What is Bard?

I recently leveled Bard to 80, albeit begrudgingly, and I have been wondering for days now what exactly is Bard suppose to be in this game.

To me FF14's Bard is "A Dark Mage who has assumed a disguise as an Archer and can occasionally sing songs but primarily uses magical arrows to try to lay waste to their enemies." Because it feels as if it is multiple different archetypes tossed into a blender and poured into a glass and served as an aberration to what a "bard" is known for which is being primarily musically inclined.

Let's break down Bard's kit.
Why does Bard, a musically themed archetype, have three abilities, Sidewinder, Shadowbite and Iron Jaws, that look like and could be considered dark magic? Why does Bard, a musically themed archetype, have Venomous/Caustic* Bite and Wind/Stormbite*? Why does Bard, a musically themed archetype, have Quick Nock, Bloodletter and Rain of Death? None of those are Bard-like and all are reminiscent of what a Hunter or Ranger uses. Why does Bard, a musically themed archetype, have Pitch Perfect*, Empyreal Arrow, Burst Shot, Refulgent Arrow and Apex Arrow*? All of which look almost entirely magical in appearance and feel.**
*Pitch Perfect and Apex Arrow can be argued to be musical but they are not. Pitch Perfect is all but a swirling mass of blue effects. Apex Arrow lacks any semblance of music only it's SFX sounds musical. Caustic Bite and Stormbite look more magical compared to their predecessors.

The only truly musically inclined abilities Bard possesses are; Mage's Ballad, Army's Paean, Wanderer's Minuet, Troubadour, Battle Voice, Nature's Minne and The Warden's Paean. Which is saddening as they are all cooldowns and not used as often as Burst Shot and Bloodletter. And only Mage's Ballad, Troubadour and Army's Paean sound musical. The others just sound like wind.

**Bard no longer feels or looks like a regular Archer anymore and instead feels more magical to the point that it can pass as a mage with instant cast times which isn't an entirely bad thing if they go the full magic archer route and cull Quick Nock, Rain of Death and Bloodletter by upgrading all three into musically themed weaponskills and abilities. Which would solve my issue I have with Bard feeling like a mishmash of multiple identities and barely feeling like a real bard due to the severe lack of offensive musical weaponskills/abilties.

It's also sad to note that several bosses and Blue Mage are better bards than Bard.

What is a bard? According to FFXIV: The word "bard" ordinarily puts folk in mind of those itinerant minstrels, fair of voice and nimble of finger, who earn their coin performing in taverns and the halls of great lords. Few know, however, that bards in fact trace their origins back to the bowmen of eld, who sang in the heat of battle to fortify the spirits of their companions. In time, their impassioned songs came to hold sway over the hearts of men, inspiring their comrades to great feats and granting peace unto those who lay upon the precipice of death.


Singing Archers. That's it that's the lore, they're archers that sing songs while shooting arrows and those songs bolster the spirits of (or buff) their allies. That's why all their "song" related skills are buffs. They're passively singing while being archers. Do I wish that there was a bit more music theme to the class? Sure, but they are both archers and bards so it makes sense that alot of their abilities are archery related.

Yes, they are magically imbued arrows, but if you noticed, every class in this game does magically imbued stuff with their attacks. As simple and reductive as it sounds, alot of the archer stuff looking the way it does is merely a matter of "looking cool and flashy" Would it be more thematic if those flashy magic arrow attacks had musical notes and the like thrown on them? It sure would. But the fact that you are an archer who uses archer attacks while singing, while not as potently present as it used to, it's still there.

Bard’s in game lore setting it as a weirdly toned upgrade of the generic ranger archetype was the result of 1.0 not using traditional Final Fantasy jobs, and having them layered onto the existing system later on. For a good while Bards were everywhere and beloved since they were the only physical ranged and the only option with a party utility focus. Basically every raid group had a bard. Final Fantasy canon doesn’t have a core bow and arrow job established in past titles, so it was a compromise the devs made and the player-base at large accepted since 2.x Bard was so damn good.

