A challenge. Make Bard more Bard.

[Majidah]

In my opinion, it's not the having arrows or not that prevent the current BRD from being a "true" bard. It's the lack of songs and bard related abilities that have this effect. As it is now, which is still a great job, it's more of an archer that is apparently in training to be an actual bard. Primarily, the job is not based on it's BRD abilities but on the Archer qualities. That is to say, they need to pump up the songs and things related to them. I'm not sweating animations and such, but those would be nice too.

That said, we're still very early on in this game. With the addition of more level caps and such, in ARR things could be completely different than they seem.

I think once they add lullaby the complains will subside.

While brd COULD use an atk up song their role in battle would not change.

Lullaby and debuffing are the only two things I can think of that would "change" a bard's role in the party, *somewhat*.

I think SE was smart in making songs last so long, and making the relic make them last even further. Refreshing the songs is the least appealing aspect of bard.

[Fensfield]

What the job needs is access to an MML interface, like Mabinogi or Lord of the Rings Online >.> Integrate that into gameplay too and..

Eh, well, anyway, I remain surprised that music markup language isn't being uptaken by the majority of these games.

[Ingolf]

The main problem is that it is hard to balance damage vs support. If the support abilities are too good, then that will be all that is expected of bards. If you still want them to do damage, then they need to have windows in their song rotation to allow for damage and weaponskills. FFXI bards never dealt any damage because their support-to-damage ratio was too high, it was way more beneficial for them to sing all day than to ever touch their daggers. If you have 6 or 7 songs to do in rotation, then there's little time or reason to ever pull out a weapon.

This is incorrect. At 75 (+) with relevant gear you could sing off two ballads, two marches and DD or pull with ease. You could also support heal, and were required to do so. They need to manage song duration and song casting time in XIV, and there would still be plenty of time to do anything else.

Adding too many good support songs is fine, seeing as there's a cap on the amount of songs you can sing. In both XIV and XI you have dead time after you've supported. A ton of dead time.

[Ingolf]

I think once they add lullaby the complains will subside.

While brd COULD use an atk up song their role in battle would not change.

Lullaby and debuffing are the only two things I can think of that would "change" a bard's role in the party, *somewhat*.

I think SE was smart in making songs last so long, and making the relic make them last even further. Refreshing the songs is the least appealing aspect of bard.

That's because there's three, and there's no thought necessary, in deciding which song to use.

I enjoyed BRD in XI. I never got bored of that job. Just because the majority got bored of it, doesn't mean you should turn its entire focus into being a DD. If that was the case you might as well change BRD in RNG and be done with it.

[Ingolf]

<insert generic flame here>

I like Bard the way it is. It just needs real animations for the songs (which it's supposed to be getting just like all other casting animations.

The whole story of bard is based around them being archers. They'd have to redo a ton of shit if they changed this. No thanks. BRD in XIV is far more fun to play than it was in XI.

The OP isn't asking BRD to stop using bows. Read the thread.

And your point about BRD in XI is completely subjective. There are those of us who enjoy being proactive and singing songs, pulling etc. I didn't level BRD because I wanted to be a DD. I don't generally enjoy DD rolls.

[PSxpert2011]

I'd agree that a more musically inclined bard would not be a bad thing. But People need to understand why the team decided to go this route.

...

The answer was to combine the two jobs so that you had a ranged damage dealer that also had the capacity to enhance teammates based on location. This allowed the bards to both help other players and also feel satisfaction by actively dealing damage and using weaponskills, while also giving ranger players some incentive to stay mobile during combat.

...

Don't lose that.

This, I agree!
I never believed initialy that Bard/Ranger should just be ONE job called 'Bard' but after ARR, people will begin to lean torward a DD or a Support through higher levels, more abilities and more equipment.

It's all how a player sets up them self, instead of the cookie cutter trend the world like to broadcast acroos a MMO.

you mean... like this?

ROFLMFAO! /cry XD

Please, runaway, the penquins are coming!! >.<;;

[Ingolf]

The entire problem with BRD currently is the lack of difference between it and an archer. Without the armour you wouldn't even notice a difference between the two.

BRD has 3 songs, all of which whilst being the best buffs in the game are uninspired and boring. Being able to only have one song on at a time doesn't help much either.

BRD needs new songs (a lot) and needs to be able to sing multiple songs. It's abilities need to make it more immediately identifiable as a BRD. More support oriented abilities too, Akin to pianissimo, Tenuto and Marcato.

The official description of BRD:

The word "bard" ordinarily puts folk in mind of those itinerant minstrels, fair of voice and nimble of finger, who earn their coin performing in taverns and the halls of great lords. Few know, however, that bards in fact trace their origins back to the bowmen of eld, who sang in the heat of battle to fortify the spirits of their companions.

In time, their impassioned songs came to hold sway over the hearts of men, inspiring their comrades to great feats and granting peace unto those who lay upon the precipice of death.

Notice how there's a lot more emphasis on singing than DDing? It only mentions BRDs being bowmen in passing. We definitely need more music.

[PSxpert2011]

The entire problem with BRD currently is the lack of difference between it and an archer. Without the armour you wouldn't even notice a difference between the two.

BRD has 3 songs, all of which whilst being the best buffs in the game are uninspired and boring. Being able to only have one song on at a time doesn't help much either.

BRD needs new songs (a lot) and needs to be able to sing multiple songs. It's abilities need to make it more immediately identifiable as a BRD. More support oriented abilities too, Akin to pianissimo, Tenuto and Marcato. ...

Remember, there's a level cap and I'm sure the stronger bard gets the more knowledgable- more songs and abilities will be available. What I am hope for, is the DD role of archer. I'm hoping for a Ranger job to take archer into a DDing role instead of plain support.

[Fortuna]

Agree OP.

I have a nice solution that could solve this problem quite well.

1.Make all bard weapons like the bard relic weapon. When they are on our back they will look like a instruments, no only a harp, make others instruments that will become a bow or something similar.

2.Make all the new weapons to have specific status that will help a specific type of song. for example a harp brd weapon could have "Ballad+10", while this flute brd weapon could have "Minuet +20". This won't only create more options and conditions for the bards in FFXIV, it will make bard a true support job again. One reason we feel bard is not a support job is because we can only gear it towards more dps, if SE released stats that will increased bard performance on the support side people will see bard true main job again, being a support class.

3.Make then shoot energy notes from the weapons instead of arrows(since we have unlimited arrows now). This will make people think "oh, they don't shoot arrows, they must be bards" I hope lol.

[Majidah]

That's because there's three, and there's no thought necessary, in deciding which song to use.

I enjoyed BRD in XI. I never got bored of that job. Just because the majority got bored of it, doesn't mean you should turn its entire focus into being a DD. If that was the case you might as well change BRD in RNG and be done with it.

If the majority gets bored of a job, it means something's wrong.

Also, deciding what song to sing takes 5 seconds and you do it before the battle begins. Then its the same refreshing over and over.