Dear All Bards,

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Originally Posted by Mugiawara

I'm a new bard so I have some quick questions.

1. Does Paeons/Ballad stack? [IE. 2 bards using it.]
So far I've been switching back and forth with the other bard if they play.
2. Does FoE ONLY work on YOUR party? Or everyone in the raid? [IE. CT]

That said, I always sing when need be.
Also, use Battle voice, please.

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1 songs don't stack.
2 it affects the enemy, not party members, so everyone gets the effect of foe.

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Originally Posted by TheWaywardWind

Foe's Requiem. Use it.
Battle Voice. Use it.

It makes me die a little bit on the inside whenever I go into WoD/ST/CT and not a single one of the eight bards in the alliance wants to play Foe's. Come on, guys.

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Foe Requiem Price: Commendations plz. :)

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Originally Posted by Laughlyn

Foe Requiem Price: Commendations plz. :)

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That irks me so bad, you have no idea.

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Originally Posted by SinisterJointss

Pretty sure FOE's will only effect those in your party. By no means am I giving an excuse to not play it because I do, but pretty sure about what I said.

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You're too sure because you are wrong. How have you not noticed yet that it's a debuff on the boss, never accidentally pulled with foes?

I love bards that play Foe's. Especially with Battle Voice.

If you're not in a situation where your MP/TP songs are ever going to matter, your 3 seconds to cast Foe's is going to add way more damage to your allies than you will lose in that 3 seconds.

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Originally Posted by monochromicorn

On a more serious note, bards that don't play foes even without a black mage are only making their own dps lower. Sure, it's not going to make or break an encounter, but several bard skills have an elemental aspect to them, so foes will up bard dps slightly, and it's based off mp, and bards always need mp, right? Bards that don't play foes even for themselves, or when there are several bards, really just kind of confuse me.

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So about that, I'll just provide you with incite on why I think it happens a lot. I'd like to point out beforehand though that BRD should sing, and often... though trash in most raids is usually meh due to the speed that things tend to die. It's pretty simple. Let's start from the role outlook and spell/ability.

Firstly, as a DPS role, your primary function is to attack... no other way to look at it. So people tend to get into that mindset simply by being a DPS role. Start your attack at the beginning, and any sort of buffs are generally either instant or prepped before the fight (which sort of leads into the next).

Second, and probably biggest reason, are the faults of FR. We're taught (either by others or our own curiosity) early on that FR is bad to use when we first get it and on. It pulls mobs, meaning you might have accidentally wiped your group or pulled a boss too early, so you tend to not keep that thing cast much at all. Then there's the fact that it has a somewhat long cast, and for a class that has no cast time for things (besides songs), it's a rather foreign concept and seen as more of a burden than otherwise. Not exactly the best outlook, but it's pretty easy to see why people might think that.

Among other things, SE just did a rather sloppy job at making songs an important part of rotation. Then again, they also designed content with the idea that not all groups will have a BRD. Honestly, it's an implementation thing as to why it's not seen as all-around important, though truthfully, it isn't. It's just a matter of taking advantage of things, similar to DPSing as a healer when you can.

As for voice though, it's really an iffy subject on that. If it weren't on a 5min cooldown, you'd probably see more use of it. I tend to not use it too much, depending on the group, as I've come across MANY situations where I needed to use voice + ballad... especially in places like CT/ST/WoD.

You know what's worse? BRD who focus solely on maximizing their own DPS and not caring about playing songs because "I'm a DPS, learn to manage your own mana"

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Originally Posted by myahele

You know what's worse? BRD who focus solely on maximizing their own DPS and not caring about playing songs because "I'm a DPS, learn to manage your own mana"

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Exactly. A large part of Bard is support. Why ignore it?

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Originally Posted by AskaRay

I p much always start a boss battle with my macro'd Foe + Battle voice.

In fact, I ran into a problem today during WoD.... me and the other bard ACTUALLY tried to cast Foe's at the same time :O
That never happens, sometimes (usually) I'm the only one singing.........

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Now that I've sort of been forced to main Bard, lately.... (injured hand + WHMing is a little more difficult)
Pretty much same as AskaRay, except I don't have them macro'd. I'm always singing, when on Bard. I usually end up being the only one out of a whole raid >_> but occasionally surprised when I see Foes already on when I start singing it. *Stepcancel*
I tend to save Battle Voice for emergencies, though... (like shit hitting fans and healers needing MP badly) or situations like Odin trial.

But yeah. >_> I've also been in raids where there are tons of bards and yet I'm the only one singing. I'm usually inwardly flipping tables at the irony.
Once my mp depletes, no one picks up the singing and it stays down until I feel my mp's come back to a point of usefulness (and not singing something else).

I think the most interesting multi-bard raid setup I've seen was my playing Foes.... then the other bard playing Ballad (while no one needed mp) all during/at the same time. It felt like my Foes was up for quite a while due to ballad's regen, but I'm not 100% sure if it actually effected while both played at the same time. I haven't mimic'd this, though, as I don't know if it's considered more effective or not for that setup - vs Playing Foes till mp end, and the other bard picking up where the other left off/about to stop.

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Originally Posted by Ryans

Spending 3 seconds to sing a 20% damage buff added on to a 360 potency ability that is only used once (possibly twice) every minute isn't exactly a top priority. This is coming from a ninja so I'm not trying justify being a lazy bard.

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I didn't mean to suggest that it should be at the top of the priority list, just that it's something to keep in mind. A surprising amount of BRDs simply aren't aware that Foe's Req isn't a BLM/SMN exclusive buff.