Bard Vs. BLM - My head hurts...

So when i got into the game, my first class was the Archer. @30 i decided to get the Bard job and eventually ended up capping it to 50, obtaining my Relic and getting almost full DL gear.

I was upset because i felt like my damage was nothing compared to BLMs and so i have re-rolled.
Got my BLM to 50, Reliced him up and crafted a full HQ Vanya set (3.1m gil in total).

I have 900 Myth tomes and i can't figure out who i want to keep playing at this point.
Last night i was running AK with my BRD, i wanted abit of variety i guess, and i rememberd how great it was not be to bound to casting time.
All of the sudden i didnt care for how much damage i do, but to how fun it was running around-kiting and just feel lively...

God damn it! I don't know what to do...
How BLMs do in Coil?
I hated to run primals with my BLM, just hated it! So much movement....

Bard spoiled you. If u HATE movement and not being able to cast, bard.

I agree :<

In Coil (which is the most important part of the game for battle classes IMHO) the expectations for a bard and BLM are completely different. The play style is different, and the responsibility are also different. I suggest you play the job you enjoy the most and stick to it for a while, gear it up, then switch to any other job you wish to gear second.

Just remember you have a lot of time before the second part of Coil is introduced to the game, and I bet you can gear up two different jobs before you have to worry about falling behind. Heck I have not seen 1 Mage drop in coil for 4 weeks now and I have not fallen behind yet.

Sindri_Myr, just as a quick aside for your thought, Bards end up doing a lot more support in coil. I am playing songs half the battle and in T1 and T2, I am also making sure that I hit silences. Often, that means skipping a GCD making sure that my silence is able to hit the ADS assuredly.

A BLM is much more focused on making sure things around them are destroyed.

If you prefer high DPS, I would definitely encourage you to go with BLM. I am going to roll one myself soon after I finish my PAL Relic. But if you like the playstyle of Bard, and you find that groups need you. Do it. It's fun.

I just wanted to make sure it's not just a spam fest of you jumping in circles in BC anymore. You're one of the most important roles as a Bard. If you miss a silence, it is very likely a wipe. (Not assured...but the chance of death increases dramatically.)

EDIT: I forgot to mention. If you decide Bard, don't make the mistake I made. Spend your Myth on pants first. Then, next week, grab the ring. They are your two largest upgrades by a significant margin. And your pants drop from T5, which you will not be clearing anytime soon.

Best of luck, sir! Be sure to let us know what you decide.

P.S. - Why does it show that I am a 46 PAL???

BLM coil gyide 1-5 : nuke nuke nuke....

1 boss for blm is nice, u move maybe 5-6 times the whole encounter (poison aoe) and if your square brights.

2 boss , u only move when u have to pass rot (5s every 45~)

3 turn = lol

4 turn nearly 0 movement as mage

5 surprise!

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Originally Posted by Warlyx

5 surprise!

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buttmangled!

go for blm for easy mode.

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Originally Posted by Sterob

go for blm for easy mode.

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Right, because BRD is the harder class between the two. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Arale

Right, because BRD is the harder class between the two. :rolleyes:

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yeah bard too hard. OMG I have TO PRESS SILENCE EVERY 23~ SECONDS SO DAMN HARD!!!! BARD FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS CHIMERA AND ADS. TOOOOOOO HAAAAAAAAAAAARD!

/wrist lel.

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Originally Posted by Arale

Right, because BRD is the harder class between the two. :rolleyes:

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Especially when you screw up your whole party wipe while on other class when you screw up, healer rez you and continue with the boss.

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Originally Posted by NeoAmon

yeah bard too hard. OMG I have TO PRESS SILENCE EVERY 23~ SECONDS SO DAMN HARD!!!! BARD FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS CHIMERA AND ADS. TOOOOOOO HAAAAAAAAAAAARD!
/wrist lel.

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Pressing silence every 23s is only doesable with godlike Bard, especially when silence cooldown is 30s. /mhuaaa-laugh-at-you-who-dont-even-know-skill-cooldown-before-act-hipster-and-shit-with-sarcasm.

