Could Refulgent Arrow reapply/refresh straight shot on usage?

Just a small adjustment I think could help the rotation flow a bit better. My eyes often have to jump from the job gauge, to the hot bar, to the buff bar as I look for various procs and work to keep my songs up. Plus I have to be mindful of mechanics on top of this.

Because of this I often end up forgetting to reapply straight shot since I'm used to almost always having it refreshed from a straighter shot proc. With my eyes jumping about as they tend to due, this leads to times where I don't have straight shot up at all. It would be pretty helpful to have RA refresh or reapply straight shot to assist with this.

So....you want a BRD buff and make the job even easier to play?

No, that would just seem silly. I'm fine with how it is and it's not a big deal to just reapply Straight shot as it runs out.

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Originally Posted by LillithCale

Just a small adjustment I think could help the rotation flow a bit better. My eyes often have to jump from the job gauge, to the hot bar, to the buff bar as I look for various procs and work to keep my songs up. Plus I have to be mindful of mechanics on top of this.

Because of this I often end up forgetting to reapply straight shot since I'm used to almost always having it refreshed from a straighter shot proc. With my eyes jumping about as they tend to due, this leads to times where I don't have straight shot up at all. It would be pretty helpful to have RA refresh or reapply straight shot to assist with this.

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I really need this, pls SE give us this

they already stated in the live letter that they are working on additional class bar improvements (specifically mentioned bard and making it easier to see procs and/or buffs) Personally I don't have a problem with it but I can see how most people would.

It's certainly not something I feel needs to happen. It's just a particular struggle I have given that I'm not used to having so many things to have follow. Alas, that's the pit falls of being new to MMOs and getting on in years. I just can't keep up with you young folk.

If the new job gauages coming out make it easier to track SS and SSprocs though, that would certainly solve my issue so I'd have less to bounce my eyes between.

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Originally Posted by Pence

So....you want a BRD buff and make the job even easier to play?

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The reality is that squares new ui's were intended to get players away from staring at buff and debuff bars and focusing on fight more. In 4.0, Bard remained one of the only classes who still have to stare at both buffs and debuffs bar constantly for straight shot, dot timers, and snap shotable buffs/debuffs. But on top of it, we had the song ui added with new stacks/resets to watch for and with all the new abilities/utilities we received even after pruning, we now have 17 oGCDs last time I counted to manage and keep on top of. I dont find it particularly hard to play, but my eyes are definitely bouncing all over the place constantly taking me away from watching the fight.

There are too many things going on with bard in too many places. I don't necessarily need for RA to refresh SS ( would be nice though). I would just rather have it consolidated with our song bar. But then again, ill still be staring at my buff bar for snapshots.

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Originally Posted by Athesto

I really need this, pls SE give us this

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There are ways to use the word "need", and this is not one of them. Give them a chance to update MCH in a way that doesn't turn out to be a nerf first.

Heck no.. BARD is PERFECTLY fine and it going to be PERFECTLY fine for a while , they don't need any buff or nerf. If anything they need to worry about is fixing MCH 1st before MAYBE even consider touching BRD.

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Originally Posted by KaiSunstrider

I dont find it particularly hard to play, but my eyes are definitely bouncing all over the place constantly taking me away from watching the fight.

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OMG yes. I'm WHM main but I was helping someone clear final trial last night on BRD and my eyes were all over the place. Even tried to adjust my HUD a bit to try to help but there's just so much to track now.

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Originally Posted by TaleraRistain

OMG yes. I'm WHM main but I was helping someone clear final trial last night on BRD and my eyes were all over the place. Even tried to adjust my HUD a bit to try to help but there's just so much to track now.

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I'm in the same boat as you. I feel like I'm watching a fight in DBZ with my eyes shifting everywhere trying to keep up with everything. The job isn't hard to play and the damage is great but it feels like your eyes and attention span have to shift in to turbo to keep track of everything. It can be exhausting, especially when you're trying your best to squeeze out every point of dps you can and pushing the job beyond its limits. Then again, we are Warriors of Light for a reason.....

I think it's fine the way it is. I just wish the proc chance is 30% instead of 20%. Most of time time RNG is never in my favor and while I have raging strikes up hoping I can do my barrage combo with that extra crit, I don't get a proc for Refulgent arrow due to the 20%. I may not make sense, but it's how I see it. Brds rely on procs for everything in order to put out some dps and the proc for straightshot/refulgent arrow in my opinion is just lacking.

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Originally Posted by Barkit

I'm in the same boat as you. I feel like I'm watching a fight in DBZ with my eyes shifting everywhere trying to keep up with everything.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z-kViyhNPs

Sorry not sorry.

I just have macros set with sound effects to remind me to check if dots are gonna fall off soon. Works fairly well once I trained my ears to listen for it.

I'm fine with this. The jobs were supposed to have gotten easier and that definitely isn't the case, with some of them. With Bard it feels like there are so many things to keep track of. This would go a long way.

I like people who aren't playing Bard come in here and tell us that our job is perfectly fine. That's why I enjoy going into other job threads to tell them that their jobs are fine.
Currently looking at SMN and MCH threads. Yea, your jobs are find, just git gud.

Honestly I kind of wish Refulgent Arrow was an oGCD skill that procs like Pitch Perfect. Give it the same little 3-5 second cooldown between procs; would give me another skill I could weave in between the GCDs. Because right now with it on the GCD, it feels pretty slow and a little clunky to use. But that's my opinion on it. I'm just so used to weaving oGCDs I suppose.

Still don't understand the hate behind just asking for it to refresh Straight Shot though. I feel like that's hardly some game-breaking "buff" for BRD. Straight Shot was always just naturally refreshed by using our Straighter Shot procs, but now using Straighter over Refulgent is a huge DPS loss. I would consider this more of a QoL change compared to some huge "buff."

