Letter to all bards about Mages Ballad

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Originally Posted by Zellata

Your advice has virtually nothing to do with Grailer's request - they want BRD to play ballad whenever tank is running low on MP while yours is a fairly standard way of doing a WP run where ballad is used only when healer is low on MP and is not about to recover naturally on a "long run" pull.

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You are indeed right. But this thread has derailed something harsh and since the current area around where I posted seemed to be talkin bout what is "normal" / "best" I figured it was something to be said. I am curious if you are going to say how all the other posts that have nothing to do with the OP have nothing to do with it though. ^^

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Originally Posted by Zellata

I am curious - why open up with flame arrow (asuming that's what you mean by "fire circle") instead of Requiem - Battle Voice - normal single target rotation which includes FA?

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Either way works I guess. I just Flame Arrow (sorry play the game in Japanese so I mess up the English some times) first because that means I am doing damage for those few seconds while singing.

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Originally Posted by Maku

You are indeed right. But this thread has derailed something harsh and since the current area around where I posted seemed to be talkin bout what is "normal" / "best" I figured it was something to be said. I am curious if you are going to say how all the other posts that have nothing to do with the OP have nothing to do with it though. ^^

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Other such posts didn't begin with "I am going to restate Grailer's advice..." ;)

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Either way works I guess. I just Flame Arrow (sorry play the game in Japanese so I mess up the English some times) first because that means I am doing damage for those few seconds while singing.

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I just think it's more efficient to sing while tank is running in towards the boss, then do the usual rotation instead of opening up with unbuffed flame arrow - FA works much better after you get at least IR and BfB up.

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Originally Posted by Zellata

I just think it's more efficient to sing while tank is running in towards the boss, then do the usual rotation instead of opening up with unbuffed flame arrow - FA works much better after you get at least IR and BfB up.

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Last I checked, FA saw no effect from crit chance or Raging Strikes.

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Originally Posted by Viridiana

Last I checked, FA saw no effect from crit chance or Raging Strikes.

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That's good then, because if it did gain crit from a 20% dmg buff then something would be wrong :P. Beyond that FA is better to use after you get a dmg buff going that will actually increase it's dot, foes is much better to use the moment the tank starts running into a boss fight so you don't sacrifice time you could also be on the boss casting a song where chances are will still be running when the boss dies(unless a group still kills tonberries for whatever reason in a speedrun, in which case it's no longer a speedrun).

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Originally Posted by harkinate

Dear OP,

There are a lot of tanks for WP Speedruns who don't have these issues. You just labeled yourself as a bad.

Sincerely,
Everyone.

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^^

This

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Originally Posted by Pellegri

That's good then, because if it did gain crit from a 20% dmg buff then something would be wrong :P. Beyond that FA is better to use after you get a dmg buff going that will actually increase it's dot, foes is much better to use the moment the tank starts running into a boss fight so you don't sacrifice time you could also be on the boss casting a song where chances are will still be running when the boss dies(unless a group still kills tonberries for whatever reason in a speedrun, in which case it's no longer a speedrun).

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Notice the "or." He's saying Flaming arrow is neither buffed by crit chance (it doesn't crit, or auto-crits, whatever theory you want to throw out there), or Raging Strikes/Damage buffs.
Which is true.

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Originally Posted by Mister-Wonderful

Rofl, bad and mad. You are a real gem of a player, if I saw you in DF (Who DF's WP SR's) I would promptly leave as doing a slow ass run with you would be more time wasted than waiting 15 minutes outside of DF.

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I agree with this statement.

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Originally Posted by ziddyt

Notice the "or." He's saying Flaming arrow is neither buffed by crit chance (it doesn't crit, or auto-crits, whatever theory you want to throw out there), or Raging Strikes/Damage buffs.
Which is true.

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There is only one buff that actually increases the damage on Flaming Arrow and that is because it buffs the Dex attribute which the potency is based on....meaning only Hawk's Eye will increase damage. Quick test shows this easily enough, but for fact basics:
Without buffs at 476 dex->79-85 dmg.
With Raging Strikes/Blood for Blood/internal release->78~84.
With only Hawk's Eye at 547 Dex->88-94dmg.

So the only buff that should ever be applied to increase Flaming arrow is Hawk's Eye since it directly affects the attribute that dmg is based on.

On Topic: As a brd it is customary to use songs appropriate to the situation; or to clarify, it isn't outside of the norm to use Foe when the action is taking place and ballad inbetween.

In the comparison of running only ballad instead of swapping between the two (or just using foe):
You can't negate the use of Off-gcd's just because they don't factor into your math, and any brd worth their potential will be using off-gcd for additional damage output.. There is the capability to factor in variables based on approximated activation equations that would give you a surmised probability within a +/- range of error (which even the basic damage equation will have because the variations are already there since no one ever does one static damage per attack, it is always +/- 5~10 dmg).

Additionally, even if you aren't using any DoT to reset Blood letter it would be that much easier to factor it into your math since it is a static reset cycle rather than and approximated one. Same goes for Misery's end.

Bards will naturally play ballad for white mages that are running low on MP. It's kind of silly to expect a Bard to play ballad for tanks without being asked. I don't mind doing it but you'll have to request it yourself. It's something very few need. Singing ballad when not needed is a waste of dps and the sign of a bad player.

there are a lot of paladins wanting ballad, warrior runs seem to be faster as they dont mind me using blm dmg buff.

I used to sing ballad when tank low mp, and get complain why didn't I sing Foe :3
I stopped it since then, and tanks don't have any issue maintain hate.

OP should have done something wrong.

Oh, so this is what Vitriolic Barrage looks like when used in XIV.

Interesting.

I personally have had a few whine about Ballad. If you pull 4 groups, Foe is better, because by the time you're pulling the next large group everyone's MP has recharged. Sometimes I will take Foe off at about 25% MP and put Ballad on to make it quicker for MP restoration while also dealing huge damage ASAP to the mobs we gathered.

So, yeah, work as a team and master the skills of your class. Bad players make the rest of the game terrible for those of us that know how to run our classes well.

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Originally Posted by Grailer

Everyone knows DRG and MNKS aren't good for speed runs compared to BLM .

Anyways I am levelling a Bard at the moment because then I can show how it should be done . Better than having to leave DF groups all the time because the bard is fail .

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You are the type of gamer I would never party with. And, well, whaddaya know? You're in my server. Now you just gave me reason to warn everyone about you. Good luck finding people that want to deal with your elitism.

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Originally Posted by Razzelmire

You are the type of gamer I would never party with. And, well, whaddaya know? You're in my server. Now you just gave me reason to warn everyone about you. Good luck finding people that want to deal with your elitism.

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With any luck he will figure things out by the time he gets his BRD to 50 :)

Tank don't need ballad for WP (though it does help), the only ones who NEED ballad are healers (particularly Whm) in higher contents that you haven't severely over-geared. That isn't to say that Bards shouldn't use ballad; there are BLMs who claim that the overall AoE DPS will increase with ballad since they no longer have to really go through an Umbral Ice phase and ballad does wonders for a Holy spamming Whm. Anyone who's been in a truly good WP run will know that a Whm (and to a lesser extent Sch) contributing to damage greatly enhances the speed.