The UN (official) ARCH/BARD Feedback Thread

This thread is to consolidate all feedback for Arch/Bard to include

Combat (combat fixes)
Animation
cross class skills
Armor gear/weapons
screenshots

There seems to be to kind of players that want to support this class

o those unhappy with the job Bard and would rather be full archer
and those happy with the Bard job.

o As it stands the Archer has many useless skills and so does the Bard like (swiftsong)

It has been my experience that the Arch/Ranger class has been neglected in almost all MMO's that I've beta tested and played and FF14 is no exception and this is unacceptable. To say that the Arch/Bard class job combo is complete needs no tweaking would be a severe understatement. I will edit this post tomorrow but you guys feel free to let Square Enix know what's going on with this class.

I was rather disappointed to see that becoming a bard cost me many of my cross-class ability slots.

And I want to be able to play a variety of music as emotes.

I actually like both, but the progression to Bard makes little sense to me. It would of been more logical to have a Arch->Ranger->Sniper->Musketeer(not in this order obviously) progression.

- Fix instant abilities so you don't have to press them 100 times to activate them (raging strikes is the worst about this).
- Give us a Damage limit break OR (better yet) a support limit break that increases Damage/healing done by the whole party by 5/10/15% for 20 seconds, and effect being a song.
(not exact numbers, but just an idea as for support base)
- Create on-screen visuals showing when procs show up so we can spend more time looking at the game and less looking at the UI (blood letting and straighter shot)
- Have procs show up faster so we have more time to react and we don't notice straighter shot proced just .5 seconds before the global cooldown is back.

What disappoints me about bard is that you can't hear a song continually playing while singing. You don't feel like a bard. You just slap on a buff that affects those around you. I think this would be useful for others to immediately know when the bard is singing. You don't always have time to look at your buffs to see.

- Better indicator when a bard is singing
- Change the limit break to something that deals damage or helps deal damage
- Make swiftsong not disappear when zoning and preferably doesn't disappear when fighting. (it just stops working till the fight ends)

Yeah, a more basic version of the song would be nice on a loop so long as it doesn't become annoying/obnoxious!

The only thing that bugs me about bard is that it lossese a ton of cross class. I like having a backup cure on hand and so on. They really should have kept that(PUG, LNC, CNJ cross class would work).

The limit break I must admit could be a more support oriented or DD oriented one. Or maybe make it special by allowing to select which of the two to launch.

Losing ton of cross class isn't just a Bard problem. It's the same for all jobs. You win some, you lose some.

Give Repelling Shot an enmity dump. Please. It just seems to fit, and we could use something a little more substantial than Quelling Strikes.

That is, if we are doomed to be a DPS class. I would prefer to have a role more focused on support, but that's just not how it is at the moment.

The ability to see other's tp pools for our TP regen would be nice.

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Originally Posted by Silvyaniss

o As it stands the Archer has many useless skills and so does the Bard like (swiftsong)

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swiftsong is not useless especially when levelling after 30 the first time or if yo uare working on archer/bard as a 2nd or third job. it allows you to use your chocobo as a pet (as dps..it hits HARD) while still having the speed to get around.

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It has been my experience that the Arch/Ranger class has been neglected in almost all MMO's that I've beta tested and played and FF14 is no exception and this is unacceptable.

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really? try playing a summoner. the grass is always greener until you've actually tried to mow it.

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Originally Posted by Silvyaniss

I'm currently level 46 and I've never NEVER seen anyone in fates, dungeons, or anywhere else in game use swiftsong none of my exp party mates that are bards have used swiftsong and as matter of fact players are starting to revert back to archer for cross class abilities like the MRD and CONJ abilities that IMHO are way better than what the bard has...

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this a joke post or something? i said swiftsong is great for playing with your chocobo pet out. do you play with your chiducken pet out while doing a dungeon? there is only one right answer there. since most people also do fates in full parties, do you have your chiducken out as a pet doing them? again, only one right answer here.

think about it. it's not hard to figure out.

The GCD is not the only restriction on abilities. The net coding for the game has a hard ICD in place. This is why you mashing Raging strikes does not work, you can make this apparent by macroing-- The ICD on ALL abilities is 1 second. So you have a second between each cast of our long list of buffs. While I doubt this will change, it IS very awkward as "dumping" is difficult, and even worse whenever attempting to use quelling strikes to keep your enmity down. Dumping all of your cooldowns will cost you 3-4 seconds minimum on one of your buffs. They have to be staggered in order to get the right results.

Cont: The plot thickens here: Your "Full Draw" techniques, (Bloodletter, Misery's End) function on the 1 second ICD meaning they can be primed before, and then you may use one of your attacks on the GCD one second later. It takes a while to get used to but eventually you'll catch the rhythm, however if you screw the rhythm ( Heavy Shot before Bloodletter, etc.) , the ICD abilities will be blocked. For this reason, It's better to weave your cool-downs into the fight. If you set things up correctly, you should have Bloodletter+Straight shot on a GCD together, followed by your two DoTs and then heavy shot to fill. When blood letter comes off CD it will denote the beginning of your next 'cycle'.

