Learning Bard and Buffs in General

[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.

[Zeny]

The first time the bard early pulled with Foes Requiem, I said "Hey watch the FOEs." and went with it (he locked out four people). Then it happened again on the last boss and he tried to push it on a summoner...

I'm not one to antagonize people, but please get into the habit of playing swift song after an encounter bards, because that way you will never unintentionally pull additional monsters or lock people out of a boss. This was in Syrcus Tower for anyone wondering.

[Dyne_Fellpool]

snip

Yup, Foe Requiem will absolutely pull aggro on any unengaged mob you get near. Its basically a debuff pulsing out from you, and it will put you on a mob's hate list.

Using Swiftsong after each fight is good advice, thats what I usually do. This way you know any songs you were playing are cancelled and your MP can regen, while you run to the next fight a bit quicker. Honestly I see a lot of Bards that aren't proactive enough with this and other songs (when I'm playing another class).

I just wish they would make Swiftsong instant cast, since having to stop moving to cast it is a little contrary to its function of movement speed. Thats obviously a minor complaint, but maybe people would use it more.

[LunarEmerald]

It's sickening how few bards play foe in st or ct. Foe helps every single caster in the alliance not just your own party. The dps increase is enormous

[Zeny]

It's sickening how few bards play foe in st or ct. Foe helps every single caster in the alliance not just your own party. The dps increase is enormous

Absolutely, I'm glad at least one of the 7 bards was playing it, lol.

[AkashiXI]

It's been awhile since I last posted here. Do we have a definitive starting rotation of buffs at the start of a fight yet? What I've been doing so far has been doing its job, and I can achieve 400 overtime, but I'd like to know what you guys do . Thanks in advance!

[Laraul]

I think everyone has forgotten to point out how easy it is to cast a song, only to forget about it do to all the craziness going on during battle.

Also no mention of Battle Voice. It double's the effectiveness of all songs except swiftsong for 30 seconds. When casting Ballad to restore a healers's low MP I may cast Battle Voice to speed up MP recovery and when it wears, to remind me to cancel Ballad.

Battle Voice also likely works w/ Foe Requiem, though Foe Requim does not have any impact on your own DPS. In fact the only job it seems to have a substantial influence on is BLM and probably SMN pet's abilities.

Army's Peon goes unused because you aren't able to see other players TP. And no one's going to spend the time to type out "Out of TP! Army's Peon plz!!!"

[Dyne_Fellpool]

Foe has just as much influence on SMN dps as BLM dps. It increases Magic damage, not elemental.