RIP Bard

[StrejdaTom]

What? This statement makes zero sense lol. Lemme explain it for you;

1.5 second cast time.
2.5 second global recast.
When instant, you fire the shot immediately, then wait 2.5 seconds to fire a new shot.
When not instant, you cast for 1.5 seconds, deal your damage and then wait 1 second to fire a new shot.
In a 2.5 second period, you may only use ONE skill anyway. Off globals not counted, but you can fire them before/after the cast anyways.

The only thing you lose is Auto Attack, which the flat 20% buff to *all* your abilities more than makes up for and the WM/GB abilities hit like trucks compared to previous skills without the change ...

1st of all many people who use and used parsers say that Auto attack was around 20% of their DPS.
You also lose lot of damage with your Off GCD skills, because really often happens a moment, when you have Bloodletter ready but you are stuck in casting bar.
According to parses of people at level 60 (reddit for example) it seems that WM cannot compare with Autoattack and Off GCD abilities and the 20% buff just is not enough. And when Alexander will open and we will have to avoid even more AoEs, it won't be enough at all.

At this moment WM is good only in starting rotation and then when you have atleast 3 self bufs aligned and the fight does not require much movement from you.
So all we got from this expansion is a bunch of skills that we won't use more often than a few times per boss fight.

Actually, Auto-attacks account for 25% of Bard DPS, so the 20% trade-off is even worse than it may seem. Here's an example of Turn 13:

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You miss out on potential Bloodletter procs by not being able to spam it while channeling other skills.

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Unable to queue Flaming Arrow while channeling. You lose time and DPS by dedicating that second or so to use the skill and place it.

•
Using Repelling Shot, landing, then queuing your Heavy Shot spam, the Heavy Shot will be interrupted, and you'll have to recast it.

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After applying your dots the first time, you have to pause before using Sidewinder, or else it won't proc as having both DoTs. Inefficient use of cooldowns.

•
Unable to queue Flaming Arrow while channeling. You lose time and DPS by dedicating that second or so to use the skill and place it.

•
Currently a bug exists locking you out from casting skills for 1~10 seconds.

Any guide rotation?
I haven't lvl up to lvl 60 yet so I don't know complete rotation.

So far Wanderer's Minuet combo that I used as a opener is "Raging Strikes + Barrage + Empyreal Arrow" hit pretty hard actually. How about the Battle Voice, is this song enhance the Wanderer's Minuet too?

But I still miss my mobility.

I would still use (almost) KrietoRs initial rotation and add WM on the end.
Quelling Strikes
Hawk's Eye
Raging Strikes
---- These 3 happen prefight
Bloodletter
Straight Shot
Blood for Blood
Windbite
Internal Release
Venomous Bite
X-Potion Of Dexterity
Flaming Arrow
Barrage
Wanderers Minuet
Empyreal Arrow
Sidewinder
Iron Jaws
Turn off Wanderers Minuet

But some people say that Iron Jaws don't refresh the buffs on dots, which would mean you have to put internal release even before windbite.. because otherwise it would be a huge waste.
I still need to get to 60 to try everything out, so I hope that KrietoR or someone else will get into the testing already.

[Rikkustrife]

you can choose when to play a song that allows stronger attacks, but you cannot move and use them or auto attack when this song is playing

[The_Last_Dragoon]

It sounds like the new song will probably be used more often for AoE attacks since the Bard's auto attack is pretty powerful when coupled with their buffs. I could see a Blood 4 Blood + Wanderer's Minuet to deal excessive damage, but otherwise the boss you'd use it on would have to be standing completely still in order for it to be beneficial. Skill speed will definitely be more important for Bards though, and I think that may have been their original intention.

[kyuven]

if you can swap on the fly between the song and not having the song, I can see a LOT of tactical viability and I'm actually a little giddy at the possibilities.
If it amplifies damage, this means you activate it to set your DoTs, then swap out of it when mechanics come your way, then back in during "safe spots"
It also looks like it might give Skill Speed viability if they make the changes they said they were going to (which was a nebulous "We r teh changin it")

[The_Last_Dragoon]

if you can swap on the fly between the song and not having the song, I can see a LOT of tactical viability and I'm actually a little giddy at the possibilities.
If it amplifies damage, this means you activate it to set your DoTs, then swap out of it when mechanics come your way, then back in during "safe spots"
It also looks like it might give Skill Speed viability if they make the changes they said they were going to (which was a nebulous "We r teh changin it")

It really depends on how much damage this new song actually amplifies our attacks by. If it's significant enough to make up for the initial song cast time, loss of auto attacking, and the additional casts to our attacks, then yeah it's probably a really good song to turn on during fights where movement isn't key. I would imagine that you would need a good 15 seconds worth of being stationary in order for it to be worth it though. Unless they're changing it so that skill speed affects song casts.

[TruebladeNuke]

I kept telling people that it'd be unfair if BRD's could do as much damage as a BLM per hit while maintaining their ability to move around freely as much as they want. But hardly anyone listened of course.

Thankfully, the development team is smart, and thought up a way for BRD's to be able TO dish out as much damage as a BLM, while having set backs to think about with this new song. Having played BRD quite a bit, I can think of many situations that call for this song stance or when I shouldn't use it. I'm gonna enjoy BRD even more now. >

[StrejdaTom]

This is honestly the only buff BRD was missing. BRD is going to be epic now!

[Kikoten]

Weren't people worried about BRD DPS before?

Look! DPS! Sure, you can't move while you do it, but that's game balance for you.

This makes me want to level a BRD all that much more. I like the thought of hunkering down like a tank and blasting away the enemy.

EDIT: By "tank" I mean the one that demolishes, not the one carrying a sword and board or mama's big axe.

[Duelle]

This is honestly the only buff BRD was missing. BRD is going to be epic now!

Erm...unless fights become a lot less movement-dependent, this is not going to lead to good things. The song has a cast time, combined with cast times added to your skills. This plus movement requirements means BRDs would not be using it because the reduced DPS is better than no DPS between animation locks, cast times, and having to cancel the buff for movement.

I'm not sure why BRD would even need this. I've mentioned that cast times for ranged attacks make sense, but in the context of a NEW class with a different weapon.