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Originally Posted by Sterob

Especially when you screw up your whole party wipe while on other class when you screw up, healer rez you and continue with the boss.


Pressing silence every 23s is only doesable with godlike Bard, especially when silence cooldown is 30s. /mhuaaa-laugh-at-you-who-dont-even-know-skill-cooldown-before-act-hipster-and-shit-with-sarcasm.

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And? You still press WASD, faceroll the keyboard, and do top tier damage. God forbid the BRD has to do something other then strafing around a target and pressing 3 buttons. A few encounters favoring BRDs =/= BRDs harder to play then BLM.

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Originally Posted by Arale

And? You still press WASD, faceroll the keyboard, and do top tier damage. God forbid the BRD has to do something other then strafing around a target and pressing 3 buttons. A few encounters favoring BRDs =/= BRDs harder to play then BLM.

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and unlike BRD, BLM dont need to be good so your party wont wipe and blame you?

anyway, for dps cycle, there are 8 button for bard to press, 1 more for CC mode in speed run, 3 more for aoe, and of course managing both mana for song and tp for dps.

If you are a bad BLM your DPS will be crap. At least when the bard is crap DPS, his silence/songs are still useful, but the sole reason you bring a BLM is damage and if he fails at that the group will obviously wipe from a longer battle where more mistakes can happen/people run out of cooldowns.

If you bad at bard it mean you fail to silence and your team eat aoe then wipe.

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Originally Posted by Crescent_Dusk

If you are a bad BLM your DPS will be crap. At least when the bard is crap DPS, his silence/songs are still useful, but the sole reason you bring a BLM is damage and if he fails at that the group will obviously wipe from a longer battle where more mistakes can happen/people run out of cooldowns.

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and same could be said for BRD/LNC/MNK/SMN lol , how is that different from BLM DPS in coil? please tell me....

Bard is a dps too u know.

ppl pretending that BRD or BLM are hard to play .....lol

BLM is way to go if you love doing dmg

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Originally Posted by Sterob

If you bad at bard it mean you fail to silence and your team eat aoe then wipe.

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The PLD can interrupt since you have 2 of them. So can the monk if you have one.

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Originally Posted by Sterob

and unlike BRD, BLM dont need to be good so your party wont wipe and blame you?

anyway, for dps cycle, there are 8 button for bard to press, 1 more for CC mode in speed run, 3 more for aoe, and of course managing both mana for song and tp for dps.

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Where are you getting this ridiculous idea? Your BLM dies on turn 4 or 5, the raid is wiped. Quit making excuses for your EZ boat of a class, trying to claim you're not the easiest, hilarious...

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Originally Posted by Youmu

Where are you getting this ridiculous idea? Your BLM dies on turn 4 or 5, the raid is wiped. Quit making excuses for your EZ boat of a class, trying to claim you're not the easiest, hilarious...

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if a BLM dies in turn 4, that just means the BLM is too good or the tanks are bad. ^.~

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Originally Posted by Youmu

Where are you getting this ridiculous idea? Your BLM dies on turn 4 or 5, the raid is wiped. Quit making excuses for your EZ boat of a class, trying to claim you're not the easiest, hilarious...

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Er.... if you are playing your Bard right and trying to maximize your damage output while offering any and all support that you can, Bard is NOT "EZ boat." I have to keep an eye on aggro bar, base rotation and executing it without wasting a debuff tick, personal buffs, off-rotation skills, healer's MP, my own MP, my TP, and depending on who is in my party, melee/BLM support songs... along with the regular participation/dodging other DPS contend with.

Perhaps I am not a high enough level on my other classes yet, but I have I have to pay a much higher amount of attention with my Bard. I can't focus solely on my own damage since I'm always multitasking and keeping an eye on my party members.

Anything can sound difficult if you tell it to yourself enough times.

Simple fact for me is that bard is too eezmode so I rolled a BLM instead.

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Originally Posted by Youmu

Where are you getting this ridiculous idea? Your BLM dies on turn 4 or 5, the raid is wiped. Quit making excuses for your EZ boat of a class, trying to claim you're not the easiest, hilarious...

