Bard questions.

[Nadirah]

So among all the threads around here all I'm seeing without some real old digging is the "they broke my job" threads.

I need info.

Haven't played bard since 2.55, and these changes... Biggest two things? What the hell to do with Minuet, and what the hell to do with Barrage.

They changed Barrage and it seems every time I hit it, the buff immediately vanishes and the tooltip is pretty garbage with what it does so... Halp plz?

Thanks <3

[RyuDragnier]

Minuet should be on most of the time due to the 30% damage increase. I say most because you want that off whenever you need to do heavy dodging so you can keep damaging the boss (I curse charge times during such moments). As for Barrage, they changed it so your next weaponskill will hit 3 times in a row, but none will crit. However, because of the 3 times in a row, it seems to help Heavy Shot proc Straighter Shot really well. Whenever you unlock Empyreal Arrow, use Barrage with that, it's going to be your burst for the rest of the expansion from what I can tell (level 56 BRD, still working on hitting 60 with it).

[Geardagas]

What do do with wanderer's minuet: Turn it on and leave it on. I hated it at first, but now that i'm used to it I think the bard playstyle is funner than 2.X was. Literally the only time I turn it off is during Waukkeon's alternate phase and at some points in rav.

What do do with barrage: Use it on empyrial arrow, always.

[Kelevra]

Use Barrage exclusively with E Arrow.

Minuet is your friend...learn the playstyle...turn it on...and keep it on....as much as possible.

[Medieval]

Do not turn WM on and leave it on. That's terrible advice. While yes most fights allow you to keep it on for a majority of fights. You should be proficient at stance dancing for the times you are moving heavily.

[Nadirah]

I *really* am not liking how WM works with cast times vs recast times.

The cast times are too short to feel comfortable with the longer GCD in this game.

Its incredibly frustrating and feels weird. Reminds me of WoW when I'm playing a haste stacked Rsham in ICC during bloodlust(oh god that sucked) when the tank's getting wrecked. Cast times shorter than global, and it just feels.. bad. At least there haste reduced your global as well... Bleh.

Is there any way to turn off the error sounds? Without turning off all the rest.. because if I turn off system sounds(which also controls UI sounds.. I don't want to hear the clicks when I mouse over abilities or finish casts guys) I can't hear DF queue while tabbed out.. but if I leave it on I get to hear that lovely error sound when spamming abilities.. "can't cast that yet" grr..

/rant off



I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually and thanks for the clarification on Barrage. They really could have worded it better. "Your next weaponskill hits 2(3) times but cannot crit" or something.

it's 2 before the trait, 3 after.

[dragoelete]

I *really* am not liking how WM works with cast times vs recast times.

The cast times are too short to feel comfortable with the longer GCD in this game.

Its incredibly frustrating and feels weird. Reminds me of WoW when I'm playing a haste stacked Rsham in ICC during bloodlust(oh god that sucked) when the tank's getting wrecked. Cast times shorter than global, and it just feels.. bad. At least there haste reduced your global as well... Bleh.

Is there any way to turn off the error sounds? Without turning off all the rest.. because if I turn off system sounds(which also controls UI sounds.. I don't want to hear the clicks when I mouse over abilities or finish casts guys) I can't hear DF queue while tabbed out.. but if I leave it on I get to hear that lovely error sound when spamming abilities.. "can't cast that yet" grr..

/rant off



I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually and thanks for the clarification on Barrage. They really could have worded it better. "Your next weaponskill hits 2(3) times but cannot crit" or something.

it's 2 before the trait, 3 after.

actually the weapon skill part is only active in WM cause on my archer (not bard yet) it still makes it work on auto attack... so no its only 3 times cause if you have WM then you have the trait... and no you don't want it on all the time (looking at bards in PvP that cant even do anything while in WM...)

[Medieval]

snipe

Join the club. I have yet to meet a veteran bard who likes WM. Majority of people don't like WM, we just are forced to live with it.

[SantaClaw]

Let's not forget that you can't use auto-attack while WM is on.
You know how much damage you can deal with auto-attack?

[Nadirah]

I know all about the auto attack thing.

It just feels weird. When the cast time is done I want to queue up the next but can't because there's another full second before gcd is up.

I'm guessing skill speed just makes this even worse?