A support/brd solution

[WhiteWindHD]

Snip

1) I appreciate your opinion and feed back.

2) How does providing more options to play a support character = less flexibility.

3) I never stated once to nerf a brds dps.

4) This game ( In my opinion ) could use more party diversity, its fine if you dont agree.

5) I'm sorry you feel my suggestion is pointless.

[Nooblet]

Sorry I did not intend to come off as bashing your idea. I just felt it was pretty similar to what we have, and it would be less flexible in that you could not use support as needed. It's more flexible to be able to dps and switch to support as needed throughout an instance rather than stay 100% dps or. 100% support for the whole time.

While I think some might like your suggestion, I think it takes away the ability to support as needed, rather than support to support even when you might only need support on 1 boss out of 4.

[RyuDragnier]

Which I like this idea, as it reminds me of the Cleric Stance, I do have a feeling we're going to see more support based songs for the Bard in the future that may make this idea obsolete. I'm actually surprised we didn't get a song that boosted everybody else's damage or one that reduced damage for everybody. Those two songs alone would guarantee we'd never be declared OP DPS wise just because we'd sacrifice 20% of our damage for them. They'd be too useful, though of course people would start complaining because we'd still be wanted in any run (which will happen no matter how much people complain).

[svann]

If bard was deemed to be a support class then I think they should have MUCH more song variety. Even if the songs are sometimes very useful, its not anywhere close to often enough. A support class bard should have songs up at all times. In EQ1 there were so many songs you needed a spreadsheet to keep track of them all. That was a quality bard. Where is the mez? Where is the lull? Where is the charm? Where is the healing song? Where is the AC song? Where is the snare? To make bard a true "traditional" support class it would have to be completely revamped. I just dont see them doing that.

To be clear - Im not asking for ffxiv to be like EQ1, but if you are going to talk about "traditional" support class then that is the gold standard.

[Engineer]

I think the best thing to do is to make Bard an actual healer while adding a Ranger Dps second job to please everyone.

Some people want more songs, some people want more dps.



You have to think, if Bard stays a dps, then the second job might be a healer or tank anyway so might as well avoid the ugly and petition for what I posted above.

[WhiteWindHD]

Snip~

Nice Idea, But I really like the idea in your sig~

[Daudr]

I think BRDs should be a support class. That's it. They should introduce a new ranged damage class such as Marksmen, Ranger, etc. Bards have traditionally been a support role in games. I actually like the idea of four (4) class archetypes in MMOs and the only one I can think of that did it "right" was Rift. You have the standard tank, healer, and damage, then you have the "pure" support that brings unique utility to the table (such as current BRD songs).

Everquest had and has the best pure support bard in any game. It's melee DPS that has a ton of utility songs. The class requires a lot of skill and timing to effectively cycle through all its tools.

[Gryppen]

The rift bard was pretty well done too imho.

[Nysneirdre]

I would love to see the bard transition into a pure support class but it's never going to happen. Why? It's the way they designed the basic group in this game. 4 people doesn't allow there to be a support slot. You need at least 5 slots to be able to do it. Older games did this because the basic group setup was a lot larger. It seems every MMO that has been released recent have pretty much shrunk down the basics of the game because they want to capture the casual crowd. What does that mean for vets? Smaller groups and non complex classes. I think the day of the full support class is done sadly.

[RyuDragnier]

I think the best thing to do is to make Bard an actual healer while adding a Ranger Dps second job to please everyone.

Some people want more songs, some people want more dps.

You have to think, if Bard stays a dps, then the second job might be a healer or tank anyway so might as well avoid the ugly and petition for what I posted above.

I agree with this idea. But that'd have to wait for a 2.2 or 2.3 patch before we got it, as they'd have to revamp the Bard considerably.