bards and their ...

[Alistaire]

Came here expecting a thread about brd having high rolls. Most good bards already understand their role pretty well, though I wouldn't throw out ballad just to help healers dps; most fights that matter their attention needs to stay on healing, regardless of mp management.

And the TP management issue has already been responded to. There's certainly exceptions, but they're called exceptions for a reason.

And songs drain your MP, so using any of them when they're not needed can put you in a place where you don't have the MP to use them when they are.

[Kimbot]

I would disagree and say there is a time and place for songs in a raid. Proper management of both TP and MP will not require to sing.

I haven't played songs throughout coil, as the players managed both properly.

Someone already mentioned bout singing Mp when a caster got downed, but either than that, not really.

[skaterger]

I asked a bard once for foe during phase 3 burn of snakes and said no cause he did not want me to have higher dps than him. Needless to say he was promptly removed. True story.

[LOLyYOUcryin]

i love when retards think brd has shit DPS lol. guess you never played with a brd who knows how to weave buffs and cool downs into macros and maximize Dps and cool down times. the whole MP management thing is a healers job, there are some things that require ballad and stuff, but not a lot. a GOOD whm or sch knows when to use their shit and has reserves. timed curing allowing a few ticks to replenish WHEN its appropriate.

[Alwa]

The last person who said they was a 15 year mmo vet and bragged about it the whole time in AK, wiped us 3 times on Anatoboga.
Couldn't comprehend that the purple laser meant get away from the party. Another true story

[OPneedNerfs]

Foe's does not reduce bard damage.

I repeat,

Foe's DOES NOT reduce bard damage.

[Taban]

Foe's does not reduce bard damage.

I repeat,

Foe's DOES NOT reduce bard damage.

Being careful with using Foe's usually isn't about trying to maximize damage, but about mp management. If we're going into a hard dps check then there's a good chance Foes will be on, but if we're on a progression fight and we're meeting dps checks, I'm probably going to be saving my mp in case there's an unforeseen death and I need to play ballad to get someone back up to speed. It all depends on the fight and your group makeup.

[Argyle_Darkheart]

1) Something's wrong if your raid's melees ask you to play Peon during a raid. Something's VERY wrong. They need better TP management.

Turn 8. Although, other than that, Paeon is pretty much uncalled for (was pretty useful in early Turn 4).

[Ooshima]

Turn 8. Although, other than that, Paeon is pretty much uncalled for (was pretty useful in early Turn 4).

Yeah, the few exceptions - which I trust experienced players already know it.

T8 on later stage might not need to call for Paeon though (just something I feel). Probably like T4 when people just started, Paeon was used more frequently until people were more geared and were able to deal more dmg per TP spent and thus, reduced the need for Paeon.

But again even for progression, Paeon is hardly being called for. The MP have priority on Mage Ballad to sustain heals and Foe for hard DPS checks.

[Alcyon1]

snip

Please, L2P before trying to tell us "L2P".

1 : Paeon. In Dungeons, I can use it when I'm with a WAR+BLM and the War takes a shitload of mobs. He can spam Enpower, I can spam my AOE's and the BLM will rip everything. With that notable exception, Paeon is useless in Dungeons. In a raid, the first one to run out of TP (if noone died) is the BRD (Ultima comes in my mind, Twintania if RNG is with you, T4, T8, etc). But in the vast majority of situations, this song is never needed. To be fully honest, I sometimes cast it for a few seconds when a boss disappears (Garuda XM, Titan XM, etc).
2 : Mana. In Dungeons, I can use it when I'm with a PLD if he has issues to keep a shitload of mobs, but the song isn't usualy necessary. In raids, Mana is usefull to keep the WHM's mana quite high when I cannot DPs (Twintania, first Divebombs is a perfect example, or Garuda XM when she summons her sisters, etc) or when a healzer was just raised (of course).
3 : Foe. Well, I usualy use it a few seconds before a DPS check or when I know I will be back at full mana for a key moment.

Twintania, a few months ago when we killed her for the first time, was a perfect fight for a BRD : the fireball were taken by 3 players, so Foe wasn't needed to kill the conflags. I wasn't i90 and I had too much SKS, so I had some problems with my TP
P1 : FOE until I run OOM.
End of P1 -> Beginning of P2 : Paeon for a few ticks.
End of P2 -> Pop of the Snakes in P3 : Mana Song until the WHM's mana is at 100%.
P3 Pop of the second set of snakes : Foe untill I run OMM.
Death of the snakes -> Twintania comes back in P4 : Paeon (With very low mana, the song ticks perhaps twice).
P4 : nothing, unless someone dies.
P5 : if someone died of if a healer needs mana, I'll use the correct song. If not, Foe untill I run OOM.