Basically, the current weirdness, I think, is the dev team trying to keep some ranger identity onto what they forced into being the game’s support focussed job.

I would personally balance more 50/50 the archer x musician aspect of the job... For example, why Soul Voice gauge is spent with an... arrow attack? Could've a song. Say, something you'd channel for a while and it consumes the bar progressively.

Would be cool if everything related to the Job Gauge like Pitch Perfect, would be handled with the Musician approach, while the rest, being the Archer aspect.

I'm more curious about how do we keep the music on while shooting arrows.
Is magic involved?

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Originally Posted by kiagenwa

I'm more curious about how do we keep the music on while shooting arrows.
Is magic involved?

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According to Jehantel in the Level 35 Job Quest:

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Nerves near to fraying, his breast fit to burst, the archer did the only thing he could: he sang. His bow became a makeshift instrument, plucked as an accompaniment.
At first, the archer sang only to still the roiling within. But his voice chanced to carry to his comrades. It inspirited those engaged in combat, lending strength to their sword arms. And to those who lay upon the precipice of death, it granted a measure of peace.

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Bards are basically singing full time while fighting which seems like it would be hilariously difficult when using a greatbow and popping off arrows at an angry dragon or Primal. And the songs themselves are presumably empowered with magic to buff allies and debuff enemies since every Job in the game uses aether somehow. As for instruments, those aren't used very often. Some Bows, such as the Artemis Bow, do have instruments built into them and they serve dual function of adjusting the timbre of the bow twang and the draw of bow according to Gerolt in the Zodiac Relic Quest:

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The final pages contain what appears to be the Godsbow's commentary regardin' the finer points of performance.
The man wrote that the weather─heat, humidity, an' what have ye─greatly affects an instrument's timbre.
An' the same's true for bows─they're more or less flexible, see, which can be the difference between an arrow in yer enemy's eye, an' one stuck in the ground half a yalm in front of him.
For this reason, Gilbert had tunin' pins installed on his weapon-cum-instrument. This much was written in the text.

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So yeah, main instrument is the plucking of the bowstring itself while the Bard sings non-stop, the timbre of the bowstring can be adjusted using tuning pins depending on the bow, and the Bard is constantly channeling aether into their song to empower allies.

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Originally Posted by Beddict

Bards are basically singing full time while fighting which seems like it would be hilariously difficult when using a greatbow and popping off arrows at an angry dragon or Primal. And the songs themselves are presumably empowered with magic to buff allies and debuff enemies since every Job in the game uses aether somehow. As for instruments, those aren't used very often.

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Too much lore in BRD quests, didn't read this part :o
Seem like a very tiring role... singing loud enough to get my friends hear while shooting.

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Originally Posted by kiagenwa

Too much lore in BRD quests, didn't read this part :o
Seem like a very tiring role... singing loud enough to get my friends hear while shooting.

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One could argue that was the lore reason behind using the songs would lower your dps before they where redesigned in Stormblood. But Honestly? Things like that just come down to "LOL AETHER LETS ME DO IT."

A bit more supportive musical abilities, that are more visibly powerful would be much welcomed.
the bard we have plays like what you would expect something like a Ranger class to play like, and if you were to take away the musical skins on the abilities ya probly wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The Bard job fantasy is lacking because it doesn’t sell the idea of musician very well in combat. I would like to see them add cast time back to Bards attacks, but more like Blue Mage’s Sonic Boom, where it’s fast enough to still weave global cooldown. I think cast time would give the job a better feel. I have always thought it very awkward how Bards can run around shooting the enemy while facing away. It’s a bit tacky. Second I would like them to double down on the musical aspects of the job. If they invented this whole performance system where people all over are playing such wonderful music, I believe they should be able to make combat more musical. I want to see hard casted songs again, and I want to see these songs be performed hitting the corresponding abilities in time.