than BRD.

BRDs Don't have that many DoTs to manage. They have Venomous and Windbite. They also have an additional 3rd DoT which is flaming arrow (funny how many BRDs disregard this skill) which is an AoE 30 second ground targeting dot.

DxWings did a pretty good job on priorities for BRDs

A rotation could be as simple as Buffs > STraight shot > Flaming Arrow> Windbite > bloodletter> Venomous>Repelling shot/Blunt Arrow > Heavy shot > Repelling shot / blunt arrow > Heavy shot spam.

Throw in your free resets of Bloodletter or free crit procs of Straight shot. Reapply dots or Straight shot buff whenever done. Flaming arrow is refreshed, than use it again.

You only need to use Straight shot whenever your buff from it is gone, or you have a free proc (ran into a bunch of bards that straight shot onry)

[Alkimi]

here parse with one brd

"thats not my parse btw"

http://i.imgur.com/QsQcwHk.png

People need to stop throwing around parses like this as if they do that every week. They don't.

[Gildarts]

People need to stop throwing around parses like this as if they do that every week. They don't.

people need to stop throwing around posts like this every week. but they don't

[Sleigh]

Sad fact is, if playing "optimally" was so important, you wouldn't have to parse your DPS. You would be able to visually see the effects of your "optimal" playing.

You certainly can see the difference between bad and optimal. Things die in half the time, you skip troubling phases and mechanics, you have more leeway to the enrage if people die, you can clear high-end content with less gear (IE when there weren't poverty sands and oils floating around and every scrap of gear counted) ... hell, even in farming easy content like for Nexus farming, give me an optimal group of DPS for the 40+ hours of grinding it takes, it is certainly noticed and appreciated.

It sounds like you don't care for T6-9 or high-end end-game. Sounds like you'd rather wait for 2.5 to get your i130. That's okay, not everyone wants to work harder for gear that gets outdated in half a year, but don't come into a forum about discussing how to get better at DPS and tell us just stop caring because the LOLcontent it sounds like you haven't even done and can't accurately judge, in this gear level or more appropriately tuned gear levels, is just soooooo easy.

[Zencurse]

What Mjytresz appears to be failing to realize is regardless of the difficulty of the content (as a vet of multiple MMO raids, I would indeed claim that FFXIV raiding is generally easier than most however, but again this is unimportant) there will always be a thriving theorycrafting community in most successful MMOs. This is just because a very common goal amongst a subset of the gamer community is to "be the best at what they do" or "have the highest efficiency they can reach".


Even if the content was, as you so claim, trivial in nature (and I assure you, though easier than many other MMOs I've played, FFXIV raiding is far from trivial) speed runners, number-crunchers, theorycrafters, min-maxers, all would still flock to the forums in order to find the closest to "best" way to succeed at endgame. As a final note: unless its a very bad joke, I would not take anyone whose signature is "I'm better than you, Days since Last Ban: 5" very seriously in this discussion.

However we are now off-topic again, to the OPs question: If you wish to deal about 70-80ish% of a Black Mage's potential DPS (might be more, in my experience though with other Black Mages in equiv gear its around this) then you can very easily by just following a basic rotation. This potential DPS is however much lower than the potential dps from other classes by just "following the rotation". If you want a class where you maximize both your potential dps without really getting into the nitty gritty AND also is simplistic in nature, I agree with what many others claim: look to the Bard. If you do not like the Bard? Summoner has a much higher bar in terms of access (rotation tends to be more involved) but also has a similar potential dps ratio vs. min maxers of the class once you basically "have it down". Finally, if you do wish to play Black Mage, and are worried about your "performance" against other players of similar skill level, do not worry. You will be fine. We may have had some issues prior to 2.4 but the recent buffs have brought us more in line DPS wise without the need for all the efficiency min maxing we had to do before the patch to be competitive.

As a parting note though if you do decide to play Bard: Accept the fact you are more support than DPS. Learn where and when to play Songs and play them. Nobody in a raiding situation will want a Bard that never plays songs, in fact their utility is a major factor of why they are taken in raids. In almost EVERY fight the Bard will be dealing the least damage (some high mobility fights are exceptions) but in general they will also be the most integral member, surgically providing support to any role (Melee DPS? Peon. Caster DPS? Foes. Healer need mana? Ballad.)