Bards, Checking In!

Another Bard here, checking in.

Bard seems to have become a bit of a utility class, but there is one thing I'm really looking forward to doing:
Partnering with a team of mostly black mages while singing the primals a requiem.

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Originally Posted by Misaky

so.. the only support thing we will have is a limit break that heals? -.-
not even the shared raise skill?

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And our songs. Y'know, the whole BRD schtick. And Mantra. Also, we were never going to be able to Raise while in combat; that's strictly for dedicated healers.

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Originally Posted by Alkalord

Sorry if this is off topic a lil bit, but let me see if I've got this straight... Archer lvl 30 no longer needs conjurer @ lvl 15, but instead Lancer? Or is it Pugilist lvl 15? I'm confused... any clarification would help! Thanks in advance!

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We don't know for certain which class has to be lvl 15 to unlock the class. What we do know is in P4, we lost CNJ abilities and picked up PGL abilities. Logically, we're going to need either LNC or PGL now instead of CNJ, but won't know which until EA.

New/old bard here. Curious as to what to do with my 30 attribute points? Any thoughts on that? Don't wanna run around with them just sitting there while trying to accomplish stuff and then again I don't wanna make a huge mistake and then have them not let us have a do over for like a year.

Hi All,
New Archer/Bard here, still learning all the in's and out's of been a bard so will see where these changes go and see what happens next, but on a side note really loving ARR can't wait to see you all in game :)

I'm ready to sing a elegy for those unfortunate souls who got pierced by a few dozen arrows.

Guess i'll throw in a "Hello Bard here also!" looking forward to my time as a BRD.

Extremely happy with this change, as i didnt play 1.0 so i dont care as to what they used to be, more dmg and less support sounds awesome to me, leave the support to other classes i say.

Testubg 1 2 3

This is probably weird but I knew as soon as I saw bloodletter for archer that was the class I wanted to start as and when I first saw bard I was like meh... musician... then I saw that the bard wasn't holding a harp but a big angry bow with a harp on it and I thinks to myself "... well that's interesting" then I find out that it's archer conj that makes a bard so I started toolin around with conj which was suprisingly more fun than I remember from FFXI and now I'm thinkin to myself... bard's the way to go


Let my soothing melody relax your every ache while I take aim.

Unhappy spoony RNG with harp here ...
I loved my 1.23 bard and the run here to buff the mages, run there to buff the tank, make team run faster, raise whm 1 during fight, cure tank so whm 2 can can be raised ... It was challenging and fun. Now, I don't know when to sing my songs. Foe's Requiem lures all the mobs towards you. I can't see the TP of my party members so I can't judge when to sing Paeon. Everybody has Sprint which overrides Swiftsong. The only thing I've actually been able to enjoy singing in Beta is Mage's Ballad.

But I know, a lot of people want a physical ranged DD. And the role of "Support" has been negated. So I guess I'll just have to get use to my RNG with a harp.

I wish there were more songs. I wish there was a way to "Play" your instrument like in LOTRO - just to be a bit more bard like even if it's not really anything useful in game. Travel from tavern to tavern playing things like Suteki Da Ne or November Rain just for fun.

New BRD Here

New bard checking in.

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Originally Posted by Connor

I hate being one to posit some arbitrary percentages, but I'd say Bard has become around 70% Damage and 30% support.
Damage dealing and stuff is fine, but I'd much rather see it as 50/50 between damage and support.
What does everyone else think? Should Bard become more support-oriented? Less? Or is it fine the way it is?

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When, or IF they add a DPS/debuff Ranger, that's when Bard will become a real support/DPS i think. Until then, i'm afraid we are stuck with not really knowing what it wants to be...

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Originally Posted by Angaros

I can't see the TP of my party members so I can't judge when to sing Paeon

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I posted feedback for this after the Oβ, i hope the dev team noticed it...

Initially, I was :( with the changes from CNJ to PUG as the sub but as I was thinking about it, there are a lot of bonuses. PUG got huge boosts to healing abilities and mantra is essentially an instant song that gives the entire party a 10% healing buff. With WHM now able to do 1k heals, that's an extra 100hp PER PERSON that our buff is adding = pretty sexy.

With sch and whm they wanted to give brd a different flavor and I think I'm going to be ok with having less strain on my MP. Yes, mana for songs, but I won't be burning it to use with other skills now. That's nice.

A guy in the 1.0 forums did a lot of tests for bard in bphase 3 and the stats were PIE as the biggest mod up to 250 and then dex while attk power always seemed to trump dex. With the changes to PUG I still foresee PIE being #1 and then dex.

Question for those who've played brd. Sleep is affected by magic accuracy = mind. Does bind use MA for success rate as well or does it use PIE for the enfeebling score?

To me, Bard is a pure DPS job right now. Specially if its true that we share PGL skills instead of CNJ now. Which is fine, cause the support functions don't seem all that useful. Mages seem to have ways to self sustain their MP, so MP regen songs don't seem that useful. Foe Requiem is pretty much there to add DPS and it doesn't even cause the 20% DPS penalty. TP regen I guess we have to see how hard it is to maintain TP at higher levels.

I hope they do an overhaul of Archer/Bard/Ranger whenever they do decide to add Ranger. Bard right now feels like Ranger trapped in a Bard's body. I would rather have Bards have more variety in songs, have more potent songs that actually are necessary for certain situations, maybe have Bard be MND focused instead of DEX and use CNJ skills so they can be a decent off healer too. Permanent 20% reduction in damage.

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Originally Posted by Isten

A guy in the 1.0 forums did a lot of tests for bard in bphase 3 and the stats were PIE as the biggest mod up to 250 and then dex while attk power always seemed to trump dex. With the changes to PUG I still foresee PIE being #1 and then dex.

