BLM: Fire III vs Fire

[GilbertLapine]

So I got in a PUG for Garuda HM the other day with some douche and his DPS meter that kept sceaming my DPS sucked and I was a "worthless sack of shit" because I used what, at least I perceive to be, the commonly accepted optimal DPS rotation of fire III > fire I + firestarter fire III > blizz III/thunderIII stuff. He started ranting that "if you use fire I you're doing it wrong." According to him his DPS in the fight was 120, and mine was 90.

Needless to say the party didn't turn out well, and afterwards I tested his ramblings with the FFXIV App parser on one of the dummies outside of Ul'dah. The numbers are a bit inflated as both my character and the dummy were stationary without interrupts to the rotations, but using the rotation he was championing (repeated fire III > blizzIII/thunderIII) I was maxing out at just over 180 DPS and bottoming out in the 150s, while my rotation was scoring anywhere from 190 to 225 depending on the firestarter proc and hitting lows in the 180s for the umbral ice cycle.

So.. my question to the community is this: am I crazy and is he right, or was he full of it?

Thanks.

[GilbertLapine]

Argh! I had both tabs open and thought I was posting in the DPS Roles discussion forum. Plz delete/lock this thread as I've reposted in the proper forum.

[Dallie]

DPS meters and gear scoring have caused more problems than they've ever solved. FFXIV shouldn't have either, period. I hope you told him to shove it, and reported him.

That being said, Garuda isn't a good way to gauge a caster class due to the insane movement, and we have no choice but to interrupt spells. Even spamming Swiftcast every time it's up, or every instaproc, melee will win in the DPS race there. Others will probably have some valid suggestions for you on an optimal rotation, I'll stick to healing until some of the freeloaders leave and go back to wherever they can inflate their e-peens a bit more.

[JamieBlade7]

Your doing it fine don't listen to him

[Ixim]

Sounds like you're doing fine. Though I think I've seen a few places that the supposed best rotation is broken into 2 segments

Open with Blizzard III > Thunder II, Proceed to Burn

Regen: Blizzard III > Thunder II > Proceed to Burn
Burn: Fire III > Fire (Until 600 Mana) *Fire III on Firestarter Proc* > (600 Mana) Proceed to Regen

Use Thunder III on Thunderstorm procs. Use swiftcast whenever necessary to move, use scathe when you are moving and GCD isn't rolling but you can use another ability.

[Syfin]

Um why would they have firestarter in the game if it didnt add dps and be utilised? Ignore the fool. Better yet "pity the fool."

[GilbertLapine]

Sounds like you're doing fine. Though I think I've seen a few places that the supposed best rotation is broken into 2 segments

Open with Blizzard III > Thunder II, Proceed to Burn

Regen: Blizzard III > Thunder II > Proceed to Burn
Burn: Fire III > Fire (Until 600 Mana) *Fire III on Firestarter Proc* > (600 Mana) Proceed to Regen

Use Thunder III on Thunderstorm procs. Use swiftcast whenever necessary to move, use scathe when you are moving and GCD isn't rolling but you can use another ability.

This is almost identical to my rotation, though I usually open with Fire III > Raging Strikes > Fire I chain > Fire III on firestarter proc > Convert during GCD from Fire III > continue burn cycle > Blizz III > thunder II > etc.