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If anyone die on turn 4 the group will wipe due to not enough dps anyway, not just BLM.

Also, i believe that if you die (alone) on turn 4, it isdue to you or your group being bad not because it is hard.

Guys guys its okay. You are both EZ mode.

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Originally Posted by MomoOG

Guys guys its okay. You are both EZ mode.

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LOL fixed.

Here's my two cents..

I've leveled both to 50 and (for my personal goals) have almost finished gearing my Bard and just started gearing my BLM. I've run all instances with both (minus coil and I didn't do titan on BLM yet). I know you were curious regarding their roles in coil and I can't help there, but these are my OPINIONS on the two classes.

Black Mages are fairly simple and great fun at 50. The rotation is easy to manage and I find it pretty exciting. The ice/fire system allows for some pretty cool tricks of double casting and buff usage. To me, this is a lot more fun and offers a more compelling dps class. Not being able to cast and move can be exciting if you're a risk taker and once you're used to your rotation, it's not a problem like many would think. Overall damage FEELS very high and the defensive buffs BLM gets are nice in a pinch. It doesn't get much from cross class abilities, but I feel it doesn't need anything. Early job abilities are disappointing at first, but pay off in the long run (minus Freeze). Sleep ability is nice, but I feel it's a bit slightly under utilized in this game so far.

Bards on the other hand play a bit differently. The first main difference in complexity is buff/DoT management. Keeping your buffs up while maintaining DoTs gives you a bit more that you need to pay attention to, otherwise most people macro the class to spam one button. Damage is good, but might FEEL a bit slower since it's more about fast, frequent hits rather than slow nukes. Bard's benefit hugely from cross class abilities that consists of various buffs. This just means you'd 'need' to level Lancer to 34 and Pugilist to at 'least' 15 (42 if you want your last but slightly optional Mantra buff). Support abilities are really nice as you'll be able to keep other classes going (either TP or MP), boost some damage, and also provide excellent utility with your silence. It might be easier to get into endgame groups as a Bard, but you might also have more Need competition.

PERSONALLY, I slightly wish I hadn't spent all my phil/myth tomes on my Bard. Black Mage is more fun, easier, and less stressful from my experiences. It doesn't have as many group utilities as a Bard, but the skill rotations, ability to sleep, and buff situations make this class appeal more to me. Being easier doesn't make the class any worse or better so don't worry about what others say. There will always be a Bard VS Black Mage EASY MODE fight going on here. It simply doesn't matter unless that's what you are looking for specifically.

My recommendations: If possible, get full sets of AK gear on each class, run AK and the Primals (get your relics if possible) a few times with each and see which you like better. Spend your tomes on the one you like more.

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Originally Posted by Sterob

go for blm for easy mode.

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Because bard is much harder than blm.

I dont know since neither class is my main... but difficulty is different for anybody. Maybe some people have more difficulty with the cast times and need to stand still vs. move in time to avoid damage... others have more difficulty with multitasking buffs/dots... so each class has its own flair and own easy stuff and own harder stuff. Personally, I find healing easier then dps, but thats just me. ;-)

For me, keeping others alive and doing some debuffs/dots is less stressfull and more rewarding then worrying about doing best dps and getting the boss down in time. Others find healing more difficult, again others tanking and so on... so who is right and who is wrong? Nobody can tell 100% for everybody.

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Originally Posted by Trystan

I dont know since neither class is my main... but difficulty is different for anybody. Maybe some people have more difficulty with the cast times and need to stand still vs. move in time to avoid damage... others have more difficulty with multitasking buffs/dots... so each class has its own flair and own easy stuff and own harder stuff. Personally, I find healing easier then dps, but thats just me. ;-)

/snip/

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Exactly. You have the right idea. I find tanking the easiest personally. I don't understand why difficulty is really brought into these arguments since rarely do people ask "which is easier". It's subjective and doesn't matter.

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Originally Posted by nathanuc1988

Here's my two cents...

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Such a pleasure to see a post like this.
Someone comes in, takes their time to post his/her honest opinion, no drama and not only a reply but in depths too.
If only more people interacting with this forum were as humble and straight up like that... If only..
thank you for the nice post, was a good read.

