Bard Detail

[chichicha]

I used this macro

/action "Misery's End" <t>
/action "Bloodletter" <t>
/action "Straight Shot" <t>

If you prefer heavy shot and straight shot take turn, can make another with heavy shot.

This is well known macro for archer and bard.
Coz you don't need to focus on your hotbar/ cross bar, weather ME and Bloodletter are ready to use.
They will go off whenever they are ready.

[Wulfgang]

Just noticed this macro stuff when you quoted him... I really should make macro's for stuff, I literally am playing the 15 button whack-a-mole game on bard.
http://www.neko-sentai.com/images12nya/brdwut.jpg
(yes I know it looks like a bunch of wtf, but I do pretty good dps with it, even when I'm extremely undergeared, or even missing gear)

Question though (for wolfgang)... if you use misery's end first, you don't get the 1secondish delay to use another ability like you would when using abilities through button mashing? I've noticed if you use anything like silenceshot/bloodletter etc, if you try to immediately use something else (while not officially on cooldown) it still won't fire unless you wait a bit.

Yes, theoretically it is optimal to not have BL / ME baked into a macro; using them between GCDs is best. That is, Heavy Shot > BL > Heavy Shot is better than BL > Heavy Shot > Heavy Shot. The issue is when you move from the theoretical to reality, you are either going to miss BL procs or at least delay your usage of it. That's the situation for me; if you can always optimize their usage manually, more power to you, but shit gets hectic and when I'm passing rot, silencing ADS, dodging lazer beams, I can tell you that I would have trouble optimizing BL usage manually.

The other issue is that I've had 4 BLs proc in a row in ~4 seconds or so. Any delay can waste BLs you didn't even know you were wasting. It has the same potency as Heavy Shot, but you can fire 5 BLs for 750 potency in roughly the same amount of time as 2 HSs for 300 potency.

[Day]

I don't like putting ME/BL in my straight shot macro. Tried that out for a while, but you end up firing off ME/BL with straight shot buff down, or end up having to wait too long to get SS buff up before DoTs. I ended up going back to regular action button for Straight Shot so I can apply the buff at will when it needs to be applied. I do like having the Heavy Shot macro though.

[Gulkeeva]

Yes, theoretically it is optimal to not have BL / ME baked into a macro; using them between GCDs is best. That is, Heavy Shot > BL > Heavy Shot is better than BL > Heavy Shot > Heavy Shot. The issue is when you move from the theoretical to reality, you are either going to miss BL procs or at least delay your usage of it. That's the situation for me; if you can always optimize their usage manually, more power to you, but shit gets hectic and when I'm passing rot, silencing ADS, dodging lazer beams, I can tell you that I would have trouble optimizing BL usage manually.

The other issue is that I've had 4 BLs proc in a row in ~4 seconds or so. Any delay can waste BLs you didn't even know you were wasting. It has the same potency as Heavy Shot, but you can fire 5 BLs for 750 potency in roughly the same amount of time as 2 HSs for 300 potency.

oh yeah, I do love dotting up stuff, and machine gunning off BL's randomly like crazy haha

[Lucavi]

Just noticed this macro stuff when you quoted him... I really should make macro's for stuff, I literally am playing the 15 button whack-a-mole game on bard.
http://www.neko-sentai.com/images12nya/brdwut.jpg

Same deal (but with Warrior), but I'm still trying to figure out where I can overlap things and am still tanking just fine on content that matters.

[Spider-Dan]

I don't like putting ME/BL in my straight shot macro. Tried that out for a while, but you end up firing off ME/BL with straight shot buff down, or end up having to wait too long to get SS buff up before DoTs. I ended up going back to regular action button for Straight Shot so I can apply the buff at will when it needs to be applied. I do like having the Heavy Shot macro though.

My Straight Shot macro is 1) ME 2) SS 3) BL. I have gotten into the habit of double-tapping all my macros anyway.

I did have ME->BL->WS on my AoE macros but I need to change it to WS->ME->BL. There are too many situations where you need AoE right now, BL efficiency be damned.

I feel like you could probably sit down and create a Grand Unified Theory of Option Select BRD macros, but I've been too lazy, myself.

[Niiro]

Heavy Shot is the best place for it since you only use heavy shot once everything particular is taken care of (SS is up, DoTs are on, single target).

[Day]

nvm. I can't read.

[Spider-Dan]

Heavy Shot is the best place for it since you only use heavy shot once everything particular is taken care of (SS is up, DoTs are on, single target).

Yeah, but you don't want to restrict your ME/BL usage strictly to Heavy Shot pseudo-autoattack time. At a very minimum, it would be silly to prioritize VB/WB over BL, as BL reset is a large reason why you want those up.

[Wulfgang]

My Straight Shot macro is 1) ME 2) SS 3) BL. I have gotten into the habit of double-tapping all my macros anyway.

I did have ME->BL->WS on my AoE macros but I need to change it to WS->ME->BL. There are too many situations where you need AoE right now, BL efficiency be damned.

I feel like you could probably sit down and create a Grand Unified Theory of Option Select BRD macros, but I've been too lazy, myself.

