BRD vs DRG

[Preachir]

Looking for something to Main,

I currently have my DRG up to 52, and After reading through these forums i shied away from BRD, but in the groups i have been in and my own experience the BRD seems to be strong,

So if your looking for something to soak time into that will fair well in PVP and PVE thoughts between the two? DRG seems to have super strong solo power, BRD less so toe to Toe but greater kiting capabilities

[Geardagas]

There isn't really a way to answer this. They are two completely different jobs. DRGs can put out more dps than a bar by itself, but bard is ranged and has many more support options which allow it to increase the dps of the group.

[Preachir]

Good Point,

I guess i mean I`m looking for a class, thats not last on the dps charts. But still contributes to the group. and in pvp something that can hold its own versus 1 or 2 enemies.

[DxWings]

BRD isn't as bad as people make it out to be. So don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I don't know much about DRG but I've leveled my BRD to 60 and have done Alex NM raids with it, so I'll try to give you some insight on it. In terms of PvP, I've also played BRD in it as well, so will go into that too.
With the introduction of Wanderer's Minuet, BRD becomes a mini-caster in a sense; however their cast times are alot shorter than actual mage classes. The cast time of each skill, I do believe, is around 1.25-1.50 of a GCD. That leaves you roughly 1sec of a GCD to:
- Weave in an oGCD skill
- Weave in a buff
- Repositioning/moving in an anticipation of an AoE

The thing that people have hammered on the most is being stationary. Most of it is not true, as I've already stated above, you could still easily move and dodge things at no cost to your DPS output if done after or before a skill finishes casting and stopping to cast right before the GCD goes through a full cycle. If you've played a healer or a caster class, you would know that you can move a few miliseconds before the cast ends, and it will still execute allowing for further movement.

If you were to main a BRD, you'll still be very much in demand for progression. Do expect competitions for the spot with MCHs though.
BRD and MCH are the only two classes that can help regen MP for healers which is a very welcomed asset for progression.

As far as PvP goes, BRD is kind of the Sniper class of FFXIV. You don't move anywhere close to the front lines of a skirmish. Because of WM and the skills gated behind it, you wanna use it as much as possible, plus the additional 20%-30% boost to dmg output. So to play this class effectively, you want to stay back and snipe. Let your melees or tanks do all of the distraction for you while you snipe at people. Find the right target and the right timing and you can burst down any non-tanks within seconds while you're in WM. Once people start focusing at you, you wanna turn WM off and pull back behind a group til you're no longer targetted and start sniping again.

So overall, BRD does not have a ton of firepower, but it is still viable for any raid currently available. But it's support abilities along with its strong capability to burst down a target, and be able to keep DPS uptime is probably many of the reasons I still love playing as BRD. Hope this helped you decide! Good luck!

[Sessurea]

I'd say both of these jobs are essential to a raid. also don't judge bards from the hordes of crying idiots on this forum ;_;