Some DPS questions

[Sniper68]

I'm fairly new to the game and been playing only healer and crafting over the past 3-4 weeks and I realized i just need a "break" from having a job..lol (no pun intended). Been gaming a long time and tend to do the healer/tank thing and I just want to hit some s**t hard.

These are my criteria:

1) The least amount of things to worry about so no pets or summons or anything like that.

2) The smallest hotbar possible.. If i can fit all my skills on one bar that be great, if not then 2 at most. (and still be super effective).

3) I kinda like the look of heavy's but I don't think there are any heavy's that are DPS? I looked and i think the only class might have some heavy looking gear is dragoon and that use a melee?

PS.. I just feel like i want to log in, not worry about healing, tanking or any other responsibility other then maxing DPS and staying alive and especially not hurting the team in anyway.

thanks

[ZephyrZ]

1) Ironically, summoner has the least to do, pet management is simple minded in this game.

2) Again, only summoner can do this, they have the least amount of skill. you can fit into a single hot bar. All other dps classes required 2 to 3. Usually 2.5 or it becomes too much of a cluster

3) DPS use light or medium armor, however there is shared disciple of war armor that can be used on any DoW and makes it look like a heavy. I think you have the wrong idea of a dps role. Glamor system.

Mechanic wise it's Healers > DPS > Tanks; in most content the DPS are responsible to handle mechanics and not tanks. Maximizing dps is a lot easier said than done.

[Jollyy5]

Dragoons have a lot of skills and they do a lot of Off Global Cooldown skill weaving (using skills that have no global cooldown between skills that do), so in that regard, it might not be for you.

Monks have a few skills less, but to maximize your damage you need to constantly move back and forth to hit the target on their flanks and on their back, and dropping that Greased Lightning makes any decent Monk die a little inside.

Ninjas have about the same amount of skills as Monks, but they have Mudras to deal with, which can be very frustrating if your latency is anything above 80ms, but on the plus side you don't need to worry about positionals (yet).

As for casters, I agree with what Zephyr said about Summoners, and I don't have much experience on Black Mages.

[Viridiana]

1) Ironically, summoner has the least to do, pet management is simple minded in this game.

2) Again, only summoner can do this, they have the least amount of skill. you can fit into a single hot bar. All other dps classes required 2 to 3. Usually 2.5 or it becomes too much of a cluster

What? Bio2, Miasma, Bio, Contagion (manually activate or you're doing it wrong), Fester, Rouse, Spur, Enkindle, Shadowflare. That's pretty much a full bar already, and I know I'm leaving stuff out.

Versus Fire, Fire 2, Fire 3, Flare, Blizzard, Blizzard 3, Thunder, Thunder 3. BLM wins the "fewest skills required on the hotbar" contest hands down.

[pandabearcat]

I have 2.5 bars for SMN.

1 bar for BLM

1 bar (macroing CDs) for BRD.

2.5 bars for DRG, MNK.

[Zamii]

as far as fewer skills to use, your best bet would probably be either bard or black mage, from what it sounds like black mage would probably be better for you since you seem to have what i call "big numbers syndrome"

the complexity of all the dps classes is drastically increasing with most dps classes come heavensward however, especially with black mage.

[Arkenne]

BLM is the most laid back of all DPS

Pretty good if you want to relax and see your minions do all the work from afar.

[ZephyrZ]

What? Bio2, Miasma, Bio, Contagion (manually activate or you're doing it wrong), Fester, Rouse, Spur, Enkindle, Shadowflare. That's pretty much a full bar already, and I know I'm leaving stuff out.

Versus Fire, Fire 2, Fire 3, Flare, Blizzard, Blizzard 3, Thunder, Thunder 3. BLM wins the "fewest skills required on the hotbar" contest hands down.

Cry more please. I didn't even mention blm, yet you got defensive about summoners LOL. He said he didn't want a complicated class like summoner, well he doesn't have to worry, summoner is one of the easier classes to play, especially if he puts his pet on sic. Won't make him the best summoner out there but it will get him started, plus it has the added benefit of being able to queue as scholar for leveling purposes compared to other dps classes.

Neither class can actually fit all their skills onto a single hot bar, they both have around 16-18 skills (blm & smn) not counting cross class skills. So do you want a cookie for getting offended because i called your class easy? The simple fact of the matter is, blm has a lot more positioning to do and usually has to handle mechanics in fcob which requires a lot of moving so it is harder for them to optimize dps than a summoner who drops dots and has everything else on insta cast like a bard.

Technically speaking tho, if you have anything less than 2.5 - 4 bars for any class, healer, dps, tank, i think you're doing something wrong because potions, foods, etc should alone take up half a bar.

Let's not forget that summoner isn't as highly wanted as a blm in raid content currently, no one really cares about the raise when they have declining dps and limited dps time compared to a blm with a limitless mana pool. Personally i have no preference on either, a caster is a caster to me but summoner is a lot easy to play and very user friendly because of insta casts.

[alsims2007]

Cry more please. I didn't even mention blm, yet you got defensive about summoners LOL.

I think your getting too defensive. I didn't read what he/she wrote as crying.

They are correct though, place, obey, return, I dont know a smn that isn't pushing 2-3 bars (and are actually good). Blm on the other hand does have the fewest currently. Ask any blm amd they will tell you the rotation is braindead simple.
Also there is (currently)never a reason to use a smn pet on anything but obey. The basic attack is stronger than all the other abilities the pet has.

You seem to have a vendetta against smn but alot of the things you mentioned are exaggerated if not completely incorrect.

Anyway OP. Brd/blm are what your looking for. Expansion is getting closer and it seems like an added complexity is being added to all dps classes, so this information may not be as relevant then

[Sniper68]

Id like to clarify my original post if possible. I don't want to offend any people playing any class, I don't want to in return be offended by other who don't know the ins and outs of my reasoning, I'd simply like a little insight if possible.

The reason i said simple is because Im used to elaborate and in this game ive been leveling up to a scholar and had just unlocked it. I spend several hours researching end game scholar and realized that right now, i just want less complicated. All the guides explained various macro's and how to stop a macro during the cast to only cast a portion of it and then recast another skill. Keeping track of where your summon is, your faerie etc. etc. etc. The guides also talked about how to set up your hotbar 1-2-3 etc. your L1+R1 or R1+L1 etc.

continues on next post..