Ways to fix BRD and MCH in a realistic way

[Intellion]

This is what i'm hoping the bards will understand, i totally support changes like the ones you are saying.

Please now follow me, i am no lvl 60 bard, i'm really stupid and all but take some time to really think about what i am going to say.
SE made a pretty clear choice with Gauss Barrel and Wanderer's Minuet and that is: "We don't want ranged physical classes being able to move everywhere, everytime in total freedom"

Why they made this choice? (The bomb is coming)

If you ever played another DPS other than bard in 2.0 you should have noticed that being a bard in AOE heavy fights was an easier job than being any other DPS in the same situation.
I think that is the reason, and i also think you'll not have your mobility back (and i agree with that)

Thats why i think Wanderer and Gauss could be reconsidered about many aspects but not about the mobility, that is totally cool from my point of view.

I don't think so.

If you actually knew how to play Bards properly post 2.0, especially around 2.5, you'd see that there was nothing "overpowered" about the class. Past 2.0, Bard was a completely balanced and fair class for what it was.

We could move and rapid fire simultaneously, and we had some nice utility songs, but the cost we had to pay was our damage, and to an extent, our durability. But we were fine with that, since mobility was and is still the defining name of this job, not raw damage.

Were AoE-heavy fights easier as a Bard in ARR? Not really. I had both BRD and NIN at 50 by 2.55, and didn't really notice any difference in difficulty between raid bosses. Sure, NIN had to come close and some AoEs were tricky to dodge at melee range, but there were also PLENTY of AoEs that were far harder to dodge at range, meaning that some attacks actually felt easier to dodge as NIN than BRD. Plus, casters and melee effortlessly pumped out much more DPS than us, and we just had to live with it. But at least we were mobile and very flexible. So in the end, everything balanced out perfectly well.

Want a living proof that Bards were balanced in 2.55? If mobility was so "OMG OVERPOWERED nerf pls", then how come a 4-Bard DPS party was undesirable or even considered asinine in places like Second Coil or Final Coil? Why were there even moments when a second Bard would be dismissed in those raids in exchange for a melee or caster?

Simple answer, really: because mobility is NOT overpowered, at least not after the post-2.0 nerfs that Bards already got.

So your claim that "Bards don't deserve mobility" because it's too "OP?" It doesn't hold up, because you literally just took away the only thing that made the class stand out. Since it's been proven that ALL classes have some sort of utility, you can't count that as a Bard exclusive. So in ARR, these are what defined the different DPS classes:

Melee: High-powered, instant melee attacks. Mobile.
Casters: High-powered ranged spells with casting times. Immobile.
Ranged: Low-powered, instant ranged attacks. Mobile.

As you can see, it's a perfectly balanced "triangle" that sorts itself out.

In 3.0, this is now how DPS classes look like:

Melee: High-powered, insta-cast melee attacks. Mobile.
Casters: High-powered ranged spells with casting times. Immobile.
Ranged: Low-powered ranged spells with casting times. Immobile.

Ranged DPS had their only defining point taken away unjustly, and have now effectively become inferior casters should they be forced to adopt Minuet/Gauss Barrel. Might as well play a caster.

But wait! Many Bards chose to roll as Ranged DPS and not as Casters when they first started pre-Heavensward! Many of them also have BLM or SMN at level 0! Surely, it's a BRILLIANT idea to force them into inferior caster roles against their wishes!

Hooray for "good" game design!


Remember the saying: "If it's not broken, don't fix it."

You should, because in this case, SE thought it would be "wise" to "fix" a completely balanced class, and only ended up destroying it.

There's no "ifs" or "buts." The "Bard-" actually, no. Let's be honest here. This class is a Ranger, not a Bard. The Ranger is built from the ground up as a mobile run and gunner, not as a spell caster. It's been like that since 2.0, and it should stay like that even in 3.0 and beyond. That is a fact. If you actually know how to play Bards properly (aka have mastered it), this shouldn't even be put up for question.

Is it acceptable to add cast times to melee? No.
Is it acceptable to nerf casters to melee range? No.
So why should it be acceptable for Bards (and MCH) to have their only trump card, mobility, taken away from them, when there's already more than enough checks and balances in place back in 2.55 to even it out?