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

[Virgaeus]

What If we could use all the new skills without WM it would already be a step forward to help my fellow Bards like their Job...hmmm i kinda like the sound of that idea.
I think SE should try that.

[FallenArisen0990]

Sorry OP, it would piss me off seeing Bards just running around and jumping like damn tards. You want more damage? Steady your aim by standing still and shoot. This is the best I'm gonna get cuz SE is not gonna cut your damage or interrupt your attacks if you move.

[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.

[loreleidiangelo]

I don't understand why you would pop Clerics anywhere near a healing intensive phase. And the fairy's buff easily evens out the load with the other healer until you can switch back out, and I'm sure Lustrate followed by a quick Adlo is sufficient as well. Bene you obviously want to save for shit moments, unless you like popping it just because.

Why would you pop Minuet before a movement-heavy phase, then? I believe that particular poster was trying to draw that same comparison
- both jobs have to be careful about using a move that could penalize them if timed poorly.

[Virgaeus]

Sorry OP, it would piss me off that Bards just run around and jumping like damn tard. You want more damage? Steady your aim by standing still and shoot.

What I was trying to say is that they don't have to go for the 30% damage up given by WM if they want to use the other skills.
WM would still be there but not necessary to use them.
Bards will still have to turn it on to get the 30% up.

[Raiker]

Posting this for the wifey (hit her 20 post limit):

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?

"My initial suggestion would be this. Make WM a casted song (much like foe's) that lasts as long as Foe's would last based on MP roughly. For the sake of this post, let's say that Foe's lasts roughly 30 seconds. Okay so make WM last for roughly 30 seconds. In that time we keep our mobility and everything works like 2.X bard, but we get a 10% (ish) dmg boost to ONLY the bard's abilities. This should only work on the bard. After the timer runs out, it should take a lengthy amount of time for WM to be recast. (basically however long it would take us to regen from 0MP to Full MP as an example)

However, since the ability would be linked to a timer, we could still be free to use Foe's or Mage's Ballad. This would give us a boost to dmg, w/o overpowering us. This is the idea I would have used in place of the current WM. Adjust our dps potency as necessary to keep us in line w/ other DPS but you get the idea. Instead of making us a caster, allow us to boost our own dmg for a short period and then have a lengthy timer to reuse it. Much like say, battle litany or something. Then just let us have lower potency attacks to keep our dps levels in check based on our utility."

She also agreed with Intellion's version.

[Gallus]

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.


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.

You are basically asking for BRDs to stay the same. Your new minuette is basically an illusion, because it would either triviallize foe's requiem or be useless on the first place (depending on which one brings more damage onto the table), which by the way brings me to my next issue...drama on every raid because the BRD is being an elitist jerk and is using minuette instead of foe because this way their own DPS is being inflated more despite foe adding more real raid damage. This is a scenario I know SE wants to avoid at all costs.

[Raiker]

You are basically asking for BRDs to stay the same.

Yes, like all other classes that had something added to them. Other classes did not change completely.

[Gallus]

Yes, like all other classes that had something added to them. Other classes did not change completely.

You may want to have a conversation with a level 60 DRG.

[Lewtskie]

I don't understand why you would pop minuette on a movement intensive phase.

See what I did there...

Hey, I was just playing the fallacy on your overblown false claim. Besides, you started it with saying a Healer would pop Clerics during a healing phase, lol. Maybe you should relax a little.