New Class: Minstrel (Radical Change to Bard Job)

[KylePearlsand]

Like every mage job that needs to stop DPSing/healing to dodge AoE. For me, not a big deal.

Edit: Made a mistake in this post. Anyways, it will affect their healing in large scale fights. Personally I think they should have some form of duration instead of the movement restriction.

[Duelle]

Just import Songweaver from Aion and I'd be happy.
While we're at it, import Chanter too.

Rift's bard makes for a decent healer, so I'd say import that, too.

[Shurrikhan]

But back then, ARC couldn't sing. Swiftsong was a BRD skill.

1.0: Quickstride ARC 22.
1.18: Swiftsong ARC 26.

Has never been a Bard skill. (Unless you want to say that the change to party-wide effect was to prepare it for Bard.)

On topic: I like the current mixture, and that support usually (2 of 3) comes at cost of dps. I just wish the support elements were a bit more varied and more quickly usable.

Edit: As a concept it actually seems one of the most practical designs (at least lore wise) that we have--a small-division commander, ranged strike leader, and coordinator/supporter.

[Reynhart]

Ok, my mistake
I was pretty sure songs were added specifically for BRD.

[Brightshadow]

Been awhile since this thread has received a reply wanted to bring it back up to see if it gets more support so SE can change the class/job system. Also making some adjustments to the Cooldowns, and traits of the jobs since it would be very hard to play this class in the endgame settings for example in primals you need a lot of movement.

[Memoriae]

I'm sure this has already been stated before in this thread, but this is basically sch.

[Brightshadow]

I'm sure this has already been stated before in this thread, but this is basically sch.

No its not, Scholars have almost nothing to do with Healing Overtime, there main healing comes from there shields.

[Blueyes]

Honestly I wish they hadn't rushed Bard. I feel like it would have been wiser if they had released a Ranger DPS job from Archer and made Bard into an actual healer with more emphasis on songs, putting their resources into that as opposed to releasing the new healer (Scholar) through Arcanist. I love Scholar, but there is just so much fuss about Bard in this game and it does bother me as well. It really wouldn't even be that hard. They could have given it some sort of "harp mode" toggle comparable to Cleric Stance to still give Bards the option to shoot stuff, like other healers, but with their role focused on healing. Then those who want to just shoot stuff can play as Ranger and be happy.

The only problem is now it's difficult to suddenly shift the role of Bard. It might just have to stick the way it is and maybe people would complain less if Bard was still a DPS with more songs to play more frequently, but there will always be a demand for a pure Ranger job which will share a role with Bard. When it's all said and done it just feels like this wasn't thought out very well and it may be difficult for them to respond to everyone's feedback without upsetting a portion of the crowd.

[Brightshadow]

Honestly I wish they hadn't rushed Bard. I feel like it would have been wiser if they had released a Ranger DPS job from Archer and made Bard into an actual healer with more emphasis on songs, putting their resources into that as opposed to releasing the new healer (Scholar) through Arcanist. I love Scholar, but there is just so much fuss about Bard in this game and it does bother me as well. It really wouldn't even be that hard. They could have given it some sort of "harp mode" toggle comparable to Cleric Stance to still give Bards the option to shoot stuff, like other healers, but with their role focused on healing. Then those who want to just shoot stuff can play as Ranger and be happy.

The only problem is now it's difficult to suddenly shift the role of Bard. It might just have to stick the way it is and maybe people would complain less if Bard was still a DPS with more songs to play more frequently, but there will always be a demand for a pure Ranger job which will share a role with Bard. When it's all said and done it just feels like this wasn't thought out very well and it may be difficult for them to respond to everyone's feedback without upsetting a portion of the crowd.

The thing is this is a game so SE can change anything they want if they really want to, for example gladiators had daggers but since they are releasing rogue they are removing all the daggers from gladiator.

[Kaethra]

I hate support classes/jobs/specs etc. In this game with the small parties it just doesn't work. The bard is the only support and that's basically limited in support. Giving each job support options is a much better and that's the way they've went.

I'm going to have to agree with this. Rift's Bard worked because it was a 5 man party and it wasn't a main healer. Everquest, the game known most for bards uses them in EQ1 and EQ2 as heavy support but uses a SIX man party (meaning with 3 DPS, the support increases their DPS much more than a single DPS would).

FFXIV has a 4 man system. You need a Tank. You need a Healer. Bard wouldn't be either of these. So that leaves DPS. Meaning it has to DPS. And when it has to DPS, what makes its attacks and abilities different from an Archer? You're shooting notes instead of arrows? That means its just an aesthetic thing, which really means it doesn't need a change.

Sorry to say but bards in FF have been historically well... bad (giving weak damage with buffs that can be given by Time/White Mages who do other things way better). And I'm getting the idea they chose Bard to go with Archer simply because they couldn't think of anything else. Maybe Ranger I guess, but that's a little bit on D&D territory (which is why Warriors aren't Fighters anymore, and Rogues aren't Thieves, its more generic). So they gave them a bow to go with the harp and even a harp bow and made them finally relevant. Expect to see future games sporting bow touting bards.