Evolved BRD ?

[Karuya]

Yeah actually, since there will probably not be "basic" raidbuffs anymore, then actually using your strongest dps song will not be your priority, but optimizing your utility will be, because anyway you will have to use your 3 songs in a loop.

By the way, they said "synergy actions"(raidbuffs) will disappear, but that doesn't necessarily means that every damage buff will disappear, for example they didn't talk about radiant finale of the bard, but we saw it in the footage so it should still be in the game, its duration was 10 seconds, and it requires you to use your 3 songs before using it. Will it be a 10 second damage buff for the whole team ? If so then it means you will want to ask your team to try and benefit from it the most like we do in the current meta i guess.

Like Mikey_R explained, you can only use each of your song once a minute, but their durations doesn't seem to last for 20 seconds from what i have seen, more like between 10 and 14 seconds, which means you'll be forced to use filler combos at some point. You might even want to not use them from the start of a fight. But since you can stack performance resources, it means that to maximize your songs' utility, at some point you might want to use only your filler combos in order to benefit from your potential damage buff/shield/heal/movement speed at the right time in the fight. Looks interesting to me, we have to make choices to optimize utility, or to optimize radiant finale which might still be a raidbuff.

[mallleable]

I was hoping they would fully commit, and give like its Burst Shot equivalent walking casts, but a having a hard cast attached Wanderer's Minute is a good first step. Those directional jump shots look amazing tho!

[xbahax92]

It still feels weird to me, Im happy about the changes and 2min removal.
But thinking that I'm going to play evolved Bard in older content, where 2min meta was present for years... feels odd.

Mr. Prime played Bard in nonspecific rotation, but it still looks a little bland to me. I dont mean it in a bad way.. But we all know how bosses act, mechanic after mechanic, basically a fixed pattern to memorize.

If they however added new Boss mechanics to the new job design, it could alleviate the issue I guess.

[StarryVera]

Yeah actually, since there will probably not be "basic" raidbuffs anymore, then actually using your strongest dps song will not be your priority, but optimizing your utility will be, because anyway you will have to use your 3 songs in a loop.

By the way, they said "synergy actions"(raidbuffs) will disappear, but that doesn't necessarily means that every damage buff will disappear, for example they didn't talk about radiant finale of the bard, but we saw it in the footage so it should still be in the game, its duration was 10 seconds, and it requires you to use your 3 songs before using it. Will it be a 10 second damage buff for the whole team ? If so then it means you will want to ask your team to try and benefit from it the most like we do in the current meta i guess.

I'm really worried about this personally, especially if the songs stay with no CD or the potencies are all wacky like release PCT where one song just does significantly more damage than the rest, then your "freedom" gets completely removed, you'd ALWAYS be using your strongest song under Radiant Finale, this becomes an especially big issue with the movespeed increase. I can imagine anyone who played during 6.0 remembers randomly dying because a SCH gave expedience and you weren't expecting it. Or needing to specifically SAVE the strongest song for a mechanic that happens 30 seconds into the minute and being forced to do a different less damaging combo (during the hypothetical Finale buff) just to make a mechanic easier on the party.

[Valence]

I'm really worried about this personally, especially if the songs stay with no CD

Apparently they can't be used multiple times until unlocking Radiant Finale re-enables playing them again. So you need to at least play all three before restarting the cycle.

[Karuya]

Apparently they can't be used multiple times until unlocking Radiant Finale re-enables playing them again. So you need to at least play all three before restarting the cycle.

Yes but i think they were talking about the song you chose to use AFTER radiant finale, because this song WILL benefit from radiant finale for some seconds. I also thought about it, i hope that the songs wil be mostly equals in term of damage at least in their first seconds.

