More interest in playing Archer.

(ilvl 100) After playing as an Archer for the past couple of days, I'm not really sure why Jobbing into Bard is the standard.

I get it. I'm not being the best "team member" by not bringing the bonuses that come with the songs. But, in most content now, people are overgeared and I never need to sing one. So what's the point?

Ok, ok, there's the +20 atk pwr. But thats worth like 10-15 points per heavy shot (tested on dummy). And I actually average out a bit better when keeping Fracture up. Also, Internal Release helps burst average higher when AOEing groups.

200hp? 300mp? I didn't miss them.

Furthermore, since doing this, Ive:
- Swiftcasted a Stoneskin to save a wipe on a mini-boss.
- Bloodbathed myself to health when pulling aggro during an AOE spamm. No healer required.
- Provoked the coincounter off a healer (and kite tanked, saved a wipe) when the real tank didnt dodge.

Dont get me wrong. I love the bard. Love it, and use it effectively. But archer seems so much more useful for all that daily/weekly/roulette stuff.

Jus sayin.

I mean I guess if you're just doing dungeons then it doesn't really matter but stepping foot into coil or any ex primal as an archer is just kind of laughable tbh

In raids, your songs (that you get as BRD) are crucial to battle. Your melee need TP, healers need MP, caster DPS need Requiem.

Imagine if your PLD died and the MRD had to tank with no access to Defiance.

At that ilevel it really doesn't matter what you do.

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Originally Posted by Slappah

I mean I guess if you're just doing dungeons then it doesn't really matter but stepping foot into coil or any ex primal as an archer is just kind of laughable tbh

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No argument on that coil stuff. But justabout every place else, Archer ftw. Not only is it as good (better?), but it's more interesting to play, IMO.

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Originally Posted by trinka

At that ilevel it really doesn't matter what you do.

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Actually, as your ILVL goes up, the +20 atk pwr seems more trivial.

Started doing this at I lvl 82, when that +20 atk pwr pushed me from 392 to 412. Gear/oils/sands and 18 ilvls later that +20 atk pwr pushes 518 to 538.

It's only a loss when your not buffing someone with song. Pushing a mage's 500 spell power to 600 is huge, but temporary. But when was the last time you got into a razor-thin dps check in a roulette?

NOTE: I'm not trying to convince anyone the bard isnt a valid class, even in daily grindy stuff. It just seems to me that Archer is just as useful.

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Originally Posted by Jim_Berry

Imagine if your PLD died and the MRD had to tank with no access to Defiance.

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Fun story, MRD can do some really crazy things with all those cross class abilities. Put out a ton of DPS with your enmity generating moves and you don't even need Defiance. Defiance is more useful for the damage reduction tbh. When we pony farm one of my buddies usually OT's on MRD no problem.

Don't underestimate that extra attack power. It effects every damage you do. It's not just +15 heavy shots it's a + to everything including your dots and that starts to add up.

On top of this archer gets access to no damage increasing cross class skills that bard does not (BFB, IR, invigorate etc.) so as archer you're just getting a few utilities which you shouldn't need if everyone's doing their job.

I enjoy playing the archer as well. Sure it's a damages/dps loss but I like all the extra skills. I wish they'd allow all the jobs to use any skills as they please like the archer or at-least make the classes viable for end game content. I know if the classes were viable for end-game, it'd make the jobs pretty much pointless but I guess SE knows what they're doing but one can only dream/wish.

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Originally Posted by radioactive_lego

Actually, as your ILVL goes up, the +20 atk pwr seems more trivial.
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Atk power is based on DEX (at a 1:1 ratio). Going up +20 is like going from the i80 body to the i120 body (ignoring boosts to secondary stat caps and VIT). Let's assume that that boost does increase your Heavy Shot damage by 20 (point for point). But that boost also affects the damage of every other ability; Bloodletter, DoTs, Barrage - all of these making up a major part of your damage. And sure, that damage is overkill for any decent group who can also deal with the dungeons in general. But if you could kill things faster by doing more damage (which you can't as an Archer because that +20 is impossible to make up for), you wouldn't have to rely on strange crutches like Swiftcast + Stoneskin or Provoking enemies.