Gjallarhorn Specific Song/Overall Usefulness - Dev Response to Bard Forums please!

[Creelo]

Hello Devlopers! >.<

For a long while, me and many others that I've spoken to have been feeling that Gjallarhorn doesn't really live up to its true potential and glory, especially after all the lengths you need to go to get it.

At the lvl 75 Cap, Gjallarhorn was an absolutely stellar piece, mainly due to giving Ballad a large boost (+4 Mp/tic with Ballad x2 was just astounding considering there weren't other options to get Ballad+ at that lvl, discounting the Assault Fife in Assault/Salvage).

Now with the lvl 90 Cap, Brd's can now reach "Ballad +2" with AF3+2 Legs and the Crooner's Cithara, both of which aren't exactly hard to obtain at all compared to a Gjallarhorn. (For comparison: Brd's can reach 9mp/tic without Gjallarhorn. This isn't including other forms of Refresh and Gear, so Gjallarhorn's 13mp/tic isn't exactly needed or very special...)

Yes, a lvl 90 Gjallarhorn has "All Songs +3" now (and it can stack with AF3+2 Equipment of course), and many are predicting it to have "All Songs +4" by the lvl 99 Version. The thing is though, Gjallarhorn really only benefits two songs as of now: Ballad and Scherzo.

In regards to Ballad...
Brd's can already get "Ballad +2" without Gjallarhorn, so while adding more Ballad isn't a bad thing at all... It's really not nearly as useful as it once was at the lvl 75 cap simply because there are so many other forms of Refresh/MP Management available to us, through gear/spells/jas/etc. The only other benefit from Ballad with Gjallarhorn is that it's wind-based as opposed to string-based, which is nice when fighting in confining areas (Nothing THAT spectacular...). Don't get me wrong, the boon to Ballad is wonderful, it's just not as incredible as it once was.

In regards to Scherzo...
It's simply better to have Scherzo be used as a Third song with Daurdabla. Gjallarhorn is amazing for the potency of Scherzo, but it only adds a few more % off the DT. It's simply better to use March x2 and then Scherzo with Daurdabla. The funny thing is that Scherzo is already such situational song that it's hardly used anyways.

Gjallarhorn really is just coming off as a glorified space saver, and is just not as useful as its Empyrean counterpart, which is sad to say since Daurdabla isn't nearly as hard to get as Gjallarhorn (And Daurdabla already has the worst path of all Empyreans <.<).

In the end, it's expected that Gjallarhorn will get "All Songs +4" to put it a cut above all the other +3 Instruments already available, but I feel this isn't enough... It's really awful to have Gjallarhorn only be truly useful for Ballad, especially when Ballad isn't as important as it once was.

~~

Gjallarhorn deserves more, and what I think would the perfect addition would be a Gjallarhorn Specific Song.

~~

Similar to how every other Relic weapon gets its very own weaponskill, not to mention having the highest base Dmg of their class, huge acc/att Boosts, Aftermath effects, and even rare occurrences of regular attacks doing 2-3 times more damage.

Gjallarhorn only get's "All Songs +X" that really only benefits Ballad/Scherzo and a bunch of Skill+ that is only currently used to further increase Scherzo's potency (We probably won't even need that Skill+ anyways for Scherzo by lvl 99). I've already mentioned it's better to sing Scherzo with Gjallarhorn anyways since it's better as a third song with Daurdabla. Basically, all that Skill+ isn't even needed, this is even taking the Skill+'s benefits to debuffs in mind.

Granted the Skill+ from Gjallarhorn is also excellent for a Brd's debuff rate on mobs, but here's another funny thing... Landing Elegy on most mobs/NMs is fairly easy without Gjallarhorn and if the enemy you are fighting DOES highly resist Elegy, you're probably going to need Elemental Seal to land it since no amount of M.Acc+/Skill/CHR will seem to let you land Elegy reliably. I could also mention Lullaby/Threnody/Requiem, but Threnody is hardly needed. Lullaby doesn't land on any NM where you'd truly need it, and Requiem is apparently going to be adjusted since it doesn't land on 98% of NMs anyways...

~As for the future~
The Job Manifesto mentioned...

-A JA to enhance our next song that should prove to be interesting and useful.
-A new enfeeble to lower Magic defense that should also prove to be very useful.

I'm sure Gjallarhorn will enhance the MDB song well, and Gjallarhorn will also prove to be useful in buffing what appears to be another Tier of March.

But this simply isn't enough and isn't fair compared to the other enhancements that the other Relic weapons and Aegis have received.

Gjallarhorn at least deserves its very own song. What this song does, I don't know, that should be up to the developers. Something that gives an original, creative enhancement. Perhaps the song could give a variety of stat buffs, Instant Death resistance, Damage Dealt+%, or Damage Taken -% or even just Damage Taken -X (Similar to a Phalanx Effect). Perhaps it could directly heal party members? Or deal direct damage to the enemy? If this song were to added onto Gjallarhorn, it should just deserve to be a stand-out song. Just give it something useful.

In conclusion, I hope I've showed how Gjallarhorn is extremely lacking at the moment and will be in the future if all it receives is "All Songs +4" and further Skill+. It deserves more.

~~Take the below into consideration.

I can assure you, if you were to have a Gjallarhorn Brd be in a standard party, and then have that same Brd be without Gjallarhorn, the difference in performance would be completely unnoticeable in Abyssea and minimal if outside Abyssea.


