Best DPS class in the game?

[Rosencranz]

Did a little test while doing ifrit

members of my fc, pretty geared - not the top, but nice - the 3 of us with an ifrit weapon equipped, against ifrit

BLM - 177 dps (counting lb3)
DRG - 163 (counting lb3)
BRD - 134 (counting -20%dmg for mage's ballad)

The absence of a DPS LB is an obvious reduction on the overall dps, and the songs using too is another reduction. Still, i can suggest that "morally" we Bard are pretty strong as DPS.

[Foguelo]

Shunye - answer me this question. If you go into engineering, which engineer is the best engineer?

Mechanical obviously. 2EZ!

But in all seriousness, one factor that has probably already been mentioned is ranged vs. melee dps. I play Monk and am already considering re-rolling just because of the handicap of boss melee aoe damage (looking at you Garuda). This is eventhough I enjoy my class/job and even if it were the highest dps (I know it's not).

[Mugaaz]

There are definitely some boss fights where Melee DPS is a strictly worse than ranged. I have not found the opposite to be true for any encounter I've seen. There are some bosses with attacks that are easier to dodge if you hug the monster, but this isn't a benefit to melee DPS at all, since ranged DPS could just stand there if they are smart. The time melee dps has to run away from attacks, run to adds, run back to boss, etc. All of that is taking away from their uptime and interrupting their rotations. Demon wall is slightly more difficult for DPS that has long cast times, but this can actually be fully mitigated if they are skilled and just predodge all the telgraphed blows, and only move during the last .2 seconds of cast time so it doesn't cause an interrupt. However, there is no way for melee DPS to use skill to remove the time it takes to run from point A > B > A. Many of the bosses have PBAoE attacks that need to be dodged, there is no equivalent for ranged DPS.

[Eein]

Did a little test while doing ifrit

members of my fc, pretty geared - not the top, but nice - the 3 of us with an ifrit weapon equipped, against ifrit

BLM - 177 dps (counting lb3)
DRG - 163 (counting lb3)
BRD - 134 (counting -20%dmg for mage's ballad)

The absence of a DPS LB is an obvious reduction on the overall dps, and the songs using too is another reduction. Still, i can suggest that "morally" we Bard are pretty strong as DPS.

Counting limit breaks when comparing DPS balance isn't really a good idea since some classes have damage LB and some classes do not;
Not to mention, the class cannot perform an LB3 unless the rest of the group deals damage. This should be considered a gain to raid dps, not personal dps.

[kukurumei]

Counting limit breaks when comparing DPS balance isn't really a good idea since some classes have damage LB and some classes do not;
Not to mention, the class cannot perform an LB3 unless the rest of the group deals damage. This should be considered a gain to raid dps, not personal dps.

You can't say that. That's like saying don't count tanks cause all you need is blms and archers. Something has to be there for the rest to exist.

sword dance is a mnk/drg only so you need one in there to get that LB. Same with BLM/acn

LBs count, because they are exclusive to other classes.

BTW how do you calculate BLM/ACN LB since they are AoE? you can't really count it 3x because it hits 3 targets...that's kind of a false positive, or true depending on situation.

In a Full PT, LB isn't really an issue because you assume there is at least one of every type, but in a Light PT, it makes a big difference, because if you don't have it, you don't have it.

[roflcaust]

I think it's hilarious when the ranged classes are trying to make a point that their classes are harder to play than a melee DPS.

Here, let me tell you one thing that'll always make melee classes more difficult to play because of an inherent handicap that has been imposed on us: mob positioning.

Ranged classes never, ever, ever have to worry about that. All you need to worry about is to be out of AoEs and spam skills while standing still.

That's why melee classes need to have their GCDs reduced to 2.0 seconds flat. Ranged has way too much of an advantage right now. I detailed it in an earlier post that by the time I may be hitting a mob and my Charge isn't up, BRDs/BLMs/SMNs may get in 2-3 attacks while I'm still prepping my first rotation to get 1 stack of GL.

[Shunye]

I think it's hilarious when the ranged classes are trying to make a point that their classes are harder to play than a melee DPS.

Here, let me tell you one thing that'll always make melee classes more difficult to play because of an inherent handicap that has been imposed on us: mob positioning.

Ranged classes never, ever, ever have to worry about that. All you need to worry about is to be out of AoEs and spam skills while standing still.

when did anyone say anything about ranged being harder to play than melee? stop trying to sidetrack the thread. also you are obviously ignoring ranged positioning for maximizing bard songs and avoiding boss mechanics when you are in the middle of a cast for a caster. when it gets to hard modes it will balance out.

[Nexxus]

what's the difference between "DPS" and "Total Overall Damage" (from the parser), i'm always on top of Overall Damage (as MNK and without counting limit break), but my DPS is always different, can varies between 90~177.

[Subucnimorning]

what's the difference between "DPS" and "Total Overall Damage" (from the parser), i'm always on top of Overall Damage (as MNK and without counting limit break), but my DPS is always different, can varies between 90~177.

They are related. DPS is just overall damage divided by time. DPS is just easier to compare class to class.

[Dixa]

basing on emnity does not make sense either. there hasn't been an mmorpg that has made 1 pt of dmg = 1 pt of threat universally regardless of source probably since dark age of camelot. in this game, dots may generate extra threat. a dot with a debuff may generate bonus threat.

in addition, bards have - as far as i know - the only threat reducing ability in the game. don't know if it's cross class.

when talking about dps and overall damage you have to add a third variable here - the entire dungeon run, or per fight. per fight, dps = your total damage for that fight divided by length in seconds. for an overall dungeon run it can be hard if the game does not immediately drop you to an out-of-combat state when the target dies. this leads to extra seconds being added and for the overall damage done will make your dps seem lower than it should be. this is why - historically - the only dps that has ever mattered is the dps done during boss encounters, or on target dummies to establish a baseline.