Most Complex DPS Class

[Nemiros]

I havnt really heard anyone say DRG is too easy until today. I guess if all the classes are like this, or harder, im going to have alot of fun lvling up all the classes. I do admit, i am using every single skill to maximize the dps, and try to stay on top of the DPS meter. might just be overworking it.

[Stormsoul]

none of the DPS classes are REALLY hard, though it can be a massive PITA to keep greased lightning up on monk during some fights. it's rotation by itself isn't particularly difficult, a lot of the challenge comes from trying to weasel in as much boss uptime as you can to keep GL going. monk is the only job where i feel like i'm battling with the mechanics of the class and the boss at the same time.

ATM i'd probably rate it

MNK>DRG>SMN>BLM>BRD, i'd say mnk/drg are hardest because melee is generally going to be a bit more challenging than range due to fight mechanics -- though it definitely changes on certain fights. only reason i'd rate MNK a bit tougher than DRG is because GL is kind of cumbersome -- add a few seconds to the buff duration or make our gap closer have a lower CD and i'd say they're probably about equal.

[kukurumei]

They are all hard..excluding BRD way down the line. The only thing hard for a brd is realizing he has hate and forget what to do. As they get more songs it becomes more complex, but endgame, everything is complex and that's probably the only time brds actually stop being archers with a buff.

Mnks are disgusting as macros are not well tuned for them. They have to constantly realize their position, and their timers. Mnks also get shafted in a lot of cross class abilties, so they are left with some undesirable boss battles.

Drgs are very all rounder so they can do a lot of stuff, a lot. Unlike a mnk that only has one path in the battle (melee or melee) Drgs just have so many options, it can be overwhelming. This isn't to say you can't just be an average drg.

The good thing about drg is they can fall back to basics. Mnks never can, they are all manual.

Smn have to micro manage a lot. and the need to look at both sides of the screen(PC and enemy) since they have support, so they better use that support. But at least they don't have to deal with positioning.

Blm aren't that hard, but unless you gotta good tank/healer, they have great stress to CC and backup support. One weak link, and the blm falls apart. they're like the smn in that they have to look at all sides of the screen.

I put them all roughly equal in difficulty, though I wouldn't say drg is hard, because drgs can do the basics and still get away with it.

Mnk/BLM/SMN of you do the minimum, it's a big risk to the pt. They are damage jobs that if you play drunk, the party has a high risk if crapping out.

If you have a super healer and tank, ya it makes life easier, but that doesn't happen often, so someone has to take up slack where they can.

[Medivan25]

MNK > BLM > SMN > DRG

I dunno where BRD fits, I haven't personally played it or looked at it enough. I believe it's somewhere between SMN and DRG.

DRG is intentionally designed to be simple and the easiest. They specifically said that was the case in the beta forums.

This is a joke right? I'm guessing you haven't seen how long a Full rotation on a DRG is, simple to play sure, NOT simple to use effectively. If a DRG isn't dancing around his target every 10 seconds or so he's doing it wrong.

[Crevox]

This is a joke right? I'm guessing you haven't seen how long a Full rotation on a DRG is, simple to play sure, NOT simple to use effectively. If a DRG isn't dancing around his target every 10 seconds or so he's doing it wrong.

That's not very complicated compared to what other classes have to think about or go through. The lancer has to move around, but the ability rotation is a very simple priority system. It's like a baby noob version of MNK.

[Azunia]

snip

I fully understand the playstyle of Summoner from different friends on how they perform in Primal battles and dungeons. Their Dots are critical, but their problem is keeping dps up with other classes like brd and blm.I've seen plenty of professional summoners and I never think for a second on them complaining about Dots. Ever. Its just something they get used to.

Monk class on the other hand which is the main class I enjoy is a bit more of a different playstyle and much more difficult. I personally have no problems with dps or positioning, but the primal bosses make it difficult to keep DoTs and GL up to perform maximum dps(Like Teleporting and jumping for ifrit and Titan). Even 5 seconds is more than enough to bring any mnk dps to drop like a brick. Of course you have PB to quickly recover, but lets face it. The GCD and individual skill cooldowns is just ridiculous for it. I love mnk no matter what shape its in, but I believe monks skills do need a re-evaluation as well as summoner.

[Leonas]

Go loo kin the other thread at the math. For min-maxing, DRG has about a 27 GCD non-repeating rotation. The problem people are seeing as to how they can say, " DRG isn't hard. " Is because it only has 2 abilities that are stuck on the positional requirements. Granted if you don't land those 2, then you're dps drops like a rock, but all the abilities chained after don't require the positionals, just to be chained. This still requires dancing around the boss and can screw you in a high mobility fight; Not as much as it screws over monks though.

And saying DRG has the easiest off GCD abilities is laughable. The longest animations that lock you in, so if you time it right and an aoe opens up under your feet. Well too bad, dead dps.

[ChanceSkeleton]

Lots of bard hate in this piece. They're not as simple as you guys make it out to be, there is complexity to them at 50. You guys make it sound brain dead.

[Nemhy]

Lots of bard hate in this piece. They're not as simple as you guys make it out to be, there is complexity to them at 50. You guys make it sound brain dead.

Because they are braindead, especially with the BL/Me macros :P

[LunarEmerald]

Bard

Somebody is requesting a song -> play desired song (singing is like casting. You have to stand still for a few seconds. Easy to get hit by aoes)
Healer's MP is low -> mage's ballad with battle voice
Damage needs to be reduced -> rain of death
Black mage in the party -> foe's requiem, possibly with battle voice
Ballad is up and healer has plenty of MP -> turn off ballad
Straight shot isn't up -> straight shot
Dots aren't up -> venomous bite and windbite
Crit proc is up -> straight shot critical
Everything is up -> macro spam

You also need to stay close to people you're singing for. In case they keep moving too far away. >_> Many healers don't seem to realize if they move too far away, my song stops working for them.

Well timed swift songs can speed up dungeons by a good bit. If you're going for speed. Swiftsong is only a tad slower than sprinting.

It certainly isn't the most complex class but there's more to it than people think.