Dear Bards Who Don't Sing :)

[Versiroth]

I disagree, as a SMN, for example in Ifrit Extreme, I'll be needing ballad by the time the last set of nails roll out, sometimes maybe sooner. Admittedly, I could trade off some DPS for MP regeneration, but Mage's Ballad is there for a reason. Same as all the other songs. I've never understood why casters or healers have to ask for songs in a party. It's part of the responsibilities of that job.

Do Summoners really have a lot of MP issues? I know BLMs don't at all, but my ARC is only level 20. Personally, I never look at DPS mana at all. I put the healers at the top of my party list and only watch for them. The last thing I would ever want to do is waste all of my mana on Balad for a DPS and then not have any MP when a healer needs Balad later on. I'll use Foe for you during DPS races, but that's normally it.

A good bard will play their first mage's ballad at the 50%-75% MP mark to get the healer back to being topped off, depending on the content and if there are DPS checks.

Well, I usually never do this as I think it's a waste. To me, Balad is an emergency thing. It's for when the fight is getting harry and your healer's MP is dropping like a brick. You Balad + Voice and they can keep on healing. Or when people are dying and the healers are having to blow MP on raises. Balading when the healer doesn't need it hurts the group more than it helps because even though you're there to support, you still have to keep up your DPS as much as you can as well.