Optimal BRD rotation?

[Inkin]

Depends on how many seconds have passed. Usually we want to see how long the burst can be sustained. If we are referring to first 10-15s / peak DPS number as shown in ACT, BRDs right now can hit 1000 mark (with the right conditions).

I'm referring to the peak DPS number. And 1000 is certainly not the highest number.

[SlyRoyale]

Why would you open with both your DoTs not fully buffed?

The reason why I use this opener is because starting with Straight Shot wastes a potential Bloodletter reset. By opening with Windbite, I've already set myself up to receive the boon of River of Blood's effect. With the Straight Shot opener, you need to get a Straighter Shot proc within 3-4 GCDs. If you don't you are faced with the following options:

1) Reapply it early, wasting potency and TP over a more potent and cost-effective Heavy Shot.
2) Clipping the two DoTs early, which is also a waste of potency and TP.
3) Reapply DoTs without Straight Shot up, which defeats the purpose of the opener in the first place.

On top of that, with the opener I provided you have all of your buffs up when you have to reapply your DoTs. With the traditional Straight Shot opener, to stack your buffs and get the most out of your DoTs, you would have to hold them all for long enough that you'd end up losing your DPS. From another angle, if you were weaving in your cooldowns as soon as possible, you would only have some buffs up for the first set of DoTs, and some buffs up for your second set. It's not as good as having all of your buffs up for the second set and none for the first.

That is why I open with Windbite instead of Straight Shot. I used to use that opener, but after changing it to the one I use now I've seen greater improvement in my numbers. Most of all, it feels a lot more fluid to me since everything in that opener just synchronizes well. I can crit up to 800+ with Heavy Shot and Bloodletter during the opener, but my DPS is far more sustained throughout the whole fight.

I haven't missed a hit on Kaliya or anytime during T11 as I usually hit the rear on the boss and nodes. It could be higher, but it works and I'm still putting out good numbers.

500+ DPS on opener isn't too good, though. I assume that number is in a party (a.k.a fully buffed). Also, I don't see why you wouldn't use potions on that opener, it's a really big part of your damage on opener.
Just an advice, read the link Krietor posted. I do over 800+ openings unbuffed, and usually do much more with Disembowel/Trick Attack/PT Buff/Food.

As Ooshima said, it depends on how long time has transpired in the parse. The static I help out says I sustain some of the best DPS they've seen out of any other BRD before me, and that 500+ DPS number they provided was from at least a minute or two in the fight if my memory serves me correctly. Any longer, it's usually 400+ or a little lower should I make a fumble, had to sing frequently, or got KO'd. As for leaving out the HQ X-DEX pot, that was intentional for those who don't raid or are struggling with gil or materials to get them. If you do have one, it's best to use it after Internal Release and before Barrage in the opener I provided.

[Ooshima]

Snip

Try out the other way. In theory you have valid points there but the opportunity cost exchanged with opening with unbuffed DoTs isn't justified. You are betting on a chance to receive 1 or at most, 2 BL procs with your opener VS guaranteed, more potent DoTs ticking with the chance of more crit ticks form IR.

I'm on PC and I run ACT all the time during raids, and the difference is easily seen. Sometimes after a wipe, one or 2 of my CDs aren't up. For example, after wipe, say my Raging Strikes aren't ready and we decided to go ahead - the burst DPS clearly suffers quite a dent there.

You should definitely try out a rotation where you apply your DoTs buffed.

And nope I don't happen to have the 3 problems you have written there. If you are talking about re-applying a Straight Shot buff without it being a proc, then my point to you is you don't always get to re-apply it proc'd. It's something you eventually have to deal with, and in the opener, the potency/cost suffered without being a proc is rather insignificant compared to a properly opening buff burst with buffed DoTs and the CDs end in tandem with your X-Pot.

[Inkin]

Won't bother answering all of that, I'll just tell you to read Krietor's guide, try his opener and see what numbers you get.
Could you also give out parses on things such as FCoB or a 3-minute dummy parse?

[SlyRoyale]

Won't bother answering all of that, I'll just tell you to read Krietor's guide, try his opener and see what numbers you get.
Could you also give out parses on things such as FCoB or a 3-minute dummy parse?

Why bother replying if you're not going to refute the post I spent time explaining my points? Either properly participate in the discussion, or save yourself some time and don't bother replying at all. What you just said was completely classless and undermines your stance on the issue.

And as much as I would like to refute your points with parses, I am on the PS3 and would have to rely on a PC player to parse for me. It sucks, 'cuz I'd be running parses all day if I could just to see where I stand every time. I'll see if I can get someone to parse for me and I will check out Kriertor's guide once I find it. Once I get two parses featuring both openers, I will post them here.

EDIT: Nevermind, I saw the guide before. My points still stand on the matter, but I will give it another shot otherwise.

[Inkin]

Why bother replying if you're not going to refute the post I spent time explaining my points? Either properly participate in the discussion, or save yourself some time and don't bother replying at all. What you just said was completely classless and undermines your stance on the issue.

And as much as I would like to refute your points with parses, I am on the PS3 and would have to rely on a PC player to parse for me. It sucks, 'cuz I'd be running parses all day if I could just to see where I stand every time. I'll see if I can get someone to parse for me and I will check out Kriertor's guide once I find it. Once I get two parses featuring both openers, I will post them here.