[QUOTE=Dixa;1159362]swiftsong is not useless especially when levelling after 30 the first time or if yo uare working on archer/bard as a 2nd or third job. it allows you to use your chocobo as a pet (as dps..it hits HARD) while still having the speed to get around.


I'm currently level 46 and I've never NEVER seen anyone in fates, dungeons, or anywhere else in game use swiftsong none of my exp party mates that are bards have used swiftsong and as matter of fact players are starting to revert back to archer for cross class abilities like the MRD and CONJ abilities that IMHO are way better than what the bard has...

I'm not sure where you get more damage from being Archer.

You miss gear, free stats, and I'm not sure where you can work all those extra buttons into rotation. Running two executes is bad by the way, your DPS not "Damage at 20%". Blood For Blood, Internal release, Hawk's Eye, Raging Strikes, Barrage, Heavy Shot, Straight Shot, Windbiter, Venomous Bite, Bloodletter. Three AOE buttons for those situations, a distancing button for survivability.... The ability to keep your healer from going OoM and saving your entire party. These are all damn near mandatory. The only thing I don't use is Shadowbind and Swift-song.

If you're crossclassing into MRD and Lancer that much you should just start playing Melee DPS because you're most likely not filling your role.

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Originally Posted by Silvyaniss

I'm currently level 46 and I've never NEVER seen anyone in fates, dungeons, or anywhere else in game use swiftsong none of my exp party mates that are bards have used swiftsong

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Just because you never see people use something doesn't mean it's useless, I like swiftsong for short distances between NPC's since you can't talk while mounted, or after a dungeon wipe on a boss.

Ontopic : not Archer/Bard related but i'm upset with the hidden GCD between non GCD buffs. i'm currently lvl 40 and got 4 dmg increasing buffs (counting in the +crit buff from PGL cross class) and I can't chain them before the tank pulls a boss cause there is a slight delay between activating them.
Also annoying that when you used a shot and a CD comes back off cooldown u need to either wait a sec after your shot , or spam the button a few times to get the dps cd to activate, kinda goes in against the feeling that your buffs are not on the GCD...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Silvyaniss

I'm currently level 46 and I've never NEVER seen anyone in fates, dungeons, or anywhere else in game use swiftsong none of my exp party mates that are bards have used swiftsong and as matter of fact players are starting to revert back to archer for cross class abilities like the MRD and CONJ abilities that IMHO are way better than what the bard has...

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i use swift song all the time. anytime i pop the chocobo pet out to level it up, i am using swiftsong just like everyone else does a mount. also it works in cities and in dungeons so i have been in the habit of tossing it up on instance runs since it helps get them done a bit quicker. now it could still be improved by changing it so that it doesn't need to be recast every time you get in combat, similar to how lotro did their hunter speed boost.

Overall, i'm quite happy with the state of the bard. I have and use every skill on my bar, the least used being swiftsong, and that immobilize one. But even those have their niches. I wouldn't mind the following improvements tho:


A way to see TP of team members

A shorter bind (3-4 sec) that isn't broken by damage. Making it not seem completely terrible in comparison to sleep and somewhat "unique"

Swiftsong to not expire in combat, but to just stop working. Or alternatively give it an instant cast time or castable on the move.

The removal of the Hidden GCD on "instant" buffs

Repelling shot to give immunity during the animation, but increase the cd by 5-10 seconds, maybe longer. Getting hit by a melee attacking or an AoE while repelling gets on my nerves and makes the skill seem next to pointless.

A looping unique song animation for each song, that will allow your teammates to know if, and what you are singing.

A few Emotes involving a the bard harp.

Foe's Requiem to decrease all resistances by 10% including piercing, slashing, fire, ice. ect. But it also now comes with the typical 20% dmg debuff on the bard himself.

1. Our Limit Break- single target high damage attack.
2. Archer upgrades to Ranger Class - uses FF style guns - has animal pet to tank or for whatever else.
3. Rangers big attack is Slug Shot from FF11.
4. Bards ability's are just so ungodly lame. Not thought out well at all.

My issue is with the animation. And this is really hard to explain. It's like archers/bards have 2 skeletons, one for their upper body and one for their legs, and they do 2 different things and don't mesh at all. It's like the leg skeleton doesn't move at all, the legs are planted, but the upper body uses all these movements and the momentum just ends when it reaches the legs. It's so weird and so hard to explain.

I was wondering about the Raging Strikes lag on button pressing and now with the explanation given it makes sense to me. I have been really happy with Archer so far and I almost have BARD Unlocked (can't wait). I hope to have some more to add later on when I get farther along. I too wish that they would have left BARD to cross class with CNJ though...I will miss my Cure and Protect and Raise. I guess we do get that heal from PUG though so that is not all bad.

i still wonder why we cant see the party members TP but we see our TP on the party UI...