Yoshi-P Sanpo comments re: Bard

[SaitoHikari]

1) Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't all jobs have a Mp bar regardless if they can utilize it? Rather get a skill that increases Soul gauge than altering Bard to manage Mp for their 1 skill so we can use it for our openers instead of getting lucky with procs. Its not a awful idea just a odd choice to use MP

I'm just going to address this part as I am somewhat in agreement with the rest, though my main point is that Bard really doesn't have much control over their gameplay this expansion compared to the previous.

Bard used to utilize their MP bar with Foe Requiem, now they don't anymore. I admit it's a bit of a flavor thing to have something that uses our MP bar again, but I feel it would have been a lot easier and a lot less problematic to just use our MP bar instead of coding a whole new gauge for just one skill.

Though Cetonis brought up an interesting point here and at the Balance discord - that ShB Bard currently feels like it's a level 80 synced down version of a level 90 next expansion Bard. This expansion didn't really add anything compelling to Bard at all, but it did lay out a potential foundation for next expansion (because we're obviously going to get a single target Apex Arrow and maybe an AoE Refulgent Arrow). It's literally the only justification we have for Apex Arrow currently existing as is, like they are balancing it around the existence of a future skill we don't even have yet (with it being on the GCD and having such low potency for the effort required to even use it, because a single target variant of it that is intended to be used with Barrage might be coming later).

That kind of feeling might be why Bard feels disjointed right now.

[ItMe]

I'm just going to address this part as I am somewhat in agreement with the rest, though my main point is that Bard really doesn't have much control over their gameplay this expansion compared to the previous.

[...]

That kind of feeling might be why Bard feels disjointed right now.

That def hit the nail on the head in terms of how I feel.

[Jirah]

I'm just going to address this part as I am somewhat in agreement with the rest, though my main point is that Bard really doesn't have much control over their gameplay this expansion compared to the previous.

Bard used to utilize their MP bar with Foe Requiem, now they don't anymore. I admit it's a bit of a flavor thing to have something that uses our MP bar again, but I feel it would have been a lot easier and a lot less problematic to just use our MP bar instead of coding a whole new gauge for just one skill.

Though Cetonis brought up an interesting point here and at the Balance discord - that ShB Bard currently feels like it's a level 80 synced down version of a level 90 next expansion Bard. This expansion didn't really add anything compelling to Bard at all, but it did lay out a potential foundation for next expansion (because we're obviously going to get a single target Apex Arrow and maybe an AoE Refulgent Arrow). It's literally the only justification we have for Apex Arrow currently existing as is, like they are balancing it around the existence of a future skill we don't even have yet (with it being on the GCD and having such low potency for the effort required to even use it, because a single target variant of it that is intended to be used with Barrage might be coming later).

That kind of feeling might be why Bard feels disjointed right now.

The Term 'Halved baked" comes to mind actually. I do agree BRD didnt get much substantial changes some might argue BRD for got ripped off with its role action removed like refresh, Troubadour being nerfed to a boring defense skill, Foes being axed, Song buffs getting nerfed, potency nerf, ect. But if you dislike Bard due to lack of control due to it being proc based (Much Like Dancer being pure rng based) idk if bard will ever be good to you or be streamlined to oblivion, that being shrunk to a nub to a boring safe rotation.

I still love it and its my preferred Ranged sadly, but has enormous room for improvement so much so as its impossible for the devs to just gie it a shallow upgrade and move on

[SaitoHikari]

The Term 'Halved baked" comes to mind actually. I do agree BRD didnt get much substantial changes some might argue BRD for got ripped off with its role action removed like refresh, Troubadour being nerfed to a boring defense skill, Foes being axed, Song buffs getting nerfed, potency nerf, ect. But if you dislike Bard due to lack of control due to it being proc based (Much Like Dancer being pure rng based) idk if bard will ever be good to you or be streamlined to oblivion, that being shrunk to a nub to a boring safe rotation.

I still love it and its my preferred Ranged sadly, but has enormous room for improvement so much so as its impossible for the devs to just gie it a shallow upgrade and move on

Oh, I still love bard, but I'm trying to say is that while SB Bard still had over-reliance on RNG, said RNG could be manipulated in our favor due to our reliance on crit rate. Now that it's a mere flat 35/40%, with no skills to manipulate the proc rate higher compared to being able to take advantage of the party critical hit rate buffs from before, that control was wrested away from us with nothing to make up for it. Being able to snapshot party buffs into our Iron Jaws DoTs was a big part of SB Bard, and now most Bards will tell you not to even bother refreshing DoTs early after a certain point anymore. A whole layer of complexity just gone. This specific kind of RNG is basically the exact same problem MCH had in SB that made them so unpopular there, except arguably worse because MCH at least had the reload skills that could force procs. All Bard has is Emperyal.

Or, well, look at it this way. The vast majority of the complaints appear to come from raiding Bards, and that's because while the core gameplay of Bard did not really change, all the changes resulted in the very feel of the class changing a lot more than most people realize in a raid setting, especially in regards to our openers. One opener can have 3 fully powered Pitch Perfects in a Raging Strikes window with Apex Arrow being fully charged halfway into Mage's Ballad... Or the next opener can only see one fully powered Pitch Perfect in the same window, which also usually results in Apex Arrow being fully charged halfway into Army's Paeon instead. The current variance is just awful.