Ranged Attack Class DPM

we already knew this o_o and dpm/dp whatever charts are still incredibly inaccurate - you will NEVER find a bowmaster/mm/nl/corsair with equal funding, and if you did the lesser played classes would shine even more. cheaper weapons/scrolls = higher atk = higher damage. its easy to make a marksman that does more dpm than a bowmaster just because bow scrolls are so expensive.

Like I said in the foreword and many times throughout its creation, this thread is NOT meant to superimpose as a realistic character, the equips chosen should give that away immediately. We already have a number of excellent damage calculators available to use strictly for the puropose of finding a real time DPM. The goal of this thread is slightly different, it is to actively compare the DPM of each class. Granted yes, there are some variables that are simply impossible to completely account for, and along those lines there will always be disagreement; however, I have done my very best to account for, in some way or another, as many of these variables as possible. In effect, it is MORE important, not to just see the resulting values, but also to understand their implications as well.

Only example quality is of course, the one you mentioned. Although Bow Masters may have a higher end DPM, one must also take into account that BM weaponry and equips is significantly more expensive than MMs, making MMs a somewhat "better" choice to some players. In reality, taking into budget is next to impossible, considering that the cost of items is determined by the number of players in the game in that particular job as well as a host of other factors. As I mentioned before, the goal of this table was based more on finding "theoretical DPM", accounting for budget will do that goal no justice.

Not saying this chart is accurate, but what it shows is that marksman are less affected by gear than bowmasters. (due to snipe's fixed damage)

So spending some amount on Marksman upgrades is nice, but you don't increase as much as the same upgrades for a Bowmaster.

In the end, there is a good reason some classes cost more than others - they benefit more from the extra stats.

Exactly.

I'd like to know what kind of crack you're on that NLs with SE are weaker than MMs. Where can I get it?

No offense to all your hard work and such, but Dusk already has a perfectly fine DPS calculator (check the stickies) for all classes and with editable gear/buffs/defense. All that, and DPS instead of DPM. I don't know how DPM ever became a trend (I speculate because people like big numbers), but its horrible to look at and is much harder to compare than DPS.

I find DPM superior to DPS for two reasons. First being that DPS is commonly confused in between "Damage per second" and "Damage per strike" both of which are two vastly different things. As such, I don't know which of the two you are referring to; I am going to assume Damage per Second, since Damage per strike is used normally only for Knock Back calculation and training scenarios. Second, I find DPM to be superior as it gives a better average of damage over a certain amount of time. As an example, Summons cast once every 5 seconds, Snipe has a cool down of 5 seconds, etc. etc. These fluctuations, though still possible to find using seconds as base unit, are better described over a wider range using the minute perspective. If you don't understand what I mean, a good analogy to a real life scenario is how cars are measured in inches; using feet may give a smaller number more easily grasped by the novice, but for better understanding, measurement in inches is always superior for precision, especially for measuring curves, height etc. etc.

Dusk's Calculator is a great piece of work, and accounts for ALL classes (even the non attack classes), mine only compares the ranged attack classes. However, as I said before, this thread has a completely different goal. The limitation of a calculator is that it can only let us calculate the DPM/DPS for one class in one single scenario. This thread is meant to dynamically compare the DPM of the classes as they progress through the levels (all of this is explained in the Foreword if you did not read it). Calculators only utilize the DPM/DPS formulas, the real bulk of the work on this thread it really comes from the plugging in of the variables. Don't let the spoilers fool you-- open them all up and you will know what I'm talking about.

As response for your first statement, my simple defense is to find where my math is wrong, then tell me I'm on crack. I am open to any correction, but trying to invalidate my math using a flaming statement derived from a subjective observation generally leads to no avail. To directly answer you question, contrary to popular belief, NLs, even with SE still don't have an exceptionally high DPM, only with Apples do NLs really shine. An NL with SE is still weaker than a BM, which is already known fact, as BMs have far more weapon attack as well as support skills that together, far outweigh the ability of TT. MMs unappled have a higher DPM than BMs in early and mid 4th job, so it really is to be expected that MMs DPM is higher than NLs + SE. Grated there are a number of other variables that can come into play, but I really fail to see how this comes as such a surprise to you.

There is a point where your average strafe damage becomes greater than that of Snipe (on apple anyway). At that point the MM's expected damage output starts to increase at a bit faster rate relative to upgrades.

Your average range would have to be 21.5k for that to happen though. >_>

That said, these calculations need a bit of work. Also, if you're gonna put BMs and NLs under ideal conditions, why not provide a calculation that has Sairs and MMs with both SE and SI while appling?

At lvl 150 Strafe gives a slightly larger yield towards DPM than Snipe, just as you said, as the levels progress Strafe becomes more and more effective. However, even at level 200, Snipe provides for roughly 41.6% of an average equipped MMs DPM (under theoretical conditions of course). That being said, that's 41% of their DPM that goes unaffected by equips--a rather large portion to say the least.

As for SI, the real reason I have not included it is simply because I'm lazy. Its actually a staggering number of calculations I must burn through to complete just one section of this thread. As it turns out, SI is not all very much helpful to MMs or Corsairs, once again because Snipe goes unaffected by SI (cooldown time does not decrease), and Corsairs are only 1 speed category below the speed cap. I will of course, get around to it eventually.