This is simple unacceptable, especially compared to how noticeable it is to see a player with a Relic Weapon or Aegis as opposed to one without (Not using Empyrean Weapon though, since we all know most Empyrean weapons still sadly rival closely to their Relic counterparts).
~~

Bard has been a job that has been commonly pushed aside to appease the constant complaints of all the DD/Tanking jobs.

PLEASE Dev. Team, just give us some response to the Bard forums. Please show that you still care about the Bard community and plan on giving us some goodies that aren't going to be overshadowed by March x2.
And PLEASE take into consideration how lacking Gjallarhorn is.

Thank you for reading this far if you have! >.<

[Rearden]

Like/Agree.

The only thing I will say is that you only need to cast the third song with Dardaubla, after that it can be maintained (as long as songs don't wear) with your Ghorn.

[VoiceMemo]

I agree with the op. I've had Gjallarhorn for 2 years now and at the moment think that it's basically a ballad and scherzo instrument. Also compared to other jobs, our instrument is only seen if someone examines me or if I play a song. We don't have the visual prestige of other relic weapons.

A Gjallarhorn specific song I think is long overdue, what it should do would be tough to say as most of the songs we have cover alot already. I am still hopeful for a TP song to replace one of our minuets as well as masacre elegy.

I fear that there will not be any new Gjallarhorns produced, because of the power of Empyrean Weapons, I've noticed a sharp decline in the amount of people that are interested in dynamis. The potency of Gjallarhorn is the only thing that separates it from it's Emp. counterpart. Relic weapons compared to Empyrean Weapons at the moment are more work than their worth.

[Creelo]

Like/Agree.

The only thing I will say is that you only need to cast the third song with Dardaubla, after that it can be maintained (as long as songs don't wear) with your Ghorn.

Ahh sorry, this I know, I have a Daurdabla myself lol

Anyways hope we see some sort of response from a dev >.<

[Creelo]

A Gjallarhorn specific song I think is long overdue, what it should do would be tough to say as most of the songs we have cover alot already. I am still hopeful for a TP song to replace one of our minuets as well as masacre elegy.

I fear that there will not be any new Gjallarhorns produced, because of the power of Empyrean Weapons, I've noticed a sharp decline in the amount of people that are interested in dynamis. The potency of Gjallarhorn is the only thing that separates it from it's Emp. counterpart. Relic weapons compared to Empyrean Weapons at the moment are more work than their worth.

Totally agree, I think a TP Regain song would be perfect addition to Gjallarhorn. As much as I'd love to see Massacre Elegy, I just don't know if it'll happen since it's so strong, but it'd definitely be worthy to be a Gjallarhorn exclusive song.

[Retsujo]

From a Bard having neither Gjallarhorn nor Dardaubla, this is certainly a concern. I myself would really really like a Ghorn, but if all I'm going to get out of it is a few more MP a tic and damage mitigation, it doesn't seem worth the effort. If the idea is to make the Relic weapons just as good (if not better) than Empyrean, then at least give the Gjallarhorn something worthwhile, and not just consider it an inventory condenser (since most songs can get +2/3 across several different instruments anyway).

Those of us without a Ghorn need the incentive to take on the new Dynamis to get one too!

[Rearden]

A GHorn would still be pretty all powerful if there was no Ballad III, however since there is a Ballad+1 instrument now there's just no bonus to having one over getting your BRD's Crooners and +2 legs. Having a GHorn for Ballad's is nice, because it does eliminate 'needing' a RDM for the tank party, but it doesn't make the game easy mode like it did at 75.

Adding +4,or +5 to a Ghorn won't really solve anything, especially since it only (now) applies to 1 song, and probably the new Magic Defense song talked about in the Manifesto notes. (Scherzo will likely cap at 50% as well, so we aren't far off atm and skill at 95+gear would cap a Ghorn if that was the case)

The only thing not discussed so far has been marches, and a Ghorn does come close to capping Magic haste (w/spell) without SV, and I believe a +5 instrument would do that...but in a fight where that matters you're better off SV'ing a non-Ghorn and doing Mins/Mads instead.

I think Massacre Elegy is a perfect song for the uniqueness of the Ghorn and would be fitting with the rest of the recent buffs Relics have obtained. 30% damage boosts to all make them very powerful outside of Abyssea (where the game actually matters) and a 100% slow effect would be amazing on some of the monsters we are now facing in Voidwatch and beyond.

[Creelo]

One thing though about Marches is that recent dat mining has shown a Brd song that looks like it must be a Tier 3 version of March. Unless I'm mistaken, March+4 atm with Victory will yield 160/1024 Haste, which is approx. 15.6% Haste. Idk the exact #/1024 on March+4 with Advancing (I'm sure it's posted somewhere on BG), but it's probably around 11% Haste.

Add in 15% Haste from the spell itself and yar, we're already super close to capped Magical Haste (just a few % away).

So when/if this new March tier is released, Magical haste should be super easy to cap without the need of a Gjallarhorn (granted we'll need the skill I'm sure to get the most out of a third tier of March).

Basically though, Gjallarhorn probably won't even really be needed for Marches either Not to mention March +4 isn't even exclusive to Gjallarhorn atm... ugh.

[Flionheart]

My hopes for the next tier of march, is for it to free up a song spot. We all know we're going to cap march relatively soon, it would be nice to get that over with.

Also we need more Mage friendly songs. Ballad is nice and all, but I'd like a MAB song.