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Originally Posted by nathanuc1988

Bards on the other hand play a bit differently. The first main difference in complexity is buff/DoT management. Keeping your buffs up while maintaining DoTs gives you a bit more that you need to pay attention to, otherwise most people macro the class to spam one button. Damage is good, but might FEEL a bit slower since it's more about fast, frequent hits rather than slow nukes. Bard's benefit hugely from cross class abilities that consists of various buffs. This just means you'd 'need' to level Lancer to 34 and Pugilist to at 'least' 15 (42 if you want your last but slightly optional Mantra buff). Support abilities are really nice as you'll be able to keep other classes going (either TP or MP), boost some damage, and also provide excellent utility with your silence. It might be easier to get into endgame groups as a Bard, but you might also have more Need competition.

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What I don't get is why I see people calling EZ Mode on BRD when they either haven't leveled it at all, or haven't leveled it to endgame. I don't have an opinion on whether BLM or BRD is easier/better/whathaveyou because I haven't leveled BLM... and it doesn't matter. At this point, I figure people are just trolling. It's easy to play any job horribly, and difficult to play any job super well.

I don't get the one-button macro thing. I execute my skills individually so I can react to situations as they occur, change up rotation if needed, and try to use each tick to the fullest.

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Originally Posted by Razla

What I don't get is why I see people calling EZ Mode on BRD when they either haven't leveled it at all, or haven't leveled it to endgame. I don't have an opinion on whether BLM or BRD is easier/better/whathaveyou because I haven't leveled BLM... and it doesn't matter. At this point, I figure people are just trolling. It's easy to play any job horribly, and difficult to play any job super well.

I don't get the one-button macro thing. I execute my skills individually so I can react to situations as they occur, change up rotation if needed, and try to use each tick to the fullest.

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I do the same. For me, I can easily handle doing them manually and feel that I get more control doing so manually. It's more fun and I feel that my DPS is just as good if not better than anyone I've met using macros with similar gear. Honestly, the difference between using and not using is marginal anyways. Here are the macros most people use though (if you were interested in trying):

/macroicon "Heavy Shot"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Heavy Shot" <t>

/macroicon "Venomous Bite"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Venomous Bite" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

/macroicon "Windbite"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Windbite" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

/macroicon "Straight Shot"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Straight Shot" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

BRD is a support-type if you don't like to play song supporting others while sacrificing by lowering your damage don't be a BRD ! be a BLM :D BLM/SMN have same pattern both are casters, there are no problem for casters at BC.

On BC you have to cast Mage's Ballad everytime your healer runs out MP (<20%) and also casting silence every 23 sec, cast Foe's Requiem everytime there's a DPS Race. if you want full dps without being bothered by another dps/healer then be a BLM ! :D

I like reading threads about arguing which class is "EZ mode" as you people would say

/popcorn

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Originally Posted by nathanuc1988

I do the same. For me, I can easily handle doing them manually and feel that I get more control doing so manually. It's more fun and I feel that my DPS is just as good if not better than anyone I've met using macros with similar gear. Honestly, the difference between using and not using is marginal anyways. Here are the macros most people use though (if you were interested in trying):

/macroicon "Heavy Shot"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Heavy Shot" <t>

/macroicon "Venomous Bite"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Venomous Bite" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

/macroicon "Windbite"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Windbite" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

/macroicon "Straight Shot"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Straight Shot" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

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edit: Eyes screwed up, instead of spreading GCD skill they use them at the same time, dps is down

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Originally Posted by Sterob

Congratulation, instead of spreading GCD skill you use them at the same time. Enjoy your gimped dps

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Read what I said instead of just skipping straight to the macros.. I don't use macros, these are just what many Bards use. Also, I assume you've never tried these or simply don't understand how they work?

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Originally Posted by nathanuc1988

Read what I said instead of just skipping straight to the macros.. I don't use macros, these are just what many Bards use. Also, I assume you've never tried these or simply don't understand how they work?

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people insulting people on the internet without reading the whole post?! UNHEARD OF!