Preliminary 7.0 BRD feedback

[Valence]

Or maybe it's the other classes that don't get punished well enough when they die those days. Food for thought.

[HappyHubris]

Generally, I'm quite happy with the changes. BRD quality-of-life improvements, with key improvements making it down to roulette-level content as well.

My only gripe is that we're not actively buffing much. Songs are a set rotation, and our other utility spells are quite situational. I don't know if other BRDs do this, but I cast Peloton during raid fight downtime just for aesthetics. I would really enjoy a couple of buffs to choose between to actively keep up during the fight, maybe even displacing our DoT buttons (as the DoTs have been de-emphasized since EW).

[Valence]

You're joking right? Battle Voice + Radiant Finale + the passive song effects over time amount for over 15% of the bard's damage translated into team damage. It's close in numbers to DNC and there is literally no other job in the game that can even do half of what both of those bring in terms of damage buffs.

[Mecia]

Bard definitely seems safe changes wise despite some losses in the past.

[mallleable]

You're joking right? Battle Voice + Radiant Finale + the passive song effects over time amount for over 15% of the bard's damage translated into team damage. It's close in numbers to DNC and there is literally no other job in the game that can even do half of what both of those bring in terms of damage buffs.

It's interesting how player perception works like that where BRD's party buffs are numerically incredibly strong, but are perceived as weak or non existent. Which is why I firmly believe, and it may be a little counter intuitive, that BRD's personal damage needs to be much higher than it is now. I think the reason why DNC's 5% Technical Finish party buff is considered stronger than BRD's 20% DH, 6% damage, and 2% crit party buffs during 2 mins is because there is a 1200 potency nuke attacked to Technical Finish.

[HappyHubris]

You're joking right? Battle Voice + Radiant Finale + the passive song effects over time amount for over 15% of the bard's damage translated into team damage. It's close in numbers to DNC and there is literally no other job in the game that can even do half of what both of those bring in terms of damage buffs.

I don't care about numerical power; we spend very little effort buffing. You mentioned 2.5 oGCDs per minute, which is nothing for a bard archetype that has 24+ GCDs + oGCDs per minute to play with. Move some of that power to separate skills that involve choice and active maintenance. Think Peloton, but for party buffing or enemy debuffing.

[Valence]

I mentioned 2.5 oGCDs per minute?

I don't disagree with your wish though. I'm always for more abilities that bring actual player agency.

[HappyHubris]

I mentioned 2.5 oGCDs per minute?

I don't disagree with your wish though. I'm always for more abilities that bring actual player agency.

Battle Voice + Radiant Finale + 3 Songs = 5 OGCDs in a 2 minute cycle.

[Vandso]

I think the AoE they showed is a Barrage remake. So instead of giving 3 hits for the next attack, it would cause this big AoE damage. On the one hand, this is a good change, because Barrage feels super awful when dealing with AoE, just like Pitch Perfect. However I worry that this may simplify the proc management during bursts a lot. This might be because of the new Radiant Finale follow-up, so it's not that big of a deal. I just hope that they give Bard a trait that decreases its cooldown to 60s.

I'm just sad they didn't do anything with Sidewinder. My hope was that they would give 2 repertoire procs, and maybe Wanderer's could get an upgrade to have 4 stacks, but eh.

[mallleable]

I think the AoE they showed is a Barrage remake. So instead of giving 3 hits for the next attack, it would cause this big AoE damage. On the one hand, this is a good change, because Barrage feels super awful when dealing with AoE, just like Pitch Perfect. However I worry that this may simplify the proc management during bursts a lot. This might be because of the new Radiant Finale follow-up, so it's not that big of a deal. I just hope that they give Bard a trait that decreases its cooldown to 60s.

I'm just sad they didn't do anything with Sidewinder. My hope was that they would give 2 repertoire procs, and maybe Wanderer's could get an upgrade to have 4 stacks, but eh.

IIRC the new wind aoe follow up attack for Barrage appears to be an oGCD, so we're still gonna be using Barrage for the triple hit Refulgent Arrow/buffed Shadowbite. And yes, Barrage should have a shorter cooldown.