Intimidated

[Ogulbuk]

So I am "new" (I played long ago, for a few months but casually.) I came back and was interested to get in deep into the game as a DPS (DRG for now.) So, in my time away from the game I have been doing my homework about DRG and how to play them effectively.

I may be getting way ahead of myself, but I am looking at some ridiculously complicated rotations suggested everywhere I look…. So here is where I go: Do I really need to master these things? I want to raid, mostly to see every bit of story content (even non-main scenario) and to get the cool gear, but how far behind would I be if I don’t play the perfectly optimized rotations? Will I potentially cause failure states due to low dps? Or are we just talking about 2%-5% extra damage just for the sake of bragging?

Honestly, prospect of getting to the end game and find me incapable of keeping up scares me, but I would appreciate brutal honesty. Should I forget about raids if Im not willing to use the optimal rotations?

[Dement]

You will need to have a solid grasp of optimal rotations and how to maximize DPS. Lots of endgame fights have had fairly high DPS checks which require everyone to perform above average for their job. On the other hand, everyone makes mistakes from time to time which may make their rotation get a little wonky.

However, what you aren't realizing is that you'll have tons of practice doing these rotations by the time you reach endgame. It becomes more muscle memory than you would think. Also, the development team has stated that they are going to simplify the jobs to some extent in 4.0. However, no one really knows that that's going to entail.

[Powe]

Well honestly you could wait to the new expansion to start raiding, even then there's Extreme trials you could do to try and test your skills in till then, also it'll take you a little while to get to the equipment level needed to do the current end game raiding, also to let you know, it took me about a year to finally get how to play summoner, you can fill the time till the new expansion trying new jobs and getting to really learn your job( BTW real end game is glamour, its never ending ).

[ZhaneX]

Personally never much cared about doing the "Optimal" rotations. I wound up settling into a slightly different pattern than the really in-depth guides recommend, just because I found myself falling into a sort of pattern as I learned to play the class.

Up until 3.4, DRG was my go-to for raiding, and I've never had any trouble keeping up with damage dealing and helping pass checks.

[Grant_Wilshire]

Sorry to derail, but I have a piggyback question to add on the op's question.

Are these rotations easy to do on PS3/PS4 also? I have been playing on a console so far and hotbars start to become a mess quick.

[Dement]

Plenty of people manage to do it with a controller, it's all about building the necessary muscle memory.

[Grant_Wilshire]

Thanks for the reply! I can do my simple low level rotations now. The part that gets crazy for me is fitting everything in the hotbar. Maybe I am packing out too much stuff.

[Niwashi]

I can do my simple low level rotations now. The part that gets crazy for me is fitting everything in the hotbar.

It takes a bit of configuration, but if you set up an extended cross hotbar and W cross hotbar and separate out your in-combat bar from out-of-combat bar (based on the weapon drawn or sheathed settings), there's actually a lot of buttons available, and all that's before even having to swap your main hotbar back and forth between alternate ones, which opens up even more.

[Dement]

You will have to use a 2nd hotbar most likely. I have two for both Warrior and monk with all of my main offensive and defensive GCDs on the 1st hot bar with things like stance switching and very situational things on the 2nd hotbar. You can set it up to where if you hold L2 and hit R2, it goes to one of your second hotbars and viceversa which can help. You are right that there is pretty much no way to get everything onto 1 hot bar, though.

[ZhaneX]

I play on PS4. It's really pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it. The trick is to sort out your Crossbars, prioritize skills, and assign buttons that work comfortably for you.

I've got all my hotbars worked out to create a "Flow" so I can easily remember and perform my rotations.