Quote Originally Posted by Allooutrick View Post
Why is it that the only thing people care about is getting every dps class to do as close to the exact same numbers as each other? Is it really that big a deal if a dungeon takes a minute longer or if a dps check is just a smidge tighter? Why not welcome the challenge, strive to excel in content thats already geared to be casual, instead ask the devs to ensure hardcore content is viable with all combinations? We could be asking for diversity in play instead of incredibly balanced numbers.
Your mistake is assuming that people are talking about numbers and balance in a dungeon. They are discussing the numbers and balance in a Savage setting, which is the only place where both truly matter. No one complains about balance in dungeons.

As it stands, all DPS jobs are viable—they can all clear E4S. However, it is clear that parties with more DPS at the top of the current DPS ladder (e.g., DRG, MNK, BLM) will have a far easier time meeting DPS checks and have more room for mistakes/deaths compared to a group that has more DPS at the bottom of the ladder (e.g. SMN, RDM, DNC, BRD, MCH) even when one considers the gear that the jobs would have at this point (Week 5 into the tier—we should all have multiple tome pieces and a few Savage ones).

I was speaking with a friend yesterday about the state of the DPS, and she shared an interesting story about her E4S attempts this week: her static comp of DRG/SAM/BRD/DNC missed the E4S DPS check with a healer death and 1 damage down in Phase 1, where as the pug she later cleared in (DRG/NIN/BLM/BRD) had 2 DPS deaths and still cleared well before the enrage (the deaths were the BLM and NIN). One can argue rotational issues with regards to the static—which is valid. There is always room for improvement there. But the jobs were performing at an average to above average level (ranging from blue to high purple/orange, so at least 50th percentile to near 95th percentile). The pug DPS? DRG was purple, but the NIN and BLM that died both parsed gray (sub-25th percentile). For two jobs to be grey and give a group more leniency than blue to orange DPS jobs with no deaths...that’s a fairly glaring indication that the gaps between the jobs at the top and the ones at the bottom are far too large. Some have to perform at far higher standards than others (the bottom DPS), and still not even come close to a lower percentile top DPS job.

There are upwards of a ~2,000 rDPS gap between some of these jobs with very little reason for such gap to exist in the first place.