BARD resource?

[Jim_Berry]

In any case, while my BRD is usually always at the bottom of the dps chart, you can still see the dos struggle if I WASN'T fighting. One day, I was kicked for low dps, although we never wiped and never hit critical moments. Heck, in one fight, I was last man alive for the win. That group kicked me was in Party Finder specifically looking for a BRD even after I did a few dungeons and two Garuda EXs.

Most posts about BRDs damage is mixed. Some posts say BRDs COULD be on the bottom of the dps charts. Others say BRD should be at leadt second due to mobility. It's just sad when a BRD with high iLv wouldn't since Paeon or Ballad when he's solo BRD, telling BLMs to focus crit food and for WHM to pop Shroud (yes, I witnessed BRD doing this). Another BRD in Thornmarch Ex told me to drop Foe (we had two BLM) to use Ballad because the healers were low in MP. I thought he wanted to use Foe but never did.

At the end, I then never feel bad for my BRD, because at least I'm supportive.

[SeraviEdalborez]

No good PC player is going to use point and click.

[Ooshima]

Most of the end game fights are movement fights so technically BRDs don't fall at the bottom of the list. Personally I hang around #2 or #3 depending on how many melee DDs are there in the group and how good they are. If the melees are bad you can be easily #1

[blowfin]

Ok have fun having mediocre dps. The science you speak about is some random post from last year with low gear and made by someone that din't really give any good info.
The diference is even bigger in the new coil because either you have huge up times like t8, or you have small up times like t9 and you have to do all the damage you can before the boss jumps.

I love coming back to threads after a few days and seeing responses like this, particularly when they get shot down by multiple posters.

Besides you are trying to tell people with real high end experience that know what they are doing how to play their job when you haven't even finished t6.

I also love it when people stalk my lodestone profile in an attempt to make their argument look stronger. I guess you probably assume that I keep failing at T6 or something asinine like that? Regardless, the point I made has been established for a great deal longer than T6 has been out, and there's plenty of evidence in this thread alone to suggest that I'm correct, let alone the testing which was good enough for me and the majority of BG.

- Hold L2 or R2.
- Press face button.

This is a setup issue, some tips. Lock your crossbar, use extended cross bar (L2 + R2/R2 + L2), and legacy movement. They'll make a huge difference to what you're describing.

Basically you won't have to hold down the trigger (locked crossbar), you won't need to press the face button (legacy movement), and with the extended cross bar you have access to 32 slots just using the triggers, saves swapping hotbars using bumpers during combat, which is a massive time waster.

[Khalette]

I have a few questions and I'm not sure a resource to look them up.

1. Do songs still decrease damage output?

2. If I want to start doing speed runs for tomes on my bard, what is the best playstyle? For example, AOE everything to death and keep TP song up or use the magic debuffing song so the casters can hit harder?

3. How many mobs need to be around for our AoEs to be more efficient than single target damage? I assumed anything in groups ~4-5, but I wasn't sure if this has been calculated yet and I should be AoE'ing on groups of 3.

[LunarEmerald]

I have a few questions and I'm not sure a resource to look them up.

1. Do songs still decrease damage output?

2. If I want to start doing speed runs for tomes on my bard, what is the best playstyle? For example, AOE everything to death and keep TP song up or use the magic debuffing song so the casters can hit harder?

3. How many mobs need to be around for our AoEs to be more efficient than single target damage? I assumed anything in groups ~4-5, but I wasn't sure if this has been calculated yet and I should be AoE'ing on groups of 3.

1. Swiftsong and foe requiem do not

2. Wide Volley with straight shot up. Rain of Death when proc. Did not play paeon unless the other dps is a dragoon. If the other dps is a summoner or black mage, play foe requiem.

3. I don't think it's worth aoeing as a bard unless the other dps is doing it and there's 4 or more mobs.

[Khalette]

1. Swiftsong and foe requiem do not

2. Wide Volley with straight shot up. Rain of Death when proc. Did not play paeon unless the other dps is a dragoon. If the other dps is a summoner or black mage, play foe requiem.

3. I don't think it's worth aoeing as a bard unless the other dps is doing it and there's 4 or more mobs.

Thank you for the help and how direct it was. Very much appreciated

[Tharian]

Agree 100%. ME & BL are off the GCD skills, so should be used between GCD's to maximize dps. Placing HS lowest in priority would cause non-GCD skills to be used first, delaying your GCD usage => reducing dps

Except generally speaking you always want to use your Off-GCD abilities whenever they are up. Putting Heavy Shot first in the priority of a Macro will prioritize that over the Off-GCD abilities, meaning that even if both Bloodletter and Misery's End are available for use at the time, you will use Heavy Shot first.

The problem is that Heavy Shot is a Potency 150 Attack, with a specific recast timer. Whereas Bloodletter is a Potency 150 Attack who automatically has it's recast timer reset each time your two DOT's score a critical strike. And Misery's End is a Potency 190 Attack. So not using full advantage of Bloodletter and Misery's End is actually crippling your DPS, not improving it.

[Hybris-Maenad]

Thank you for the help and how direct it was. Very much appreciated

Wide volley and rain of death are outdated. Quick knock is 20mp less than wide volley with the same potency and has a much larger area once you get your positioning down and can visualize your range. Free rain of death procs are nice, but unreliable. RoD was nice back when it had the damage debuff, but it's definatly not worth the gamble now that it only affects accuracy.

[blowfin]

Wide volley and rain of death are outdated. Quick knock is 20mp less than wide volley with the same potency and has a much larger area once you get your positioning down and can visualize your range. Free rain of death procs are nice, but unreliable. RoD was nice back when it had the damage debuff, but it's definatly not worth the gamble now that it only affects accuracy.

Yep, and 2.2 saw a range increase for Quick Knock too, which was really it's only downside. Using Wide Volley for the free RoD is a good way to burn TP faster.

Kind of silly that BRD's two highest level AOE attacks are just about pointless, but it might change in the future:

On a somewhat related note, however, Yoshida mentioned during Letter from the Producer LIVE XIV that we will be looking into making adjustments to actions that are not used very much by each job.