Learning Bard and Buffs in General

[Tharian]

Don't aoe trash unless it's 3 or more enemies and another dps is using aoe skills. Otherwise you're just wasting TP and aren't killing things any faster.

In Castrum Meridianum, Praetorium, and the two Crystal Towers odds are you will be dealing with 5 to 8 trash mobs at a time instead of just 3 or less. Each of these Trash Mobs will further have more Hit Points than a Standard Mob outside of a Dungeon. Thus using AoE's is generally your best bet for dealing with them, and if you aren't using AoE's, then you will probably be asked to as it is the most optimal path to defeating them.

Similarly in Speed Runs of Dungeons such as Brayflox (Hard) you will be expected to use AoE's so that your Tank isn't overwhelmed with trash mobs, and so that your Healer doesn't have to spam Cure III's and Medica II's too heavily.

[AkashiXI]

I suppose it can. But sometimes you as a bard will run out of TP faster on large trash pulls than you will on a boss fight due to being practically required to spam your AoE attacks. This means that you will need to use both invigorate and Army's Paeon in some cases depending on the size of the large trash pulls. This is especially true in places like Castrum and Praetorium.

Hullbreaker and Stone Vigil HM are good examples of places where staggering For is beneficial, as the distance between pulls help you regen your me back. I'll typically rush us with swift and then Foe each pull. It's a minor increase, but an increase regardless.

[Maduro]

In my experience you generally only need Mage's Ballad if the healer has to do multiple resurrections like in ST/CT or if they just received one. Even then, you don't need full MP to get them back up to a manageable level of MP. Use Foes at the beginning of most fights and for the most part you will have enough "emergency mp" refilled after it runs out for Ballad by the time something bad happens. Paeon is useless unless you are trying to aoe mobs without any DOM. Even then you use invigorate before you should even think about it.

Foe's will pull mobs if you don't click it off between trash.

Blunt arrow can stun a few spells like the one's mentioned before, but there aren't a ton that can be silenced. But...you should still be using it when it's up. Both Blunt and Repelling are off GCD and just add more damage to your output.

[Jeppo]

I'll give you some tips regarding Bardsongs.

Mage's Ballad: As a general guideline, use it when you notice a healer's MP is around 1500 or below, and turn it off when they get about 2500 or 3000. Healers that had just been raised need Mage's Ballad as well (and consider using Battle Voice in these situations). It does depend on the duty though - in periods of heavy healing you should consider using ballad at 2000 MP or even 2500; however don't use it if the mob or boss is about to croak.

Army's Paeon: Generally underused and has some unnecessary stigma attached to it in my opinion. I use it between mob pulls to get some extra TP for myself and my teammates if I am running low. During battle it is generally used exclusively in long battles where there are very few or no periods of downtime (such as second coil turn 3), but you should consult with your Disciple of War teammates on when is the best time to use Army's Paeon. It can also be used if there are any periods of downtime during lengthy battles, but remember to turn it off again when the battle resumes, and Mage's Ballad always takes precedence over Army's Paeon in these situations.

Foe Requiem: When joining duty finder I usually assume that my teammates are idiots unless they prove otherwise, so I'm one of those bards who don't use Foe Requiem that often just in case I need my MP for Mage's Ballad if the healers are giving heals or raises like sweets and don't know where their Shroud of Saints or Aetherflow buttons are. However the general rules of thumb for Foe Requiem are:
1: Use it when there is a dps check of some sort. This can be in the form of a target(s) needing to be destroyed within a certain time (such as Ifrit Nail phases or Titan Heart phase), or in times where the battle becomes progressively more dangerous the longer it takes (such as Caduceus in Binding Coil Turn 1).
2: Don't use Foe Requiem if there is a chance you need to use Mage's Ballad in the near future. That song takes precedence over everything and it's better to be safe then sorry.
3: Don't use Foe Requiem if there are casters in your party that are much more higher geared than the tank as they are in danger of pulling aggro from them, or at least let the tank gain a head start on aggro before you sing Foe Requiem.
4: Remember to turn Foe Requiem off during periods of downtime, even if it is only for a few seconds (turn it off, then immediately start casting it again).
5: Turn off Foe Requiem if you notice all the casters are dead (and be prepared to use Mage's Ballad when they are raised to help the healer's MP), and finally
6: Don't use Foe Requiem if there are no casters in the party. I facepalm whenever I see other bards do it. Yes, healers do get the benefit if they use their attacks, but they are there to heal, not dps, and if any healer moans tell them to "do your job and let me do mine".

