I chose BRD for swift gameplay, if I wanted to cast I would have chosen a Mage.

[Intellion]

Though I apologize for hinging this again on wordplay (e.g. 'mechanics' vs. 'characteristic') I feel like I ought to ask: if you were to add actual mechanics to the job that would make the job more interesting without turning us into casters, what would they be?

If I was given the chance to expand on Bards without turning us to casters, I'd change it to something like this:

1.) Wanderer's Minuet = (Song. Insta-cast) Boosts the damage of all weaponskills by 20%. MP rapidly depletes while WM is turned on. Cannot be used with other songs. Mobility and auto attacks are retained even in WM. Skills are still insta-cast.

2.) Empyreal Arrow = Now usable outside of Minuet. Everything else can stay unchanged.

3.) Iron Jaws = Now usable outside of Minuet. Everything else can stay unchanged.

4.) Barrage = Returned to its 2.55 effects.

5.) Wide Volley/Rain of Death/Quick Nock = Returned to their 2.55 versions.

6.) Foe Requiem = Boosts caster damage by 30%. Buffed so that it doesn't get invalidated by the new Wanderer's Minuet.

7.) Mage's Ballad/Army's Paeon = Damage reduction can be increased to 20% again, just like 2.55, for balance purposes.

8.) Sidewinder = It can remain on its 3.01 version for balance purposes.

9.) Warden's Paean = Removed. Replaced by...

10.) Final Assault = Weaponskill. OGCD. Has a cooldown of 3 minutes. Depletes all of current MP to unleash an ultimate shot at a single target. Potency depends on how much of your max MP was depleted. For example, if 100% of your max MP is consumed, the potency would be 500. 99%-75% would be 300, 74%-50% would be 240, 49%-25% would be 170, and anything less than 25% of MP would only deal a measly 80 potency.

This core mechanic expansion forces you to sacrifice your MP either for party support or pumping out DPS, but never for both. If you choose to pump out high DPS despite already being a mobile run-and-gun class, you pay for it dearly with your MP and your party utility.


If SE changed Bards to this, I and many Bards would be happy because it expands on our core mechanics without making us overpower casters/melee or forcing us to become casters.