Quote Originally Posted by Versiroth View Post
Well, I usually never do this as I think it's a waste. To me, Balad is an emergency thing. It's for when the fight is getting harry and your healer's MP is dropping like a brick. You Balad + Voice and they can keep on healing. Or when people are dying and the healers are having to blow MP on raises. Balading when the healer doesn't need it hurts the group more than it helps because even though you're there to support, you still have to keep up your DPS as much as you can as well.

As stated, it is 100% situational.


For example, Ultima is a more heal-intensive fight. Healers like White Mage's will most likely have to cast Cure II more often un-procced, so they will lose more mana. There will be more intensive AoE healing as well.

Not using Ballad early in this case is a detriment, because it means that when it finally comes time to actually need it - your White Mage and Scholar may well start losing people.

And again, using it early doesn't mean you won't have it anywhere else. The purpose of using early-ballad is that you regain the MP you lose for later in the fight, for that clutch Ballad+Battlevoice.

At the least, this is how I play my Bard. It's all opinion, but I truly believe a good Bard will play that song early if situation permits.