Thread: OFFICIAL Path 3.01 BARD/MCH Feedback thread

Originally Posted by Thunda51

I haven't been able to test out myself because PSN is a PoS, but how are the potency changes effecting DPS outputs with the WM/GB 10% buff? I haven't checked BRD abilities but I saw that Gauss Cannon went from a potency of 200 to 180 and ricochet went from 300 to 200.

Just so people will know, because i don't think they realize, the potency listed is actually different from what it is when you factor in the Minuet/Gauss damage boosts.

Gauss Old:
Gauss Round = 200 x 1.2 = 240 potency
Ricochet AoE = 300 x 1.2 = 360 potency (480 total, factoring in the initial hit)

Gauss New:
Gauss Round = 180 x 1.3 = 234 potency
Ricochet AoE = 200 x 1.3 = 260 potency (390 total, factoring in the initial hit)


Minuet Old
Empyreal Arrow = 240 potency x 1.2 = 288 potency
Sidewinder = 350 potency x 1.2 = 420 potency

Minuet New
Empyreal Arrow = 220 potency x 1.3 = 286 potency
Sidewinder = 250 potency x 1.3 = 325 potency



The nerf to the first ability isn't really much of a nerf, it's simply there to prevent its damage from actually being 10% stronger than it was before. It's more or less unchanged from its original damage.

So to be clear, Empyreal and Gauss Round didn't really get buffed or nerfed, it's more or less unchanged. You probably couldn't tell it changed without the patch notes.

The burst ability nerf (Sidewinder and Ricochet) actually is a nerf, but that's to offset the actual 10% you're getting from everything else to prevent a huge DPS spike.

Neither of the 100 potency nerfs were actually that, they're ever so slightly lower than 100.

Originally Posted by ChloeGrace

Get rid of Wanderer's / Gauss completely.
Give us back our mobility.

Nope /10char

My feelings about WM right now are that it feels clunky and it just isn't fun to play (I realise both are subjective)

I don't find the issue is the lack of mobility, that I am perfectly fine with. It's the cast times hampering the ability to weave oGCDs that I really dislike.

Now that we can only slot in 1 in between each GCD, it feels like there is always something waiting on oGCD. So instead of being able to watch the fight, I have to constantly watch my hotbars. Granted with time this will improve as at the moment it's such a vast change in muscle memory, but it just feels clunky/inefficient right now.

I feel like a compromise with the community would have been to remove the cast times on WM but have the damage boost be tied to your movement. Either have it gradually build up over time/GCD usage whilst stationary and reset back to 1 if you move (For example: 1 stack = 10%, 2 stacks = 20%, 3 stacks = 30% - Build 1 stack every 2 GCD's you use without moving). Or have the WM buff remove itself when you move forcing you to reapply which would force downtime due to the recast time (increase recast time if you have to).

That way BRDs still fundamentally plays the same as before but would still be punished when they have to move. Whereas with how it is now you have a drastic playstyle change for BRDs which will make a number of them unhappy (The common phrase that will be thrown around is that if we wanted to play casters we'd have levelled BLM)

I feel breaking down into exactly what is required of us shows how unmanageable it is right now / why Bards are unhappy and not finding it fun

Ideally we have keep the following oGCD's on cooldown

1. Bloodletter (15 Secs / Proc Resets)
2. Blunt Arrow (30 Secs)
3. Repelling Shot (30 Secs / WM makes this hard to keep on CD)
4. Sidewinder (60 Secs)
5. Internal Release (60 Secs)
6. Flaming Arrow (60 Secs)
7. Blood for Blood (80 Secs)
8. Hawkeye (90 Secs)
9. Barrage (90 Secs)
10. Raging Strikes (120 Secs)
11. Misery's End (12 Secs when applicable)

Then you have to worry about keeping up / on top of the following GCDs

1. Straight Shot (20 Secs)
2. DoTs / Iron Jaw (18 Secs)
3. Empyreal Arrow on CD (15 Secs / Ideally needs to line up with Barrage)

Being able to only weave one of them in between each shot makes keeping on top of all that an impossible task. It works for mages because they don't have anywhere near as many oGCDs to keep on top of.

There isn't really a rotation right now, it's just an unmanageable nightmare with mad flailing towards whatever is up at any given time. It was being able use 2 between each GCD that made it manageable as Bloodletter resets weren't problematic and keeping buff recasts lined up was a lot easier.

That of course does not even factor in any sort of singing or movement. Although movement actually allows you to get back on top of your oGCDs during WM which is a mindscrew in itself.


As I said in my earlier post the solution is ideally to remove the cast times and penalize movement in a different way. Or if they allowed BRD to fire off oGCDs whilst casting that would also fix the problem.

Originally Posted by MrYaah

The rotation is still unhealthy since the rng ogcd procs from bl cant be planned for or compansated for by dropping minuet.

Opener cant be effectively done with minuet on but this is compensated for by the insta cast minuet where you can open without then turn it on which is nice.

The dps buff looks nice on paper but its really not what I was looking for, I think they need to rework the design of minuet to work better with bloodletter. Thats really my only complaint. Right now the constant stream of random ogcds completely fucks any chance of a rotation by bard and you're forced to either delay your bls, delay and misalign your buffs, or delay your gcds and clip your dots earlier (and in some situations if you fuck you this will make you drop your dots) and its really unsatisfying.

ATM bard is still broken, its not dps or mobility thats the problem, its the lack of a real consistent rotation and the prevalence of lose lose situations.

My thoughts exactly.

In good groups with decent kill times I've seen BRD/MCH doing respectable DPS and even trailing SMN by a little. However the prevalence of OGCD problems still forces players of this job to consistently make lose-lose choices. 2 of my FC's BRDs have already moved on to MCH for the better fluidity in gameplay.

In any case since you have mentioned about opener without WM followed by WM, I've noticed that opener without WM you are likely to lose about 100+ DPS head start, not sure if will be recommendable.