One last piece of advice: If somebody asks you to sing a particular song it doesn't mean you have to sing it. At the end of the day you are in full control of what you are doing and quite often the best person to know when it is the right time to sing is yourself.

[Elkya95]

Okay, so I'm curious about how much an i108 brd with rosenbogen should do on a dummy, I'm doing 360-370 and it feels low ._.
This is about 4 min, and I haven't used x-pots because I'm cheap, I've used mega/hi nq though...

[Maduro]

6: Don't use Foe Requiem if there are no casters in the party. I facepalm whenever I see other bards do it. Yes, healers do get the benefit if they use their attacks, but they are there to heal, not dps, and if any healer moans tell them to "do your job and let me do mine".

If you aren't playing any other songs and the Healers are throwing out DOTs, why wouldn't you play Foes? A DPS increase is still a DPS increase no matter how small it is or where it's coming from...If you are actually saving it for emergencies, I get that, but you don't lose anything from playing it if you aren't saving it for anything.

[Jeppo]

Okay, so I'm curious about how much an i108 brd with rosenbogen should do on a dummy, I'm doing 360-370 and it feels low ._.
This is about 4 min, and I haven't used x-pots because I'm cheap, I've used mega/hi nq though...

Well, while I don't parse my own damage (since it's against the game's terms of use), from what I have read about both in these forums and elsewhere, a rating of 360-370 without using expensive potions or food is pretty good in 4 minutes. The main problem with the Rosenbogen is the astonishingly high skill speed associated with it, so you'll find your damage output trail off considerably in longer battles (particularly Second Coil Turn 3 if you reached that far, and since your avatar sports a High Allagan Mask of Aiming I'm guessing you have).

If upgrading your relic weapon to at least Novus is out of the question, you might want to tailor your other gear to reduce your skill speed as much as possible. I don't know what your gear setup is at the moment but since Auroral equipment has a lot of Skill speed as well, you might want to consider going into Syrcus Tower and acquiring a pair of Amon's Boots and Amon's Breeches (and possibly Amon's Sleeves if you can afford the loss of accuracy)

If you aren't playing any other songs and the Healers are throwing out DOTs, why wouldn't you play Foes? A DPS increase is still a DPS increase no matter how small it is or where it's coming from...If you are actually saving it for emergencies, I get that, but you don't lose anything from playing it if you aren't saving it for anything.

Well, if I'm in a speed run party then fair enough; Foe Requiem all the way. However I'm talking about standard Duty Finder runs. I've lost count on the number of times a tank has died while the healers are attacking. I don't want to encourage them by throwing a Foe Requiem up as well.

[StubHub]

If things have went so far south that a healer is out of mp in the time it takes for requiem to wear and build a buffer of mp for ballad. It's very, VERY likely ballad wasn't going to save things anyhow.

[Jeppo]

If things have went so far south that a healer is out of mp in the time it takes for requiem to wear and build a buffer of mp for ballad. It's very, VERY likely ballad wasn't going to save things anyhow.

That is a very good point, and in most situations I would agree with you.

However in 8 man parties if one of the healers inexplicably gets KO'd early on in the fight, which this can happen to even the best of healers. When they get revived, they will have very little MP. A Mage's Ballad in those situations could very well save the day.

But oh dear, you only just used up your MP using Foe Requiem, and your MP hasn't recovered yet! You only get to use Ballad for 10 seconds, which is not enough. The revived healer is now completely out of MP, their Aetherflow/Shroud of Saints are still on cooldown and the other healer is struggling to keep up! The tanks die, then the rest of us fall soon after.

You can argue that the Bard can pop an X-Ether so you can sing Ballad for a little longer, and if you are raiding with your static group, this is exactly what I would do. but I'm a little stingy when I'm in a Duty Finder group (X-Ethers are expensive, and if healers aren't going to use one from their stock, why should I?). I've no idea what skill level my comrades are when entering DF. I can make some pre-battle assumptions based on the gear they have equipped, but that's about it, and these days you can't even rely on that. And why I'll argue until I'm blue in the face that Foe Requiem is a great skill for bards, it shouldn't be used willy-nilly and the mark of a good bard is knowing exactly when to use it, if they should use it at all.

[Ooshima]

Okay, so I'm curious about how much an i108 brd with rosenbogen should do on a dummy, I'm doing 360-370 and it feels low ._.
This is about 4 min, and I haven't used x-pots because I'm cheap, I've used mega/hi nq though...

390 should be do-able.