Bard. What if Straight Shot "proc" was not rng?

[Snowaeth]

But what you suggested is a buff. Right now bards have a 20% chance to proc refulgent arrow. So a 1 in 5. In an ideal world of averages you would get a proc every 5 heavy shots. What you want is a proc every 3 heavy shots. Also, classes should be balanced in relation to each other. Bards currently significantly outperforms its sister class - it is easy to see why people are upset with what you are asking. You would also need to consider how having a guaranteed system would effect raid dps. If a bard can guarantee refulgent arrow proc, then the best will line them up with raid buffs etc leading to an even bigger increase in dps. I don't personally have a problem with refulgent arrow having a guaranteed system. It just means it would need to have a potency drop from 300 to 250.

Yes it would result into a buff if implemented without potency changes.
The reason why I suggest 3 instead of 5 hits to mimic the current 20% rate is, because right now you always have the chance to proc it and delaying it to 5 would loose the fun of it more so.
And yes if it's every 3 it would come paired with a potency loss either to RA itself or another place, I'm pretty sure I mentioned that.

The important part imo is to look at fun/game-play first though and tweaking potencies to acceptable numbers afterward.
Not letting potency numbers get in the way of improved mechanics, since you can always tweak numbers to end up at the same total dps done afterward.

[Jybril]

Please don't touch BRD. It's one of the most balanced jobs, if not the most right now.
We need to look at MCH first and foremost, please! BRD can probably be better but
not priority.

[Snowaeth]

Please don't touch BRD. It's one of the most balanced jobs, if not the most right now.
We need to look at MCH first and foremost, please! BRD can probably be better but
not priority.

And when should we start looking at possible bard improvements exactly?
Only after other jobs are changed?

Or maybe, just maybe, bards that actually play their job (and possibly don't know enough about the other jobs to feel inclined to give feedback on jobs that they don't play enough) can already accumulate feedback about possible future improvements.
Then when devs are done changing other jobs (since bard would not be touched until then as per your wish) the feedback given now would still apply since bard wouldn't be touched.
And then devs could have an idea as to what bards would like improved on their job when it's time again to do so or when resources allow for simultaneous job changes.

[Jilliebeans]

And when should we start looking at possible bard improvements exactly?
Only after other jobs are changed?

dont want to pop ur bubble BUT what u are asking is possibly wont happen at all OR for a VERY long time, it just the fact that majority of people are "enjoying" brd the way it is right now, there is no need to change the class or in ur "word".. buff it. BRD is perfectly fine the way it is, it a support dps class with DECENT amount of dmg and DECENT support utilities, improve the class will just make the class "unbalance" and defeat the purpose of the class role.

[Jybril]

And when should we start looking at possible bard improvements exactly?
Only after other jobs are changed?

Or maybe, just maybe, bards that actually play their job (and possibly don't know enough about the other jobs to feel inclined to give feedback on jobs that they don't play enough) can already accumulate feedback about possible future improvements.
Then when devs are done changing other jobs (since bard would not be touched until then as per your wish) the feedback given now would still apply since bard wouldn't be touched.
And then devs could have an idea as to what bards would like improved on their job when it's time again to do so or when resources allow for simultaneous job changes.

I main BRD as a DPS and I love how it is. It's a legit Support DPS now. So, BRDs are fine in my eyes. I want them to look at other jobs.
Like I said, can it do with some tweaks? Sure, but not now. MCH has been in a bad spot for years.
I just rather them focus other much needed love jobs (MCH/SMN) then overtune BRD...They'll just end up
overtuning then nerfing it to the ground. :/

To respond your question to me - Not now, not for a loooong time even.

[Elnidfse]

And when should we start looking at possible bard improvements exactly?
Or maybe, just maybe, bards that actually play their job (and possibly don't know enough about the other jobs to feel inclined to give feedback on jobs that they don't play enough) can already accumulate feedback about possible future improvements.

I gave feedback for MCH and they made the job feel worse. Careful what you wish for. That's comedy

[FateAudax]

Look at all the non-main Bard players commenting in this thread. Yet, they wonder why I go to their "complain" thread and tell them their jobs are fine, just git gud.

If you all are happily coming into other job's thread and tell us our job is fine when you're not even main-ing the job. Then don't cry when others does the same to your job thread.

[Blacktestament7]

I agree but that's me. I don't see the issue with the suggestion and imo any change to make damage more consistent instead of luck based or random is good in my book. I used to main monk and now I barely touch the class at all because of the changes they made and that godawful double RNG proc they forced in the class.

[SaitoHikari]

I'm a Bard main, and I'm of the opinion that Bard is currently broken, although that's likely due to the devs not being able to compensate for the fact that optimizing our RNG basically lets us catch up with other classes that should be doing far more damage than us under normal circumstances (something I can't fault the devs for, it's hard to balance around RNG), while MCH at the moment can't even do that at all. And it's only going to become even more noticeable as our crit rate increases throughout Stormblood.

When the fixes for the other jobs come, then I'd at least want to see the following occur:

- Barrage: Adjusted so that the number of strikes by a single weaponskill is increased from 2 -> 3.
- Enhanced Barrage: Now immediately triggers Straighter Shot upon activation. (The old effect is now built into the base version of Barrage, as seen above.)
- Army's Paeon: Now has an additional effect of increasing critical hit rate by 2.5% per Repertoire stack, stacking for a +10% increase. Also boosts Straighter Shot proc rate by 10% regardless of the amount of Repertoire stacks.

Paeon as it is now is nothing more than a filler stance, since its procs don't involve any instant cooldown resetting or allows exclusive use of a new attack that makes the other two songs so potent. It's a significant design issue when EVERY Bard argues against starting a fight with Paeon instead of the other two songs. Instead of giving Paeon its own variation of that, however, it'd be better to differentiate it by letting Paeon act as a battery to supercharge procs for the next song used afterwards, so long as Iron Jaws is reapplied just before you swap songs. And it'd have its own clearly visible offensive identity by letting Refulgent Arrow proc more often during Paeon than the other two songs.

[FateAudax]

- Army's Paeon: Now has an additional effect of increasing critical hit rate by 2.5% per Repertoire stack, stacking for a +10% increase. Also boosts Straighter Shot proc rate by 10% regardless of the amount of Repertoire stacks.

I agree with you regarding the Paeon change. I did suggested an exact same changes to be made to Paeon but at a lower crit bonus.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...99#post4293099

If the idea of Paeon increasing crit rate is too overpowered (probably is for some players here who probably doesn't even play a Bard), then perhaps it could increase the chance of Heavy Shot proc-ing Refulgent Arrow by x% per repertoire.