Dear All Bards,

[TheWaywardWind]

Foe's Requiem. Use it.
Battle Voice. Use it.

It makes me die a little bit on the inside whenever I go into WoD/ST/CT and not a single one of the eight bards in the alliance wants to play Foe's. Come on, guys.

[Reokudo]

Those damned spoony bards.

[monochromicorn]

A bard, actually using a song? Surely, you jest.

On a more serious note, bards that don't play foes even without a black mage are only making their own dps lower. Sure, it's not going to make or break an encounter, but several bard skills have an elemental aspect to them, so foes will up bard dps slightly, and it's based off mp, and bards always need mp, right? Bards that don't play foes even for themselves, or when there are several bards, really just kind of confuse me.

[Zumi]

A bard, actually using a song? Surely, you jest.

On a more serious note, bards that don't play foes even without a black mage are only making their own dps lower. Sure, it's not going to make or break an encounter, but several bard skills have an elemental aspect to them, so foes will up bard dps slightly, and it's based off mp, and bards always need mp, right? Bards that don't play foes even for themselves, or when there are several bards, really just kind of confuse me.

foes has no effect on any bard skills the elemental ones count as physical even theough they seem like they should be elemental.

[Welsper59]

On a more serious note, bards that don't play foes even without a black mage are only making their own dps lower. Sure, it's not going to make or break an encounter, but several bard skills have an elemental aspect to them, so foes will up bard dps slightly, and it's based off mp, and bards always need mp, right? Bards that don't play foes even for themselves, or when there are several bards, really just kind of confuse me.

So about that, I'll just provide you with incite on why I think it happens a lot. I'd like to point out beforehand though that BRD should sing, and often... though trash in most raids is usually meh due to the speed that things tend to die. It's pretty simple. Let's start from the role outlook and spell/ability.

Firstly, as a DPS role, your primary function is to attack... no other way to look at it. So people tend to get into that mindset simply by being a DPS role. Start your attack at the beginning, and any sort of buffs are generally either instant or prepped before the fight (which sort of leads into the next).

Second, and probably biggest reason, are the faults of FR. We're taught (either by others or our own curiosity) early on that FR is bad to use when we first get it and on. It pulls mobs, meaning you might have accidentally wiped your group or pulled a boss too early, so you tend to not keep that thing cast much at all. Then there's the fact that it has a somewhat long cast, and for a class that has no cast time for things (besides songs), it's a rather foreign concept and seen as more of a burden than otherwise. Not exactly the best outlook, but it's pretty easy to see why people might think that.

Among other things, SE just did a rather sloppy job at making songs an important part of rotation. Then again, they also designed content with the idea that not all groups will have a BRD. Honestly, it's an implementation thing as to why it's not seen as all-around important, though truthfully, it isn't. It's just a matter of taking advantage of things, similar to DPSing as a healer when you can.

As for voice though, it's really an iffy subject on that. If it weren't on a 5min cooldown, you'd probably see more use of it. I tend to not use it too much, depending on the group, as I've come across MANY situations where I needed to use voice + ballad... especially in places like CT/ST/WoD.

[kyuven]

A bard, actually using a song? Surely, you jest.

On a more serious note, bards that don't play foes even without a black mage are only making their own dps lower. Sure, it's not going to make or break an encounter, but several bard skills have an elemental aspect to them, so foes will up bard dps slightly, and it's based off mp, and bards always need mp, right? Bards that don't play foes even for themselves, or when there are several bards, really just kind of confuse me.

Bards do not use magic damage. Foe's enhances magic damage. The following classes deal magic damage:
Black Mage
Summoner
White Mage
Scholar
Ninja

The following classes do NOT use magic damage:
Bard
Monk
Dragoon
Warrior
Paladin

[AskaRay]

I p much always start a boss battle with my macro'd Foe + Battle voice.

In fact, I ran into a problem today during WoD.... me and the other bard ACTUALLY tried to cast Foe's at the same time :O
That never happens, sometimes (usually) I'm the only one singing.........

[Saseal]

I p much always start a boss battle with my macro'd Foe + Battle voice.

In fact, I ran into a problem today during WoD.... me and the other bard ACTUALLY tried to cast Foe's at the same time :O
That never happens, sometimes (usually) I'm the only one singing.........

Now that I've sort of been forced to main Bard, lately.... (injured hand + WHMing is a little more difficult)
Pretty much same as AskaRay, except I don't have them macro'd. I'm always singing, when on Bard. I usually end up being the only one out of a whole raid >_> but occasionally surprised when I see Foes already on when I start singing it. *Stepcancel*
I tend to save Battle Voice for emergencies, though... (like shit hitting fans and healers needing MP badly) or situations like Odin trial.

But yeah. >_> I've also been in raids where there are tons of bards and yet I'm the only one singing. I'm usually inwardly flipping tables at the irony.
Once my mp depletes, no one picks up the singing and it stays down until I feel my mp's come back to a point of usefulness (and not singing something else).

I think the most interesting multi-bard raid setup I've seen was my playing Foes.... then the other bard playing Ballad (while no one needed mp) all during/at the same time. It felt like my Foes was up for quite a while due to ballad's regen, but I'm not 100% sure if it actually effected while both played at the same time. I haven't mimic'd this, though, as I don't know if it's considered more effective or not for that setup - vs Playing Foes till mp end, and the other bard picking up where the other left off/about to stop.

[AskaRay]

I think the most interesting multi-bard raid setup I've seen was my playing Foes.... then the other bard playing Ballad (while no one needed mp) all during/at the same time. It felt like my Foes was up for quite a while due to ballad's regen, but I'm not 100% sure if it actually effected while both played at the same time. I haven't mimic'd this, though, as I don't know if it's considered more effective or not for that setup - vs Playing Foes till mp end, and the other bard picking up where the other left off/about to stop.

Ballad definitely affects you while you're playing Foe's. I've seen it happen.
I mean, I'm not sure if it's WORTH IT.... maybe if everyone else is spewing magic left and right, but Foe's definitely lasts at least twice as long, if not longer, with another's Ballad running.

[Saseal]

Ballad definitely affects you while you're playing Foe's. I've seen it happen.
I mean, I'm not sure if it's WORTH IT.... maybe if everyone else is spewing magic left and right, but Foe's definitely lasts at least twice as long, if not longer, with another's Ballad running.

Okay, then I'm not crazy in thinking it seemed a hell of a lot longer xD;
I'm not sure either, considering Balled does take DPS down quite a notch.... but could also counter in that it keeps magey DPS higher for longer duration..... o_oa
I can't tell if it would be a somewhat even tradeoff (or more), or if just ending up with less overall party DPS output than if just trading on/off Foes...