BARD 2.1 change [requesting letter from the producer explanation]

[Danko]

Well, as there are no (and possibly never will be) full support roles I think our idea of "Support" and "DPS with good utility" coincide. They are not the best DPS but have great ability to support the party through a variety of skills, as opposed to say a Lancer who has no intentions of supporting anyone ever. lol

Aside from slow, stuns, +10% piercing damage for party and +10% HP healed for party?

There are no pure DPS classes. They all have support options.

BRD is not a support job. It is not a hybrid. It is a DPS.

The problem with BRD is not and never was its support options relative to its DPS being out of balance. The only issue with BRD DPS is its mobility being out of balance with other DPS during fights that are unreasonably difficult for melees to maintain up time.

BRD is already one of, if not the weakest DPS class in the entire game. And it certainly is not the only one with strong support options.

[LaughingOctopus]

For all the bards out there,

We actually do a lot of dmg. These DPS meters are simply rubbish. Flaming Arrow it self is not counted in FFXIV APP and its +80 dmg DoT. If a brd do their DoTs correctly with Buffs we might out match a BLM without even counting Flaming Arrow. A lot of people are saying BRD is faceroll job. A lot of people are simply idiots. You do not need people's approval. Chill guys. Remember that the idiot will need Ballad soon. In the end Nerfing BRD means Nerfing Coil's groups because 99.9% of groups has a brd in them. If the nerf is very bad they will change it back.

Cheers!

[Danko]

The only thing causing a BRD to out match a BLM is a discrepancy in gear, skill or both.

[LaughingOctopus]

I doubt it, the BLM that I am considering is extremely skilled. Also, he is 12/13 iLv90 too. High DPS on a BRD is not easy my friend but doable. Have faith !

[Danko]

If he is being beaten by a BRD, he is not extremely skilled.

[Duelle]

To be honest, if you remove BRD from the game people will just stack another ranged dps in most cases, like BLM/SMN as things are at the moment, and you would just be forced to scream "nerf" for those classes because the issue toward melee DPS still stands.

Nerfing bard might be right for your kind, but it's sure as hell not the solution to any problems for melee in endgame. And trust me, I want to see more MNKs and DRGs pew pew through coil, etc.

This should be preserved for posterity. I may not have done coil yet, but I have done that song and dance before. If the content is too punishing for melee or the melee design is a little too demanding you are going to get people stacking ranged. Call it easy-mode or simply efficient, but it does overtake other comps.

[lumpenhund]

This is my best try out of like 10 attempts on the dummy tonight:
http://i.imgur.com/N0J9NO0.jpg

Please bear in mind that ffxiv app does not calculate critical hits on dot ticks and uses not exact dot numbers.
For my case the dot dmg numbers used are mostly on par with the dot dmg without criticals.

[Mekhana]

Aside from slow, stuns

Don't work in Coil at all.

+10% piercing damage

This debuff was made for the drg in mind, having a bard around is a bonus. (we do piercing damage fyi)

+10% HP healed for party

That's monk, a different job btw.

BRD is already one of, if not the weakest DPS class in the entire game. And it certainly is not the only one with strong support options.

"Support DRG."

[Malachi_Draven]

Meh, I don't mind the nerf. You people saying that Bards aren't OP, just aren't playing Bard correctly I guess. I'm consistently top DPS in my Coil group, and I can far too easily pull aggro off Tanks, especially in Turn 4. A little nerf wouldn't hurt me.

[Sylari]

A question. Is the "bards lowest DPS in the game" comment regarding only normal play? How do songless bards stack up by comparison to their competition?

That's monk, a different job btw.

Isn't Mantra a cross skill?