Question on BRD

[ZephyrK]

Yeah from what I've seen, there are tons of BRDS.... I'll probaly roll ninja, they look pretty fun and appear to do solid dps while bringing some utility.
I knew things had changed, but I thought i would ask. I just remember rolling two BRDS cause of their damage and songs. Thx!

This made me chuckle. Play what you like, but I think you'll be disappointed if you choose ninja over bard because of over population. I took a break between 2.2 and 2.4 and fully half of all bards seemingly became ninjas.

[Snugglebutt]

Bards these days are extremely gimped on DPS side of our class but can be top of the DPS chart if either a) every other DPS class is playing badly or b) your very hardcore about playing bard for example perfect rotations, constant parser tweaks squeezing out every single drop of blood from your abilities/gear plus wearing better gear than others in the group. If your hoping for very good DPS, unless your extremely hardcore you won't top the charts much.

The fun aspect of bard is still the mobility but with machinist class incoming which will also be ranged DPS, if going to pick ranged physical DPS I would go for machinist, until then BLM and MNK tend to still top the DPS charts most often with classes already present. Bard getting a raid spot is only partially true, they are mostly used in training groups but quite often I seen them be switched out in favor of other better DPS classes once groups have the mechanics down. You need to become good friends of raid static members to avoid being kicked later on in favor of better DPS class I think since most groups I seen which keep a bard in after learning the mechanics is because they made friends with them and not because bard offered of a benefit at that stage regarding clearing content faster.

With ninja it is a fun class to begin with and has some fun moves but mudras can be very annoying, quite dependent on latency and lag issues. DPS wise they don't tend to top the charts that often either but again depends how hardcore you are with the class. Monks whined about them coming near their holy grail of DPS output so SE nerfed the ninjas.

[MrYaah]

Bards these days are extremely gimped on DPS side of our class but can be top of the DPS chart if either a) every other DPS class is playing badly or b) your very hardcore about playing bard for example perfect rotations, constant parser tweaks squeezing out every single drop of blood from your abilities/gear plus wearing better gear than others in the group. If your hoping for very good DPS, unless your extremely hardcore you won't top the charts much.

Also in my experience bards have the advantage in downtime ridden fights like t9 and t13. Every second with nothing to hit is more time for us to ready another round of burst while everyone else loses stacks or has to restart their rotation.

[Duskmourne]

Chart topping isn't a main push for me...I'm more into playing something that is strong and is needed. I've played at the higher end of mmos in every game from top 50 world to no less than server 1st in wow, swtor, ffxi, and even ffxiv arr back then...I just remembered brd was the thing to have when I was playing.

[Vlady]

You will top the chart more then people think. Bard dps is top notch because 99% of the other dps do not know how to bring out the job full potential. Bards most definitely do not need a dps increase.

[Ooshima]

You will top the chart more then people think. Bard dps is top notch because 99% of the other dps do not know how to bring out the job full potential. Bards most definitely do not need a dps increase.

If you are actually topping the chars more than you think you should in your raids then maybe you can consider playing with better players lol.

[Menae]

You will top the chart more then people think. Bard dps is top notch because 99% of the other dps do not know how to bring out the job full potential. Bards most definitely do not need a dps increase.

That's a terrible argument. Bards are top notch dps because people playing other jobs suck? That's like saying a model T is faster than a Ferrari because I was driving the relic and totally smoked that four year old who can't reach the gas pedal in the modern car.

I do agree that bard dps is probably fine, though. They are on the low end, but songs are incredibly useful in progression.

[Galdous]

If we are theory crafting it would be a terrible argument but the fact is bards are constantly top dps. They might not have the highest sustained but the sure have the highest burst right now. I can spike 800 dps easily for 10-15 seconds which is a must have for certain mechanics with adds or burn phases. Bards are not meant to have the highest sustain but no one really talks about how useful bard burst can be on those moments and that is not even touching insane mobility+utility.

We have seen how OP bards can be when buffed. We are seeing bards are doing above and beyond fine right now and I have never once seen my brother who is in a coils turn 12 group ask to reroll to another dps just because they have the first few final turns on farm and he plays a bard. The real question is why do bards think they deserve even +1 weapon damage. There is no issue with bards.

[Maero]

If we are theory crafting it would be a terrible argument but the fact is bards are constantly top dps. They might not have the highest sustained but the sure have the highest burst right now.

My blm would say otherwise. Bards are capable of high damage but are not at all highest burst damage or top dps.
Your making it sound like you do higher dps then even Monk or Ninja....

I do however agree that Bards are fine as they are

[Ooshima]

My blm would say otherwise. Bards are capable of high damage but are not at all highest burst damage or top dps.
Your making it sound like you do higher dps then even Monk or Ninja....

I do however agree that Bards are fine as they are

It is actually debatable, depending on what is the number of seconds you are taking into account of the burst.

BLM's initial burst, with F1 crits or just one F3 proc crit will easily spike the first 10s DPS to over 1,000 but it dies down easily because you only have 5 F1s and you enter UI3 very soon. Meanwhile, BRDs can maintain that respectable 700-800 DPS for the first 15-20s, then about 600 range entering 30s.

Either BLM or BRD will claim the top spot on initial burst but BLM does die down faster than BRD before your Ninja catches up.