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Interesting I was still thinking Dex for 1 then PIE.

Continue discussing what to do with attribute points :D

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Originally Posted by Isten

A guy in the 1.0 forums did a lot of tests for bard in bphase 3 and the stats were PIE as the biggest mod up to 250 and then dex while attk power always seemed to trump dex. With the changes to PUG I still foresee PIE being #1 and then dex.

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Care to link to this? All attribute points were re-worked for 2.0 and I find it hard to believe PIE is still present as damage modifier on BRD, especially since it's a stat that's not present on any DD gear, let alone BRDs.

New BRD here. I've always been a fan of both Archers and Bards in past games. Now, I get the best of both worlds :) though I think the bard side of the equation could use some work on feeling more like a bard.

Played DRG and WAR exclusively in 1.0. Started an ARC in Beta and fell in love with the class. My buddy is a very geared 50 BRD and I am enthralled by how fun the class is. I plan to main it until RNG or NIN come out.

Another Bard here reporting for duty! :)
Also interested in the stat point allocation .. was thinking Dex would be 1, with Piety no. 2 for mana pool only (didn't find any source mentioning piety effecting attack power) ..

Another Bard here! Very excited to start this off tomorrow :)

Well I believe it depends what kind of Bard you want to be, if you want just a ranged DPS go with Dex only. If you want to be support heavy (more mana = longer songs) go with Pie.

IMHO I say Bard should be balanced to be able to do both not the best DPS but also not pure support.

Seriously... cannot

Bard checking in! Leveled Pugilist to 20 in open beta and then realized that I blindly leveled Bard's subclass! Woot! Once 5am EST hits I'll be going hardcore on archer!

Question for you bards out there: Which crafts do you think are best suited for Bard? I plan on Leatherworking/Carpenter/Goldsmithing/Alchemist.

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Originally Posted by Kyree

Care to link to this? All attribute points were re-worked for 2.0 and I find it hard to believe PIE is still present as damage modifier on BRD, especially since it's a stat that's not present on any DD gear, let alone BRDs.

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Here's the link. I honestly don't know when 2.0 kicked in - whether it was after or before this guys testing.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/35795-STR-DEX-PIE-ATK-Testing

I noticed you've gotten to 50 with Brd. Kyree. What's your experience with the stat modifiers.

DEX increases ranged damage and PIE increases MP. Both are valuable for Bard depending on if you are focusing on DPS or Support.

i was thinking about the movement from support to a more dps oriented bard and one thought kept coming to my mind: in the four person instances there really isn't any need for a support character yet. sure there will be for those at end game instances, but looking at it from the perspective of a player who is going through the game for the first time, i was honestly trying to figure out if these small groups would have gotten more benefit from me being a second dps only toon or one with lower dps and a few songs. yes i know that this will have a much bigger impact at end game and in raids and full groups, i am only thinking about the leveling up process from 30-45ish where groups in the duty finder recruit you as dps since there is no option for 'support' nor has there been a need for it in the easy dungeons.

Bard is absolutely my favorite class to play, and I do the best in parties with it as well. :)

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Originally Posted by Nejibana

i was thinking about the movement from support to a more dps oriented bard and one thought kept coming to my mind: in the four person instances there really isn't any need for a support character yet. sure there will be for those at end game instances, but looking at it from the perspective of a player who is going through the game for the first time, i was honestly trying to figure out if these small groups would have gotten more benefit from me being a second dps only toon or one with lower dps and a few songs.

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I absolutely agree. Focus DPS early! Piety will come for end game. But for the first half of bard - in those four man parties - the support class idea is redundant. I know this might sound blasphemous to 1.0 bards, but dps is going to be more beneficial at the start and more practical. But that might just be my opinion.

Since bard is linked to PGL now has anyone checked to see if we are still linked to the healing limit break?

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Originally Posted by Darian

Since bard is linked to PGL now has anyone checked to see if we are still linked to the healing limit break?

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THANK YOU!!!! I've been wondering what sub class we have to get to 15 now.

So excited. I liked bard either way. i like to dps, but also support aswell. cant wait for EA!

So excited I never pla FFXI or XIV and had a lot of fun in the beta. I for one cannot wait to get my Bard uniform :D

FFXIV is similar to other MMOs now where you have dps, healers, and tanks. There's no "support" role really. Bard is classified as dps, and has what are essentially party/raid buffs that are a part of it's role in a group. If you have the choice of doing dps or doing buffs, the answer is that you should be doing both.

Please, for the love of god, don't queue for a group as bard and then proceed to just sit there singing songs while doing nothing else simply because that's how it was in FFXI, or how you envision a bard to be.

"A simple Miquo'te from Gridania
Who wanted to sing songs and dance, nya~ (^^)
She hoped that with time
Her songs would be divine
with stories that all would remember."

I'm a bit bummed out that Archer/Conjurer is no longer an option, but at least the bard support songs haven't been nerfed at all.

Planned Bard here...

That's all I got...

So why does bard still have a healing limit break -_-?

I Planned on playing Bard from the beginning of Phase 3. When I heard that it was more a support role and would lose some of its DPS i was a bit reluctant on making one because I wasnt that much of a Support Class player. But Since ARCH/BRD was the only ranged physical class I decided to go with it. Now if what everyone has been saying is true, and its more of a DPS role thanks to PUG than im all for it. While it does take away some of the support skills it get from CNJ but atleast we can still support with Songs. I mean isnt that pretty much why people want a bard in their party in a long Raid?

Welp looking foward to it, Still trying to find a good DPS Rotation.

Since songs are draining on mp I understand why replacing cnj can make sense. I'm taking this to mean that bards will not NEED those abilities in the future and can rely solely on their singing to fulfill their supportive role. DoT songs, sleep songs, or regen songs, there are many possibilities.