Bard still seems really good (and media tour info seems incomplete and will change)

[Noitems]

In regards to Titania I honestly wouldn't use that as a basis for how the job would play even if any information pops up. E3 is open to the general public so you'll get a mix of people brand to xiv and those who are assuring they get the clear for the shirt. Let alone with it being not at max level it's tough to make a call on it.

I'd say the media tour (while potencies may have changed) is the best source for information as influencers were the only ones there. So those people at least have a better grasp on how the job plays and can offer better information. Until we have the expac in our hands I've been using that as a main root to figure out how each job will honestly play.

[Cetonis]

I don't think anybody was talking about using Titania feedback as a source of info on how the job plays? We know how the job plays anyway. But yes, the absence of someone at E3 that was interested in collecting data for us is hardly a relevant fact. Most jobs did not get much of any info out of E3.

All I was saying was that we got a visual of a level 74 Bard hotbar, and that it did not have Bloodletter charges. We're a little loaded on traits and such already so it'd be weird for it to come along later, but you never know.

[SaitoHikari]

We got a brief video of someone playing Bard, and could see that there were not BL charges available.

In retrospect, it is possible that it's some higher-than-level-74 trait, since it was Titania normal they were fighting.

If BL charges are actually a thing and it's higher than level 74, the only place it would make sense is if it was inserted into the level 76 Bite Mastery trait.

Because let's face it, media tour Bite Mastery might as well not exist.

[Cetonis]

If BL charges are actually a thing and it's higher than level 74, the only place it would make sense is if it was inserted into the level 76 Bite Mastery trait.

Because let's face it, media tour Bite Mastery might as well not exist.

I think those are at 76 because they thematically tie in with Burst Shot (which is also 76). So Burst + unrelated trait would surprise me, but yeah.

We'll probably find Bite Mastery more helpful than it's getting credit for, though sure it'd be neat if Iron Jaws got in on the fun too. (Reducing the cost of early re-applies would be a thumbs up also)

[SaitoHikari]

So the job guide is out.

It's as I thought, Bite Mastery actually extended to Iron Jaws too.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/jobguide/bard/

No news about Bloodletter stacking, however.

AND WE STILL DON'T KNOW HOW APEX ARROW WORKS.

[Cetonis]

Yup. No BL charges is mind-boggling. I guess the job guide page was wrong for pretty much all of Stormblood though, so last ditch hope that they just messed up.

[Kryogenik]

So the job guide is out.

It's as I thought, Bite Mastery actually extended to Iron Jaws too.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/jobguide/bard/

No news about Bloodletter stacking, however.

AND WE STILL DON'T KNOW HOW APEX ARROW WORKS.

After a bit of working out, Apex Arrow is kinda clever.

To put it into words that are easier to understand than their official explanation, basically at level 80 you get the "Soul Voice Gauge" which, like other jobs such as WAR, increases as you perform actions.
In this case, when you get a repertoire proc on any song, the gauge increases by 5. Once it gets to 20, Apex Arrow becomes available to use, and upon using Apex Arrow, drains the gauge back to 0.
You can keep increasing the Soul Voice Gauge up to 100, the higher the number the greater the potency of Apex Arrow, but no matter how high the gauge is, using Apex Arrow always resets it back to 0.

Will be interesting to see when people get some numbers on efficiency, whether you spam hit it every time it hits 20, let it get to ~50, or try and get it to 100 before using.

It doesn't say Barrage won't work with it, but it doesn't say it does...

Hope that makes it easier to understand!

[Cetonis]

Thanks for the effort, but we know these things

What we don't know is whether it starts at 500 for 20 gauge, or ends at 500 for 100 gauge (which it did in media tour), and in the former case how it scales past 20.

If it's 500 for 100, firstly it'll be a big newbie trap because if it's 100 for 20 in turn then using it at 20 would never be a good idea (yet it's usable anyway). Secondly, it'd be pretty boring, just another button you press when the thing fills and that's that.

If it starts at 500, that feels quite aggressive in terms of power level given it's an AoE with no dropoff, so that seems unlikely too. So we can't really appeal to common sense here because both options seem wrong.

And it definitely does not work with Barrage. Barrage only does single target weaponskills.

[AxelDH]

We don't get Bloodletter charges, but we get Empyreal Arrow charges instead... In PVP

[SaitoHikari]

Okay, I'm currently level 77, and I don't think Army's Muse and Apex Arrow are going to matter enough to make a difference in my assessment so far, but...

The new Bard feels a bit off. The previous incarnation of Bard rewarded quick decision making along with balancing support, but the new Bard is now majorly lacking in both. IMO we should have kept Foe Requiem, because as it stands, all we really have for support is Troubadour (which is an effect shared by two other classes), Nature's Minne (the cooldown now being so high that it went from 'useful' to 'niche', even if the healing effect now applies to all healing instead of just GCD heals), and Battle Voice (which for some ass backwards reason still doesn't work on ourselves, since there's literally no good reason balance-wise for this to remain the case anymore since we lost our semi-permanent 10% natural crit boost).

I get that the devs wanted to make us hybrid support/full fledged DPS to make way for Dancer, but I think they balanced it poorly and took too much of the support. Like, I literally feel like dead weight inside of dungeons support-wise, compared to what I could do before.

That said, it's easier to inflict a lot of damage as the new Bard (I'd honestly argue we're overtuned in this category, but at the same time, the only people still playing Bard right now know what the hell they're actually doing), but the combat flow feels like it's missing something. There's less to juggle, and even losing Misery's End feels weird as hell to all the veteran Bards out there. I sort of feel like we've regressed back to the same thing that made people dislike MCH, and it's basically waiting for procs. Well, Bard has always been about maintaining and waiting for procs, but we can't manipulate it as much anymore. Though admittedly that was the cost to pay for now being independent from the crit-boosting classes.

And I imagine early game Bard probably feels worse than ever before, considering all that. All those skills being pruned and nothing to replace them for the early levels. Bard AoE is exactly the same from level 45-72 (or 68 if you count Enhanced Empyreal Arrow during Ballad) and it barely changes even then, and Bard has to wait until level 76 to have a Straighter Shot proc chance that isn't total crap.