Dear All Bards,

[Nestama]

Melee DPS shouldn't need Paeon (which reduces a BRD's overall DPS) at the start of the fight, especially if they have Invigorate (maybe 5-6 minutes in, sure). If in CT raid and one or more alliances have two or more BLM/SMN's (and a healer or two decide to DPS), then use Foe Requiem (which does NOT lower a BRD's overall DPS). It's a debuff on the mob, therefore it benefits all Casters (and DPS healers). If in a Light Party dungeon and your party consists of a BLM/NIN/SMN and DPS healer, then use Foe's.

[Dyne_Fellpool]

As a bard, I feel like its best to:

-always play Swiftsong between pulls in dungeons
-play Foe Requiem for all trash fights unless the healer is not using any attack spells and there are no Ninjas, Black Mages, or Summoners in the party. (but make sure to save MP right before boss fights to have full MP for singing on bosses)
-play Army Paeon only if there are no Ninjas and circumstances are such that I have already used Invigorate and am running low on TP (very long fight or consecutive AoE fights w/o downtime between). This means any other melee dps is prbly in a similar position TP-wise.
-play Mage's Ballad only if a WHM is below ~30% MP and it looks like they will run out before the fight is over or if a Summoner just got raised and the fight will not be over soon.
-Always play Foes+Battlevoice at the beginning of boss fights unless there is a specific burn phase I think saving Battlevoice will be helpful for. (If any healer is going to need Ballad my MP will be replenished by then if I do this)

obviously, there is likely to be an exception here or there but if you follow the above I think you will be doing well as far as song management.

Bards that just let their MP go to waste by not singing make me sad. Even if you are just singing Foe for a healer that is nuking its worth it.

[SlyRoyale]

This thread is still up? Hm.

snip

While Foe doesn't add aggro, its range is greater than Shield Lob and Tomahawk. If the tank doesn't grab it, it'll run to you. Thankfully, in that case, all the tank has to do is touch the mob and its on them. A Foe Requiem pull is an inconvenience if anything. Another thing which I stupidly neglected to mention is that playing Foe Requiem while mobs are still being pulled wastes MP before everyone starts to nuke everything. The best time to play Foe Requiem during a big pull is when you know the tank is going to stop and group up all the trash real soon.

[AsahinaMyLove]

Lol ...cant believe this thread even exist and is being discuss.

Its common sense to use skills of a class you currently playing. o___o

If I play bard on 24player raids, Im looking at the 3 teams to check how many magic dps's are around.
Even its just one, I play foe song on every fight! <.<

[myahele]

....
Its common sense to use skills of a class you currently playing. o___o

Foe Requiem

Reduces all enemy magic resistances of all enemies by 10%.
MP is drained while singing.
Effect is lost if targets move out of hearing distance, and ends upon reuse.
Cannot be used with other songs.

Well Let's be real here. The Song helps but is not as great as most people think it is. If you read the description it says: Reduces all enemy magic resistances.
What does this means? It means that the enemy is less likely to resist a magic spell being cast upon him, so its more likely that does max damage. So in other words Foe Requiem does NOT grants an extra 10% damage as most people think. This is just an increase chance to do max damage. You can do max damage without Foe Requiem but its a bit harder.

Yeah.... common sense is not so common

[RiceisNice]

Yeah.... common sense is not so common

Last I checked, resistances in this game is a flat damage reduction toward the attack in question, (like defense), not a chance to reduce damage taken (in the sense of parry/block)

[SlyRoyale]

If I play bard on 24player raids, Im looking at the 3 teams to check how many magic dps's are around.
Even its just one, I play foe song on every fight! <.<

Ideally, you should play Foe Requiem even if the only casters in the group are the healers in case they assist with DPS. If they do not assist with DPS, it's a waste of a BRD's MP which would be better spent on Army's Paeon for physical DPS AoEs (gotta keep pushing them out if there's still lots of mobs alive), or Mage's Ballad for when a healer or SMN is revived.

But yeah, common sense is a lost concept to many in this day and age...

[ExiaQuanta]

Ideally, you should play Foe Requiem even if the only casters in the group are the healers in case they assist with DPS. If they do not assist with DPS, it's a waste of a BRD's MP which would be better spent on Army's Paeon for physical DPS AoEs (gotta keep pushing them out if there's still lots of mobs alive), or Mage's Ballad for when a healer or SMN is revived.

But yeah, common sense is a lost concept to many in this day and age...

^This. If a healer is not willing to dps, why is the party callin out the bard for not playing Foes Requim LOL. Besides the healers who are on this forum and claim they dps to help the group. How many other healers out there are doing the same? pretty there is alot more of the safe healers than the dps healers.

But a bard who sings a song a hundred percent of the time is ALSO a bad bard. Why? Cause if its not foes than they are nerfing their damage by 20% unnecessary. And even then why play foes when there is no cast dps. Its more proper to say a bard who doesnt sing during the appropriate situation is a bad bard.

ill just repost what i said in the earlier pages

[Caoihmin]

Lol ...cant believe this thread even exist and is being discuss.

Its common sense to use skills of a class you currently playing. o___o

If I play bard on 24player raids, Im looking at the 3 teams to check how many magic dps's are around.
Even its just one, I play foe song on every fight! <.<

Common sense eh? If you're looking at all 3 parties for magic casters in a 24 man raid then you are pointing the finger at yourself here. Foe's only affects YOUR party.

You know what they say about assumptions....but you can leave the "me" out of this one.

[Eidolon]

Common sense eh? If you're looking at all 3 parties for magic casters in a 24 man raid then you are pointing the finger at yourself here. Foe's only affects YOUR party.
Foe's only affects YOUR party.

You know what they say about assumptions....but you can leave the "me" out of this one.

I might be misunderstanding you, but are you earnestly suggesting that if you as a bard are in Alliance A, and your BLM is in Alliance B, that you shouldn't play Foe's Requiem for them?

Because if you think your Foe's won't affect your other BLM's, you'd be wrong. Foe's applies an AoE aura on the BRD that debuffs enemies who come into it. The debuff being the increased magic damage taken. You are -literally- buffing the alliance's magic damage by playing Foe as a bard.

I might be misunderstanding you, though. It just sounded like you were - if you were saying you only care if you have a Caster in your party, then, well... I don't really have a rebuttle for that, since it's still sort of wrong considering the above.


Edit-In:
For the reference, the spells on Bard that 'Only affect their party' are:
Army's Paeoen
Mage's Ballad
Swiftsong

These apply an aura that only affect party members, and thus, only your party in the alliance. However, Foe's Requiem is an aura designed to affect enemies, which is why all parties get the benefit of it.