I said I won't bother answering, simply because Krietor's guide does it for me.
You're talking about greater improvement in your numbers and what not with your opener, but you just said you don't run a parser to see where you stand. I'm saying I would like numbers instead of "I saw improvement!" or "I was told that ... if I remember correctly". I fail to see how you can see improvement without running a parser or someone telling you your numbers precisely.
Thanks for taking the time to write up your thoughts on the matter, though. Will be waiting for your parses.

[SlyRoyale]

Okay, I had a friend parse both rotations and this is what came out of it.

DoT opener: http://puu.sh/dvtcK.JPG
Krietor's opener: http://puu.sh/dvtHk.JPG

From what can be shown here, the DoT opener is 10DPS stronger while Krietor's opener is spikier. The former would be better in longer fights, while the latter may be better for SCoB-style fights.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this is with my raid setup I've posted earlier.

[Ooshima]

Okay, I had a friend parse both rotations and this is what came out of it.

DoT opener: http://puu.sh/dvtcK.JPG
Krietor's opener: http://puu.sh/dvtHk.JPG

From what can be shown here, the DoT opener is 10DPS stronger while Krietor's opener is spikier. The former would be better in longer fights, while the latter may be better for SCoB-style fights.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this is with my raid setup I've posted earlier.

As people have already pointed out:

1 parse each doesn't show anything at all. You need a large number of parse, averaged, and compared

Even with this single parse I can safely conclude that your DoT opening have lost. The DoT opening have a 42% crit vs 36% crit on the other, which is a 6% advantage, and you have 11 more swings in 13s. Assuming you have some 2.40ish GCD that means in this 13s you could probably fired 5 more GCD skills, which leads to an estimate that you have about 8 more BL proc than the other opener. The DPS-over-time graph shows that you kind of "cheated" with your DoT opener because you have used Hawk's Eye towards the end of the parse. I have done enough parse to know that around 3:10 ish mark, plus minus a bit depending on how you open, you should have Hawk's Eye back up. Your DoT opener parse is 3:29s and the spike at the end proves that you have used Hawk's Eye. The other parse does not show this spike.

FYI, Hawk Eye's when timed properly to refresh DoT buffs could very well jack up your DPS by 20ish mark at current gear level temporary. Again, this is quite clear in your graph. The other opener dies at 190s ish mark. Your DoT opener also shows a decline in 190s ish mark, but due to your use of Hawk's Eye and extended parse, DPS at that point in time spiked from slightly under 400 to a peak of just under 750 over 20s.

A rough estimate, assuming the peak was at 740, and at the 190s mark it is approximately 380, the difference is 360. To simplify it, I will take that area as a triangle (it is actually more of a bell shape). 1/2 x 20 x 360 = 3,600 => You have approximately dealt about 3,600 more damage to the dummy over that 20s. Your total pull time is 210s, so 3,600/210 = 17.14 DPS. Do note that this is an underestimated value because I simply took that area as a triangle instead of a bell, which actually have a larger area. Which means the total DPS gain over that 20s could very well be at 20ish mark. This tallies with my experience as mentioned above.

Given that you had more BL proc swings, 6% higher crit rate advantage and the fact that you used Hawk's Eye at the end of the parse, your DPS should be much more higher. I would give an estimate that you should be at least 25DPS points higher. However, your parse shows you only had 10 points advantage.

10 - 25 = -15 => The actual fact is that your DoT opener based on this case is actually 15 points weaker, not 10 points stronger.

[Viridiana]

Okay, I had a friend parse both rotations and this is what came out of it.

DoT opener: http://puu.sh/dvtcK.JPG
Krietor's opener: http://puu.sh/dvtHk.JPG

From what can be shown here, the DoT opener is 10DPS stronger while Krietor's opener is spikier. The former would be better in longer fights, while the latter may be better for SCoB-style fights.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this is with my raid setup I've posted earlier.

In 13 seconds, you did an extra 11 auto attacks. Since BRD doesn't have a weapon with a 1.18 delay (which would be required to hit 11 extra times in 13 seconds), you must have used Barrage. Your current Lodestone profile shows an Artemis Bow Nexus with 3.28 delay. The math says that in those 13 seconds, you got 3 shots boosted by Barrage (9 attacks) and 2 shots not boosted (2 attacks), totaling 11 extra auto-attacks. And since Hawk's Eye and Barrage are usually used in conjunction, it would surprise me not at all to find out that you also used that right at the end.

So, no, your opening most likely doesn't do better DPS. Sorry.

[SlyRoyale]

Yes, I used Barrage at the end. It should've shown up in the Straight Shot opener, but it was either cut off too early or the DoT parse should've been cut at the same point. *sigh* This is why SE should have a built-in parser. That way, console players can measure their DPS themselves. As much as I want to present many parses, I would have to ask a PC friend to humour me for a good length of time and I don't like to impose.

Still, Krietor's opener encourages clipping, which is a waste of TP and potency. It would still be a weaker opening, and that is the matter at hand.

EDIT: You also didn't read through the thread. In the very post you quoted, I used my raid setup, which I posted in the first page with an Ariyala link. Here is the link again.