Bard without Wanderer's Minuet

[Tharius]

Is it at all viable to play Bard without Wanderer's Minuet?

I'm 54 now and it just doesn't feel right to me. I didn't level this class to play a caster, and a subpar one at that.

I feel like they kinda killed Bard's niche here.

[Ephier]

Bard lays down the business at level 60. I don't know where people are getting this idea that they are subpar from. Yes they could get a few QoL fixes, but they are definitely in no need of a buff or anything.

[lordoftheapes79]

What Ephier said. Removing the cast time made a huge difference. A lot of those bards complaining right after launch weren't using it right. On when standing still off when you need to move. It's not complicated.

[Panasync]

Damage-wise WM Bard is in a good spot in my opinion, that being said they did kill the jobs 2-3 year core playstyle. If you enjoy playing it as a non-casting mobile class you're in for a disappointment. You can choose not to use WM, but at that point you're losing so much potential that you're almost wasting a slot.

[Galdous]

Despite what everyone else says the bard is hands down still the most played job in the game. People play what is strong and bards are still indeed strong. Over 500 bards on balmung alone and the next job that even closely touching it is the ninja at 380. If a job was not powerful it would not be popular.

Dungeon queues are already overflowing with machinist and bards. They need to seperate where only one bard or machinist can be in any 4 man dungeon. They maybe powerful but still it slows down dungeon runs when you lose 600 possible dps.

[ChalupaBatman]

You either have to get used to it or choose another class if you want to raid in a serious group, non WM BRD's do less DPS than healers, its basically a waste of a slot.

But if you don't really care about playing optimally and are in a casual group of people who don't mind the low dps then you should be fine.

[Tharius]

Yeah, I don't have any issue adapting to it. I know how to time movements at the end of casts and between GCDs.

It just doesn't feel fun to me like this. It's not the class I enjoyed for the first 50 levels and throughout all of ARR.

It also feels really clunky with all the off GCD skills bard has. It really sucks seeing bloodletters proc while you're in the middle of a cast.

[SovereignAegis]

It also feels really clunky with all the off GCD skills bard has. It really sucks seeing bloodletters proc while you're in the middle of a cast.

This is at present one of the biggest issues on why I argue against WM on Bard.

[Hakuohsama]

Before they changed WM i dindt use it for the Ravana EX Fight.
Cause i was running way to much to make it worth.
But with the Change you can turn it on in Burst Phases etc..

[RiceisNice]

Is it at all viable to play Bard without Wanderer's Minuet?

I'm 54 now and it just doesn't feel right to me. I didn't level this class to play a caster, and a subpar one at that.

I feel like they kinda killed Bard's niche here.

Short Answer : No. You'll need to use it optimally if you want to pull reasonable numbers to justify a dps slot.