bards fix "WALL OF TEXT"

[Darkricko]

I agree with Nooblet here bards in rift cannot even be compared to bards in this game. Till they split the archer class and say here is your Ranger(DPS) and here is your Bard(Support) then imo Bards are the only true ranged physical damage dealer.

[Garnatian]

Why people keep mentioning DPS when they talk about Bards, I do not know. YOU ARE NOT DPS YOU ARE SUPPORT.

[Woodberry]

Why people keep mentioning DPS when they talk about Bards, I do not know. YOU ARE NOT DPS YOU ARE SUPPORT.

Oddly enough, the developers disagree with you, but I'm sure your opinion is correct and theirs is wrong.

[Darkricko]

LoL I still find it funny how some people think Bards and not DD's in this game. That is what trips me out. I mean in EQoA bards were a form of DD even in Rift you could work a bard out that could do some damage but the bard buffs in Rift and EQoA Bards were still able to do decent damage. ut in this game they are like I said 90% DD and 10% support their support ability's are lackluster at best.

[ChaozK]

Bards are certainly not support, for that the support would just be too low, however they arent a pure dps either. As the OP said 90% DD/ 10% support sounds about right (maybe 80/20). Hence why they are designed to have only 90% of the dps of pure DDs, which is also pretty close to being true, its just that many mechanics in the game hinder other classes in their perfomance and thats where i see devs making a change.

[Sax]

I think the biggest mistake was calling them Bards in 14. To many narrow minded players that can't differentiate between ARR and other games. Sure they get 3 songs (which have very limited use) and they can DPS on the move, but they aren't top tier DPS and lack an offensive LB to compensate.

[AunaYuuki]

My team is at end game raid content (2 bards, Blm/smner, Mnk) we all have about equal gear our one bard has one more ilvl 90 piece over everyone else.We tested it in multiple instances such as Primals/CM/Prae/Coil and the monk just pulls out amazing overall top damage all the time (this is about 10-20 points).The black mage which isn't as geared mostly full DL and DL accessories will go about 5-10 damage points below our bard with 3-4 ilvl 90 pieces.These players have been playing MMOs a very long time, they all know their combos etc.Bards damage is not OP its good but OP? This perspective has mostly been changed since I have been in end game content and testing everyone's damage.I would be really upset if they nerf the bard to extinction, but I don't think they will.I think Yoshi will do a tiny nerf to shut up cry babies to be honest. I see the point they are not really "bards" but even in 1.0 they weren't.

[Furon]

The problem with current bard design is that its by far the easiest dps to play effectively, which is fine however alot of the fights at endgame are punishing to classes that require positioning, have limited range or cast time attacks, those classes will struggle to keep up with a bard that have 100% uptime.

However in coil the other dps can finally get close to 100% dps uptime, however bard's remain the safest dps choice for most guild progressing into endgame and alot of guilds run 2 or even 3 bards and this is where the second design problem lies, bards stack up extremely well, piety bards can keep tp or mana songs rolling endlessly (or close to) by chaining songs, this tactic trivialise alot of the endgame content (or at least severely lower the skillcap needed to beat the boss).

My suggestion would be to put a debuff on anyone that gets a bard song on them for 2 minutes, when you are debuffed you cannot benefit from any bard songs until the debuff is gone.

[Woodberry]

The problem with current bard design is that its by far the easiest dps to play effectively

Since you made the claim, why don't you share with us how bard is by far easier to play than lets say a BLM?

[Sinaloa]

skipped to the tldr part:

K now I know a lot of people are going to be like bard is not a DD...... All I can say is LOL. In this game bard is 90% DD and 10% support

Don´t panic - they are about to fix that.