SB Bard Changes: Good or Bad? Thoughts?

[HyoMinPark]

"I don't even use the mobility, I just stand there anyway, I find myself recasting abilities thinking they were cancelled by movement"; none of these are issues with the current iteration of the class, but issues with acclimating to change. It'll come with time.

Going to respond to this, since it's a paraphase of a sentence in my post: The thinking I'm still interrupting casts when I move is just me needing to adjust to not having them. However, even before I got to Heavensward, back when I was 50 BRD or lower, I never moved around much. I would move to dodge AOEs, position myself closer to a mob if necessary (like for Quick Nock or Repelling Shot), reposition if the tank seemed to be unable to make up their mind which way to face the boss, etc., but I never moved around constantly like some of the BRDs I see. I stayed in one spot and only moved if I had to, not move just because I could. So my standing still isn't me needing to adjust from HW Bard--that's just how I've always played.

Anecdotal, of course, but I do know a few bards who play like I've always played: only moving when we had to, not moving just because we could.

It's actually similar to how archery is in real life, if you think about it. When you're standing still, you're able to put more power behind your arrow when you draw it back, as opposed to if you're moving. I know FFXIV isn't real life, but the cast times just always gave me the illusion of really drawing that arrow back, and firing it.

[Furious]

Going to respond to this, since it's a paraphase of a sentence in my post: The thinking I'm still interrupting casts when I move is just me needing to adjust to not having them. However, even before I got to Heavensward, back when I was 50 BRD or lower, I never moved around much. I would move to dodge AOEs, position myself closer to a mob if necessary (like for Quick Nock or Repelling Shot), reposition if the tank seemed to be unable to make up their mind which way to face the boss, etc., but I never moved around constantly like some of the BRDs I see. I stayed in one spot and only moved if I had to, not move just because I could. So my standing still isn't me needing to adjust from HW Bard--that's just how I've always played.

Anecdotal, of course, but I do know a few bards who play like I've always played: only moving when we had to, not moving just because we could.

It's actually similar to how archery is in real life, if you think about it. When you're standing still, you're able to put more power behind your arrow when you draw it back, as opposed to if you're moving. I know FFXIV isn't real life, but the cast times just always gave me the illusion of really drawing that arrow back, and firing it.

I don't think anyone moves just because they can, but pre-emptively moving means you are already moving out of an AoE you know is coming before it starts being cast.

As a direct analogy, pre-moving is like using the spell queue, while standing still and moving in reaction is like using a macro. Because you are already moving when the aoe starts being cast, you have the most possible time to get out of the aoe, while if you move only in response to the AoE, there is an overhead of atleast (ms it took you to notice the aoe + ms of your latency). There isn't a benefit to not moving when you don't have cast times.

As for your analogy to real world archery, I don't really do RP so I'm not interested in much more than how the mechanic feels to use in-game. Being forced to stand still is quantifiably less powerful than being able to move while doing the same thing.

[HyoMinPark]

I don't think anyone moves just because they can, but pre-emptively moving means you are already moving out of an AoE you know is coming before it starts being cast.

We're on different data centers, so perhaps you don't encounter this on yours, but on mine, I frequently see many bards just running back and forth, or in circles, around mobs or an arena, not to preemptively dodge, but just because they can move. So, yes, there are bards out there who flail around just because they can. I've encountered even more since Early Access.

There also is not a benefit to just moving around in circles around a boss just because you can either. The bards that remained bards after the Heavensward changes, all the good ones mastered how to stutter-step, and where to preemptively move before AOE casts just like you are saying we can do so now with no cast times.

As for the power of bards now: we lost mobility in Heavenward, and in turned gained an immense amount of personal DPS. With the Stormblood changes, we traded personal DPS for mobility. SE will not allow us to have both, and for me personally, I would rather stand still and feel stronger than have the ability to freely move and feel significantly weaker. This is my opinion though, and I'm already aware it's an unpopular one.

[Bardo]

There isn't a benefit to not moving when you don't have cast times.

Well, there can be... In the case of mechanics where spacing is important or if there are raid target line aoe's that you don't want to aim at party members.

Examples:
1) In the Zurvan (extreme) fight, after the boss goes up for soar, 6 players get targeted with an AoE that is unavoidable, and you want to stand still with correct spacing until after the AoE hits, then you move out of it.
2) Or how about Anchag in Amdapor Keep. The arena you fight in is quite small. In this fight the boss targets dps with 2 different AoE's. But you don't want the AoE's to hit the statues around the arena and you don't want the AoE's that target you to hit your healer. So this is another case where it's MUCH better to stand still and position the AoE's correctly than it is to move out of them quicker.

[Furious]

Well, there can be... In the case of mechanics where spacing is important or if there are raid target line aoe's that you don't want to aim at party members.

Examples:
1) In the Zurvan (extreme) fight, after the boss goes up for soar, 6 players get targeted with an AoE that is unavoidable, and you want to stand still with correct spacing until after the AoE hits, then you move out of it.
2) Or how about Anchag in Amdapor Keep. The arena you fight in is quite small. In this fight the boss targets dps with 2 different AoE's. But you don't want the AoE's to hit the statues around the arena and you don't want the AoE's that target you to hit your healer. So this is another case where it's MUCH better to stand still and position the AoE's correctly than it is to move out of them quicker.

And how is it that you get to the correct spacing when you are targetted with said skills?

DAMMIT, I KNOW THIS ONE