Ranged DPS jobs - disappointing?

[Vendalwind]

Yes range are weak and need a buff.

But if you are getting outdone by a tank you are definately doing something wrong.

[Claire_Pendragon]

But if you are getting outdone by a tank you are definately doing something wrong.

Not inherently true. (Though it could be) The OP is Lv45. Which is the level range BRD suffers a decent amount. My friends BRD and PLD were both equal in iLv, and just basic auto attacks on BRD were lower dmg than the PLDs auto attacks. (at Lv50)

The level range for BRD atm isnt so great, plus if the tank was syncing down with much higher iLv gear, and they are still in some basic leveling gear thats mismatched, its easy to see happen.
(Another example was in 2.0, as WHM, stone2 did so much unreasonable dmg, I easily out DPSed every DPS in the game in copperbell and most DPS in halatali. Sometimes u have more or less options available for your job, based on the level range. Just as RDM, SAM, and DNC have broken powerful potencies at low levels, since they just werent balanced for low level content.)

[bernkz]

Even though Machinist seems better dps wise, I'd take Bard over Machinist any day cause it's imo a very fun job to play, especially compared to machinist which lacks complexity imo.

Machinist needs a thing or two to expand its depth, but it's not without enjoyment.

Alright, I'm thinking maybe I would rather stick with bard as others suggested higher level will be better.. Thanks!

I can definitely see why Bard would feel awful to play at lower levels. As far as I’m aware it’s the only job that has an entire job gauge that literally doesn’t exist until level 80, since you don’t have access to Song Gauge until you learn Apex Arrow.

Thanks for this, I see you main bard, maybe I'll just do that cuz I really don't want to restart a class, it would be such a waste of time xD

Overall, physical ranged are inherently broken, and need something to tone them down. Most games just nerf their DPS, but we all know why thats not a reasonable fix to a DPS role.
What will SE do? idk.

I don't expect it to be on the same level as say top DPS classes but could be slightly below and not the very bottom... Idk, it's just sad to see I'm the worst damage. Casters are also ranged aren't they? (No experience playing one so not sure). Like if a Summoner can shoot from a range, resurrect people, have tons of utilities and other things, can bard not come close with dps? Idk, would be nice to see some sort of boost, appreciate the list tho!

Yes range are weak and need a buff.

But if you are getting outdone by a tank you are definately doing something wrong.

True, I focused too much on my dps bar and not the rotation, I've been running instances all day today and often times with AOE especially I had some really good damage. But still, I feel on a single target there's a lot of room to improve.

Not inherently true. (Though it could be) The OP is Lv45. Which is the level range BRD suffers a decent amount. My friends BRD and PLD were both equal in iLv, and just basic auto attacks on BRD were lower dmg than the PLDs auto attacks. (at Lv50)

I think I will stick with bard to lvl 80 as suggested. I still like the class just sad with the lowest dps in the group often... But ater more research and advice I see higher level bards with good rotations can output some serious damage.

Ranged DPS have low personal DPS cause they give raid wide DPS. P

But that's like 1% per song isn't it? that's tiny, no? Especially in dungeons, I guess with 10+ people party it would start to stack up but still, I feel the party-wide dps is so small it's almost not counting...

Thanks all for the replies!

[Vendalwind]

Not inherently true. (Though it could be) The OP is Lv45. Which is the level range BRD suffers a decent amount. My friends BRD and PLD were both equal in iLv, and just basic auto attacks on BRD were lower dmg than the PLDs auto attacks. (at Lv50)

The level range for BRD atm isnt so great, plus if the tank was syncing down with much higher iLv gear, and they are still in some basic leveling gear thats mismatched, its easy to see happen.
(Another example was in 2.0, as WHM, stone2 did so much unreasonable dmg, I easily out DPSed every DPS in the game in copperbell and most DPS in halatali. Sometimes u have more or less options available for your job, based on the level range. Just as RDM, SAM, and DNC have broken powerful potencies at low levels, since they just werent balanced for low level content.)

Thats absolutely true. If you (bernkz) are at lvl 45 you will be playing some content now with lvl 50 much higher i lvl tanks that will out do you. So i wouldn't stress it if its happening now things will likely improve.

[Myon88]

If you (bernkz) are at lvl 45 you will be playing some content now with lvl 50 much higher i lvl tanks that will out do you. So i wouldn't stress it if its happening now things will likely improve.

That reminds me, I just recleared ucob for fun a couple of days ago, and the gunbreaker beat out the bard for 4th place in the golden bahamut phase. They were only a hundred or so dps behind on twin/nael too.

Granted, 70 content is 'leveling content' in a sense too, and has its own quirks with how some jobs gain access to key skills that others have to wait till 71-80 for. Still doesn't change how bad it feels to be the bard in this situation though. Ultimates are evergreen content that are technically still relevant, so it's not all fluffy leveling dungeons where you're level 40 going up against downsynced level 80 tanks or something, it's happening in the most important battle content in the game too.

