Playing a Fighter as DPS in groups or raids

I kind of like the way the fighters fight toe to toe rather than going around the back of a mob. If I play a Zerker as DPS will other want me in Raids or Groups? I have played a rogue in EQ and kind of done with all the positional stuff.

Fighter dps can work for most guilds, but most wont have more than 4 in a raid team for synergy and even that is stretching it. Its been a long time since you needed more than 2 fighters for anything.

Ill say any guild that dont care about saving 10 minutes on farm nights or one of the top three guilds fighting for world first can easily bring an extra fighter DPS. It depends on if you want to play in a top 3 guild or just want to raid to have fun tbh.

Fighter alts is a major selling point though, especially since they are so needed for group content, so getting an application from soneone with a geared fighter alt is an instant plus for most guilds.

There are groups in this game?

It really depends on what you call DPS. If you can match DPS with a scout or mage then sure. If you are down with the healers and utility not so much. I know some tanks can DPS reasonably well, just most people I know that ask this question..well they don't.

I play a fighter in as a DPS in raid and it works pretty well.

I raided in EQ a lot back in the day I am just thinking of pickup raids or guild groups if those exist. Thanks for the feedback. i dont mind tanking but not knowing the content I would not really want to.

Fighters in general are usually pretty simple to play as, but they also aren't designed to do as much damage as the scout or mage classes. Some of them can get pretty high up there, but they're not designed to be DPS. Switching to offensive stance when you're not tanking is a good idea to help deal damage, but you'll always do far more as a ranger or assassin.

If you're playing as a tank at end game, in groups you will always be expected to tank. The way RoR is right now, people can't generally afford to haul an extra tank along, they pretty much need some big DPS.

Now raids will need one or maybe two extra tanks. But not groups.

Equal skill, equal gear; a tank is not a dps replacement in any content. Even the highest raid parse from a tank I've seen this year is still only 1/4 that of the top t1s.

You + Your merc = Group

Well I have started a Beastlord I guess I will play that up a bit should be good DPS and more toe to toe than the rogue types

You only really want a fighter in a group or raid to tank. However, given how simplified group and raid content has now become, you rarely need more than one tank in a raid and hardly, if ever, need a fighter in a group zone to tank. So the only probable scenarios that would apply for a fighter to be just "dps" are the following:

1. Surplus of tanks in a raid force and you can't field a balanced setup - which is pretty much most guilds these days.
2. You have terrible dps classes and have a decent fighter(s) that can do some dps but is not tanking does like clicking on synergy every now and then.
3. You have terrible dps classes and have terrible fighters who can't tank or dps (believe me, it happens) and you can't find people to join the guild (probably for obvious reasons).
4. You have a great setup, great dps classes, and extra fighters offer some utility in buffs.
5. You have a great setup, great dps classes, great fighters who can tank and do reasonable amount of dps in addition to their utility (rare cases).
6. Casual guild, with no real progression in mind, ok to just about fill a raid and take whoever is there.

In groups, only taking another fighter if a) trivial content, b) guildy/friend, c) can't find someone to fill last spot in trivial content, d)if they need an update. Otherwise, no. H3/challenge group, i would never take another fighter when i am tanking.

Lastly, if you are playing a fighter in this game then I would personally would want to tank. If you want to dps, roll a dps class.

We still have raid encounters where two mobs must be separately tanked and held apart X distance. Or where there's a tank swap. Those take two tanks, which is why you have an offtank. I understand Mayong required three tanks.

But you generally do need a tank in RoR group content. Once people get geared up, you can sometimes get away with ignoring bulwark and just healing through it, but it's not as smooth as just having a tank.

Rarely...

I've run some H1/H2 zones with two fighters (including myself). They were far from my fastest or cleanest runs, but it worked. You work with the people you have, and a DPS fighter can be better than running a second bard. The guild I raid with would happily accept a DPS fighter for raids; anything is better than an empty slot

Now that we've established that a body is better than an empty slot...

Maybe we can all agree that a "dps" fighter isn't really a thing under normal circumstances

We can add all sorts of modifiers: you greatly outgear your T1 counterparts, your T1 counterparts cant put together a cohesive cast order, your T1 counterparts were asleep, your T1 counterparts didnt log in.

See where this is going? Nobody runs a fighter for dps willingly.

You can, but as others have said you should be aware that with rare exception and only counting extremely short burst windows with very specific circumstances (like say a berserker AE trash pull with a full compliment of precasts, Feedback from Etherealist, and maybe a present t1 took a second or two to engage), you're not generally not gonna match true tier 1 damage.

You can do decent damage, but you mostly would be thinking of yourself as like utility with not-bad damage that still needs to do some tank mechanics, even if that just means moving a mob or casting Bulwark of Order. You can most definitely do enough to suffice for content, though, but bear in mind that a not insignificant amount of people will regard you with impatience, even if it's really not necessary on their part.

Generally folks asking this question will tend to have some catch-up to do on the character they're inquiring about, and that's going to be the biggest obstacle to your damage. Like they need Den 2 adorns, or they are still ancient-ing their main abilities, or they don't have a fervor overcap neck to slot in, or w/e. If you are up to date on stuff that a main is more likely to be up to date on, you may be pleasantly surprised.

TL;DR "Kind of, but don't think it'll be anything easy, and bear in mind you still have to lean into your utilities and true damage classes will still be better at the damage part"

I've been tanking on a bruiser for fun/lacking tank outside of raid. Do you mind showing me your parse to compare for rotation wise.

Parse on what mob?

t1 or 2. doesn't matter. i can figure it out from there loosely.. Edit: actually can you do the Monkey, thats a good one.