Usefulness: Bard or Dragoon

[xyaie]

This game has damage meters, so one class having more DPS can be shown. But if we are looking for a pick of a DPSer without basing it on dps i guess utility?

bards give:
TP at the cost of personal damage
MP at the cost of personal damage
elemental resist debuff
Root
Kiting

dragoons give:
2 stuns
slow (not snare)
pierce resistance debuff

So bards would likely win in that area

[MalcolmReynolds]

bards give:
elemental resist debuff

Wait...I thought SE didn't want elemental attacks playing a role in the game from the player's perspective? I mean, I know we have elemental resistances but I was under the impression our attacks, even for mages, didn't actually do any sort of elemental damage.

[Powercow]

I know we have elemental resistances but I was under the impression our attacks, even for mages, didn't actually do any sort of elemental damage.

Many attacks do elemental damage. The difference is all enemies have the same elemental defense values, so a fire spell will hurt Ifrit just as much as a Thunder spell would. Same with Aero on Garuda. The 10% elemental defense down effect essentially boosts all elemental spells by 10%, which is very nice if you have a black mage in the party and really quite weak if you don't.

The one big part of a bard's utility, and something I never see people mention, is that they can apply a 10% damage dealt debuff to an enemy. This is like, the BIGGEST and MOST USEFUL part of the entire support skillset and nobody ever freaking talks about it. It's seriously better than the mana song, the tp song, and the elemental song combined in terms of its overall usefulness.

[MalcolmReynolds]

Many attacks do elemental damage. The difference is all enemies have the same elemental defense values, so a fire spell will hurt Ifrit just as much as a Thunder spell would. Same with Aero on Garuda. The 10% elemental defense down effect essentially boosts all elemental spells by 10%, which is very nice if you have a black mage in the party and really quite weak if you don't.

That's kind of lame. So why even bother differentiating between the elements? It should just be magic resistance as opposed to fire/wind/earth/etc resistance like we currently have in our stats. A fire spell should heal Ifrit, not hurt him. Kind of a dumb move on SE's part IMO.

[Nibb]

That's kind of lame. So why even bother differentiating between the elements? It should just be magic resistance as opposed to fire/wind/earth/etc resistance like we currently have in our stats. A fire spell should heal Ifrit, not hurt him. Kind of a dumb move on SE's part IMO.

That would make BLM 100% useless on Ifrit. Bad idea.

[Sehkmet]

That would make BLM 100% useless on Ifrit. Bad idea.

Not really. In past final fantasies Blizzard did twice the damage on Ifrit. That would just change his rotation, which would involve blizzarding Ifrit to death. =3

[Bossmoney]

Not really. In past final fantasies Blizzard did twice the damage on Ifrit. That would just change his rotation, which would involve blizzarding Ifrit to death. =3

Doesn't work with this game and the way BLM rotation works.

[Nibb]

Not really. In past final fantasies Blizzard did twice the damage on Ifrit. That would just change his rotation, which would involve blizzarding Ifrit to death. =3

As I said it would make BLM useless. This isn't the same type of game as past Final Fantasies. Their whole rotation is based off firestarter and without it you might as well invite someone else.

[LunarEmerald]

Many attacks do elemental damage. The difference is all enemies have the same elemental defense values, so a fire spell will hurt Ifrit just as much as a Thunder spell would. Same with Aero on Garuda. The 10% elemental defense down effect essentially boosts all elemental spells by 10%, which is very nice if you have a black mage in the party and really quite weak if you don't.

The one big part of a bard's utility, and something I never see people mention, is that they can apply a 10% damage dealt debuff to an enemy. This is like, the BIGGEST and MOST USEFUL part of the entire support skillset and nobody ever freaking talks about it. It's seriously better than the mana song, the tp song, and the elemental song combined in terms of its overall usefulness.

Eh. It only lasts about a minute then your MP is crippled for a while. If a healer wants Ballad and have no MP because of Requiem then you're in a bad spot.