I ended up doing the exact same change after running the Turn 4 elevator gauntlet. Effectively the opposite dynamic is at work; BL / ME actually do less damage than the Wide Volley / Nock (110 potency x 4+ mobs). Reversing the priority lets you still maximize damage while feeding in your BL / ME between AOE GCDs.

Somewhat related, but either Wide Volley or Quick Nock needs to be changed imo. They are largely duplicative in terms of usage and the combo factor is pretty limited. I'd rather have QN be like 90 potency but increase blunt damage by 10% (basically any other useful auxiliary effect).

[Day]

Yeah, but you don't want to restrict your ME/BL usage strictly to Heavy Shot pseudo-autoattack time. At a very minimum, it would be silly to prioritize VB/WB over BL, as BL reset is a large reason why you want those up.

Can't say I agree. Perhaps I'm wrong but seems to me you want those dots always up and with internal release + straight shot up. Yes for the cooldown reset, but also that's a shit ton of damage ticking there. Is BL really going to do more damage than the 2 dot ticks? And if you use BL with the DoTs down, youre still missing out on chances for reset as you reapply the dots.

[Niiro]

The way I see it is that if you're applying DoTs then the mob in question has enough HP left to warrant them and wouldn't be more quickly finished by raw damage (BL or otherwise).

Also when applying DoTs to off-targets you want the DoT to start doing it's thing, not looking to pile on damage like you would the main target, so BL going off in that case would be undesirable.

[Wulfgang]

I have the DOTs first in the macro, but still have BL behind them. I typically double tap the buttons each time I fire; you get the DOT off, but you also get the BL off if it's up. I fire a lot of BLs in the stages between Straight Shot and Heavy Shot; you need to find a way to work them in while not inhibiting your DOTs.

[Day]

I have the DOTs first in the macro, but still have BL behind them. I typically double tap the buttons each time I fire; you get the DOT off, but you also get the BL off if it's up. I fire a lot of BLs in the stages between Straight Shot and Heavy Shot; you need to find a way to work them in while not inhibiting your DOTs.

I'll give this a go. I know Im missing out on some BL, but I think you're going to miss out a little either way using macros to be honest.... but this looks like something I could work with. I just really like being in control of SS, and my DoTs.

[Spider-Dan]

Also when applying DoTs to off-targets you want the DoT to start doing it's thing, not looking to pile on damage like you would the main target, so BL going off in that case would be undesirable.

I might be wrong on this, but my philosophy has been that the only reason to apply DoTs to offtargets is for increased BL reset procs (which necessarily puts BL above DoTs in priority).

It seems to me that if you take BL resets out of the picture, applying DoTs to mobs is definitely less DPS than spamming AoEs and probably less total DPS than spamming Heavy Shot on the primary target (with the 20% Straighter Shot proc).

[Day]

idk man, i mean it's like what at least 1000 damage for each application of dot? I don't think you're giving the dot damage ticking while you're doing all your other shit enough credit personally.

[Spider-Dan]

OK, suppose I have 3 targets and GCD is 2.5 seconds. (set BL resets aside)

I can apply VB+WB to all of them; 100+60 direct damage, 35+45/tick. 5 sec per mob to apply DoTs * 3 mobs = 15 sec on DoT duty; then I pop a Straight Shot (another 2.5s) and it's time to refresh DoTs. So I have no time at all for AoE, which means damage per cycle is ((100+60) * 3) + ((35+45) * 6 * 3) + 140 (from Straight Shot) = 2060

Or I can just spam 6 Quick Nocks instead: (110 * 6 * 3) + 140 = 2120

Now, the calculation I used presumes that VB/WB have 6 ticks in 18sec and not 7 (I don't think there is a tick at 18s and 0s, but I might be wrong). Still, even if there is a 7th tick, with 4+ targets AoE is going to win going away regardless.

Usually, the only reason I'd use DoTs on offtargets is if I'm trying to conserve TP.

[Waraji]

I don't main Bard so I'm basing this off hand assumptions/theorizing when I have played it, but wouldn't applying DoT's on offtargets also help spam that BL reset? Or is it restricted to only 1 set of DoT's?

[Raldo]

I don't main Bard so I'm basing this off hand assumptions/theorizing when I have played it, but wouldn't applying DoT's on offtargets also help spam that BL reset? Or is it restricted to only 1 set of DoT's?

It does work, to my knowledge, which is why at the top he said "Set BL resets aside". It would push spreading your DoTs around ahead in terms of damage, but you'd really need to be on the ball with target switching, unless you want to BL the adds (and end up tanking them).

[Spider-Dan]

I don't main Bard so I'm basing this off hand assumptions/theorizing when I have played it, but wouldn't applying DoT's on offtargets also help spam that BL reset? Or is it restricted to only 1 set of DoT's?

Well, that's the point: if DoTs need to include BL resets to be worth using (from a DPS standpoint), then it's counterproductive to prioritize applying a DoT over using BL in your DoT macro.

It would push spreading your DoTs around ahead in terms of damage, but you'd really need to be on the ball with target switching, unless you want to BL the adds (and end up tanking them).

If DoTs were really more damage than AoEing, you'd be tanking them anyway. DoTs (and HoTs) still generate hate on ticks.