BRD - the most purposefully gimped job in the game.

[Urat]

Anyone who has played DnD, the game once upon a time FF series was the lovechild of, will know that everything in OP follows exactly how bard works.

Bard is a jack of all trades class in nearly every game it exists, good at a lot of things, only the master of its one natural talent, singing/music/whatever it is in that game. Honestly I think bard should have had a much wider variety of weapons to select from, but having like, C rank in most of them. Warrior seemed to be the job that got jack of all trades in XI though which I'm cool with as well, as just like the Fighter in DnD, this is still the case. So Kudos to SE for following with the system for us vets.

tl;dr Bard is a gimp fighter on purpose, they're supposed to be.

[Yinnyth]

Also brd has had very few updates over the years, we have gotten 1 new JA and 5 or 6 more songs to go with the level increases, nothing like the attention war or pup etc have gotten.

Scherzo was a very good addition, as was minuet V. BRD AF3 was an amazing addition (Hi, movespeed shoes- where have you been all this time?). The cap on songcasting time reduction was increased from 50% to 80%, vastly decreasing the time it takes to do a full round of songs for bards who gear themselves in such a way. Last update they added the ability for god gear and abjuration gear to be augmented, both of which bard can wear (pup can wear neither). BRD was my first job to level 75 and has been my primary job ever since then because of how retardedly useful it is when played properly. I have full AF3+2, AF2+1, AF1+1, level 90 gjallarhorn, sheikh manteel, and even a melee and WS set including twashtar. So take my word for it when I say that bard is not gimp, and never has been.

We don't put out the amazing WS numbers that heavy DD put out, but heavy DD wouldn't have those amazing numbers without us. We don't have access to very strong healing spells, but without us, the healers wouldn't be able to keep curing very long at all. We don't get very many debuffs, but carnage elegy is the single best debuff in the entire game... well... maybe second to stun.

BRD could get into almost any group because no matter who is already in that group, BRD can make them better at what they do. PUP, not so much. I've never had troubles joining endgame linkshells. In fact, in 4 cases, endgame linkshells found me and asked me to join them. If you're a PUP main though, have fun with that.

The trick to enjoying bard is to care about the overall success of your group. The heavy DD can have their fights over who parsed higher, or who did the stronger WS, but they would be nothing without us. Bards are kingmakers, and damn good ones at that.

[Yarly]

1: /whm and gear/atma for cure potency.
2: cast haste, and sing capped marches while wearing +0 skill gear.
You are now the best back line buff job.

Hey look at that, the thread ended with that post.

Obviously OP just burned his BRD to 90 and has like severely under-leveled singing/string/wind and decided to post his ignorance all over these forums. Good jorb!

[Cream_Soda]

We don't put out the amazing WS numbers that heavy DD put out, but heavy DD wouldn't have those amazing numbers without us.

If you're using the correct songs, they will.

March increases ws frequency, but does nothing for the numbers themselves. If you're using anything but dual marches (provided there's not a second bard), you're doing it wrong.

[Lotmorning]

I would just like to see something done with requiem, it is at a point after so many years that 99% of NM's resist this, but as stated before dia from a lvl 1 whm could land on same NM.

[Urat]

Hey look at that, the thread ended with that post.

Obviously OP just burned his BRD to 90 and has like severely under-leveled singing/string/wind and decided to post his ignorance all over these forums. Good jorb!

In abyssea, /dnc + triple regain atmas beats /whm.

I can go into battle bard mode and put up a little samba for added help, and my regain rate allows me to literally spam CW3, which is a potent enough curing power to keep the DDs alive in a big group more effectivly.

Add in the fact CW is instant and won't make me have to spend more time casting.

On the flip side I do know brd gets access to a lot of potential +cure potency gear, so if you have a set of it from leveling whm then mayhaps /whm is better for brd, simply because you have more powerful cures.

[Yinnyth]

I would just like to see something done with requiem, it is at a point after so many years that 99% of NM's resist this, but as stated before dia from a lvl 1 whm could land on same NM.

Requiem is a kind of strange debuff. It has more tiers than any other spell in the game, but aside from sleep and charm, it's also the status effect that monsters are most commonly immune to. The only thing I've really found it useful for is killing ahriman in Dynamis (I used to solo the trigger eye in Dynamis - Beaucedine with SV night/troub requiem VI, then drop my glass before he could kill me). Overall I agree though. Requiem deserves some un-nerfing.

March increases ws frequency, but does nothing for the numbers themselves. If you're using anything but dual marches (provided there's not a second bard), you're doing it wrong.

If you're going to nitpick my post, I may as well do the same to yours. March does affect the damage a weaponskill does as long as 2 conditions are met; the bard must have set bonus from AF3+2, and the weaponskill must have a DEX modifier or be capable of critting.