Whatever happened to that third tier march?

[Malthar]

Hello SE,

I was just curious.

[VoiceMemo]

Probably same place SE put Massacre Elegy. They forgot about it.

[Creelo]

I have a high suspicion that the Third Tier March and Massacre Elegy may be released through Job Point categories. SE recently mentioned adding new Enfeebling and Enhancing magic for Rdm, and I would be surprised if they only released new spells for just Rdm (even though Rdm really needs new/updated spells).

If they do it through Job Points, I don't think these new spells would be taken up to 30/30 like the intention for the current Job Point categories. Instead, I'd wager they'd be fully unlocked through something like spending 10 Job Points or something of that sort.

[AppropriateName5786]

Besides the fact that SE is focusing all their development resources on the worst time sink bullsh*t in history to milk this game to the last drop (e.g. job points and meriting to get merit points to be able to unlock more merit point slots so you can merit even more), the reality that BRD is the best/only desirable buffer in end-game right now probably has something to do with it not being implemented. Unless SE drastically changes their ways (which are stuck in 2004), anyone who has played this game for more than a month should know what to expect from them.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, but there would be a bunch of problems because SE can't do anything right. They'd make tier 3 March so stupidly rare/impossible to get that no BRDs could get it save for the 2-3 BRDs in the best linkshells on their server, the last people that would need the advantage. Then there's the issue of whether tier 3 March will be strong enough to make a difference (e.g. being able to free up an extra song when used with Marcato) because if it doesn't then it might as well not be added.

It would also further alienate COR/SMN/GEO/lolRDM, jobs that are currently used to complement BRD and not replace it like an equal, assuming they are even invited in the first place. Moreover, as if this game didn't lack people willing to play BRD already, you are putting yet another huge obstacle in the way of new/aspiring BRDs. Instead of just a relic horn, an empy/JSE harp, and 100 armor sets (m.acc, healing, pre-cast, empy +2 etc), all of which are HUGE deterrents for playing BRD, they would also have to spend 10 mil on a new scroll just to be considered average. Who the hell is going to do that?

[Kensagaku]

While I agree that I am slightly concerned about the possibility of scrolls being rare/difficult to obtain if they do introduce these songs, I do think you're blowing things out of proportion. For one thing, if anyone can get those scrolls, then guess what? They'll be introduced to the AH eventually. You may complain about prices being high at first, but they'll generally drop over time, and seeing as it's not hard to make 2m+ a day from Dynamis, and an additional ~1m from Salvage if you're willing to take the time, money shouldn't be an issue. So while they'll start out rare, the number of scrolls will generally increase until all that's left is the people complaining that it's too hard to make money and want it thrown to them for free.

As for alienating the other buffing jobs, COR doesn't usually use forms of haste. We bring one for RNG parties for additional buffs, or if we have a spare slot to rotate in for the DDs. SMN doesn't come for buffing, they come to do a little healing for the PLD, drop debuffs on the mob, and burst merit BPs to drop auras. GEO isn't affected, we didn't use haste-type abilities; we excel in lowering defense/evasion among other things without worrying about dispels. We just have to not die. And RDM... well, unfortunately they have all sorts of things that need to be addressed, but it won't be much worse even with a new BRD song. They've sorta hit rock bottom right now as party slots go.

And... gearing your BRD properly is a huge obstacle? Excuse me? How many of these sets, barring the harp/ghorn, are really all that hard/time consuming to get? If you don't want to make a ghorn, get the +3 instruments; they're a tad bit worse, but they are functional, and as for the JSE harp, I explained that money is not hard to make it. So you can have three +3 songs on your party instead of three +4 songs on your party (until ghorn99, you're only up to +3 songs anyway, so you're not too far behind!). If you're not going to put the effort into gearing your job to be effective, why are you even complaining about not getting a song scroll? And note when I say "you", I'm not referring to you specifically; I'm speaking in general terms.

But let's see. The hardest pieces I can see getting from my sets (I'm no exceptional brd, but my gear is certainly sufficient for endgame) would be Nahtirah Hat (if you can't get a Bee win), Heka's Kalasiris (can be replaced with Gende body/head), Shedir Turban (for song recast-; it's not vital, but it does help for recasting certain songs like ballads or lullabies, depending on the rest of your macc for the latter) and Sangoma Ring (again, if you're having trouble with Delve 1 clears). The rest of it is either easy to obtain via the AH, or else farmed up in things like Abyssea (see: AF3+2, AF accessories, Corvax Sash, Harmony Cape), or bought with plasm.

tl;dr: I'm not terribly worried about how getting a new song would affect things. It would be rare and costly for a while until people put it on farm status, and then the price will drop. Meteor and Arise did it eventually, so why wouldn't this?

[detlef]

As much as I would love another March tier, it pretty much can't happen until they buff other support jobs. As it is, it's just ridiculous that BRD keeps getting more and more songs. A 3rd tier March that is powerful enough to replace both Victory March and Advancing March would essentially be like adding another song slot on top of that. It's pretty crazy that a BRD would be able to cap haste (with Haste spell) with one song and then sing 3 more songs on top of that (4 with CC activated).

Objectively speaking, GEO, COR, and even SMN really need more attention before BRD gets buffed even more.

[Byrth]

That is not what objective means. Also, a third march would likely only replace the other two when Marcato is up (with 99 G-horn). So you effectively gain half a minuet half of the time. Not exactly mindblowing.


Assuming both have 99 G-horn, this march would be more of a benefit to Bards with fewer songs:

3 Song bard - March x2, Marcato Minuet x1 (V) -> Marc. March x1, Minuet x2 (V and IV)
4 Song bard - March x2, Minuet x2 (Marc. V + NQ IV) -> Marc. March x1, Minuet x3 (V, IV, and III)

Both bards gave up Marcato Minuet V to drop 2 Marches down to 1 (-39 Attack), but the 3-song Bard picked up Minuet IV (Net +34 Attack) while the 4-song Bard picked up Minuet III (Net +26 Attack). It shrinks the difference between them from 73 Attack to 65 Attack.

Another example:
3 Song bard - March x2, Scherzo -> Marc. March x1, Madrigal II, Scherzo (Acc+43)
4 Song bard - March x2, Marc. Madrigal II, Scherzo -> March x1, Madrigal I/II, Scherzo (Acc+7)


Bard is already the essential magic Haster, so this song hardly changes their role or their desirability. It's just a minor boost to their buffing ability. Also, personally, I'd enjoy near-fulltiming Troubadour Marcato Champion's March with Carnwenhan. Yesss...