Best starting job for an intended BRD main?

[Babekeke]

...hm. I see. It looks like I have my work cut out for me, then. Thank you very much for your help. By "all of the subjobs", however, do you mean every other job in the game, or just the ones mentioned in this thread?

Just the ones mentioned.

And, as stated above, taking BST all the way to 99 allows you to choose 1 of 2 options; using BST for solo play (particularly in abyssea/dynamis/limbus/salvage where you can't charm mobs and need to call your own) or use /BST for solo play when you can charm a pet (good for farming mobs in adoulin, or doing reives).

Oh and I forgot to mention that if you only intend to use BST as a sub job and never as a main, you don't need to skill anything up, so it doesn't matter if you level it too fast to keep skills capped.

[Glamdring]

...hm. I see. It looks like I have my work cut out for me, then. Thank you very much for your help. By "all of the subjobs", however, do you mean every other job in the game, or just the ones mentioned in this thread?

the "all of the subjobs" was based on what you were planning on leveling in your earlier post about your path, + the earlier post by Babs about other viable subs for situational use. note, those situational subs you won't be shunned for not having (I've never even been asked to /pld and I've been playing brd for about 11 years as an example), but it never hurts to have a bit of utility and low level growth (1-49) is easy, especially if you solo since that will keep your skills up. The caveat is you WILL want nin if you plan on being a usefull puller, and that IS an expected role for brd.

[Lindelle]

So, to summarize, I should level WHM, THF, NIN, and SCH to forty-nine if I intend to play BRD at ninety-nine, and apparently BST to ninety-nine won't hurt either.

That's not too daunting. I can do that. Thanks much, all.

[Glamdring]

Yep, but keep an eye on the comment treads, maybe read a few strategy guides for the content you are interested in and the like, requirements change over time, ex. my /blm comment comes from Aby where you had to try to !! proc threnodies and sometime the mob was resistant to the element you needed to hit, there was also another boss you really wanted to Elegy but he was Earth resistant. Also helpped when you needed to hit a dark sleep on light-resistant mobs (lullaby is light, so is finale if you are ever looking at /rdm). Those guides will give you an idea of the "sub of the month", and that does change as content is rolled out.

You'll also need to work on bard skill to keep it all capped. The best ways used to be sleeping mobs in Dynamis and cycling to proc in Aby, but both of those have largely died so you'll need another outlet. Your best bet if you skip alot of the old content like sea is probably going to be going with someone else to farm in the new 99 areas, you can't get skill right now from reives but you CAN from killing regular mobs; there was talk of returning skill-ups to Campaign but I didn't see it in the update notes, if they do put it back it was excellent, beseiged still works, too. The only other advice is that you need to make and keep a good set of friends in game because solo bard is largely restricted due to its squishiness and it not hitting very hard. Best of luck to you going forward, bard is a much-loved job if you are any good, so if you have good people with you they SHOULD help you with your end-game gear needs, because they are THEIR endgame gear needs, too.

[Lindelle]

How does one find a group of friends in this game? I don't have any friends out of the game who play it, and as eager as I am, it seems like much of the player base is really far ahead.

[Glamdring]

actually, it's not that hard. when you get to levels where you will join a GoV burn alliance just talk to the group, you'll probably get an LS invite quickly. You may also get random buffs from people who have them, or a random raise when things go wrong. Talk to them, use your friends list (ask first), talk in your parties, all of that. And learn to play the job well. if you do all that you will be rememberred and get your invites to content that will help you advance. Yes, most people will be well ahead of you (XI isn't getting new players often), but they backtrack to do stuff, to recap lost XP, to farm, all of that. Believe me, show yourself to be a good person and you'll get into groups. Show yourself to be skilled and you could be a raging bitch, you'll still get groups. + you picked bard, you'll get plenty of party love...

[Lindelle]

I've done book burn alliances in Gusgen Mines in the past. I guess I just need to be a touch more talkative. Thank you!

[Babekeke]

The caveat is you WILL want nin if you plan on being a usefull puller, and that IS an expected role for brd.

I haven't used /nin since lvl 75 meripo, and I pull all the time in plasm runs. Emp +2 feet and plenty of fast cast/song cast gear should mean you don't get hit much, and as /sch you have an almost unlimited MP pool as BRD to cure yourself with.

[Underpanties]

Having read the responses(all of which are very informative, so thank you all very much!), I have what I hope is a sound plan.


My first job, which I'll use at the start of the game, will be BLM. I'll level BLM solo from level one to around eighteen or so for access to Elemental Seal and certain elemental spells, as well as Warp. After completing my subjob quest(which I think I can do alone or with the help of maybe one other person), I'll change from BLM to WHM, which I'll level from one to fifty. When I've done that, I'll unlock BRD, level that from one to ninety-nine, then focus on other jobs such as BST, THF, and SCH. I'd like to avoid NIN if I can(I'm not a fan of that job aesthetically), but if I have to, then I have to.

Do I have a good grasp on what's best for my character, do you think?

It's a good plan, but bear in mind everything that you're saying right now is so very tiny in regard to advancing your character to be the best brd it can be. Not to say it doesn't matter, but you should stop and experiment a bit with other sub jobs and mains as well. BST sub, in particular, will make your leveling much, much easier since its Charm will be based on the bst's main level, not it's subjob level. Bard has high CHR, to help charm's accuracy so the combination goes hand in hand pretty well, and helps to compensate for bard's weak melee prowess.
Bard is a really fun job, but also can't do anything on its own where you don't have access to trust/charm mobs. When you get to the point where you require empyrean +2 set (and bard flat out requires it more than almost any other job), you're going to have a really hard time, and it's hard to find help for those activities anymore. Beyond that, there are a lot of solo activities you need to do to farm money, and its good to think about a backup job for when you need to get something done.

[Creelo]

The sturdiness of your Brd is going to be dependent upon your PDT/MDT sets, and I would highly advise working on these sets (mostly just PDT) if you plan to be pulling for your group since pulling often means adds. Depending on the number of adds, you may not be able to survive long enough to Horde Lullaby them without a PDT set. Even if not pulling, DT sets can be incredibly helpful and CAN mean the difference between dying/surviving attacks.

Also I would also argue that a Brd can become incredible sturdy between Minnes/Paeons/Ballads (endless MP for curing self); however, this is highly dependent upon having a Daurdabla.

At lower lvls long ago, I remember Paeonx2 (I think combined with Regen from sub) helping quite a bit when fighting mobs that were DC or so. When the going gets rough, Lullaby is an amazing asset for survival too, provided you haven't DOT'd the mob/s your're fighting.