bards and their ...

[LunarEmerald]

Barrage + all other cooldowns has the highest dps burst of any class. Can quickly rip hate off tanks right at the start if you don't use quelling.

[Viridiana]

Foe helps a bit with summoner but it helps most with black mage. The bigger the damage, the more the 10/20% adds.

Except that SMN is the bigger damage of the two, unless you're talking about large group AOE.

[LunarEmerald]

Except that SMN is the bigger damage of the two, unless you're talking about large group AOE.

I said burst damage.

Summoner does bigger numbers but lower burst dps. Even if you dot and fester 3 times, it won't match the damage output of barrage, bloodletters and all those cooldowns. But that damage for Bard only lasts for a few seconds and it's not convenient to wait for all the cooldowns for it. So it's something Bard can only do at the very start of the battle.

[Viridiana]

I said burst damage.

Summoner does bigger numbers but lower burst dps. Even if you dot and fester 3 times, it won't match the damage output of barrage, bloodletters and all those cooldowns. But that damage for Bard only lasts for a few seconds and it's not convenient to wait for all the cooldowns for it. So it's something Bard can only do at the very start of the battle.

Huh, what? No, I was specifically responding to your claim that Foe helps BLM more than SMN because BLM has bigger numbers, which is false all around unless dealing with large group AOE. That's why I quoted the sentence I did. >_>

[sixaxis--]

hey all thanks for posting this Im def. going to take that advice!

[Butcherboy]

Question here. What's the stat weight for bard I have the mnk and drg from easymodex. I'd like to know for brd I'll b working on brd next

[Kitkat]

I love when people come around and try to tell a brd how to be a brd. Much to the effect I would love to tell OP how to properly spell instead of using phone text language. It is "Why" not "y" and "I" not "i", lastly it is "that" not "dat." I could go on as there is still more ammo to do so with, but that is aside the point of the thread.

While there may be bad players out there on every job in the game, it doesn't mean that all of them are bad. In fact, more often than not, the majority of players will outweigh the bad players. Just because you run into a handful of bad players who don't know how to utilize their job, or because you think a brd should be singing a song every chance they have, doesn't mean you know what that job should be doing. It would be like me talking about how a blm, whm, sch, or smn should be doing even though I do not play that job myself.

Can I criticize a job I swap between often? Yes, because I play them often enough to know their role myself giving the option to critic another player if they don't seem to or are obviously not doing all that they should be doing. What you bring to the table, is a biased unknowing view of the job. What you think you know and think should be done is not feasible or going to change enough to make a large impact on how the fight progresses.

just a few facts:
- foe buffed = 20% more dmg for your caster(s) (Very useful yes, but most times I will buff a ballad before I will buff a foe. Over pushing a DPS check can be just as bad as not meeting it in some fights)
-Paeon is another 30 tp every tick on top of the usual 60 ( If you need to use this when you shouldn't have need, then there is something wrong with the group you're in. To date there are very few times this will be beneficial to use over other songs.)
-ballad tops off your healers, opening room for "oops" rez, or maybe dps (If your healers need to be "topped off" it better be in the proper phase or phase shift. Personally I don't use ballad to increase my healers DPS, I use foes and then ballad between running to next spot in dungeons

Timing is everything when it comes to using songs, and more importantly what songs to use. Every song at a brds disposal is not going to be up all the time, or for extended periods most times. There are phases of the fight that you'll want Foe, phases you'll pop ballad, and in rare cases (highly dependant on what fight it is and make up) paeon. Most times it is for short bursts at a time, just small recovery points or damage burst.

It irritates me when I see someone call for a song that isn't needed or isn't the right time for because they want it then and there. If they need it too soon, that is an issue with the group. I could care less if someone is going to out DPS me if I put foe up, that is the point of the song..to assist. I will get annoyed if I see a healer spamming chat for ballad when they have 60% or more mp and it isn't in a phase that would best suit ballad cause it means that the group is taking too much damage or the healer doesn't know how to manage their MP cause they use the wrong cures causing over cure and waste of mp.

So each job do the other jobs a favor and seriously don't tell them how to play their job cause you want them to play it that way without knowing the proper cause to why they play the way they do. This holds a great deal of truth when you (looking at you OP) state very clearly you are a career job and have no desire to be another job if given the choice. No one cares how many years you've been playing, what MMO you've played, or what level of endgame accomplishment you've attained if you have no clue about timing your abilities. Doesn't mean you know diddly about a class you have no intention of playing in a primary role scenario let alone could be looked on to fill as a secondary choice if need be.

[Swanny]

I love when people come around and try to tell a brd how to be a brd. Much to the effect I would love to tell OP how to properly spell instead of using phone text language. It is "Why" not "y" and "I" not "i", lastly it is "that" not "dat." I could go on as there is still more ammo to do so with, but that is aside the point of the thread.

^This is the first thing I was planning on responding to.
As a new player, and relatively new to MMOs, I have nothing more to comment on other than the awful grammar.
(pretty sure this is also my first post on the board - woo!)

[Aeora]

Some good advice within for new bards though, I wouldn't discount it straight away even if you're a Vet let alone a new player

[RinchanNau]

I saw a comment about TP songs pretty much never being necessary. If you are maximizing DPS on BRD (t8) you are likely to run out of TP within about 4 minutes even with well timed invigorates. TP song is very necessary for BRD and DRG in such situations. MNK can usually go a bit longer. If you want to conserve in t8 when you're 300 or below you could avoid using a few heavy shots and just use Bloodletter if it procs before reapplying straight shot and your dots. But even then you'll still need to help out your DRG and eventually MNK. And I know my group's tank gets pretty low on TP in t8 as well. Last time we beat enrage by over a minute so we're doing something right. Provided your healers don't need ballad at the same time it's better for the party if you use a TP song as opposed to reducing your rotation. If ballad is required then removing two heavy shots from the rotation may be the best route to maximize DPS while conserving TP.

Another situation where TP song is useful is while you're spamming aoe (t4 bugs, t5 snakes) or during a transition after applying lots of dots (adds and spumes in Levi ex). Or even Brayflox speed runs in a BRD + DRG config. You could be more TP efficient and let the caster (assuming there is one) handle most of the aoe for t4 and t5. But if you're looking to boost your numbers just because you can, TP songs are very useful in these situations. The ability to spam your aoe for much longer is generally greater than the 20% reduction in damage. It'll also allow melee to spam their aoe without killing their TP for the rest of the fight. Very useful if you don't have a caster or the caster, for whatever reason, isn't using their aoe in some random PF group.

In Levi it can be done without reducing your DPS by 20% as you'll generally be able to use your TP song during a transition. When Levi is diving, if DPS is slow, or after 1st set of spumes, if DPS is good and skips phases.