RIP Bard

[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.

[Catwho]

I'm a career bard and I can see this having situational uses.

Fight where I need to dodge constantly, e.g. Midgardsormr in Keeper of the Lake? This song is a no go.

Fight where I can stand in one spot and just spam AOEs without moving? Pop this little ditty (with some Quelling Strikes, probably) and watch the damage fly.

[Mugiawara]

I'm a career bard and I can see this having situational uses.

Fight where I need to dodge constantly, e.g. Midgardsormr in Keeper of the Lake? This song is a no go.

Fight where I can stand in one spot and just spam AOEs without moving? Pop this little ditty (with some Quelling Strikes, probably) and watch the damage fly.

At least they catered to people who wanted a more DPS BRD than a support one.
You just need to be smart on how and where you use the song...Just like every other song.
100% situational but I fear there's going to be a lot of dead ones now. >.<

[ExiaQuanta]

Well how I see it. Is there isnt alot of fights that requires movement. Fights are pretty scripted in this game so dodging and attacking shouldnt be hard. bard can toggle on and off wanders for barrage. The real question I guess is if the buffed skills does more dmg than a regular skill + auto attack

[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. >

[The_Last_Dragoon]

Well how I see it. Is there isnt alot of fights that requires movement. A bard can toggle on and off wanders for barrage. The real question I guess is if the buffed skills does more dmg than a regular skill + auto attack

It's not just that, Bard's can sneak in Bloodletter and Repelling Shot mid-global cooldown, and if their abilities have a cast time, then it makes their global cooldowns less efficient. The damage bonus has to be extremely substantial for it to be considered as being on more than off. I could see it though as an opener to set up the initial Poison shot + Windbite + Sidewinder combo.

The other problem is that it will lead to scenarios where you just finished putting up the song and something happens that requires movement, which will lead to players either being willing to move and losing all that time they spent casting, or take the hit so that they don't.

[kirk]

Inb4 bard op please ner(joke aside) this new song is pretty cool i just hope the damage buff makes up for the negatives

[StrejdaTom]

Inb4 bard op please ner(joke aside) this new song is pretty cool i just hope the damage buff makes up for the negatives

I guess that is everyones concern now.
Lets hope they did enough testing.

[Thayos]

I don't understand why people are dreading this. Bard is my main DPS job, and I love this idea! But I also don't run around like a headless chicken when I play on bard, and yes, I also sing my songs.

[The_Last_Dragoon]

We won't be able to Auto Attack while the song is on so if we're moving, it's lowering our DPS cause no auto attack is being done...

I'm actually pretty sure that the act of moving pops off the song. This means that you have to recast it every time you want to dodge out of the way of something.