i barely see BRDs anymore and possible Utility fixes

Iam still playng BRD since its my fav and started as it in 2.0 but when I do Dungeons or Primals etc.. Its very rare to see any.. Most physical range dps slots are filled with dancer.

Did many of you switch because BRD lost almost all of his Utility?
If yes I hope Square can bring some peole back to play BRD and enjoy the class again.

In my Opnion they need to rework "The Wardens Paean" or give us something usefull for it instead because its useless outside of normal Dungeon Content. In EX Primals or Raids 90% of the Debuffs cant be dispelled.

"Natures Minee" is fine i gues but still a weak support abillity.

"Battle Voice" Should affect us as well.

"Apex Arrow" and "Pitch perfect" need different Sound Options.. If you play by hearing the Sound you are doomed to missfire.

Finally bring Foes back in a way or just give us the 3% Crit buff back.
Something like when u finished all 3 Songs all Party Member get 3% Crit for 20 secs.
So it wouldnt be "broken" and would at least give us some Party buffing back.

Yesterday i had 4 Bards on my party so i dont know what you're saying.
Been Bard since 2.0 and forever will be.

The crit buff was not, never was, and never had any inkling of ever being 3%. And I have no idea what the origin of that misinformation was because it's freaking everywhere. It was 2%.

Annnnnnyway, people asking for this stuff is kinda old news by now. There's no reason for BV to affect us. Minne is a good button. Paean is nice, but sure reworking it wouldn't be a major loss. If they want to enhance the support flavor, the most direct route from where we are now would be to buff BV up to be more of a premier skill.

And yes, Soul Gauge sound effect is maddening. I doubt there's a Bard in Norvrandt that doesn't want it changed. Whether SE can or will is another matter.

Dancer is supposed to fill the role of ranged utility now, so I don't see BRD getting anything back, although if it did expect it's damage potency to be nerfed in things you don't want.

There's still plenty of bards. They just aren't 100% required for each and every static group like they used to be in stormblood, so some people that were only playing it for the meta changed off to other things.

I see less SMN by days... but BRD still plenty

Personally I did quit Bard because it lost all the interesting utility and got nothing in return but more damage.

That said, Bard is still very popular and always will be because it brings in the Archer/ Ranger players, regardless of whether it brings any utility at all

Personally, I never played BRD because it offered "utility" so that getting cut didn't bother me. I always played for that big dick DPS. I've since swapped to MCH because it felt more active despite being a BRD main since forever ago.

As far as fixes go, I think this thread sums it up better: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...s-and-Requests

I love my "Ranger". I even choose gear to use for glamour that looks like an archer/ranger, and I like my bow to look like a bow, not a weird musical instrument.

I hold the unpopular opinion that BRD utility was pretty boring, even if it made it an "auto-pick" in raid groups. I thought I would miss it, but I don't. A passive crit buff isn't exciting or interactive at all. Sure, it incentivizes song uptime so that your group can benefit, but now you're incentivized by Soul Voice. Outside of prog, Foe and Refresh were used at set times. Sure, there were little optimizations that could be made, but for the majority of players, they were just buttons to press during your rotation. The old Troubador had more variety, but there was rarely ever any decision-making, other than trying to squeeze it into a certain song and have the buff last long enough for when it's needed. Besides, MB Troubador was nearly useless and sometimes detrimental.

DNC, on the other hand, has a more active support kit, even if you're mostly just using stuff on cooldown in ideal scenarios. But when mechanics that displace yourself and the group happen, trying to optimize uptime on your buffs is a bit more interesting than just being there and pressing a button.

I agree that BRD could use more utility due to the "class fantasy" associated with the job... but I happen to enjoy playing my ranger this expansion. I support my group by doing a lot of damage with uninterrupted uptime, and I inspire them by jumping up and down like an idiot because I can. :p

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Originally Posted by Connor

Personally I did quit Bard because it lost all the interesting utility and got nothing in return but more damage.

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You misspelled damage. Which is weird, because you spelled it right at the end there.

I feel they should just rename Bard to something else and change some ability themes around. They're clearly not bards anymore. Dancers are better bards at this point. Also i want my Ranger/Sniper back, not this spoony nonsense.

I don't see as many Bards because all I see is Dancers 24/7.

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Originally Posted by Kabooa

You misspelled damage. Which is weird, because you spelled it right at the end there.

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I’m not aware of any damage abilities Bard has lost? It also got potency buffs across the board

Edit: I remembered Misery’s End, but I can’t say I found it particularly interesting to use. That said, they could have reworked it instead of removing it I guess

I mained bard since november 2013. Quite frankly I took one look at the crossed out actions, read the descriptions, but the deal breaker was having to spam straight shot to fill a gauge to use the 3rd action.
I got nothing to make up for that rotation loss in slot 3.
So I erased bard from my gear list today.

