Card potencies (class specific)

[Lilyth]

Arrow is not a DPS loss in any cirscunstance for a BLM, AoE or ST. Aimply put, Arrow means more fire IIs and more flares.

If you are annoyed that you wont get a second mana tick if you start casting fire III immediatly after flare, then just wait half a second before casting it. The timing is not that hard.

[StouterTaru]

Arrow is not a DPS loss in any cirscunstance for a BLM, AoE or ST. Aimply put, Arrow means more fire IIs and more flares.

If you are annoyed that you wont get a second mana tick if you start casting fire III immediatly after flare, then just wait half a second before casting it. The timing is not that hard.

I never said arrow was a dps loss, I said casting thunder because of arrow was a dps loss. It is not a dps gain because AoE rotation revolves around the 3 second server-side mp tick. It does not give you more Fire 2s or Flares, it's dps neutral. In an AoE situation, that arrow is much more useful on the tank keeping hate off me, or a MNK/DRG that knows how to AoE.

So you suggest that the AST annoys me for no gain instead of putting the card to actual use.

[Lilyth]

I never said arrow was a dps loss, I said casting thunder because of arrow was a dps loss. It is not a dps gain because AoE rotation revolves around the 3 second server-side mp tick. It does not give you more Fire 2s or Flares, it's dps neutral. In an AoE situation, that arrow is much more useful on the tank keeping hate off me, or a MNK/DRG that knows how to AoE.

So you suggest that the AST annoys me for no gain instead of putting the card to actual use.

While that's true, that's not all there is for BLM AoE. On 3 targets you can safely use a sharp cast thunder and the extra SS would help you weave those TC procs. Not to mention the overall versatility of having faster cast times if you have to move or dodge an AoE. In the end of the day, if you dont like it you can always click it off.

[Rennies]

While that's true, that's not all there is for BLM AoE. On 3 targets you can safely use a sharp cast thunder and the extra SS would help you weave those TC procs. Not to mention the overall versatility of having faster cast times if you have to move or dodge and AoE. In the end of the day, if you dont like it you can always click it off.

If someone clicks off my buffs I'll probably just leave the run.

[AI_wass]

Oh hmm I didn't know that. I'm always seeing people recommend that BLM gets priority on arrows, but it it ain't helping their aoe rotation then I guess I'll start giving them to other players.

He's blatantly wrong. The bulk of BLM damage in mob pulls is in the Fire 2> Fire 2> Flare portion of the rotation, as should be obvious. Making that bit go faster, means more DPS. As for making Fire 3's cast time under 3 seconds, any competent BLM is going to be putting Leylines on cooldown as often as possible without compromising it for the boss encounter. It's 90s cooldown means it should be up for every other pull or so. With Leylines, they have to hold off on that next Fire 3 for a bit, anyways.

[Judge_Xero]

I would say that Arrow for BRD is almost as potent as Balance.

While you wont get the damage to any of your oGCD skills, what you will get is a change in the # of Heavy Shots you can cast in a single target rotation. This will equate to a higher chance of getting Straighter Shot procs.

Getting extra SS procs allows you to replace a Straighter Shot with a Heavy Shot (+10 Potency) and a Heavy Shot with a SS Proc 150 Potency VS 140 Potency * Crit Multiplier.
So not only does get you extra damage, but it also greatly increases your average Potency/s for the duration.

AOE is pretty nice too for quickly multi-dotting + AOE Spam.

[StouterTaru]

He's blatantly wrong. The bulk of BLM damage in mob pulls is in the Fire 2> Fire 2> Flare portion of the rotation, as should be obvious. Making that bit go faster, means more DPS.

Ideal AoE Flare rotation is 15 seconds and takes around 900 spell speed. To drop that to a 12 second rotation, you need a GCD around 1.6 seconds and perfect timing.

For that same reason, Ley Lines in an AoE is not what a competent BLM does.

[FoxyAreku]

Fixed it, and added in potency numbers, it's about an 8% drop in dps with only 3 mobs, larger with more mobs. That's before throwing in the thunderclouds, which won't make up the difference.

The more spell speed the better as a black mage, arrow makes you cast faster with a lower GCD. There is nothing negative about it, telling someone to not arrow a black mage is silly.

[Shurrikhan]

I would say that Arrow for BRD is almost as potent as Balance.

While you wont get the damage to any of your oGCD skills, what you will get is a change in the # of Heavy Shots you can cast in a single target rotation. This will equate to a higher chance of getting Straighter Shot procs.

Getting extra SS procs allows you to replace a Straighter Shot with a Heavy Shot (+10 Potency) and a Heavy Shot with a SS Proc 150 Potency VS 140 Potency * Crit Multiplier.
So not only does get you extra damage, but it also greatly increases your average Potency/s for the duration.

AOE is pretty nice too for quickly multi-dotting + AOE Spam.

In pure AoE where you won't run out of TP Arrow and Balance are basically identical bonuses. In any other situation, Balance is noticeably superior, especially if you have oGCDs at the ready.
Getting in an extra Heavy Shot, a filler of 150 potency—with a 20% chance at triggering 60(1-<Crit Rate>) relative potency bonus damage on a following filler GCD—per 18 seconds / rotational string, does not make up for the lost 10% damage of that whole string. That'd award you around 157 potency at a 30% crit chance (40% with SS). Compare that to the minimum 162 weaponskill bonus potency of Balance:

44 + 41 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 15 + 14 ;

starting the string with IJ increases that by a further 9, and each Straighter Shot produces a relative 6*(1-<crit rate>) more bonus potency.

plus 10% of all oGCD and AA damage dealt).

Arrow's anywhere from 93% to a mere ~50% of the bonus of Balance when not locked to filler damage (as in pure AoE — Quick Nock/Wide Volley spam).

[Venjamin]

Yeaaaaaah, I've been told about 9102801924 times to never hit a BLM with Arrow OR Ewer. They say it messes up their rotations somehow, so I don't. I hit them with Balance. Arrow almost always goes to a nin/dragoon/mch from me. BLM gets balance, Myself or alternate healer gets Ewer if I didn't RR it. Spire is pretty much always RR'd, unless for some odd reason someone is significantly down on the TP, but that's pretty rare. Spear is my "let's hope shuffle is up" but I use it if I draw it right before a fight, otherwise it's kind of iffy at best. RR if no RR is up.