Buff Bard - The Invisible Nerf

[Aramyth]

SE has recently said they are looking at nerfing BRD, well I say it's not necessary to do so, in fact I'm calling for a buff. A buff to songs.

We only have three songs usable in battle:

Mage's Ballad - Refresh MP - uses our MP and reduces our damage by -20%
Army's Paeon - Refresh TP - uses our MP and reduces our damage by -20%
Foe Requiem - Reduces all enemy elemental resistance by 10% - uses our MP

While this looks great on paper, there really is minimal reason for BRDs to have these songs up consistently. BRDs are supposed to be a support/DPS class and while they do bring buffs to the group, they need to be used carefully because these songs do eat the BRDs MP and then when you REALLY need these songs, you may not be able to cast them. So they are used sparingly. Not to mention the fact the only classes who really need Ballad are other BRDs, WHMs and PLDs.

What they need to do is decrease the MP taken from the BRD to keep these songs up, this way we have them up for a greater duration during fights and you inadvertently nerf BRDs by forcing them to have their songs up for longer a duration.

They could even add a few new songs into the rotation to force BRDs to have their songs up more frequently.

All The Following Songs have attached -damage dealt percentages on them. Could all be 20% or varying values.

Valor Minuet - Increases Determination
Sword Madrigal - Increases all stats by +20 (or whatever value)
Earth/Wind/Fire Carol - Reduces earth/wind/fire damage taken by 5%. (Three separate songs.)
Advancing March - Increases auto-attack speed.
Victory March - Reduces the Global Cooldown by .5 seconds

[LoLo]

they never said they are nerfing Bard. They said there is no need to add anything to Bard because its powerful right now.

[Rivienne]

While I don't necessarily think there would be a problem with adding more...Only useful to WHM, PLD, and BRD? Where did you get that idea?

Army's Paeon is very useful for Monks because of Fracture (I assume this also holds true for drg skills?), and wouldn't it also be useful for WAR? not just PLD?

Foe Requiem can be very useful for BLM damage, especially their limit break.... I am not sure how good it is for SMN though I would imagine it would be useful for them as well.

[UBERHAXED]

Er... The reason Bards don't have songs up consistently is because they can't. MP costs and all. Mutual exclusivity. Even hearing distances. This is not really the issue at hand here. It's just horrible players getting out damaged by good players with weapons with less attack damage, swearing that their battle log parsers say that bards have low DPS. >.>

[kazaran]

They said it's a little bit to powerful and will adjust it a little bit to be balanced. A little bit.

[Lux_Rayna]

Buffing songs would just make Bards more overpowered. I dont think you thought this through enough. Its almost as if you thought that by buffing songs, bards would sing more, and therefore do less dmg. This assumption isnt remotely close to being true, and it does not remove the capacity for Bards to do so many things at such a high level with relative ease. Increasing a class's potential is not an invisible nerf.

The dmg by itself is not the issue. My mnk can easily outdmg a bard on a tank and spank. Its the dmg+mobility+boss mechanics that make bard a bit too strong for its own good. You have 100% mobility+100% dmg upkeep (except for occasional song)+no positional requirements. On top of all of this, you can buff the party too. This means on a fight like Titan or Coil, bards will outdps melees on the whole *while* providing capacity for buff support. The only reason to take a melee over a bard then is for the LB. Other than that Bard is *clearly* superior. Its common sense.

[Inferiae]

While I don't necessarily think there would be a problem with adding more...Only useful to WHM, PLD, and BRD? Where did you get that idea?

************

Not to mention the fact the only classes who really need Ballad are other BRDs, WHMs and PLDs.

And I agree with OP. BRD should be more focused on support than damage. I don't usually use songs because they don't last long and are very situational. I'm a bard who doesn't sing, that makes no sense to me.
Giving BRD new songs and the opportunity to use them should make things interesting and acutally 'nerf' it a bit, since people say it's too strong.

But still, I can see how much of an advantage we have thanks to mobility and no real need for positioning, so I can understand any incoming nerf.

[ForteXX]

they never said they are nerfing Bard. They said there is no need to add anything to Bard because its powerful right now.

■Job Balancing

• Bards
  We currently feel that the bards are a little too strong due to the amount of damage they can do without being impacted that much from the fight.

Balancing, and too strong. So yes, they are likely getting a nerf of some kind.

[Aramyth]

I dont think you thought this through enough. Its almost as if you thought that by buffing songs, bards would sing more, and therefore do less dmg. This assumption isnt remotely close to being true, and it does not remove the capacity for Bards to do so many things at such a high level with relative ease. Increasing a class's potential is not an invisible nerf.

I don't think nerfing BRD mobility is the answer nor is straight out nerfing BRD damage because currently a SMN, MNK, DRG or BLM of EQUAL skill and gear will ALWAYS out DPS a BRD. Always. Even in Titan. The reason you don't see this frequently is because the skill required to play a BRD is lower but that doesn't mean it needs to be out right nerfed. Make it more complicated and just throwing casts on our skills is just going to make up BLMs (who hit for less) with TP instead of MP.

If you give BRDs a reason to keep up songs and make it more easily accessible to do so (by lowering the MP cost on them) then you are effectively buffing the support role of the BRD and effectively nerfing their damage by 20%. You need to give them a reason to have songs up. If they have songs up they will be playing the class the way it is meant to be played; a DPS/Support.

[AridElf]

I started levelling my bard this week, people are always surprised when I sing for the healer's MP in longer fights. So you lose 20% damage while you sing, big deal, you can still fire off your abilities while moving and as mentioned before, no positional requirements.

I welcome any changes to make Bards use their songs more/ make other dps equally appealing to roll with.