Bard songs, changes are needed! Support orientated

[Kurotab0]

Hello everyone,

I've been pondering about the Bard songs for some time now and here is what I think about them and what I'd like to see changed.

Mage's Ballad: Mage's Ballad is alright as a song because if a fight just drags on and on it is definitely needed to keep the mana pool of healers up, however since there aren't a whole lot of fights yet that take this long (sure you need to use it after Heart phase Titan HM but this is one of the very very fights where it's needed) Mage's Ballad hasn't had it's time to shine yet in my opinion.

Part one

[Kurotab0]

Part two

Foe Requiem: Foe Requiem is hardly needed and hardly used I guess (personally I hardly use it since people are asking for Mage's Ballad which is the only viable song in my opinion at the moment, not including Battle Voice), Change: just completely change Foe Requiem to a song which slowly regenerates the health of party members (please note I'm not talking about a full blown heal I'm talking about something which is similar to Mage's Ballad, a regen aimed at health instead of mana). The Bard won't be able to do any damage while 'singing' this song although the mechanics will be just like the Mage's Ballad song, a song which can be turned on and off and has no cooldown, however the MP drain on this song will be bigger than on Mage's Ballad and it's nothing more than a supporting heal it won't be on the same level as a heal that comes from an actual healer.

[Kurotab0]

Part Three

Army's Paeon: This song is pretty much useless if I'm brutally honest.. If and when a party member runs out of TP all they have to is auto attack (which fills your LB) for 20-30 seconds and they're able to use their skills again for the next 2-3 minutes. Change: change this song to a buff with an actual cooldown. Effect: when the Bard plays this song the damage of all party members will go up with 25%, however the Bard won't be able to move for 30 seconds while 'singing' this song and the song will have a 3-4 minute cooldown. This way the song becomes viable and crucial because you will need to think about when to use it since using it at the wrong moment will only backfire on you since you won't be able to use it at the time you need it most.

[Kurotab0]

Part Four

Rain of Death: Nothing wrong with Rain of Death really, it places a debuff on the enemy target which lets it do 10% less damage which makes it a pretty good and viable skill in my opinion.

Battle Voice: Battle Voice is a great final skill to get as a Bard if the other songs were actually viable which sadly they aren't so no changes needed for Battle Voice although changes are needed to the other songs

[Kurotab0]

Final Part

Whole story wrapped up
These are the changes I would like to see made to Bard songs (where changes have been made), this way you will have the following:
- Mana regeneration (Mage's Ballad)
- Health regeneration (Foe Requiem, maybe a new name)
- An actual party buff (Army's Paeon)
- Damage debuff on enemy target (Rain of Death)
- Buff to Bard songs (Battle Voice)

Please let me know what you think and if you also think that Bard songs need to be changed or include your own changes in your reply!

Cheers!

[Mhaeric]

Use edit to bypass the 1000 character limit.

[Kurotab0]

Ah lol ok xD well I'm done with the story anyways xD will keep it in mind for future posts though thanks!

[Lefeauge]

If you are playing with Casters in the party, Foe Requiem is an extremely useful song and you should try to have it up whenever you can, while making sure that you have enough MP to help the Healers get their mp back with Mage's Ballad. There are plenty of encounters where this can come in handy. Any Primal, Any dungeon, any Turn in Coil. As long as you have one Caster DPS, you can increase their overall damage by quite a bit with Foe Requiem up. I don't see it as a waste.

For Army's Paeon, This song is less useful than Foe's or Ballad, however, it is still useful in many occasions. The most powerful example I can think of is Coil Turn 4, if you play Army's Paeon in between Phase 3 and Phase 4, your Melee DPS, and to a small extent yourself, will have more TP to help AoE down the adds that spawn during this phase. I have seen a significant increase in kill time during the phase when I rotate Army's Paeon and Foe Requiem, so I definitely see it as worth it.

As the encounters become more complex, the powerful support abilities of Bard really shine. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future your opinion on certain abilities will change.

[Kurotab0]

I don't have any experience with Coil yet so I can't say anything about that but it's just that the feeling I get from these songs is that they aren't crucial, they don't have a clutch moment when they need to be used and when I think about a Bard I think about a decent mix of support and dps (just a personal opinion) but right now it seems to be a lot more dps (not necessarily a bad thing ;D) and you don't really have those moments where you go like 'Yeah! I'm really using this song to it's full potential and I'm actually supporting my party', it just doesn't really feel like you're bringing support to the party, but you may be right and this may be just my inexperience as a Bard.

And while you're right about Foe Requiem there isn't any buff that ups the damage that comes from melee leaving the melee dps out of it which leaves a gap in the song really.

And what you say about Army's Paeon makes sense but like I've said before it doesn't feel crucial because from what I understand from your post it (Turn 4) is doable without Army's Paeon it just takes a bit longer (please note this is just me replying and trying to understand things from your post since I don't have any experience with Coil yet).

[Teleniel]

Mage's Ballad works fine as is. It is a VERY big boost especially in chaining / long fights where you don't see much/any out of combat mana regen.
-Speed Running (whm holy-spam!)
-Titan HM
-Coil (various places)

Foe Requiem: +10% elemental damage (+20% with battle voice), works GREAT with Monk / Black Mage... lackluster with other classes
Army's Peon: Active TP regeneration, works fine... not often needed
Rain of Death: stacking dmg debuff, works fine
Blunt Arrow: off GCD silence, works fine

Bard has a LOT of support, that's why SE is considering if they gave it TOO much damage and looking at how to scale it back... and hopefully keep it in the same ballpark as other classes.