What's with all these people single-targetting during big pulls in dungeons?

[Krotoan]

Heeyyyy.. it's this again!
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...that-never-aoe

[Kahnom]

A lot of melee dps ain't good with their TP management.

[The_Last_Dragoon]

For the most part, your level on these roulettes (which I'm assuming it's the 50/60 duty roulette) really matters in terms of why players probably aren't doing AoE. In fact, at higher levels, this is probably a side effect of players who either use the level skip to get with their friends at level 60 or players who have never played a dps job prior to Stormblood suddenly hopping over to SAM or RDM. Any earlier than level 50 and you potentially could get someone who is extremely new to RPGs and might not even realize they have Role actions such as Goad and Invigorate which supplement AoE.

[Mirch]

crying in forums in 2017, tell em ingame how they should do for an optimal clear of an istanced duty

[AdamFyi]

Honestly, there are a bunch of forced multi enemy encounters in dungeons that practically scream that they want you to AoE them i.e. Doma Castle's inner castle area with all those ninjas and Castrum Abania's bridge with all those trams. In these scenarios, as a tank and healer, I get annoyed when there's no Aoe going out from either one or both of the DD players - these mobs hit very hard. Prolonging the fight isn't going to help.

[LalaRu]

Not an issue here, if I see I got a single-mob killing PUG, will pull just single groups.

[Celef]

snip.

Might be stupid but I've always been told that it was more efficient to burn one mob at a time rather than using the AoEs that are pretty weak in this game so I'm confused ^^"

[Cold_Raven]

Might be stupid but I've always been told that it was more efficient to burn one mob at a time rather than using the AoEs that are pretty weak in this game so I'm confused ^^"

You're not stupid.

And there's just a 'break point' where AoE skills start doing more damage than single target skills.
Depending on the group and situation, that 'break point' is generally around 3 bad guys.

Therefore:

If there are 4 or more bad guys - Most efficient way to kill all baddies is to use AoE skills (make sure each skill hits every bad guy).
If there are 2 or less bad guys - Most efficient way to kill all baddies is to use single-target skills.

If there are 3 bad guys, it can be pretty close to even.
If you feel comfortable AoE-ing... then do that.
If you feel comfortable single-targeting... then do that.

These are rules of thumb.

There are specifics that can get interesting...
For one example: Sometimes there can be a large group of things, where 1 has more health and does more damage.
In this case it's generally best to AoE things down... but what if somehow we end up with the 1 more-health/more-damage bad guy closer to death while the others still have lots of health? And the tank is kind of dying? In this case... it would be best to single-target the 1 trouble-causing bad guy down, then go back to AoE skills to finish everything else off.

Other nuances become clearer as you play and get a feel for your class and each situation.


Have fun!

[Paladinleeds]

snip

Alright, since you're knowledgeable on this, wonder if I can pick your brain on RDM specifically. What I was advised to do was use Scatter followed by Verthunder/Veraero (to allow for the Verflare/Verholy if you get to a single target, such as a boss, for when you need to melee). But in doing so, I've found I'm often proccing Verfire/Verstone Ready. Is the best option to allow the buff to drop, or should you keep weaving them in? Currently, to account for what I think is a mild OCD, I've been using the procs (which makes Impactful a pain in the backside). But would it be better to do the one, and then follow it up with basic Scatter spam and allowing the buffs to drop if it comes down to it? Or is it better to use the procs to allow for faster generation of Black/White mana, for more melee AoE combos? This is where I really fall apart with RDM.

[Cold_Raven]

Alright, since you're knowledgeable on this, wonder if I can pick your brain on RDM specifically.

Unfortunately, my RDM is sitting at lvl 50 and I haven't played it more than twice.
I am woefully unqualified to answer your question

However, an answer does exist.

There are those who specialize in RDM and also like to do parses of their abilities... if you can find one of them I'm sure they can help answer your question. My suggestion would be to try the DPS forum and start a RDM question thread. There are generally those for each and every class who fully enjoy fleshing out specific questions like yours and getting to the bottom of it.

Without a parser, it can be difficult to test extreme-nuance questions on your own.
If you can devise a test on a single target you can use SSS to see if one way kills the dummy faster than the other (a few tests are necessary because of random number generators on your attacks and crit procs).

Hope that helps.