Now I'm a machinist/black mage

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Originally Posted by Merryl

I mained bard since november 2013. Quite frankly I took one look at the crossed out actions, read the descriptions, but the deal breaker was having to spam straight shot to fill a gauge to use the 3rd action.
I got nothing to make up for that rotation loss in slot 3.
So I erased bard from my gear list today.

Now I'm a machinist/black mage

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What are you talking about? Straight Shot doesn’t exist anymore in any capacity to its previous iteration. It’s a proc off of Heavy Shot, and at level 70 it turns into Refulgent Arrow, which functions the same way.

The Soul Gauge fills based off of your Repertoire, which is a flat 40%*. The Enhanced Empyreal Arrow trait you get at level 68 also helps fill it, but it in no way fills based off of spamming Straight Shot. So you misread the tooltips completely.

*Lower level content lowers Repertoire to 20% — which is cancerous, but it ultimately doesn’t affect the Soul Gauge since that’s only available at level 80.

I switched to DNC. I love providing utility to my party and DNC does it in a unique and fun way.

I planned to keep playing BRD as well, but I honestly haven't touched it. For me, they just lost too much of their utility and decision making. I really liked optimizing Foes require uses and planning out when to troubadour during fights for maximum effect. You just press everything as they come up now, and even double snapshotting is less important now. AA being just another "press at 100 gauge and not before" is bland and uninspiring. Charges on BL would have gone a long way too, and it seemed like the perfect skill for the new system.

I love the theme and aesthetic of BRD much more than DNC. If BRD had more utility and had more decision making involved I'd be back on it in a heartbeat. SB BRD was almost perfect imo, I just wanted to see more unique utility skills added in ShB. Unfortunately they did the opposite and stripped much of the utility out - all their new tools are just more damage.

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Originally Posted by HyoMinPark

What are you talking about? Straight Shot doesn’t exist anymore in any capacity to its previous iteration. It’s a proc off of Heavy Shot, and at level 70 it turns into Refulgent Arrow, which functions the same way.

The Soul Gauge fills based off of your Repertoire, which is a flat 40%*. The Enhanced Empyreal Arrow trait you get at level 68 also helps fill it, but it in no way fills based off of spamming Straight Shot. So you misread the tooltips completely.

*Lower level content lowers Repertoire to 20% — which is cancerous, but it ultimately doesn’t affect the Soul Gauge since that’s only available at level 80.

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Sorry I'm not sitting in game right now couldn't remember the exact name of it. I'm still not interested in relearning the class again.

BRD feels a lot like RDM to me. Both jobs I loved in SB but I played them to death and old rotation is just old to me now. BRD/RDM got solid QoL changes but besides that are essentially same job with same rotation. While they are a good job and I probably love them if I never played SB. Sadly I have and I have no interesting playing a exact copy of a job I already spent last few years playing.

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Originally Posted by Merryl

Sorry I'm not sitting in game right now couldn't remember the exact name of it. I'm still not interested in relearning the class again.

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No need to relearn. It plays more or less the same as it did in Stormblood. There’s honestly no difference to it.

There is no skill that you spam to fill the Soul Gauge. It fills passively based off of Repertoire procs; you press it at 100 gauge and no sooner. BRD is fairly braindead.

I made a thread about this earlier and I think it's outright maddening that a job named bard barely has anything to do with buffs and group support anymore. they could have given bards a different kind of utility than dancers. I don't know why they removed all mana regeneration utility other than ones that restore mp to yourself but I wouldn't mind seeing bard getting an mp refresh utility back, I mean there are definitely still uses to it in case of a healer dying or having to raise too much. We can have 2 ranged supports, just give bards different kind of utility. Songs don't have anything to do with songs anymore, in every fantasy setting and game bard songs are group buffs, and that's what I would expect them to be in this one as well. They might as well be weaponskills now.

The job itself is fine, but it's not a bard anymore, it's a ranger.

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Originally Posted by Liselsia

BRD feels a lot like RDM to me. Both jobs I loved in SB but I played them to death and old rotation is just old to me now. BRD/RDM got solid QoL changes but besides that are essentially same job with same rotation. While they are a good job and I probably love them if I never played SB. Sadly I have and I have no interesting playing a exact copy of a job I already spent last few years playing.

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I'm the opposite. I would prefer nothing more than smaller tweaks as opposed to a brand new rotation or way of playing. BRD already underwent that twice before: from 2.x to 3.x and from 3.x to 4.x. There's no need to completely overhaul jobs every expansion in terms of how they play; just give them additional mechanics that flow naturally into their rotations as they level from one cap to the next and make them feel powerful. As if they have actually grown. So far, BRD fulfills only half of that: Apex Arrow is definitely lacking and doesn't make you feel particularly stronger at 80 due to its current scaling.