Direction of Bard?

[Leelya]

If you have Bard at 50, you may have been wondering about this as well. For me Bard was suppose to be a unique class that offered an experience unlike any other class in FFXIV. However, I believe Bard lacks a true path in regards to party dynamics.

Let me first start off with what roles a Bard can play in exp, raid, etc.:

• Support (via songs)
• Support (via emergency healer)
• Standard DPS
• Puller

The list seems pretty small, but each point helps my position on the matter that Bard needs a more refine set of skills to separate itself as it's not really great at anything. Yes it does things decent/well, but isn't an advanced job suppose to be, well.....advanced?

I think the whole Bard + Archer was a very innovative concept, but it doesn't lend it self too well currently to the dynamics of this game from what I've experienced so far. I'd love to hear the opinion of others.

I have a few suggestions as to how Bard could be more suited for it's natural role of being a supporting character:

• Creating a system that allows Bards to de-buff mobs by attack.
  
• Slow (Instant Ability that would be cast by successful arrow shot.)
• Evasion Down (Instant Ability that would be cast by successful arrow shot.)
• Defense Down (Instant Ability that would be cast by successful arrow shot.)
• Magic Attack Down (Instant Ability that would be cast by successful arrow shot.)
  *** To have the same Yin/Yang effect as party casted buffs, only have two buffs be readily able to be cast on a mob at one time.
  
• Having a wide selection of Harp + Bow options for Archer.
  ***For using a Harp + Bow there would be lower attack base, but would carry enfeeblement boosts for songs stats and effectiveness. This way Bard truly has the ability to be a versatile class within itself.
  
• Having the option of using a stringed instrument main-handed. You would sacrifice the option of doing attack damage for the ability to keep two songs active on party members for a 5 minutes duration instead of 3 minutes.

Whether these suggestions or others this thread may spawn make it into 1.2x or 2.x isn't really a concern for me. I'm in it for the long haul, and seeing as the development team is at least a bit over a month behind from their initially released schedule I don't mind waiting for 2.x for changes to go into effect.

Would love to hear everyone's two cents on the matter.

[Orophin]

I think bard is more than just a "decent" damage dealer. Ones in my LS pull off pretty good numbers on boss fights.

As for the debuffing, that seems like it's going to be handled by a new class down the road. (Fencer/Red Mage probably the popular choice)

I don't play a bard and I'm not shooting down your ideas, just stating some things I've seen or expect.

[Estellios]

Bard is a fine DD and you help the whole party's damage with the various songs, as well as being able to pinch heal/raise. You help raise the party's offense and defense. It feels like an extension of Archer without completely taking a huge 180 with it. Not that your ideas aren't good or anything but I would much prefer for them to branch off a new base class that is based on that and catered to a playstyle like that.

"Pure" support classes are nice in theory but end up extremely overpowered/necessary (FF11 brd) or totally useless. Spreading around the Support abilities among different classes makes sure everyone needs to work together and can bring different things to the table, as well as making sure you are kept busy when all buffs or debuffs are said and done.

That's honestly why I'm enjoying WHM and BRD so much in this game compared to 11 because if the fight is going fine i can contribute with damage instead of standing there doing nothing.

[Dzian]

[*]Standard DPS

It's a bit more than standard. given the damage you can put out as a bard.
heavy shot > leaden shot> wide volley > peircing arrow > gloom arrow > bloodletter > barrage > heavy shot > quick knock > rain of death. all in 20-25 seconds = a pretty huge spike of damage in very little time and for dessert when you find all that has put your hate in the red you just use chameleon and laugh. i usuallythrow quelling strike somewhere in there depending on where my tp is at.

add to that the boost i can give to the rest of my party makes my brd pretty freaking awesome.

i originally hated the idea of brd i had visions of buffs with such short durations that would kill my dd but actually love the way it's turned out

[carraway]

I love BRD in its current state, but it is most assuredly a type of support class: very solid single-target DPS buffeted with songs. Others who play/played ARC may prefer a pure ranged DPS role, but I appreciate how much BRD can influence a fight positively or negatively. BV Paeon in particular is beautiful to watch when you have several melee DPS jobs in the party.

In a dungeon like AV, the BRD can serve an absolutely pivotal role as a co-leader with the tank, grabbing chests, swapping songs, pulling, etc.

The only adjustment I might want is some way of dealing a portion of elemental damage.

[NickZenith]

I feel an Attack/Magic attack song would be more useful than an accuracy + song considering a full party boost to accuracy is already in game when a group is formed. The 15minword ability feels mildly weak as well. Ballard of the magi, and the tp song are fine ^^

[Bocajo]

I agree that bard should have some more debuffing ability. Perhaps a class like red mage will be added that specializes in debuffs. However, there should be multiple classes that fill this role to add to overall balance imo.

It is an interesting question as to what exactly would distinguish a rdm class, since convert has been given to blm. I suppose refresh is still an option.

[Estellios]

I feel an Attack/Magic attack song would be more useful than an accuracy + song considering a full party boost to accuracy is already in game when a group is formed. The 15minword ability feels mildly weak as well. Ballard of the magi, and the tp song are fine ^^

Most players won't have accuracy as good as they used to before 1.21 since they fixed a bug in the accuracy calculations that was pretty much giving us perfect accuracy. Not to mention having the accuracy/maccuracy song up lets them go full on attack with gear. It's not useful all the time but still worth having when those situations arise.

It is an interesting question as to what exactly would distinguish a rdm class, since convert has been given to blm. I suppose refresh is still an option.

They could forgo following in FF11's footsteps and make Red Mage play like it used to in older games, giving it a wide variety of spells for versatility and Doublecast.

[Coglin]

Personally, I feel the OP may be playing the wrong job if they are as unhappy with it as the post implies. I have played bard as my main class in several MMOs, and they tend to be a great utility class with a "Jack of all trades, master of none" play style to them. I feel that is the direction in FFXIV as well. Perhaps that style of play is simply not for the OP.

As of now, bard is solid damage output in itself. It raises the overall group damage exponentially, by giving BLM more sustainable MP regen, gives the other mellee classes more acc, thus more damage from not missing, as well as increasing ther TP flow, thus allowing more damage with weapon skills. We can raise in a pinch, support heal, AoE stun, and can give a HP boost before attacks like Prmals heavy AoEs slam the group. This all adds to our support and the nature of the class, the OP is attempting to make al of these support abilities appear to be a bad thing because we are not a debuffer.

I do not feel we need more debuffs. I believe bard is to be a "jack of all trades, master of none" support role, with another class will most likely be the debuff support. In general I prefer bard stays just like it is.

[Peptaru]

I don't like the idea of having more than one song up... how many songs do we have? how many can we have up? what percentage of our total songs is that..... even two songs = OP imho.