Bard needs some love too.

[Eardstapa]

That yellow hurts my eyes. Also, I don't pay attention to how much damage is lost. Rarely feels like a lot.

[ChaozK]

Hey maybe the DRG buff includes a stronger disembowel for more BRD dps.

[Rose-Wild]

"Only people who want to challenge themselves by introducing artificial difficulty will play with less optimal setups."

Or maybe you know... people might enjoy playing their jobs and not having to swap to the new flavour of the month?
AH yes! Totally a 10-20 dps "buff" would break Bard and make it op... Oh wait other jobs would still be far from that lol

[SarcasmMisser]

Watch a 2.0 video of a Titan or BCoB kill that has a bard PoV, and watch the endless streams of crits. This is why they have the DPS they have right now, the adjustment has already happened.

[Ooshima]

I'm not going to go as far to say that heals needing ballad suck but my static is far from the best and my heals never needed mana in our t1o and t11 kills.

Like some people mentioned it's a matter of not having your people die all the time so they don't waste mana on raising people.

The key word there is progression. If course when you are comfortable enough for a kill, your team mates won't be dying like flies, your healers get used to the fight to be able to optimize their healing options, and your SMN (if any) should be able to optimize a little on MP usage. Then of course, Ballad become less of a need.

But during the progression parts when people are still figuring out things then you will probably need the songs to be able to push the fight as far as you can before wiping.

Unless there's a team out there there proclaims that they never required Ballad and a Bard in their team right from the start of a new coil progression patch, which I don't think so.

Nonetheless I believe that most bard's only gripe is the nerf on Rain of Death (effect being transferred to WAR), and the gear scaling compared to other jobs part. As of now it is probably still okay, but you can already noticed a widening gap where MNK/BLM seems to be running away when we compare IL70 sets with IL110 sets. Of course, this is solely based on the assumption on max potentials via testing on dummies, without taking into account of fight types where movement and boss down times may affect overall DPS potentials.

However, if moving forward to 3.0 and the kind of gearing progression remains status quo, then we could see a rather significant gap with IL150 and higher sets. I don't think BRDs need that kind of adjustment to their skills like how SE have been adjusting some of the jobs right now, but at least ensure that BRD's gear scaling is up to par and consistent with the rest of the jobs so that future upgrades will not result in other DPS jobs's max DPS potential are on a run away from BRD's max potential.

[HiranaiVashai]

Read about half the first page, and actually use the browser's word finding tool.

Bard DPS can be fairly aweful... and painful... towards other jobs as it is. I've done dozens of ST runs, CT runs before it, done a decent share of coils 1 and 2... I don't see any reason how bard needs a boost, at all. As for measured results in ST runs, I have seen bards dominate in dps and total damage output, like high up. With only BLMs being a more dominant job followed by SMN, and occasionally an 'exceptional' MNK or DRG. I can't touch on Ninja's dps overall, but for those who actually adjusted pretty well and quickly to the job, they are pretty lethal in dps, even for the short time it's been out.

With 24 man raids like ST where mainly BLMs and BRDs tend to take the top 5 positions over multiple runs with different make ups of players (this is mainly DF Syrcus Tower), it would be hard to believe the 19 other players, Melee, caster, tank, healer or other dps. 'would suck' compared to a bard.

The word I searched for? Barrage. I can't believe no one has mentioned barrage in a post. Or at least my browser didn't find it properly spelled. As a main bard, here's my 2 cents on improving dps tremendously. Use Hawk's Eye > Barrage, like a marriage couple. Hawk's Eye is a 20 second ability that increases DEX (your ranged attack power) by 15%, and 'gaurantees all hits to land'. This isn't a joke of an ability at all. Healers get Attunement in PvP that increases evasion alot to a point where you almost dodge 'any' attack (and reduces damage by 90% but that doesn't matter here). So high, almost no attack lands, unless Hawk's Eye overrides it. Barrage, doubles auto-attacks dealt for 15 seconds, and the trait unlocked at 44 enhances that to 3x auto attack damage. Their cooldowns are synced up at 90 seconds. Splitting them can only be excused when using AoE attacks. Whenever the combination is up and you're dealing with bosses or mobs with high HP, use it... (But do pay attention to enmity, at the start of the fights, it can really rip hate quickly to a point where tanks struggle for stable hate).

Now I'm sure people have mentioned before, but I have heard some other bards don't realize exactly which songs give penalties, or rather not. Army's Paeon and Mages Ballad induce a penalty of 20% reduced damage. Foe requiem however, does not. It reduces Elemental resistances on foes. Might help 'Windbite' (wind based), Venomous bite and Flaming arrow (fire based). Poisons having a tendency to be aspected to a certain element, or at least water in FFXI (which I suspect Venomous bite be partial towards). But even if it doesn't boost your own dots, it will help out black mages a lot in damage, while you don't sacrifice any of your damage output for it. Black Mages in my opinion, are king in AoE attacks, and a bard helping with Foe boosts them to heights unattainable otherwise. This is or rather should be considered as additional DPS because of bards. While not as direct, it is as effective.

From my perspective, bards need to try and improve themselves constantly in terms of play as well as situations. Try to use most if not all abilities where it's applicable. Analyze the fights you do for patterns and plan on how to maximize your performance. This goes for song usage (no overuse and no lack of use) , flaming arrow usage and whether or not to use single target (including Barrage) or multiple target (including flaming arrow and Foe Requiem) abilities.

[Ooshima]

Bard DPS can be fairly aweful... and painful... towards other jobs as it is. I've done dozens of ST runs, CT runs before it, done a decent share of coils 1 and 2... I don't see any reason how bard needs a boost, at all. As for measured results in ST runs, I have seen bards dominate in dps and total damage output, like high up.

The moment I saw you used ST/CT runs as comparison....

[Rose-Wild]

The moment I saw you used ST/CT runs as comparison....

What about!? It's not like people afk in st and are not always trying their best. The best players ghater in ST.

[Ooshima]

What about!? It's not like people afk in st and are not always trying their best. The best players ghater in ST.

Are you even serious.

[Rose-Wild]

Are you even serious.

Is he? Are you?