Why is BRD considered "support"

[Mycow8me]

WAIT... WUT?!

Bard is a DPS in this game and anyone who says otherwise doesn't even know what a "support" is... A "support" job is practically either a jack of all trades or a jack of few and a master of NONE. It can switch between a few helping abilities and types within the moment for strategy.

This game doesn't even have support jobs, they were eliminated in this game. You're either dps, healer, or tank. There are no in-betweens. Some of us actually want SE to bring "support" jobs back, but they wont.

[Maero]

Well all classes have some form of support just not like that of Bard and machinist.
What actually would be unfair is if Bard did as much damage as the other classes plus have all the utility it currently has, so it is their way of balancing.
Also true about damage, in the right hands Bard is not as low of damage as most seem to think, issue being their is so many bad Bards, lol.

[RiceisNice]

I consider myself support for the only reason - DRG and his buff, SMN and his virus, NIN and his Goad and Trick attacks are all kinda replacable, while you always (or almost always XD) need 1 BRD or MCH in progress party.

I don't mind being the lower DPS in exchange for always having a slot in raid party. The only thing I mind are people who expect BRD to do the same damage as other DPS jobs (clearly not talking about A2 Savage here or Ninjas).

If we're breaking it down to progression, a DRG is just as much needed (due to disembowel buffing piercing, which MCH and BRD do and they're required classes) as well as DRK (to push dps moreso than paladin) because one of the biggest gate to early-progression is dps checks. When you factor overgearing, you get more leeway and BRD/MCH also drop out of becoming "mandatory" when healers become more efficient with their mana and outgoing damage is lessened due to armor.

The matter of fact is, BRD and MCH already get a damage reduction when they use their regen abilties. It really boils down to ; Why do they do lower damage? Their mobility thing isn't that much relevant nowadays, and if it's because of their support, it's double dipping and honestly you're not really encouraged to keep it on anyway because of the mana cost and it being shared between TP and MP (and magic resistance in case of bard). It becomes really prevalent outside of cutting edge progression (look at EX primals on 3.0 release).

It also doesn't help that the devs themselves have jumped from side to side in regards to bard's role; they'd first call it a dps class and they need to be able to deal damage to justify their spot, now it's a dps-support class that deals less damage because of the support (which both are not exclusive and double dipping as mentioned above)... And well the party composition hasn't changed at all.

[Warlyx]

If we're breaking it down to progression, a DRG is just as much needed (due to disembowel buffing piercing, which MCH and BRD do and they're required classes) as well as DRK

War is the most needed imo , -10% dmg taken , Slashing debuff , awesome burst (fell cleave ) , good aoe , can regen TP (on Deliverance stance) , and on top of that is a tank job :P

Drg top dps , BL , and piercing debuff , Nin trick attack , goad , and agro modifiers , MCH/BRD because tp/mp regen , then caster slot usually SMN because they are awesome now , best aoe , good burst and good sustain.

The matter of fact is, BRD and MCH already get a damage reduction when they use their regen abilties. now it's a dps-support class that deals less damage because of the support (which both are not exclusive and double dipping as mentioned above)... And well the party composition hasn't changed at all.

yeah something i never understood , BRD (MCH now too) did lower dmg by default (looking at you BOW/GUN WEAPON DMG) because it had support skills , that outside hard content arent even needed , in 4 man w/o caster a BRD put foe for the healer , but the fun thing is that when using that support (foe excluded) they lose even more dmg....

[xXRaineXx]

WAIT... WUT?!

Bard is a DPS in this game and anyone who says otherwise doesn't even know what a "support" is... A "support" job is practically either a jack of all trades or a jack of few and a master of NONE. It can switch between a few helping abilities and types within the moment for strategy.

This game doesn't even have support jobs, they were eliminated in this game. You're either dps, healer, or tank. There are no in-betweens. Some of us actually want SE to bring "support" jobs back, but they wont.

The devs clearly stated on numerous occasion that Bards are and still is support. So either everyone including the devs are all retards, or you're simple a narrow minded bigot.

Why there is no 'support' class implemented into the game is because of the fact that it will make DF waiting times worse due to more slots. It's possible in the future if enough classes are implemented into the game, that a support slot will be added. But for now it's meaningless to add it.

But Bards are in fact considered and played as support. That hasn't changed and probably won't change.

[RiceisNice]

War is the most needed imo , -10% dmg taken , Slashing debuff , awesome burst (fell cleave ) , good aoe , can regen TP (on Deliverance stance) , and on top of that is a tank job :P

Warrior is the off tank for any content, I'd just thought that'd be a given. It further reinforces the point that BRD/MCH aren't the only jobs that become "mandatory" in cutting edge progression.

[UnstablePersonality]

True facts though.....bard LB sucks on damage terms...lol do you know how sad it is to watch your LB hit the second boss on The Vault head on and do no noticeable damage what so ever?

[Eidolon]

Simply put, Bard/Mechanist DPS is so much lower than other Damage Dealers that they decided to title them 'support' to prevent themselves from looking bad by association.

(Kidding aside - real part below)

To say the least, Bards/Mechanists are support classes. They offer up Damage but never quite at the levels of the other DPS - unless the Bard/MEchanist severely overgears them. Assuming equal levels of gear, however, a Bard/Mechanist just won't offer up as much DPS as the other jobs.


This is even more appearant in things like 4-man dungouns. on all 3 of my tanks (yes - even paladins) I could outdo Bards/Mechanists in DPS on bosses.

The trade off for this lower damage, however, is two fold:

1) They get easily sustained ranged dps (Easy to click off gauss / wanderer's, and a good support will)
2) They get support abilities to enhance the parties they are in (They are the only class with an AoE regeneration of TP/MP. Their ability to make enemies vulnerable to physical/magical is gravy on top, but it shared somewhat with NIN - who is the lower of the three melee DPS but offers up limited physical vuln and limited single target TP regeneration)

I do hope one day that SE will add in a pure-DPS variant, however considering the player's reaction to Gauss Barrel and Wanderer's Minuet, I'm not sure if they'll ever be able to add a Ranger with standing cast-times (Think more in line with BLM cast times) without whiplash, and it's a balancing act to make sure a pure mobility class wouldnt' be able to out-dps others because then that's all you'd want to take.

It's a rough situation to be sure.

[Avidria]

True facts though.....bard LB sucks on damage terms...lol do you know how sad it is to watch your LB hit the second boss on The Vault head on and do no noticeable damage what so ever?

At least our lb3 looks super stylish.

[CosmicKirby]

At least our lb3 looks super stylish.

MCH LB3 looks way better though.