I actually disagree. Refulgent isn't really all that clunky, it just gives us another choice between whether we want more damage or whether we need to refresh our Straight Shot timer. One thing I will say though is that BRD DPS will plummet if you make it an oGCD, as Barrage+Empyreal is only about 690 compared to 900 for Refulgent. Generally,

If you refresh Straight Shot through Refulgent, then that's not really a good thing; BRD's current DPS is already way higher than MCH's to an extent, and MCH already needs all the help it can get to stand on its feet in a raid scene. If you remove that decision you're basically giving BRDs an extra 80-160 potency depending on when it procs.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

I actually disagree. Refulgent isn't really all that clunky, it just gives us another choice between whether we want more damage or whether we need to refresh our Straight Shot timer. One thing I will say though is that BRD DPS will plummet if you make it an oGCD, as Barrage+Empyreal is only about 690 compared to 900 for Refulgent. Generally,

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If the potency is kept the same, it would not be a DPS loss just to change Refulgent from a GCD skill to an oGCD skill, so I'm not sure why you think it would be a DPS loss. As long as it remains a weaponskill, you can still pair it with Barrage. I wasn't saying for it to be changed into an Ability--I was merely saying how I wish it was an oGCD proc that can be woven between GCDs. BRDs generally want to double weave anyways, so that wouldn't affect pairing it with Barrage if it procs when Barrage is about to come off cooldown. Since, if RA doesn't proc during, say, your opener when you're fishing for a proc before Raging Strikes falls off, you double weave Barrage+EA. It would be no different if RA was an oGCD weaponskill --> Barrage+RA. If RNG likes you enough to give you that RA proc.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

Refulgent isn't really all that clunky, it just gives us another choice between whether we want more damage or whether we need to refresh our Straight Shot timer.

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Using Straighter Shot over Refulgent is always going to be a DPS loss, so naturally you will always want to choose it over Straighter Shot. Giving Refulgent the passive ability to refresh Straight Shot buffs is not that game-breaking. MCH needs help; there's no doubt about that. But the SS refresh is not something that is going to make MCH any worse off than it already is, and neither is the absence of such refresh going to help MCH in its current state.

The issue to me is simply that Refulgent Arrow SHARES the proc with Straighter Shot. The only gameplay effect of this is that one has to reactivate Straight Shot sooner, because if you proc a Straighter Shot, you are essentially forbidden from using Straight Shot. Instead, it needs to go to Refulgent. There is no actual thought involved in picking between Straighter and Refulgent. You ONLY have to remember that you not only can't let Straight Shot's buff drop, but can't let it be within a GCD of dropping.

What would actually give it an option is for Heavy Shot, instead, to turn into Refulgent Arrow on Straighter Shot, and for Straighter Shot (rather, the Heavier Shot trait) itself to be replaced by the addition of Refulgent Arrow. Now you can bank the Refulgent for a GCD or two. Granted, that would cause less gambling than the current version (if one is hoping... not to proc), and would allow for more Heavy Shot uses over time, as there'd be no risk of going without the Crit buff for Refulgent itself or the next Iron Jaws. But mostly it saves a hotbar slot simply with the removal of a fake option.

Ideally, I'd like to see something similar done with Perfect Pitch. Once entering Wanderer's Minuet, I'd like for Bloodletter to become Perfect Pitch. Essentially, it runs of River of Blood procs and a 15-second refresh (automatic stack gain) in the same way as Bloodletter and Rain of Death. It's just that each option now holds up to 3 procs or refreshes for a single, increasingly powerful blow. Rain of Death in turn becomes Dissonance, which deals splash AoE damage. Complexity mostly unchanged, or faintly augmented since one doesn't want to waste the refresh on a tri-stack, but another hotbar slot is saved.

tl;dr: Save two hotbar slots for little to no change to engagement and greatly reduced frustration by replacing Heavier Shot (trait) with Refulgent Arrow and causing Refulgent Arrow to replace Heavy Shot on proc (or by attaching +Crit to RA and having it replace Straighter Shot), and by turning Bloodletter and Rain of Death into Pitch Perfect (and a newly added Dissonance 3-stack WM AoE, generally inferior to RoD over time).

I agree that playing Bard is a bit all over the place right now. There are times when it is global to global, and very simple as you wait for off globals to become available again. But there are also times when you are weaving two off-globals and making decisions on the fly based on UI elements in 4 different locations all over the screen (enemy debuffs or cast bar, player buffs, party window mp/tp values, and job gauge). On top of those 4 different UI areas, we have 27 skills that we use on a regular basis now. (I left out Repelling Shot and Warden's Paean as they are much more situational than all the others).
Anyone suggesting that it is "easy" hasn't tried to properly execute it at 70. It can get incredibly fast and hectic at times.

The OP's suggestion would be a DPS buff. Maybe not a strong buff, but a buff nonetheless. And I don't think BRD really needs a buff right now.
(in fact, I think we'll probably see that BRD needs a nerf down the road as ilvls climb and crit% gets higher)

But I DO agree with the OP that Refulgent feels clunky.
And if you think about it for a few moments, it becomes clear that Refulgent Arrow is button bloat. There is no denying it.
If Heavy Shot simply turned into Refulgent Arrow upon Straighter Shot Proc, it wouldn't change BRD mechanics or buff DPS at all, but it would get rid of an extra button.
The very definition of button bloat.

So I think that's probably the correct route to take if they want to make any changes to BRD right now.
Refulgent is not the only ability that is clear button bloat either.
If they are able to address a couple more of those issues and pare us down to ~24 abilities from the 27 we're at now without changing our mechanics, I think we'll be in a fantastic spot.