[wereotter]

Yes range are weak and need a buff.

But if you are getting outdone by a tank you are definately doing something wrong.

Depends on the content.... they changed up the way tanks work this expansion and at low levels in dungeons, tanks will do more damage than many DPS roles. This has a lot to do with things like the removal of flash, which did no damage, and giving paladins an AOE combo that does do damage, and putting damage on unleash for dark knights. Many DPS don't get their AOE damage moves until well after tanks.

Also if the poster is leveling and get paired up with a level 80, over-geared tank, the tank will do even more damage compared to the DPS

[SamRF]

Yes range are weak and need a buff.

But if you are getting outdone by a tank you are definately doing something wrong.

At max level, sure.

During leveling though Tanks seem to be doing more damage comparably, I often see them (near) top on dps charts. Also a bigger gear difference there usually when they are at sync.

[CKNovel]

I'll avoid pluging back in the debate "Should ranged do more damage", the main points have been figured out.

As for ranged, you are a new player to the game and currently leveling. Your kit is not full and tanks may have more gear/better aoes for the moment.
FF XIV is a teamgame and your job is appreciated depending on what you bring to the group.

Here's what your job will bring at lv80:
-Permanent Crit/DH/Damage to the group (except yourself) depending on the song you play.
-Nature's Minne, a cooldown that increases healing on a target.
-Battle voice, 20% direct hit for nearby allies (20s)
-Troubadour, a 10% damage reduction for nearby allies and yourself (15s)
-Head graze, a silence that can (rarely) be useful in raiding

Each jobs from different role, Tank, Healer, Casters, Melee, Ranged will bring a 1% bonus to all stats for the group.

rDPS/DPS wise, rangeds DPS received a buff a little while ago that allows them to not in the "DPS so low you can replace them" box.

I believe in WoW, it was always the opposite. Melees hard a hardtime and ranged were always on top. Be ready for the opposite during this expansion.

[bernkz]

Thanks all for the detailed replies, it really helps and the community is great here!

I'll avoid pluging back in the debate "Should ranged do more damage", the main points have been figured out.

I believe in WoW, it was always the opposite. Melees hard a hardtime and ranged were always on top. Be ready for the opposite during this expansion.

Exactly! I came from WoW which I played for years and whilst ranged classes have their own set of problems they do not suffer in DPS and can be very comparable to the other 'best' DPS classes. Which is the whole point of a DPS class in the first place... I do see why FF14 does what they do with a bard class - it's semi support class and it does have some nice buffs as outlined by the @CKNovel but I just don't feel like the buffs compensate enough for the DPS which it lacks. That's just my opinion and I won't open this can of worms again, haha.

This is exactly why I considered a Machinist instead of Bard which is supposedly a more pure DPS class. Yet it's outperformed by basically everyone according to the stats which I found online, usually picked last too, so yea. That's the annoying part - if one wants to go ranged DPS route there does not seem to be a viable enough solution in FF14 right now...

That being said, I've been doing a lot of instanced content lately and really working on my rotations and AoE damage and been outperforming almost everyone almost all the time with DPS especially when there's more than 1 target, haha. Some ninjas were double the DPS behind me at times due to their bad rotations... So it seems improving my rotations, albeit low level did help a lot too. Occasionally there will be this higher level synced person tank or summoner/black mage who outdoes me by a large margin which now I understand should be happening due to leveling and gear/sync stuff.

Let's see if I will be able to keep that up with all the skills at higher levels xD

TLR I'll stick with bard for now and work to perfect the rotations, if I will reach lvl 80 and still feel at the bottom of the DPS. I think I will work on an alt like a samurai or summoner just to have it leveled and give it a chance... Since FF14 seems to favor those classes for DPS. Hopefully, 5.3 will bring more balance to my favorite ranged classes, whether it will be with the support side of increased DPS, haha.

[CKNovel]

TLR I'll stick with bard for now and work to perfect the rotations, if I will reach lvl 80 and still feel at the bottom of the DPS. I think I will work on an alt like a samurai or summoner just to have it leveled and give it a chance... Since FF14 seems to favor those classes for DPS. Hopefully, 5.3 will bring more balance to my favorite ranged classes, whether it will be with the support side of increased DPS, haha.

That's the spirit, maybe you'll find something to your taste in the casters/melee. Otherwise, it's better to play a job you enjoy rather than a job for its performances.
Balance doesn't tend to change a lot but we're halfway the expansion so we'll probably have to stick with current ranged DPS for another year until next expansion.
5.3 might brings a bit but I doubt it'll be higher than the 4% increase ranged got in a previous patch, considering they did not buffed anything in the ranged role since.

One advice: You don't need to create an alt character, you can max all the jobs on a single character, it will even be faster. Might have been interpretating "alt" in the wrong way, but we never know.