Quote Originally Posted by Platinumstorm View Post
I have played Bard since 1.0 as my main. This is the worst bard has ever been. It went from being smooth with flow, and some excitement, to a really clunky AOE based rotation that doesn't even feel good in the first place. I don't really care about damage, I care about how it feels and how the skills interact with each other. Bloodletter feels horrific with the half charge, I feel like I have to save it up for Radiant Finale, which is a cool move that doesn't last long enough to discharge all banked moves. Sidewinder feels terrible now without interaction. Wind and Venomous bite are useless during the majority of dungeons and encounters now, where previously it was fun to balance them with your songs.

I am strongly considering changing classes because of how much I dislike this.
Technically Bard didn't exist in 1.0 it only came later in the 1.x patches. Now that I got the snark out of the way I will counterbuff by saying that as a Bard since 2.0 main, the only time Bard has ever felt better then this was Stormblood. ARR bard was bland and frustrating, Heavensward Bard was just plain frustrating, and Shadowbringers Bard was easily the job at it's most braindead. I have no issue fitting every single bit of our abilities into our Radiant burst window, all 3 blood letters, Apex and Burst, Sidewinder, each and every buff and barrage refulgent. And thank got it's a heavy burst section, as I forgot the excitement of a well executed reopener after the tedium snore that was Shadowbringers bard. Blood letter only ever needs to be banked once you enter army's paeon, every other moment you can literally let it fly. And while Sidewinder yes does feel terrible without interaction, Sidewinder hasn't felt good or impactful since Heavensward, it's been a mediocre cooldown since day one.

Is there things I'd change? Yes. Army's Muse still sucks. Sidewinder I'd kick down to 30 second cooldown. I'd get full reset charges on Blood letter back. The class is by no means perfect and doesn't come close to the dream that was 4.0 Bard. But the pros massively outweigh the losses and I will take this Bard every day over the atrocity that was Shadowbringers Bard.