Dear Bards Who Don't Sing :)

[KyrieBonvalet]

I have an annoying macro that I use if I don't see any bards giving me MP. I don't like to spam it, but if I am desperate I will. >_>


As far as when I play as a bard, I normally sing when I see them kinda close to the 50% mark and stop when they are close to 90%.

[alhandra]

a bard who doesnt sing is just a sub par dps, bards not singing is the equivalent of a healer not healing. you have one job, do it

[alhandra]

As a healer... I really would like to know what people do with their MP. Unless there is a boss fight lasting more than 5 mins where you constantly have to AOE heal, then ballad should never be used. Use shroud when ever it is up, use aetherflow whenever it is up.

a sch will "rarely" need ballad, the only times its really necessary is t2 enrage and drawn out titan fights, that being said a whm or sch can easily drain their mp even when healing isnt necessary, if there is enough stand around time they should be dpsing to fill the void, if they run themselves out of mp doing this its their problem(mostly a whm problem still =p) but having a bard to back up makes it easier. just like not standing in bad stuff and dying is a dps problem but having a healer around makes it easier =D

[Roll]

As a Bard (and White Mage) myself, I love supporting the party with songs. Why ignore these awesome skills when it can be put to good use for the whole party?
Is it the fear of the 20% damage reduction when we play Army's Paeon/Mage's Ballad? Is it because some Bard's don't know that Foe Requiem does not reduce their damage by 20%?

Oh there's a Black Mage/Summoner DPS in our party and our White Mage is using Holy on big trash mob pulls? I'll use Foe Requiem since it doesn't reduce my damage by 20% and it's win-win!

Oh the healer is low on mp after a big pull? I'll use Mage's Ballad instead of just standing there since we're not in battle and I don't have to worry about my -20% dmg reduction!

I know some songs are situational but some Bard's need to realize they have so much potential!

[RyuDragnier]

I don't really play my BRD much anymore, having moved to SCH for all my needs (it's too much fun) along with MNK (dem hands). But when I am on my BRD, unless there is no magic DPS in the party or it's a fight where I need to ration the songs for a Ballad later, I'm going to have Foe's Requiem on and voiced. For all dungeons from Praetorium on down, don't expect me to sing you a ballad, I shouldn't have to. For primals however, I'm going to expect to have to, and you won't see any songs from me until it's time.

[Rjain]

I am rarely asked to sing. I try to put in the effort whenever possible to keep songs up at key points and I actively try to watch my healers' and tanks' MP. Foe requiem is very helpful, even if you don't really need it, it speeds things up.

[UBERHAXED]

All of you "Bards" do realize that Foe's requiem only decrease the elemental resistance (i.e. that chart with 6 attributes) of enemies and no moves, other than those on a Thaumaturge (or BLM) will increase in damage. Try it out yourself on dummies. Doesn't increase holy ( not an element), ruin, windbite, flaming arrow, bio, etc. Using it during anytime beside there being a BLM in the party is a complete waste of MP. I see a lot of responses of people playing Foe's when they have a "caster" in the party...

[kukurumei]

Every mage will have mp issues. The trick is how a group helps each other and know who needs what. Singling out sch is pointless. They have issues like everyone else.

A healer that knows how to hold back makes it harder on the tanks, but the tanks know that a healer should be holding back for the brd's contribution to damage, etc.

No bard should question a healer when they call for ballad, because they ultimately know the intensive and lax areas of the healing. Even more so if the Tank's need more attention or a lot of resurrections are flying.

Let's take Ifrit Ex, since it's a good example:
Phase 1 and Phase 2 MP isn't an issue nor is tanking. Healers are sitting on full mp or near full, and tanks don't mind a little lax in their HP. Brds do can go all out with foe's and damage

But going into Phase 3 though. All healers should be mp max-ed. Brds should be ballad between phase 2-3 to make sure. Healers may not need a full MP going into phase 3, but it sure as heck makes a difference if things go badly, and tanks know that ifrit can be a bad ass in that rng, so they don't expect any slacking on healers as well.

There will be massive cure3 lobbing, succor casting, aqu stacking, and resurrections coming in that phase. Worse comes to worse, you may even need to soul ballad in the middle of phase 3 even at the cost of damage, because it's just that much sticking it in. But going into phase 3 of ifrit with a full mp bar as oppose to a 2/3rd bar can be that difference.

But everyone has to remember a brd needs mp to sing, so things go reverse as well

[BloodPact]

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.

Yeah, we do. It's situational, depending on each fight and what happens in each. I said Ifrit Extreme, because at least for me that's one instance where I'm almost guaranteed to be dry near the last phase of nails. Most others I don't have to speak because I just get topped off when you sing for the healers. Two things that can really hurt our MP pool in any fight is constant resurrections or recovery from a KO. On fast paced fights it's brutal. XD

[pooch]

A lot of bards don't sing for the same reason there are scholars and summoners who don't manage pet actions and tanks who forget shield oath/defiance, some people just don't pay attention to it.
You'll run into people who play their job less than optimal everywhere and every day. Just toss them a friendly reminder of what they should be doing, add in a sound effect or two if you have to.