I think the strongest one will be the wanderer minuet because of the last hit with a cast time and the buff that allows it to be critical direct hit. But by watching the video, you can see that it's normally impossible for this skill to benefit from radiant finale : radiant finale is 10 seconds long, but after using radiant finale, you are forced to use "radiant encore" which is 2.50 gcd, then if you directly use minuet you have to use 2 others 2.50 gcd before using the final hit which is a 2.50 cast, so if i'm right this skill should hit after radiant finale is over. And you cannot make this faster, because you are forced to use radiant encore before being allowed to use any other song again, and i don't think skillspeed could allow you to make your gcd fast enough to make it.

So yeah, nothing is guaranteed but at least it seems impossible for the wanderer minuet to be fully used under radiant finale. So i hope that if there is a difference in potency between songs, it will not be too big. Or maybe, radiant finale will just not be a damage buff, we don't know anything yet.

[Karuya]

Wait maybe i'm wrong, maybe you are not forced to use radiant encore and actually can directly use wanderer minuet. And if you do that, 2 things can happen that we don't know yet : either you lose radiant encore, which would be a big loss i think since this skill looks powerful and heals your party. Or you don't lose radiant encore, which means that you should have time to use your wanderer minuet and then use radiant encore after that. Anyway, we don't have enoguh information yet.

[xbahax92]

As a BRD main I just had to study the preview a bit more.

- Repelling Shot is a mobility GCD with potency. 3 Stacks.
- Dots last 3s only?
- Empyreal Arrow becomes GCD. Its part of the 123 combo now. Finishing this combo rewards you with Bardic Inspiration.
- Sidewinder becomes GCD with castbar.
- Troubadour + Nature Minne = Minnesanger
- Every Skill becomes AOE?
- Foot Graze, still in the hotbar? Hope it becomes more useful than just an auto attack bind.
- Upon playing 3rd song, all songs are free to be used again. Given, it has 20s recharge timer on Performance stacks, so a 1min cd.
- Empyreal Arrow & Wanderer's Volley give a stack of Bardic Inspiration. Consume 2 for a Pitch Perfect.
- Radiant Finale activates Radiant Encore. Also gives HOT to party?

Refulgent Arrow removed. (Proc Skill)
Shadowbite removed. (Proc Skill)
Ironjaws removed. (GCD)
Barrage Removed. (Buff)
Battle Voice removed. (Buff)
The Warden's Paean removed. (Buff&Dispel)
Second Wind removed. (OGCD)
Leg Graze removed. (OGCD)

Bard has become basically a non proc job. And I dont know about you all, but imo they've removed to many skills. Skills that gave me a decision. Paean was still useful in m12s for example. The overall oGCD pool has been reduced.
My biggest issue however, it has been toned down to "press 3 songs to unleash big pp skill". Gauge management has been toned down as well. I dont see how this gameplay is supposed to feel satisfying. It's stressfree sure... But in exchange for what?

edit: It appears that we're collecting Bardic Inspirations during off times. 123 combo rewards a Bardic Inspiration, which means that the new goal is to collect Inspirations for a Pitch Perfect oGCD. Also added Repelling Shot notes.

[Karuya]

Well, in exchange for actually useful songs. You songs give you a party shield, a party heal over time, and a party sprint. That's way bigger than anything the bard has ever had, and probably any dps job ever. So yeah, dps wise the job look too simple, but utility looks insane. It has not been toned down to "press 3 songs to unleash big pp skill", it's going to be a "press 3 songs to actually have useful effects, and we'll give you some easy to do but cool attacks in addition to that".

[StarryVera]

Bard has become basically a non proc job. And I dont know about you all, but imo they've removed to many skills. Skills that gave me a decision. Paean was still useful in m12s for example. The overall oGCD pool has been reduced.
My biggest issue however, it has been toned down to "press 3 songs to unleash big pp skill". Gauge management has been toned down as well. I dont see how this gameplay is supposed to feel satisfying. It's stressfree sure... But in exchange for what?

I hope you enjoy Endwalker SMN, cause that's what it looks like we're getting. And if that's the direction they are planning on taking evolved jobs, we are in for the most boring time this game has.